A new year and a new decade and already bad news where a zoo, in Germany, near Holland, lost most of their apes-chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas plus their bats and birds. This was caused by people who lit candles in Bags and let them float up. It is banned in Germany but people did it anyway and a few landed on the ape enclosure and bat enclosure and it went up in flames. This is devastating and so sorry to start off with this but it really has upset me. I just hope the individuals are caught and that 2020 will also have this zoo spring back from this devastation, the fires end in Australia and we hear less deranged nuts shooting people and places up. Ok..sorry....this is the start of a new weekly pick of 3 films that follow a theme. This is the brainchild of Wandering Through The Shelves and this week is all about Escape. This is broad ranging but I went with 3 films that just popped into my head and here they are...
1. I WAS A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG-1932
This film really got under my skin when I saw it and it addressed the deep issues of how mistreated prisoners were and, because of this film, an overhaul was being looked at. A young man gets wrongfully convicted of a crime because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is convicted for 10 years hard labour but he escapes and becomes a success but married a shrew. It goes on from there and you are taken in by this man’s plight and hope he succeeds. A gritty, realistic film with some fine acting. I need to see this again.
2. THE DEFIANT ONES-1958
This is another great film that I want to see again. It stars Tony Curtis and Sydney Poitier as 2 convicts shackled together when the prison vehicle gets into an accident. They escape but must work together since they are still shackled. They hate each other, mainly due to Curtis’s bigotry, but soon this begins to change as they are not able to escape one another and soon develop a bond and a strong friendship that can’t be torn apart. Well acted with a great plot and character study.
3. ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ-1979
I am sticking with prison outbreaks, obviously. This is based on a true story starring Clint Eastwood who is a prisoner on the rock who deals with all sorts of bad asses and decides to escape this unescapable prison. He brings in 2 other men and they slowly figure out an escape plan and it is a doozy! To know more, see the film or watch a documentary on this because this has turned out to be one of the biggest mysteries where many shows have spoken about this. Personally I think they did get away.
Bonus
THE GREAT ESCAPE-1963
I had to include this great adventure/action film with an all star cast starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, Donald Pleasance( who really was in a POW camp) and Charles Bronson. The German army Nazis, Gestapo built a camp for all the POW men who are repeat escape offenders. The prisoners end up devising a huge escape from the 3 tunnels they start to dig. Of course, the film is not accurate since the Canadians were big in the real life escape which is not shown but this is a great movie worth seeing.
Which films would you choose?
I had to include this great adventure/action film with an all star cast starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, Donald Pleasance( who really was in a POW camp) and Charles Bronson. The German army Nazis, Gestapo built a camp for all the POW men who are repeat escape offenders. The prisoners end up devising a huge escape from the 3 tunnels they start to dig. Of course, the film is not accurate since the Canadians were big in the real life escape which is not shown but this is a great movie worth seeing.
Which films would you choose?
Alcatraz and the Great Escape were the first two that popped into my head. Great minds and all that, lol.
ReplyDeleteThose candle fireworks are awful. We banned them in our community, but other areas allow them.
That zoo news made me so sad. Maybe this is the decade they finally understand that is not a place for animals.
ReplyDeleteWe match The Great Escape! I couldn't not pick it as it is such a great, great film. And McQueen on the motorbike, that gets all my love.
Beyond tragic what happened at that zoo.
ReplyDeleteClint Eastwood in any film is a good pick.
I'll go with No Escape with Ray Liotta and Lance Henricksen.
What an awful story, I didn't even hear about that until now. That's so sad.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen any of your picks this week but I'm at least familiar with the last two. The Defiant Ones is on my list as I want to see more of Poitier.
I had not heard about the zoo, that’s awful. All these “celebrations” - lanterns, balloon releases etc - are a danger to animals and litter the planet, even if biodegradable.
ReplyDeleteTerrible news to start a year with. Some people just never consider the consequences of their actions.
ReplyDeleteLOVE I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang! I think it's Paul Muni's best onscreen performance and the film surrounding him is a tense well-made one.
The Defiant Ones is another expertly crafted piece of cinema. Tony Curtis was such a terrific performer before he seemed to give up and just became a lazy shadow of what he was in his youth.
Escape from Alcatraz is a good Eastwood film, no classic but a solid actioner.
I went minimalistic with mine, at least as far as the titles are concerned.
Escape (1940) American Mark Preysing (Robert Taylor) arrives in Nazi Germany searching for his mother, one time stage star Emmy Ritter (Nazimova) a German native who has gone missing. Discovering she has been arrested, interned in a concentration camp and scheduled for execution on trumped up charges he turns to a sympathetic American expatriate Countess Ruby von Treck (Norma Shearer) to formulate a plan and attempt an escape.
Escape (1948) Matt Denant (Rex Harrison), newly released from the Air Corps after the war’s end, is wrongly convicted of a crime and sentenced to be imprisoned for three years. Managing to escape he takes flight, at times literally, and with the help of local girl Dora Winton (Peggy Cummins) he attempts to flee his unjust punishment. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Escape (aka The McKenzie Break) (1970) In a remote northern Scotland POW camp German submarine Capitan Willi Schlüter (Helmut Griem) challenges the authority of the camp’s Commanding Officer, Major Perry (Ian Hendry) leading to major conflicts. British Army Captain Jack Connor (Brian Keith) arrives to investigate what he believes to be escape attempts. While he looks into matters Schlüter leads an escape party through a hidden tunnel and the chase is on!
Awful about the zoo.
