Les Démons de la liberté

One of the best prison movies ever made.Jules Dassin's direction is so strong ,so precise,so mind-boggling it packs a real wallop.Hume Cronyn gives a subdued but extremely scary portrayal of a sadistic brute.Always in a suave voice,always saying "I want to help you",there's only one way for him:the hard one.Burt Lancaster is equally efficient as a tough inmate .But the whole cast cannot be too highly praised.

The cast and credits read :"the women from outside" .There are four flashbacks which really fit into the movie.All of them last barely two or three minutes but they could provide material for four other movies. The first one (Flossie's ) verges on farce ,it is the comic relief of a desperate movie and we need it!Then the "fur coat" segment which is some kind of Cinderella turned film noir.The third one,perhaps the less interesting (everything is relative!), features Yvonne De Carlo as an Italian girl during the war the former soldier was in love with .And finally Burt Lancaster's story, he tries to find money to pay his girlfriend's operation.

These flashbacks are not gratuitous:all that is left to those men is memories .Besides,the last line tells us something like that:"nobody will escape!nobody!" More than ten years before ,Dassin had shown what French director Jacques Becker would do in his famous prison movie "le trou" (1960) : the prison as a metaphor of the human condition.

There are lots of scenes which will leave you on the edge of your seat.My favorite scene: the informer's death while Lancaster is securing his alibi with the doc.But the final is awesome too,something apocalyptic.

Though I'd only previously watched this movie once almost 25 years ago on a long-defunct Sicilian TV channel called Antenna 10, some scenes have stuck with me to this day and being able to reacquaint myself with the film was a long-cherished prospect which, thanks to Criterion, I now have.

The film is the epitome of the great, hard-hitting prison dramas of the 1930s, but the style in which it was filmed also makes it fall in the "Film Noir" category. This was only Burt Lancaster's second movie but he is already a tough, powerful screen presence and his character is one of the most respected within the prison community. The casting (in characterizations which would be much imitated in subsequent prison films) is perfection: pint-sized Hume Cronyn is very effectively cast against type as the quintessential brutal prison captain of the guards, Charles Bickford is the bigwig inmate who gets things done, Sam Levene is his reporter sidekick. Lancaster's gang includes Howard Duff (making his film debut), Jeff Corey (as a surprising 'rat'), suave ladies' man John Hoyt and Whit Bissell as the most vulnerable and least likely inmate who falls victim to Cronyn's "brute force". There's also Jay C. Flippen as an easy-going prison guard, Sir Lancelot as a happy-go-lucky jack-of-all-trades whose songs often sarcastically comment on the action, Vince Barnett as an old-timer who brings food (and messages) to the most dangerous inmates currently serving in the drainpipes, and an uncredited Charles McGraw as an arms dealer. Actually, one of the best roles in the film – the alcoholic, philosophizing prison doctor who is the only one genuinely interested in the fate of his "patients" – is splendidly portrayed by an actor who was unknown to me, Art Smith, and his confrontations with Cronyn offer some of the film's quiet highlights.

While the film itself offers relatively little new in terms of plot – a few of the prisoners are planning a breakout, the sadistic and power-hungry captain is more evil than the inmates themselves, an informer is punished during a staged scuffle, a traitor is present within Lancaster's gang, the climactic escape is a botched massacre, etc – and some of the plot points rather contrived – Sam Levene being sent to the drainpipes, which results in his being tortured by Cronyn – but Dassin's assured handling still makes all of these situations work superbly well. Ironically, after a period directing mostly light fare, this was the start of a peerless run of five noir classics – culminating in his celebrated caper film, RIFIFI (1955), made while exiled in France. Curiously enough, another Hollywood exile would later on basically make the British equivalent of BRUTE FORCE – i.e. Joseph Losey's exceptional THE CRIMINAL (1960) – while the failed prison break (in similar circumstances) also brings to mind Jacques Becker's masterful swan song, LE TROU (1960).

