- There's a certain uniformity to prison movies that mirrors the rigidly imposed structure of prisons themselves. For starters, all prison movies feature a mixture of noble thieves, the wrongfully accused, and low-down crooks. They all include at least one sadistic prison guard. Most prison movies feature a visitation scene or two. More often than not, there is an escape attempt that doesn't go according to plan. Jules Dassin's Brute Force certainly checks off all of these boxes. It's also one of the more compelling and bleak prison movies I've ever seen.
- The noble thieves in this case are led by a determined man named Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster). Joe's nobility is not immediately apparent, given that he arranged for the murder of a fellow prisoner (James O'Rear), but the dead man had planted evidence that landed Joe in solitary confinement. Like most illicit activities within the prison walls, this entire occurrence was staged by the much-hated security chief, Captain Munsey (Hume Cronyn), who derives a perverse pleasure from torturing prisoners both physically and psychologically. All Joe and his fellow inmates can do is keep a low profile, do what they're told, and occasionally bend the sympathetic ear of the perpetually inebriated prison physician, Dr. Walters (Art Smith).
- Incidentally, the inmates sharing Joe's cell are a sympathetic bunch, and we feel like we know them well from their stories and flashbacks. Just as Joe stole money to pay for his girlfriend's (Ann Blyth) medical bills, "Soldier" (Howard Duff) smuggled food rations to the starving Italian woman (Yvonne De Carlo) he loved. Slightly less noble are Spencer (John Hoyt), who once put too much trust in a grifter named Flossie (Anita Colby), and Tom (Whit Bissell), who cooked the books to afford a fur coat for his wife (Ella Raines). Amusingly, new arrival Kid Coy (Jack Overman) is a boxer who hasn't quite gotten used to the idea that a pinup girl could be enough to give him flashbacks. Unfortunately, none of these men will get to see the women they remember so fondly ever again.
- The suspense in Brute Force builds up to its justifiably infamous breakout scene, in which Joe and a fellow gang leader named Gallagher (Charles Bickford) storm the guard tower with a two-pronged attack. Joe and company emerge from the dingy "sinkhole" digging operation only to find a machine gun pointed at them, and Gallagher doesn't do any better on his side of the wall. Although the final battle between Lancaster and Cronyn veers into accidental comedy (both men are terrific actors, but the fight conversion rate should be ten Cronyns to one Lancaster), the film ends on a note of overwhelming tragedy for everyone involved. As the doctor notes, "nobody ever really escapes." Fortunately, director Jules Dassin made it through completely intact, going on with his next four projects to direct The Naked City, Thieves' Highway, Night and the City, and Rififi, all of which are among the best films of their kind.
- Famous "ugly actor" Harry Wilson shows up as a prisoner and "Sir Lancelot" provides some memorable calypso tunes.
