Brute Force (Criterion Collection) | 
| Director: Jules Dassin
Actors: Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford, Yvonne De Carlo, Ann Blyth
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $27.38
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Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 31292
Format: Black & White, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 98 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 715515022828
UPC: 715515022828
EAN: 0715515022828
ASIN: B000MTEFOQ
Theatrical Release Date: June 30, 1947
Release Date: April 17, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW AND FACTORY SEALED
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Product Description
When a prison guard who sadistically beats prisoners finally becomes unbearable, the inmates stage a vicious riot.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: LANCASTER/CRONYN
Title: BRUTE FORCE
Street Release Date: 04/17/2007
Domestic
Genre: DRAMA
Amazon.com
Jules Dassin's brooding, brutal drama about a prison wound to the breaking point by a sadistic captain of the guards is a classic film noir as well as one of the greatest prison films ever made. Burt Lancaster (in only his third film but already commanding the screen like a pro) is the savvy prison veteran whose clashes with Hume Cronyn (the ambitious guard with a god complex) land him first in solitary then in the claustrophobic drain pipe, a muddy, airless work detail that slowly kills every man assigned to it. With the help of his cellmate buddies and former gangland boss Charles Bickford he hatches a plan to break out, but Cronyn has his own plans for the unbreakable prisoner. Dassin's oppressive prison is thick with atmosphere: cavernous buildings and halls that echo with the footsteps of inmates and the clanking of bars, overcrowded cells that seem to close in on the men, a busy machine shop where the film's most memorable scene takes place--the ruthless assassination of a stoolie in a pounding metal press. Cinematographer William Daniels, a master of Hollywood's soft-focus glamour, creates a harsh, hard-edged look for the film, softened only by looming shadows. A sense of doom hovers over everything, culminating in an explosive finale, but the barbaric, brutish violence hangs in the air long after the film is over. --Sean Axmaker On the DVD
Criterion's beautiful restored print of Brute Force is accompanied by a small collection of supporting materials, including a commentary track by longtime film noir experts Alain Silver and James Ursini. They give a good brief on the film's history, such as the disagreements between producer Mark Hellinger and director Jules Dassin on the subject of the movie's use of flashbacks--an approach that would break the claustrophobia of the prison sequences and introduce female characters. Hellinger wanted the backstory, Dassin objected, and the producer won; but the point is definitely arguable. Prison-movie specialist Paul Mason gives a useful 15-minute talk, partly on Brute Force and partly on the genre of prison movies. Criterion's booklet has an excellent essay by critic Michael Atkinson, a vintage 1947 profile of the colorful columnist-turned-producer Hellinger, and an intriguing, bitter exchange of letters between Hellinger and Production Code chief Joseph Breen on the subject of the film's censorship problems. --Robert Horton
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Prison Melodrama Done Right January 1, 2009
Kinohi Nishikawa (Durham, NC USA)
Long before *The Green Mile* and *Prison Break*, the French director Jules Dassin made *Brute Force*, a melodrama about men's lives in a prison system intent less on social rehabilitation and more on draconian punishment. The film's liberal-humanist approval of rehabilitation is movingly captured by the inmates' flashbacks to their lives before prison: men struggling to do good for their girlfriends, wives, and families. These men are pit against Hume Cronyn's unforgettable Captain Munsey, a power-hungry social Darwinist and Westgate Penitentiary's shrewd enforcer of the institutional code. In the conflict between the inmates and Munsey, Dassin crafts an affecting narrative about heroism, survival, and postwar American masculinity.
The Criterion transfer is crisp and clear. William Daniels's black-and-white cinematography is particularly resonant in the shadowy nighttime scenes that take place behind the prison's walls. This edition of the movie also features a few illuminating extras, including commentary by noir specialists Alain Silver and James Ursini as well as an interview with Paul Mason on *Brute Force*'s importance in the history of film representations of prison life.
While parts of the movie can be melodramatically overwrought (e.g., during the flashback sequences), *Brute Force* is a landmark of film noir and prison cinema, and is well worth watching in this powerful Criterion edition.
a fine movie July 19, 2007
Ted M. (Pennsylvania, USA)
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
Brute Force is about a group of people attempting to escape from a prison. The prison has a particularly sadistic guard who beats the prisoners savagely. The film also has a prison riot in it which is somewhat intense.
The special features are audio commentary by Alain Silver and James Ursini, an interview with Paul Mason, author of a book on the depiction of prison life in popular culture, a trailer and a photo gallery.
This was an exciting film and is sure to please.
 Brute Force June 21, 2007
John Farr
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Made just prior to "Naked City," Dassin's gritty prison melodrama puts a twist on the archetypal bust-out scheme by revisiting, in flashback, the pre-penitentiary lives of Collins--ably played by an intense young Lancaster--and his crew, colorfully brought to life by character actors Whit Bissell, Howard Duff, and John Hoyt. In a fine performance, Charles Bickford appears as the prison's gruff de facto leader and newspaper editor who throws in his lot with Collins. The other ace in Dassin's deck is Cronyn, playing a corrupt, savage prison guard bent on bringing "discipline" to his inmates, while nursing a megalomaniacal ambition to replace the wimpy Warden. Aside from the ominous noir visuals, Dassin explores issues endemic to prison life and wraps them up in an ugly finale meant to evoke a Nazi bloodbath.
Brute Force May 12, 2007
dhmes (Texas)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Excellent movie! Unlike today's movies with lots of special effects and very little story developement with dialogue, this movie is the opposite.
A must-see for all Burt Lancaster fans.
WE ARE ALL TRAPPED! April 8, 2006
Kenneth Kapel (Chicago,Il, USA)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
"BRUTE FORCE", ever since I first saw it on TV forty years ago,has been one of my favorite films.Directed with great vigor by Julues Dassin,it tells the story of "the men on the inside",and "the women on the outside.Burt Lancaster,Jeff Corey,Howard Duff,and John Hoyt,are some of the men "on the inside",Ann Blyth,Ella Raines,Anita Colby,and Yvonne DeCarlo are the woman on" the outside".Hume Cronyn gives a masterfull performance as the sadistic,fascist Caption of the guards.All the male characters, which also includes Charles Bickford,Sam Levine,and Roman Bohnen (as Warden Barnes) are oustanding,the women less so.This is not an easy DVD to get,so I wish someone maybe Universal,the original releasing company,would come out with a full-length commetary,with a special emphasis ,on the political repercussions that were felt by many members of the cast and crew of this and other left-leaning films.The films message is definitily anti-capitalist.The film rates 5 Stars,the DVD,with no special features rates a 3 and half Star rating.
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