This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2017) |
Convict 13 | |
---|---|
Directed by | Edward F. Cline Buster Keaton |
Written by | Edward F. Cline Buster Keaton |
Produced by | Joseph M. Schenck |
Starring | Buster Keaton Sybil Seely Joe Roberts Edward F. Cline Joe Keaton Louise Keaton |
Cinematography | Elgin Lessley |
Edited by | Buster Keaton |
Distributed by | Metro Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 20 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages | Silent film English intertitles |
Convict 13 is a 1920 two-reel silent comedy film starring Buster Keaton. It was written and directed by Keaton and Edward F. Cline.
Buster plays golf one morning with a group of friends and after a disastrous start, drives his ball into a river but retrieves it after it is swallowed by a fish. Meanwhile a convict escapes from a nearby prison and makes his way to the golf course, as the prison guards give chase. Buster's ball is stolen by a dog and while he is retrieving it, he accidentally knocks himself out after the ball ricochets off of a shed. While he is unconscious, the prisoner switches clothes with him. The guards give chase and Buster attempts to escape by jumping into a passing car but it belongs to the prison warden and he is taken to jail.
From the prisoner number on Buster's clothes, he realizes that he is Convict 13 who is scheduled to be hanged that morning. Luckily Buster's girlfriend replaces the hangman's noose with a long elastic rope so that Buster bounces several times after the trapdoor is opened and survives. Buster is sent to smash rocks with a sledgehammer, where he accidentally knocks out a prison guard and steals his uniform in order to escape. At the same time a rowdy prisoner revolts in the prison yard and knocks out each of the guards one by one. Buster stumbles into the prisoner's path whilst escaping and the prisoner believes him to be another guard. Buster escapes the prisoner by locking a gate leading into another yard but the prisoner bends the bars of the gate and pursues Buster to the gallows, where Buster restrains him by tying him up using the elasticated noose used on him earlier.
Buster is "promoted" to Assistant Warden for his bravery but the now furious prisoner instigates a riot, then knocks out Buster, kidnaps his girlfriend and takes her out to the yard where the other prisoners have overpowered the guards. Buster recovers and using a punching bag which he attaches to the elasticated rope, knocks out all of the rioting prisoners by swinging it around his head as they run around the yard. Buster celebrates but he accidentally knocks himself out when he leans on a sledgehammer. However the scene then cuts back to Buster lying outside the shed at the golf course where he first knocked himself out, being woken up by his girlfriend - the events in the prison revealed to have been a dream.
In the film, Buster performs one of the most dangerous sight gags that he performed in vaudeville. In the words of Marie Dressler: "Buster would stand on a table in back of his father twirling a basketball tied to the end of a rope, while his father was trying to shave himself with a straight razor. And that ball kept getting closer and closer, all the sudden, BANG!" [1]
Folsom California State Prison is a California State Prison in Folsom, California, U.S., approximately 20 miles (32 km) northeast of the state capital of Sacramento. It is one of 34 adult institutions operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The Longest Yard is a 1974 American prison sports comedy-drama film directed by Robert Aldrich, written by Tracy Keenan Wynn, based on a story by producer Albert S. Ruddy, and starring Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lauter, Michael Conrad and James Hampton. The film was released as The Mean Machine in the United Kingdom and South Africa. The film follows a former NFL player recruiting a group of prisoners and playing football against their guards. It features many real-life football players, including Green Bay Packers legend Ray Nitschke.
The Playhouse is a 1921 American two-reel silent comic trick film written by, directed by, and starring Buster Keaton. It runs for 22 minutes, and is most famous for an opening sequence where Keaton plays every role.
Prison on Fire is a 1987 Hong Kong prison film directed by Ringo Lam and starring Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung Ka-fai. Yiu is a young advertising executive in Hong Kong. One night, defending his father from attack, he accidentally shoves a street thug in front of a bus. Sentenced to three years in prison, Yiu is "fresh meat" for the hardened criminals and triad stooges that run things, and is preyed upon by sadistic guard Scarface. The virtuous Ching befriends Yiu and becomes an ally. A sequel, Prison on Fire II, was released in 1991.
