Stunning nail biter of a film, and surely one of the best prison break movies ever made.Burt Lancaster stars as a convict who organizes an escape from a maximum security prison. Hume Cronyn is the evil warden who gets wind of the plan and tries to stop it. The film is tough, muscular, and brutal, and it fires on all cylinders for the length of its running time. I could muster up some minor quibbles if pressed, like the fact that Cronyn's character is taken a little too far, or that some unnecessary flashbacks of the events that led the various men to their prison sentences slow the momentum down a bit. But these quibbles are very minor, because the flashbacks don't slow the film down that much -- I'm sure they were included to give the men a little bit of extra rooting interest, which I didn't need myself. I was already rooting for them because....well, just because I was. But they do flesh out the characters a bit and provide the actors with a bit more to do than look hot and tense. And as for Cronyn -- yes, he takes sadistic to pretty spectacular extremes, but it's then that much more satisfying to see him taken down at the end.This film is a winner.Grade: A

Interesting prison drama.Joe Collins (played by Burt Lancaster) is a prisoner in Westgate Penitentiary. The senior officer at the prison is Captain Munsey (Hume Cronyn), a power-mad, manipulative sadist. Collins is rebellious and constantly in trouble with the prison guards. He formulates a plan to escape but a confrontation with Captain Munsey is inevitable...An interesting look at prison life, and how people act when they have absolute power. The central plot was well thought out and made for a good story. However, the stories of how all the main prisoner-characters got there sometimes seemed unnecessary and felt like padding.Solid work by Burt Lancaster and Hume Cronyn in the lead roles. Good supporting performances too.

It's the overcrowded tough Westgate Penitentiary. Capt. Munsey (Hume Cronyn) is the hard-nosed guard who actually runs the prison. Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) refuses to bend to his will. He's let out of solitary after getting set up by Munsey. Joe's wife Ruth is unwilling to get an operation for cancer without Joe being there. He has a plan to escape.The prison movie has been done all the time. This is an early brutal vision of incarceration. The flashbacks of various prisoners are unnecessary and distracting. In fact, most of the flashbacks can be eliminated. Prison is a tough place where there is little hope. Lancaster and Cronyn serve as good foils and it has an action packed battle in the end.

The basic story is not original, and you always have a feeling that you know how things might go, but ...This is a movie that comes together the way that movies should.Excellent acting by an array of capable performers, great pacing that keeps you hooked but let's you breathe, back-stories are filled in so that you can relate to the prisoners as well as the warders.Burt Lancaster is young and full or fire. Hume Cronyn plays the 'little' captain well as a man with power beyond his capabilities. Given the year of making there may have been more than a dig at Nazi sympathizers. The black and white video makes the conditions all the more stark - as are their options.In an era where movies need to have lots of explosions, fantasy creatures or, pointless swearing to attract an audience it is good to see how a 'proper' movie can be made.