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Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford, Yvonne De Carlo, Ann Blyth ... see more see more... , Ella Raines , Howard Duff , Roman Bohnen , Howland Chamberlain , Edmund Cobb , Anita Colby , Jeff Corey , Jay C. Flippen , Richard Gaines , John Harmon , John Hoyt , Sir Lancelot , Sam Levene , Charles McGraw , James O'Reare , Jack Overman , Kenneth Patterson , Frank Puglia , Wally Rose , Art Smith , Tom Steele , Ray Teal , Crane Whitley , Vince Barnett , James Bell , Whit Bissell , Paul Bryar , Eddy Chandler , Virginia Farmer , Al Ferguson , Alex Frazer , Herbert Heywood , Al Hill , Rex Lease , Will Lee , Francis McDonald , Kenneth MacDonald , Frank Marlowe , Howard Mitchell , Gene Roth , Ruth Sanderson , Glenn Strange , Kippee Valez , Peter Virgo , Billy Wayne , Harry Wilson , Guy Beach , Rex Dale , Hal Malone , Don McGill , Blanche Obronska , Samir Rizkallah

Burt Lancaster had one of his first starring roles in this hard-hitting prison drama. Capt. Munsey (Hume Cronyn) is a cruel, corrupt prison guard who has his own less-than-ethical ways of dealing with... read more read more... inmates, enough so that Joe Collins (Lancaster) -- the toughest inmate in the cell block -- has decided to break out. Collins tries to persuade Gallagher (Charles Bickford), the unofficial leader of the inmates and editor of the prison newspaper, to join him, but Gallagher thinks Collins' plan won't work. However, Collins does have the support of his cellmates, most of whom, like himself, wandered into a life of crime thanks to love and good intentions. Tom Lister (Whit Bissell) was an accountant who altered the books so he could buy his wife a mink coat. Soldier (Howard Duff) fell in love with an Italian girl during World War II and took the rap for her when she murdered her father. Collins pulled a bank job to raise money to pay for an operation that could possibly get his girl out of a wheelchair. And Spencer (John Hoyt) made the mistake of getting involved with a female con artist. After Munsey drives Tom to suicide and prevents Gallagher from obtaining parole, Gallagher joins up with Collins and his men in the escape attempt. Director Jules Dassin would next direct the influential noir drama The Naked City; six years later, he would move to Europe after political blacklisting prevented him from continuing to work in the United States. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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88% liked it

1,398 ratings

Critics

91% liked it

11 critics

G, 1 hr. 34 min.

Directed by: Jules Dassin

Release Date: January 1, 1947

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DVD Release Date: April 17, 2007

Stats: 150 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (150)

  • webalina
    March 28, 2010
    webalina
    Excellent prison escape flick with Burt Lancaster butting heads with sadistic guard Capt. Munsey (a young Hume Cronyn -- imagine a more vicious version of Percy from The Green Mile). Several inmates at Westgate prison have come up dead or injured, and there is some suspicion that... read more Munsey's way of doing his job may be to blame. There are several pretty shocking scenes, and the scene where Munsey literally beats information out of one prisoner has an almost homoerotic S/M feel to it. The climactic battle between the guards and the inmates is as exciting as anything Hollywood has come up with in recent years, and the ending is satisfying. Highly recommended.
  • arashxak
    February 6, 2009
    arashxak
    What saves this movie from being a typical prison flick is its good ending although it would have been better without those crappy last lines said by the doctor
  • rubystevens
    October 3, 2008
    rubystevens
    gritty drama about a prison break. burt lancaster is outstanding in only his second film after a great debut in the killers and hume cronyn plays against type as a sadistic guard. there's some sappy melodrama in the flashback scenes but overall pretty damn good
  • kenstachnik
    September 2, 2008
    kenstachnik
    I love Dassin, but I just wasn't crazy about this one. Lancaster is great and the choice of angles is superb as well.
  • mjgildea
    May 18, 2007
    mjgildea
    Brute Force is like a film noir version of Shawshank Redemption, except not quite as good despite its influence. The characters for the most part are pretty good (even if they're not entirely convincing) and under Dassin's direction it looks beautifully gritty. The character of C... read morealypso was as annoying as Hume Cronyn was a weasely and rotten little shit while Burt Lancaster plays Collins almost effortlessly. The back stories involving "The Women On the Outside" seemed for the most part unnecessary, but the last ten minutes are brutal and so completely worth it.
  • fb208103125
    June 19, 2011
    fb208103125
    With a realistic and brutally honest ending, the film comes to an end. However, during the movie we are pulling for the criminals to make a daring escape. Each character has their own stories and backgrounds that make you care about their fates. The film captures the feeling o... read moref despair and the bars and darkened prison cells are all on display and bring about the feeling of a cage. These cages are filled with people and no matter how much Captain Munsey thinks he is in a position to do as he pleases, he never realizes that they are still human beings. He will reap what he sows down the line. Highly Recommended!
  • jonnycrumley
    April 6, 2010
    jonnycrumley
    Good prison movie staring Burt Lancaster. After one infraction too many, prison guard Cpt. Munsey assigns tough guy Collins (Lancaster) and his fellow prisoners to the dreaded drain pipe detail. With the support of his cellmates, Collins hatches an escape plan that could cost him... read more his life. Brute Force is well acted with a strong story. Many films of this era had tendencies to add a lot of sappy melodrama, but not this time, Brute Force never went down that path, and is on par with anything Hollywood has produced since. Overall, well worth hunting down.
  • smootysveen
    July 1, 2009
    smootysveen
    If you know you're in for real thick melodrama from the opening credits to the closing lines and you still go for it, then you're in for a perfectly constructed, gorgeously shot noir.
  • jam233
    March 19, 2010
    jam233
    81/100. This is certainly one of the best prison movies ever made. All the performances are good. Burt Lancaster is terrific, and this is the film that catapulted him to stardom. Hume Cronyn gives one of his best performances. Charles Bickford, Howard Duff, Ella Raines, Jay C. Fl... read moreippen, Jeff Corey and Whit Bissell are all very memorable.