ReplyDeleteSeen them all but the first, Great picks indeed. I think they got away too. No Escape and Shawshank Redemption come to mind.
I haven't seen "The Great Escape" in years. It used to be on one of the networks every year, when the networks still showed movies.
ReplyDeleteThere have been a number of films, TV series, and made for TV movies that have told the story of Colditz, the castle in Germany where the Nazis kept officers that kept trying to escape. Those are always fascinting.
Oh those poor animals. How can people be so foolish to send flames into the air. I recognize a couple of these, and the ones I do, I really enjoy. Happy new year. hugs-Erika
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure.
ReplyDeleteI saw that doc on the escapees from Alcatraz. I don't know if I'm convinced they made it.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of all your films, but I don't think I've seen any of them. I'm not really an escape film sort of gal. Sad to hear of the zoo. I hadn't heard that news. (I've been watching The Morning Show on Apple TV the past few days. Great show.)
The first one that (immediately) popped into my mind was the great 'PAPILLON'.
ReplyDeleteSecond choice, 'COOL HAND LUKE'.
And I'm not sure what my third choice would be.
Oh, WAIT! Yes, I am!...
It would be 'ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST' - and that would actually be #1, not #3.
Thinking about the subject in a different way, I could even mention 'THE TEN COMMANDMENTS'. Ya know? Like, how the Israelites escaped Egypt?
[;-)
~ Stephen
DogGtor of Alcohology &
King of Inebriation Nation
You may have noticed I didn’t stop by to visit, or I didn’t host my own Second on the 2nd. The reason is quite simple. Wednesday evening, just as I was saying good-bye to my dear friends SC and ND who dropped by to wish me a happy new year, my electricity went out. When I looked outside and saw the neighbors across the street, whose lights NEVER go out when mine do were also out, I knew it wasn’t a blown transformer. My friends decided to stay to see what the problem was. Not more than three or four minutes later, we heard sirens, not just police, but fire, too. We knew it sounded close, so we walked in the direction of the sirens. It was quite dark, but my friends had their cell phone lights to guide them. Two blocks west and one block south we saw that someone in a big truck had hit a light pole so hard, it knocked it over and stretched the wire so hard, the electricity went off in the area on one side, while the other side was draped over someone’s house and was zapping live sparks on the ground in the road.
ReplyDeleteAt first we thought it was a drunk driver, but after the ambulance arrived, we saw the man either had a heart attack or possibly a seizure. As the electric company was arriving, they told the crowd it would be at least a day before we would get our power back. Instead of staying home in the cold and dark, my friend SC, who lives in another town, invited me to her home. I am just now getting home. Even though she has an I-Pad, I don’t know the password that gets me onto blogger (which is stored on my computer only). I’ll be back soon, just want you to know why I wasn’t around to visit and play host. The electricity is on (I’m not sure how long it’s been on), but it’s freezing here. Thanks for understanding, dear friend.
As always, I haven't seen or heard of most of these. However, I was also saddened by the thought of the zoo losing all their wonderful animals. I can only imagine the screams they made as they couldn't get out.
It was a woman with her adult daughter who set up that stupid balloons. They went to the police to report. They go to prison and have to pay millions (they surely do not have). I bet in the end they will not go to prison and won´t pay... They felt "sorry" for what they´d done, it was said in the news. I´d feel very dumb!
ReplyDeleteI´ve come over frome Elizabeth and Bleubeard, btw.
Alcatraz I´ve seen, the rest sounds very interesting, too!
I hadn't heard about that zoo tragedy. What a dreadful thing to happen. I too hope they catch the perpetrators.
ReplyDeleteAlcatraz popped into my mind too. For once, I have seen most of the pictures you pickee. Wonders will never cease.
Escape Room
ReplyDeleteor
Finding Nemo - That word is spelled like escape.
Lots of great films in this category. I've seen all your picks and they are good ones. Several others have already been mentioned in the comments and I've seen most of those as well.
ReplyDeleteIn trying to think of another one that I didn't see mentioned, a Werner Herzog film about Vietnam came to mind. Based on a true story, Rescue Dawn is a grueling account of the escape of some American prisoners from a small Viet Cong prison outpost. With Christian Bale in the lead role the film is especially good.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
I haven't seen any of those movies. The first one that popped to mind was "Fortress," a cheesy sci-fi movie from the early 90s staring Christopher Lambert.
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ReplyDeleteI did not know about the zoo. That's devastating. As is Australia's fires.
ReplyDeleteThe only movie listed above that I saw was The Great Escape and it was amazing. Definitely a classic.
Here's hoping for more good news and less bad.
That zoo fire is so tragic and awful. People suck.
ReplyDeleteEscape films? One of my all-time favorite films definitely qualifies: The Shawshank Redemption. I don't think anything can touch it.
I also love Under the Tuscan Sun and Eat, Pray, Love, even though they're about a different kind of escape. I know Eat, Pray, Love had its vomit-inducing moments, but if you can ignore or skip over the romance in Bali, it's worth seeing.
So, once again, I am lax I. Responding to all your great comments and love some of the films you chose. Joel I will and must see all 3 of your escape films. Shawshank is a brilliant film that I love but chose before. I am glad J. H. You went outside the box because they are Great Escape films to go with especially Under the Tuscan Sun.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's Shawshank Redemption for me as well... pretty much the ultimate "escape" movie. There was a film from back in the 1960s called "The Collector" which was both creepy and alluring and dealt with escape as a theme... and it doesn't end the way one would expect. Have you seen this one, sis?
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ReplyDeleteI’ve seen a couple of these. I’m going to look for the Defiant One.
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