TORONTO — “A successful breakout depends on three things,” Sylvester Stallone says in the 2013 movie Escape Plan. “Knowing the layout, understanding the routine, and help from outside or in.”
Officials at New York State’s Clinton Correctional Facility may want to cancel movie night in the wake of the brazen escape earlier this month of convicted killers David Sweat and Richard Matt.
Their escape, allegedly aided by a prison worker, was life imitating art. It had elements of the movie Shawshank Redemption and their time on the lam had a hint of Cool Hand Luke.
(If it was on TV, their adventure was part Prison Break, part The Fugitive.)
Indeed, Hollywood has long been fascinated by prison escapes (and it’s a safe bet the story of the Sweat-Matt escape will soon be turned into a movie). There are light-hearted films (O Brother Where Art Thou?, Stir Crazy), serious ones (Papillon, The Great Escape) and even some sci fi (Lockout).
If you were mildly impressed by the escape of Sweat and Matt and fascinated by the search for them, here are five films you need to see:
Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Adapted from a Stephen King novella, this film follows Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), who escapes from a Maine prison after spending years digging a tunnel behind his cell to access the sewage system. Unlike real-life cons Sweat and Matt, Dufresne avoided capture by fleeing to Mexico to live happily ever after.
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Paul Newman stars as the titular inmate at a Florida prison camp who escapes and uses curry and chili powder to throw off the bloodhounds tracking him. According to reports, Sweat used pepper to cover his tracks. (A 2007 episode of Mythbusters suggested no spice can actually confuse a bloodhound.)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Clint Eastwood stars in this prison drama based on J. Campbell Bruce’s book about the real-life prisoner escape from Alcatraz Island in 1962. He and some other guys use spoons to dig through the walls of their cells.
Con Air (1997)
Not to be confused with the brand of hair dryers, Con Air is about a group of prisoners who escape after the plane in which they are being transported crash lands on the Las Vegas strip. Nicolas Cage plays a convict who teams up with a U.S. Marshall (John Cusack) to track down and kill the escapees.
Escape Plan (2013)
Sylvester Stallone stars as a structural engineer who agrees to try to escape from the world’s most secure prison (spoiler alert: it’s on a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean). He comes up with a plan to escape, with some help from fellow inmate Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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