There's a prison scene in the film Cool Hand Luke (1967) in which George Kennedy beats up and continually knocks down new inmate and wise guy Paul Newman in a sanctioned boxing match. Newman keeps getting up until he can do so no more and, in so doing, earns the respect of Kennedy's character and the others in the prison. At the end of the fight, Newman's character is even assisted by the man who delivered the punishment. That scene might have been lifted, almost in its entirety, from this pretty good B movie starring Walter Pidgeon, who plays a district attorney that's framed and sent to jail to be among his 6,000 enemies, two thousand of which his character estimates were 'sent up' by him. Nat Pendleton plays tough guy 'Socks' Martin, who's responsible for the beating that Pidgeon's Steve Donegan receives.Directed by George B. Seitz, with a screenplay by Bertram Millhauser that was based on a story by Wilmon Menard and Leo L. Stanley, this crime and punishment drama also features (among others) Rita Johnson as Ann Barry, a woman who'd been framed (initially, by persons unknown) and then prosecuted by Donegan, only a deputy trial prosecutor at the time; Paul Kelly as the prison's Dr. Malcolm Scott, Harold Huber as the notorious 'gangster' Joe Silenus, Grant Mitchell as Warden Alvin Parkhurst, John Arledge as Donegan's younger brother Phil, J.M. Kerrigan as Donegan's assistant Dan Barrett, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams as a member of Silenus's gang, Esther Dale as a prison matron, and Raymond Hatton & Willie Fung as prisoners. Selmer Jackson, as a judge, and Ernest Whitman, as a prisoner, are among those who appear uncredited.A pretty standard prison drama, really, easily viewed, digested, and enjoyed in just more than an hour. With more than 500 convictions to his name, Donegan is successful in his bid to become the D.A.. However, he's made a lot of enemies, chief among them is Silenus who uses a gambling debt owed to him by the prosecutor's former assistant Dan Barrett to (pressure him into helping) frame Donegan on a phony bribery charge. This is ironic because Donegan had said that a frame-up was almost impossible while prosecuting Ms. Barry. Of course, once inside the prison, run by a somewhat detached and certainly naive warden, Donegan is quickly a target of those he'd sent there (virtually everyone). He's befriended and protected by the kindly, clued-in doctor, who assigns Donegan to the ward that contains the older and crazy inmates.Silenus doesn't want to take any chances that Donegan makes it through his year long sentence on good behavior, so he tells Maxie (Williams) to get word to Socks to bump off the former D.A., which leads to the aforementioned bout. Actually, Dr. Scott, who knew of Donegan's former ring experience, setup the match with Socks, rightly thinking that the ex-prosecutor could hold his own and/or gain the respect of the others in the process. Socks then warns Donegan of the pending Silenus hit. Meanwhile, Donegan had befriended Ann and had employed his brother to assist with clearing her in that case. But against Donegan's warnings, Phil had also been following Silenus and his gang, which leads to a predictable ending (including his death) that begins with the requisite failed prison break and ends with the expected exonerations.

6,000 Enemies (1939) *** (out of 4) Good "B" picture from MGM about a tough-as-nails D.A. (Walter Pidgeon) who sends everyone to the big house and he takes pleasure in making sure that the streets are clear of any scum. His luck eventually runs out when a gangster frames his and soon the D.A. gets sent to the same prison where he's sent thousands of people. Once inside his life is in danger but he plans on making it through and along the way he meets a woman (Rita Johnson) he sent up who might just have been innocent as well as hold a clue to his own case. 6,000 ENEMIES is without question MGM's attempt to try and capture the mood and spirit of a Warner crime picture and for the most part it succeeds. At just 62-minutes there's really no time for any character development or any type of plot growth as everything happens without much reason for thought. The first five-minutes pretty much covers Pidgeon's rise to the top and then the next two-minutes covers his fall from grace and yet the way he's framed makes no sense and probably could have been defeated inside any court room. With that said, there's really no point in making fun of the plot too much because the movie was made to be simple entertainment and that's exactly what it manages to be. I thought the prison stuff was a lot of fun as we get a lot of familiar situations yet director Seitz really makes them seem fresh and original. One of the highlights is a scene where the D.A. wants to be put in with the regular guys instead of the safe haven so they send him to the cafeteria where a full riot breaks out. Another very good sequence has him having to fight 'Socks' Martin (Nat Pendleton) who just happens to be one of the men sent to kill him. There's another good subplot between the D.A. and a doctor (Paul Kelly) inside the prison. In a film like this it's always good to have a strong group of actors and they all do fine work here with Pidgeon fitting the role of the tough guy with ease. He has no problem making you believe he's this brilliant D.A. and he is good at showing off his toughness as well. I thought both Kelly and Pendleton added a lot of entertainment and both are strong as usual. Johnson was also very good in her role and you'll certainly be wishing you could see more of her. Character actor Grant Mitchell plays the dimwitted warden and we even get Guinn Williams in a brief part. Fans of "B" crime pictures are going to get a real kick out of this one. It's certainly far from a masterpiece but then again it wasn't trying to be GONE WITH THE WIND.

