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Following on Fanaka's promising first film "Emma May", with its strong feminist and community themes, this second, more commercially successful feature is a distinct disappointment belonging, as it does, in the entryway to the Museum Of Standard Prison Pics (somewhere between "The Green Mile" and "Papillon") and whose biggest lesson appears to be that what is to be most feared by African Americans about incarceration is bad acting. Solid C.

I read in an article that "Penitentiary" is one of John Singelton's favorite films. I can see why. It is an film that is kind of like an "acquired taste". It has its own audience. Hard-hitting, intense, and memorable, with some very well done casting, especially bad-man Badja Djola as "Half Dead". The musical score takes great risks that ultimately pay off. There is one part during the terrific fight scene between Too-Sweet and Half-Dead where there is no score, just screeching. Another interesting point, in Penitentiary 2, Ernie Hudson is just as good as Half-Dead's replacement.

Surprise, surprise blaxpo fans the movie that started off the penitentiary series is available. No, it's not the one with Mr. T (penitentiary II) or that horrible one with the midget. (penintiary III) This is the one with the original too sweet, half dead and seldom seen. Despite the fact this movie is the epitome of low budget, try to find the boom mike in some scenes.

This remains one of my favorite cult films. The cinemetography is pretty good. The fight between Too sweet and Half dead is particularly interesting. The use of the Wide angle lenses to give the viewer a distorted view. And the way some characters address the camera. Look were not talking Citizen Knae here, but it still is interesting.

That's not what impresses me most about this movie. It's the fact it transends the usual blacksploitation stereotypes. They are still there but also there is also a lot of truth within it's characterizations. Seldom seen character is no caricature he's a real. (He plays too sweet's trainer.) I was amazed at how realistic his portrayal of an institutionalized convict was. We really get to understand him and why he does what he does. Another interesting thing about this movie is the character half dead (Badja Djola) was hilarious. (You want some Mr. goodbar) You might remember him from the dozens of movies she's appeared in afterward (a rage in harlem, mississippi burning and other films) I also liked the fact that this was funny (mostly) but it also contained moments of dead seriousness. If you are any kind of fan of blacksploitation movies, or cult movies in general check this one out. If you can find it.

A man is wrongly imprisoned for murder. While in the penitentiary he gets involved in a boxing competition that the prison hosts.

Penitentiary is a somewhat odd blaxploitation movie. It seems to be a curious mix of realism and ridiculousness. While on the one hand, the idea of a prison boxing competition where the male and female inmates can get together is a very silly idea. But on the other hand, the movie also deals with issues of institutionalisation and the tone overall is often quite sombre. So it's a strange combination. It has to be said though that the best moment is the excellent fight scene between the hero and his psychotic cell mate. It's a pretty ferocious and exciting affair and I suppose just emphasises that Penitentiary is definitely a fight film over and above anything else.

This is definitely a good example of its type. It's certainly not a typical prison drama though that's for sure. It even spawned a couple of sequels that recycled the same idea to ever more ridiculous extents. It's certainly one of the least likely franchises you could imagine.

Xenon deserves a big nod for releasing these long lost 70s blaxploitation movies on home video. PENITENTIARY does have some enjoyable moments, including the wild boxing matches. This one obviously takes the sleaze-o route than being a fulfilling and motivating drama about prison life, something this really should've been meant for. A good story, but it drags miserably in acting performances and a sense of weirdness. If you want to see how cheap production values do exist, then don't blink when a close-up view of an inmate actually isn't holding the knife to thrust the guy's chest in. Good fun for "blaxplo" fans, but the majority of us would pass this up and stick to the ROCKY movies.