The Longest Yard is a 2005 American sports comedy film directed by Peter Segal and written by Sheldon Turner. A remake of 1974's The Longest Yard, it stars Adam Sandler as a washed-up former professional American football quarterback who goes to prison and is forced to assemble a team to play against the guards. The film co-stars Chris Rock, James Cromwell, Nelly, William Fichtner and Burt Reynolds, who played Sandler's role in the original.
Island of Fire is a 1990 Taiwanese-Hong Kong action film directed by Kevin Chu, and starring Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, Sammo Hung, Tony Leung Ka-fai and Tou Chung-hua. The film was shot in Taiwan and the Philippines in 42 days from 5 April until 17 May 1989. The film's theme song, "The Last Gunshot" (最後一槍) by Cui Jian, was written as a response to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in Beijing, China.
Lock Up is a 1989 American prison action film directed by John Flynn, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Donald Sutherland, John Amos and Tom Sizemore. It was released in the United States on August 4, 1989.
The Haunted House is a 1921 American two-reel silent comedy film starring Buster Keaton. It was written and directed by Keaton and Edward F. Cline. The film has a runtime of 21 minutes.
The Battle of Alcatraz, which lasted from May 2 to 4, 1946, was the result of an escape attempt at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary by armed convicts. Two Federal Bureau of Prisons officers—William A. Miller and Harold Stites—were killed. Three inmates were also killed during the incident. Fourteen other officers and one uninvolved convict were also injured. Two of the perpetrators were executed in 1948 for their roles.
Detained is a 1924 American silent comedy film starring Stan Laurel. In 2018, the Frisian Film Archive in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, was able to recover and restore a specific scene deemed lost. In "The Hanging Scene", Stan Laurel gets an extreme extended neck when he accidentally falls head first into the gallows, while trying to escape the prison. In 2017, a Dutch employee found the footage in their archive and after restoration the entire movie including the scene was uploaded to YouTube. The scene was to be shown at the Bristol Slapstick Festival in January 2018.
William Calcraft was a 19th-century English hangman, one of the most prolific of British executioners. It is estimated in his 45-year career he carried out 450 executions. A cobbler by trade, Calcraft was initially recruited to flog juvenile offenders held in Newgate Prison. While selling meat pies on streets around the prison, Calcraft met the City of London's hangman, John Foxton.
The Frozen North is a 1922 American short comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton. The film is a parody of early western films, especially those of William S. Hart. The film was written by Keaton and Edward F. Cline. The film runs for around 17 minutes. Sybil Seely and Bonnie Hill co-star in the film.
Jail Bait is a 1937 American short comedy film starring Buster Keaton.
San Quentin is a 1937 Warner Bros. drama film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, and Ann Sheridan. It was shot on location at San Quentin State Prison.
The Montana State Prison is a men's correctional facility of the Montana Department of Corrections in unincorporated Powell County, Montana, about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of Deer Lodge. The current facility was constructed between 1974 and 1979 in response to the continued degeneration of the original facility located in downtown Deer Lodge.
The Big Shot (1942) is an American film noir crime drama film starring Humphrey Bogart as a crime boss and Irene Manning as the woman he falls in love with. Having finally reached stardom with such projects as The Maltese Falcon (1941), this would be the last film in which former supporting player Bogart would portray a gangster for Warner Bros..
Rufe Persful was an American criminal, convicted of murder, kidnapping and robbery. He was considered one of the most dangerous criminals of his era by the authorities.
Within These Walls is a 1945 American drama film directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and written by Eugene Ling and Coles Trapnell. The film stars Thomas Mitchell, Mary Anderson, Edward Ryan, Mark Stevens, B.S. Pully and Roy Roberts. The film was released on July 13, 1945, by 20th Century Fox.
Truman Capote's The Glass House is a 1972 American made-for-television drama film starring Alan Alda, Vic Morrow, and Clu Gulager, directed by Tom Gries. It originally aired on CBS on February 4, 1972.