Penitenciaría

I saw this film with a pal over twenty years ago at the theater, first-run. I sat there amazed at how wincingly terrible it was from start to finish. After about forty-five minutes my friend (who was a drama student at the time) wanted desperately to leave the theater. I refused, explaining that in the years to come we would both look back at this film as a standard for cinema awfulness. I was right.

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.

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.

"Penitentiary" is definitely a superior prison/boxing movie. It has a low budget, but like any good low-budget movie, it turns this into a strength, not a drawback. You don't miss what the money could have afforded. The lack of multiple locations, fancy camera angles and stunt-doubles just brings you closer to the action.

The actors are all superior, as is the direction. Fanaka made creative use of close-ups, slow motion, hand held cameras, and all this while still in film school.

The movie is considered "blaxploitation", though I think that great exploitation sub-genre was pretty much over by '79. The movie does have a predominantly African-American cast, but the usual themes of the sub-genre, such as racism and the cynical exploitation of black people by whites, is not really the focus here. The most powerful white guy in the movie, the warden, is even depicted as a good man in the end.

Of all the performances, aside from Kennedy - who carries the movie - the greatest is probably Floyd Chatman as a lifer who has plenty of wisdom but can't face life on the outside. He looks like a black Colonel Sanders, or perhaps a wise koala bear.

The movie also has a sensitive attitude toward one infamous subject - prison rape, which along with everything else, elevates it above simple "prison movie" or "exploitation flick" status.

I say check it out.

Penitentiary (1979) follows the life of Too Sweet, a young man who's life is has taken a very wrong turn. A very tragic and unlucky event lands the dude in prison. Looking at a long stretch in the jug, Too Sweet looks for any opportunity to get out of the joint. Finally a big break comes along, boxing. But like all good guys, he makes a very nasty enemy in the guise of Half Dead, a cruel sadistic inmate who doesn't take a liking to our young hero. How did Too Sweet get in Prison? Can Too Sweet fight is way out of prison? Why does Half Dead want Too Sweet's head? Who in the hell is Peaches? All your questions will be answered when you watch Penitentiary!

Highly recommended for fans of low budget films.