Jules Dassin

 Jules Dassin




Brute Force (1947)




RANKED:


1. Brute Force (1947)


Perhaps one of the more original 'prison break' films one could find, 1947's "Brute Force" can be said to have originated many of the tropes found in the standard 'prison break' film. Directed by Hollywood director Jules Dassin, the film stars Burt Lancaster as a determined prisoner who leads a rebellion amongst the prisoners against the tyrannical prison guards in order to somehow manage to escape. "Brute Force" often gets the 'noir' label stamped on it, as many brutal and bleak Hollywood films at the time did, but it demonstrates the blackness at the heart of the typical noir: an inescapable fatalism of a tragic anti-hero.

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