Brute Force (1947)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Cindy I

  
  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… More
  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 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.

• Arash X

  
  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

• Stella D

  
  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

• Ken S

  
  I love Dassin, but I just wasn't crazy about this one. Lancaster is great and the choice of angles is superb as well.

• Michael G

  
  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… More
  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 Calypso 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.

• Chris B

  
  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 of… More
  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 of 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!

• Jonny C

  
  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 his… More
  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 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.

• Tom S

  
  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.

Read all 8 featured audience ratings