THE BIG HOUSE (1930)

THE BIG HOUSE is, to my limited knowledge, the earliest prison film of the Sound Era and it's pretty damn good.  It opens with a drunk driver getting booked into the prison on a manslaughter wrap.  Right off the bat you can see this punk has a yellow streak a mile wide.  Due to overcrowding he's thrown into a small cell with two hardened criminals.  Time goes by and the new kid never toughens up.  One of his cellmates escapes and, because he hates the new guy so much, he plans on murdering the new guys sister, but ends up falling in love with her!  More stuff goes on, but you'll just have to see for yourself.

Modern audiences will probably find it way too dated, but if you give it a chance I think you'll enjoy it.  Wallace Beery is tough as nails as a shit-talkin' murderer and was even nominated for an Oscar for his performance.  He didn't win, but female screenwriter Frances Marion did win and ended up being the first female to win an Academy Award for writing.

Not the greatest prison film ever, but most definitely one of the most influential on the young genre.  Check it out.

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (2012)

A screenwriter (Colin Farrell) is having troubles with his drinking, his relationship with his girlfriend and coming up for an idea for his next script.  His best friend (Sam Rockwell) is an unhinged douchebag who (along with Christopher Walken) make money by kidnapping dogs and then collecting the reward.  What an asshole.  Anyway, so one day Rockwell kidnaps the prized dog of a local gangster (Woody Harrelson) who will stop at nothing to get his dog back.  That's not the strongest setup ever, but it does have potential to lead up to some awesomely over-the-top stuff going on...but no.  Instead, we have Rockwell talking nonstop while being self-destructive and crazed and for some unknown reason Farrell just sticks with him throughout it all.  Doesn't this guy have any normal, non-crazy friends?

With a title like SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS my mind was exploding with all kinds of awesome possibilities, but instead we get stuff like a serial killer that hunts serial killers.  Wow.  That's deep.  I too am a fan of Dexter.  Or a guy who hates somebody so much he follows him into Hell.  Amazing.  That's deep.  I enjoyed WHAT DREAMS MAY COME also.

Maybe if you've only seen three movies in your entire life, SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS will come off as original and clever, but as a grumpy old coot that's seen a lot of goddamn movies (example: the Vietnamese psycho's story reminded me of a 8-minute Australian horror short film I saw back in the early 1990's.) SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS started out promising enough for the first few minutes, but by the halfway point I was beginning to daydream hard.

Mild violence, lots of talking, miscasting, mild nudity, Shiner Bock beer, gangster with big shiny gun and old Cadillac convertible, more talking.  Worth a watch, I guess.  Or not.

ALONG THE GREAT DIVIDE (1951)

Excellent western.  Kirk Douglas (in his first western) plays a law man who, along with his two deputies, come upon a man (Walter Brennan) about to get lynched.  Kirk rescues the guy and hears from the lynching party that he's guilty of murder.  Kirk reminds them that it's not up to them to take the law into their own hands and he's gonna take the accused man into town for a fair trial.  Easier said than done cause the town is a long way off and the men from the lynching party are hellbent on killing this dude.  Added to the direct threat of getting shot by the men trailing them, Douglas has to deal with the psychological warfare being dealt out by the accused man (and his daughter Virginia Mayo) who will do anything to free him including turning Kirk's own deputies against him.

I don't know what the earliest example of the "transporting-the-prisoner" sub-genre is, but this does a great job of it.  Quick pace, top-notch acting, well-written script, beautiful desert scenery, good camerawork.  Overall ALONG THE GREAT DIVIDE is a solid film.  Recommended.

Double-feature with THE NAKED SPUR.