Who knew Hume Cronyn could be so mean?
– Rating: 3/5 After reading all of the reviews on here and other sites talking about the gritty realism and violence of this film I was very disappointed when I finally located a copy. I think that I AM A FUGITIVE OF A CHAIN GANG blows BRUTE FORCE out of the water. And it was made 15 years earlier in 1932! Burt Lancaster and his cellmates keep knocking heads with Captain Monsey (played wonderfully by Hume Cronyn who steals the show) so finally after a revenge killing in the metal shop, a suicide and a handful of melodramatic flashbacks they lead a break-out/riot that doesn’t go exactly as planned. I like most of the scenes with Burt Lancaster (hell, he one of my favorite actors), but the stuff about the whiney warden and the softhearted doctor were killing me. Please this is supposed to be a prison movie. Then when they started in with the cellmate’s flashbacks I couldn’t help but roll my eyes – the tough guy in love with the girl in a wheelchair…spare me. Like I said watch I AM A FU