    The film moves along fast and without a dull moment. Great score, the cinematography, and particularly the lighting are exceptional The plot is fascinating, thanks to the powerful screenplay. Jules Dassin direction is very controlled and precise making the film very taut and exciting.
  • GeorgeBailey88
    June 10, 2008
    GeorgeBailey88
    Hume Cronyn as a ruthless prison guard? I thought so too until I popped this baby in and found out just how sinister he could be as an actor. Definately a prototypical performance for future prison break movies. Speaking of which Burt Lancaster had a flair for these types of role... read mores. His character Joe Collins is like a powder keg of visceral rage. The ideas and mood of the inmates are all channeled through him. Great acting all around and how about the gritty realism of this picture? Each frame is like watching one of those old news reels that documented the inner workings of a maximum security prison during the mid twentieth century. Underrated noir film.

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Critic Reviews

Dave Kehr
April 8, 2008
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

The escape sequence has the spatial intricacy of the heist in Dassin's Rififi, but the tone is tougher, bleaker, and more suspenseful. Full Review

Variety Staff
April 8, 2008
Variety Staff, Variety

Bristling, biting dialog by Richard Brooks paints broad cameos as each character takes shape under existing prison life. Full Review

Bosley Crowther
March 25, 2006
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

Producer Joan Harrison, who seems to have profited from a long association with Alfred Hitchcock, and Director Irving Pichel have created mounting suspense which comes to a distinctly surprising and e... Full Review

Emanuel Levy
March 31, 2009
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Starring Burt Lancaster and cast against type Hume Cronyn, Dassin's first foray into noir is one of the bleakest and most powerful crime prison melodramas ever made, an existential chronicle that also... Full Review

April 8, 2008
TV Guide's Movie Guide

First rate all the way. Full Review

Pablo Villaca
June 18, 2007
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

Moralista, misógino e maniqueísta, este é um filme terrivelmente datado que tem como principal mérito o fato de ter sido fundamental para alavancar a carreira de Lancaster.

Sean Axmaker
April 26, 2007
Sean Axmaker, MSN.com

The title says it all in Jules Dassin's bare-knuckle prison thriller, one of the most brutal films about caged men ever made. Full Review

Tom Milne
June 24, 2006
Tom Milne, Time Out

This is one of Dassin's best films. Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
October 22, 2004
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Outdated prison film. Full Review

May 24, 2003
Film4

Flashbacks are used to enable the injection of love interests, but the still claustrophobic action and escape attempt make for an explosive climax. Full Review

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Brute Force Trivia

  • Who starred in all three of the following films; 'Judgement At Nuremberg', 'Elmer Gantry' and 'Brute Force'?  Answer »
  • In "Brute Force" (1947 - Jules Dassin), Burt Lancaster's character is   Answer »
  • What Movie is this Plot Line from? This movie is about a guard's sadistic action's leading to an explosive confrontation.   Answer »
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