For a 1939 movie, not too bad. A bonus is that it runs just barely one hour, so tells the story fairly crisply. Walter Pigeon is one of those 'names' that stuck with me, but I don't recall seeing any of his movies before I saw this one. Here (early 40s) he is Steve Donegan, very tough New York prosecutor, who has put away thousands of criminals. The movie opens with the trial of a pretty young lady Ann Barry (Rita Johnson, about 25), accused of embezzle money. She claims it was a frame-up, and part of his closing arguments Steve states with authority that in their system it would be highly unlikely that someone could be framed successfully. She is convicted and sent upstate for a long time.Meanwhile the local crime boss wants to neutralize the active and successful prosecutor, so sets Steve up for a frame, taking bribes. Steve's words come back to haunt him, when he claims he was being framed. He is convicted, and sent to the same prison where he had 6000 Enemies (title of the movie). Many are out to get him, most of the prisoners are portrayed as either crazy or worthless hardened criminals.Come to think of it, if he sent away an average of 2 criminals a week, 50 weeks a year, it would take 60 years to put away 6000 criminals, and many would have died during that period of time. Maybe they should have called it '1500 Enemies.'SPOILERS. Eventually Steve and Ann Barry become allies, he realizes that she is not guilty, and when the mob boss fails to have Steve killed via an inside job, they drive by and gun down Steve's brother, walking to go visit Steve. The shooters are taken down by guard machine guns, the mob boss is exposed, Steve and Ann are exonerated. Not a very good movie overall, but fun to watch as an old classic.

I'm intrigued that Paul Kelly and Tom Neal are both in the cast of '6000 Enemies'. Kelly and Neal both had prolific careers in tough-guy roles, but they are now remembered largely for the fact that, in real life, both of them (separately) did prison time for manslaughter. The fact that '6000 Enemies' is a prison movie lends an air of irony to Kelly's and Neal's presence in this film. As it happens, though, they have no scenes together.'6000 Enemies' has a premise fairly similar to that of the Howard Hawks film 'The Criminal Code', but it takes that premise in a different direction. Steven Donegan (Walter Pidgeon) is a tough D.A. who has shown no mercy to the thousands of criminals he has sent to prison. Racketeer Joe Silenus (Harold Huber) frames Donegan on a bribery charge; for good measure, Silenus has also framed pretty Anne (Rita Johnson) on an embezzlement charge. Donegan has urged no mercy for convicted criminals, so now that he is (falsely) convicted he finds himself on the receiving end of the same tough sentencing policy. Donegan and Anne are sent to the respective his'n'her hoosegows, but it's clear they're going to end up as each other's ball-and-chain.Disbarred D.A. Donegan finds himself doing hard time in a penitentiary where all the other convicts want to kill him. (Hence the film's title.) The scenes of prison life are even less realistic than usual for prison movies from this period. The movie climaxes with a prison break (I shan't tell you if it's successful), but at this point all credibility has long since gone over the wall. In a small role as a petty thug, Frank Lackteen briefly displays his famous cheekbones and swarthy complexion. Esther Dale gives her usual "I've seen it all, dearie" performance. I'm always glad to see Nat Pendleton, Grant Mitchell and Raymond Hatton, but their performances here are more lacklustre than usual for these fine character actors. Paul Kelly has very little to do here, and Tom Neal even less: the irony of their presence in this prison flick far outweighs their actual performances. I'll rate '6000 Enemies' only 3 points out of 10. Better make that 6,001 enemies...