Unlike 1932's "I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang", this film is shorter, is using Warner's B-list talent, and has to deal with the production code which has the unusual effect of changing the king of political corruption in this movie from Metcalfe to "Moett". I've scoured my books and online sources, and I cannot find a politician from that era named Metcalfe that was considered corrupt, or perhaps one that was not corrupt and did not want to be portrayed as such in this film. Just note that you will clearly hear the name Metcalfe being changed to Moett via audio dropouts throughout the film. What this film does have going for it is a co-writer by the name of Dalton Trumbo - his first credited writing role.Donald Woods plays James Larrabie, whose first expose on Moett's ties to political corruption has Moett trying to corrupt Larrabie himself by offering him a job in return for dropping this series of exposes. Larrabie refuses. Then he does a rather dumb thing - he tells Moett where he is going (Chicago) and how he is getting there. While Larrabie and his assistant Bob Gordon are on the road they are intercepted by the state police for suspicion of a robbery. So far, it is assumed this delay is set up by Moett, but what happens next is not. A criminal kills the local sheriff as he is putting Larrabie and Gordon in jail, and now Moett can't believe his luck, he now has the journalists up for murder. He conspires with a corrupt attorney to get them to plead guilty. The actual jail breaker is dead, so nobody can say they were not part of it. The corrupt attorney therefore tells them to plead guilty to the jail break and they'll get a suspended sentence. He knows the judge, although not corrupt, is a "hanging judge", and instead they get five years hard labor.This is where the brutal prison scenes begin, with there even being a mine where prisoners who are sent there are destined to die a slow death of black lung disease due to a lack of any protective gear. What does Larrabie have going for him? His editor as well as his girlfriend are working on the outside to get him freed by appealing to the Attorney General. What is not going for him? His girlfriend's stepfather is one of Moett's henchmen. How will this all work out? Watch and find out.Warner Brothers doesn't have quite the courage of their convictions here, since the corrupt state and prison system is unnamed. How did the prison system get to be so bad, presumably in the south? Originally, the big prison farms were a product of Reconstruction and a substitute for slavery. Largely, at first, blacks were sent to these prison farms, maybe or maybe not guilty of what they were convicted. But the state got free labor out of them, often renting them out to planters who no longer had access to true slaves. The brutality came from what had been done in the past to keep field slaves in line on the big plantations. Eventually, over decades, this just became the prison system for the entire south and for all races.Well, enough of the history lesson. But I really highly recommend this fast paced little film as probably the best thing I ever saw Donald Woods in, helped by a tight script and good direction.

A reporter uncovers a network of corruption that extends to the penthouses and prisons of a southern state.MGM may have gussied up the Depression era with glamorous escapism, but not so Warner Bros. WB liked to say their stories were ripped from the headlines of the day. Their writers operated from street level and not the penthouse top, as this programmer clearly shows. Prison conditions could be abominable at a time when tax monies had dried up along with businesses. Thus prison movies like the best known one, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (932), were popular with straitened audiences of the day.There are many good touches in Road Gang—the pin-pricked message, the tumbling coal stope, the artful safe-cracker. Note too, how the scheme reporter Larrabee (Woods) uncovers goes all the way to the top. I'm sure audiences of the day enjoyed indicting the rich and powerful. Nonetheless, the movie lacks the fire needed to lift it from the merely routine. Woods is sturdy and likable, but lacks the intensity needed to drive the plot in a memorable way. Also, that superb villain Charles Middleton (mine boss) curiously underplays his key role, such that no sparks are lit there, either. My guess is that director King was not much engaged with the material. His story direction is competent, but nothing more. Thus the narrative unfolds in interesting but not gripping fashion, which I suspect is why it's omitted from Maltin's film guide. Too bad WB didn't get Cagney for the lead role or Mike Curtiz to direct it.

This is one of those "B" films that doesn't get much airplay but show up periodically to my delight as an avid aficionado of "B" movies. A solid cast of second leads and character actors....Donald Woods, Henry O'Neil, Charles Middleton and a very young Marc Lawrence. It mirrors "I Was A Fugitive From a Chain Gang", the Paul Muni "A" list movie of that time in that it deals with the conditions of southern prisons in the 20's and 30's An interesting sidelight to this movie which was mentioned by the preceding reviewer....the post-dubbing of the character Moett's name. In the film,it is obviously "Metcalf" but has been post-dubbed to "Moett". I have searched extensively for the reason but can't find out why this was done. I would recommend it to anyone who loves the "B" movies....low budget, hackneyed dialogue and last minute reprieves....it's the stuff "B"'s were made of!

The was one of many Warner Bros. movies of the 30's about abysmal prison conditions and social injustice due to political corruption. It's a B picture without any big stars, but easy to watch, with Donald Woods as the reporter framed by Joe King and Henry O'Neill for trying to expose their corruption. I had a hard time accepting O'Neill as a baddie since he almost always plays a congenial sort. The prison scenes were excellent, especially with Harry Cording (the guard with the whip) making a terrific heavy. I also enjoyed seeing Marc Lawrence uncharacteristically playing a friendly convict.Since I'm interested in credits, there were two items I noted. First, Joe King's character name is listed as Moett, but the AFI Catalogue mentioned that contemporary reviews listed his name as Metcalfe. His name is altered in the soundtrack at least a dozen times, where the "calfe" is blanked out, and it is very noticeable. Why the change was made is not known. Second, when the police radio dispatcher Frank Faylen reports about jailer Tom Manning's death, he says his name is "Bill Huber." But when you see the name in the newspaper, it is "W.B. Hefflin." Our forgetful filmmakers strike again!