Against the Wall

Not that this matters with regard to the quality of the movie but this was one of the first original movies made for HBO where they didn't have to sell their soul to a movie studio.

Enough preaching, this is on the level of Shawshank. In my opinion better but different. Prison is hell for the guards and the inmates. Sometimes the inmates need to revolt and this movie does a good job taking a real situation and presents both sides of the story perfectly. You feel for the inmates, you feel for the guards. The problem is the system.

The acting is great and this isn't a politically correct movie or a movie with a political agenda with the exception of an anti government theme.

I would recommend this film to anybody with a sense of personal freedom or revolt against the system. I am surprised this isn't a cult movie on the lines of A Clockwork Orange.

It's hard to always understand what prison is like, and Attica depicted an old one, but it was still prison, and it was gripping. This was a good movie. The character played by Kyle Maclachlan was a wimpy one, but yet, a way for us to see things through an innocent standpoint. This was a movie about a prison that was not contained to the proper ordinance and showed what could happen if it wasn't. In that result, it played out to be a movie that can keep you at *awe* and utter despair for the prison gaurds. The role played by Samuel L. Jacson was a good one as well. He is always been such a good actor and to me, he shined in this one, to a point. Those were the good things about it, and my only gripes were seeing naked inmates, Mike Smiths' feistiness, and the totally annoying head gaurd. I forget his name, and I don't much want to know anyways. Aside of those little pests, I enjoyed the film to it's fullest. Frankenheimer did a good job directing this one. This was my rating: 8/10

HBO was really kicking some ass during this time. It's a shame this one isn't more known; Kyle MacLachlan and Samuel L. Jackson really acted their hearts out in this sad, mind-blowing true story about Attica Prison. Highly underrated and by all means should've been a hit.

Legendary filmmaker John Frankenheimer made an impact as perhaps televisions greatest director in the 1990's (after directing several big-screen classics earlier in his career). With "Against the Wall" he shatters all our illusions about America. The United States really is the land of opportunities, but the government has also branded it's reputation with some ugly events through the years. The Attica riot of 1971 (or should I say "the Attica massacre") certainly is one of it's ugliest moments.

This shocking dramatization shows us everything that's wrong with America in a way that almost sent me reaching for a vomit-bag in disbelief. A great job by Frankenheimer and it's actors, particularly worth mentioning: Kyle MacLachlan, Samuel L. Jackson, Frederic Forrest, Clarence Williams III, Harry Dean Stanton, a young Steve Harris (The Practice) and Danny Trejo.

This really made me yearn for some American on-screen heroism. At times like these I'm sure glad I have the Die Hard-trilogy in my DVD-collection :)

I was an extra in this movie and I was just amazed by John Frankenheimer. We just filled seats in the bar as guards' wives, but he came over and explained who we were and told us about the lives of these people. He told us that the average guard's salary was $13,000. He told me he loved my face (which believe me is not lovable), probably because the part called for us to be bored and disgusted and I was very good at that. I just could not believe that the director went into such detail with us. I was just there one day but my husband was in several scenes, working every day, and he was likewise impressed with Mr. Frankenheimer.

And as for the comment about the people of Nashville deserving better--Nashville and its people suck. I was never so glad to get out of anywhere. If, as one comment put it, Mr. Frankenheimer was a bear, maybe it was because he expected people to WORK.