Like THE KILLERS (1946) before it, this was a Mark Hellinger production (it features no less than four actors from that film) and so would be Dassin's follow-up – THE NAKED CITY (1948). Miklos Rozsa's music is very good and subtly underscores the action. Unfortunately, the four flashback sequences added to the film to show that the hardened criminals here are good-natured people at heart, are mostly redundant and basically only serve to provide some female interest to the story; still, they are brief enough not be detrimental to the film's overall uncompromising bleakness. Incidentally, while screenwriter Richard Brooks was involved in this capacity with several noirs – the others being THE KILLERS itself, CROSSFIRE (1947), KEY LARGO (1948) and MYSTERY STREET (1950; which I recently acquired via Warners' fourth "Film Noir Collection" but have yet to watch) – he never revisited the genre once he graduated to the director's chair (though some sources do list his Mexican Revolution-set CRISIS [1950] and the crusading newspaper story DEADLINE – U.S.A. [1952] under this flexible banner).

Remember how brutal Caged was, and how it exposed the filth and danger in women's prisons? Check out Brute Force, the male counterpart which came out three years earlier. Burt Lancaster is the lead, personifying the title in only his second movie. He's in prison, alongside Charles Bickford, Jeff Corey, Sam Levene, John Hoyt, Jack Overman, Whit Bissell, and Howard Duff. Their prison cell, R17, is shown so often the film might as well have been titled after it, because the cell itself seems to become another character. Each man has a different story about how he became incarcerated, and through flashbacks, we learn the circumstances, and in some cases, the innocence of the men behind bars. It's a very interesting story, and even though the women billed in the opening credits, Ann Blyth, Yvonne De Carlo, and Ella Raines, have a mere five minutes apiece on the screen, it's effective since the movie is about the men and their deep desire for freedom.

Inside, the prison is run by spineless warden Roman Bohnen, who kowtows to the sadistic, manipulative guard Hume Cronyn. Art Smith plays the prison doctor, but since he's chronically drunk, his wisdom isn't taken seriously. As the movie starts, some of the prisoners play along to get on Hume's good side, but when conditions grow worse, they start planning an escape. If you like famous prison movies like The Great Escape and Escape from Alcatraz, you owe it to them to watch the grandfather of prison-break movies, Brute Force. This is a heavy movie, and at times very upsetting, but it's incredibly exciting and remarkably raw for its time. Strong parallels from The Shawshank Redemption have been drawn to Brute Force, and with good reason. If you liked that masterpiece, try out Burt Lancaster's version.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

I've read recent reviews of this film that condemn it for being "outdated" or not "relevant". Um, hello? This movie is is fifty-seven years old! As such, we are treated to typical 1940s Hollywood stereotypes and acting methods, not to mention references to the recently completed war. Yet, even within the pitfalls of the studio system, this film shines as a great example of film noir.

Director Jules Dassin is brilliant with light, and sets the example for the French "new wave" of cinema. Lighting Burt Lancaster from the side, or from underneath, makes him and the other actors look almost surreal.

Most of the dialogue is "clipped" and preposterous, but films from this era often suffer from this same problem. Yet "Brute Force" retains its original power simply by virtue of the dynamite performances, the stirring score, and the gritty techniques of Dassin.

I had to smile during the scene where Hume Cronyn's character turns up the Wagner on his hi-fi so the guards outside his door won't hear the inmate he's about to beat scream. This was mimicked during David Lynch's ground-breaking TV series "Twin Peaks" when a character turned up his radio before he beat his wife. Of course beating people isn't funny, but seeing obvious references in cinema is always a kick.

I highly recommend "Brute Force" to anyone who appreciates the art of film, great directing, and fine performances.

In every society, there are certain men who for lack of a Good Attorney, or perhaps, a bad decision on their part, they find themselves at the receiving end of court inflicted judgment. One thing societies forget or may be they don't want to know, is that the men they have imprisoned, will eventually get out. The harshness of their punishment at the hands of the Warden or the Prison Guards is what drives inmates to remember how to treat their next victim when they do get out. In this Robert Patterson story, " Brute Force " our hero is one Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) who comes to the attention of a most sadistic Captain of the Guards named Munsey (Hume Cronyn) (superior acting) who prides himself in knowing how to rule. His egotistic style pits him against Collins and every other prisoner at the prison. Directed by Jules Dassin, this early Black and White movie is a great example of find casting of superior talent. Men who will make their mark in other superior movies. Men such as Jeff Corey, Jay C. Flippen, Howard Duff and Whit Bissell. Throughout this story, audiences hate to root for the hero, as he is a convict. Nevertheless, when it comes to Burt Lancaster, we cannot help but feel that he may yet succeed. The end result of this memorable film is the making of a Classic and in looking back, few can argue otherwise. Superb Movie. ****