Best Prison movies of 1980s

Actors : Nick Tate, Edward Fox, Timothy Bottoms, George Takei,
Directors : Andrew V. McLaglen,

A group of war prisoners from the Kwai bridge building camp undertake a harsh journey to Japan.

Actors : Ismaila Cissé, Ababacar Sy Cissé, Sidiki Bakaba, Hamed Camara,

In this semi-autobiographical film, black soldiers help to defend France, but are detained in prison camp before being repatriated home.

Actors : Laura del Sol, Leo Gullotta, Ben Gazzara, Marzio Honorato,
Directors : Giuseppe Tornatore,

Vaguely inspired to the real story of boss of the Camorra's bosses Raffaele Cutolo, this is the story of the criminal career of "Il professore" (the professor). He is in prison, and by ...

Actors : Dragan Nikolic, Danilo 'Bata' Stojkovic, Predrag Ejdus, Vesna Stanojevic,
Directors : Aleksandar Boskovic,

The story of an outsider who spent seven years in prison for robbery. Eternal rebel, unsatisfied with the system and people around him, he wants to establish the way of his own justice. As ...

Actors : Márcia Fraga, Danielle Ferrite, Maria Stella Splendore, Neide Ribeiro,
Directors : Oswaldo de Oliveira,

In a prison, women rebel against the guards' sadism and sexual abuse and decide to run away. Some manage to escape and are chased by the Police.

Actors : Susú Pecoraro, Philippe Léotard, Miguel Ángel Solá, Lito Cruz,
Directors : Fernando E. Solanas,

The movie starts while Floreal, the main protagonist, was being released from the prison when the military coup ended in 1983. He is estranged to his former life because of his last few ...

Actors : François Périer, Pierre Mondy, Anne Parillaud, Alain Delon,

Jacques Darnay (A. Delon) is caught and convicted for stealing diamonds and murder of jeweler. Although he was not guilty, the prison has served eight years. At that time, the jewels are ...

Actors : Martha Plimpton, Tommy Lee Jones, Brian Dennehy, Shawn Smith,
Directors : Thomas Rickman,

After serving time for a theft he didn't commit, all Billy wants to do is to reconnect with his daughter. However, some loose ends, like the whereabouts of the stolen loot, just won't let him go.

Actors : Paul Le Mat, John Edwin Shaw, Ken Wright, Michael Moriarty,
Directors : Lionel Chetwynd,

A drama focusing on the suffering, torture, and brutal treatment the American P.O.W.s had to deal with daily while in North Vietnam's Hoa Lo Prison, the most infamous P.O.W. camp in Hanoi. ...

Actors : Anthony Zerbe, Richard Roundtree, Tom Skerritt, Lisa Eichhorn,
Directors : Eric Karson,

The commander of an Air Force camp simulates prisoner-of-war conditions for realistic training goes too far, creating all too real torture situations. He preys on the only woman in the experiment.

Actors : Sylvia Kristel, William Ostrander, Sue Kiel, Linda Blair,

An American woman visiting her fiancée in West Germany is caught up with a defecting spy and captured by those in the East. After brutal interrogation she is placed in a prison along with ...

Actors : Brigitte Fossey, Patrick Dewaere, Jacques Dufilho, Yves Robert,
Directors : Claude Sautet,

Bruno is released from prison. He looks for a job and tries to start a new life. His first stop is at his father's apartment.

Actors : John Schneider, Lisa Dunsheath, Kirk Douglas, Lee Purcell,
Directors : Jeff Kanew,

A young man, harshly sentenced for a few minor infractions, escapes from a prison in Huntsville Texas and flees to Laredo, Texas, where he hopes to cross into Mexico for a reunion with his wife and small son.

Actors : Raj Babbar, Farooq Shaikh, Rekha, Naseeruddin Shah,
Directors : Muzaffar Ali,

In Faizabad, British India, Daroga Dilawar is sentenced to several years in prison after Amiran's dad testifies against him. After his discharge around 1840, he extracts his vengeance by ...

Actors : Christiane Jean, Gérard Lanvin, Bernard Giraudeau, Maurice Barrier,
Directors : Patrice Leconte,

During a routine transfer of prisoners from one jail to another, an accused cop killer, Paul Brandon, is temporarily chained to a con with only a year left to serve, Stéphane Carella. Paul ...

Actors : Maria Romano, Laura Gemser, Ursula Flores, Gabriele Tinti,
Directors : Bruno Mattei,

Emanuelle, a reporter, comes just a little too close to exposing a corrupt official, and is sent to prison on trumped-up charges. In the prison, the inmates are constantly humiliated and ...

Actors : Angel Tompkins, Lucinda Crosby, Stacey Shaffer, Shari Shattuck,
Directors : Paul Nicholas,

A young woman is falsely convicted of a bank robbery and sent to a maximum-security prison run by a corrupt warden, where she is forced to suffer various indignities.

Actors : Snezana Bogdanovic, Bozidar Bunjevac, Slobodan Custic, Branko Djuric,
Directors : Ademir Kenovic,

After the release from prison, small-time criminal is marrying his girlfriend and lives a straight and poor, but happy life with her and her daughter. However, his happiness is shattered by...

Actors : Mr. T, Leon Isaac Kennedy, Ernie Hudson, Glynn Turman,
Directors : Jamaa Fanaka,

An ex-con, on parole and trying to straighten his life out, decides to resume his boxing career when one of his prison enemies escapes and kills his girlfriend.

Actors : Vikas Anand, Harbans Darshan M. Arora, Amitabh Bachchan, Bharat Bhushan,
Directors : Prakash Mehra,

After learning a few magical tricks from his fellow inmate former businessman and ex-jail convict assume the identity of an ascetic named Mahaprabhu Jagatsagar Chintamani so that he can ...