Brubaker (1980)

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The film's based on an expose of actual occurrences at Arkansas' Cummins State Prison Farm, especially the secret convict burial ground found there.One thing for sure—this is not a date movie. Instead, it's a grim 2-hours redeemed by taking on a difficult topic, namely how some state prisons are run. Admittedly, the movie's lengthy, humorless, and undeviating in its narrative. But the 140-minutes is also richly detailed in its overall expose. Based on a true story, Redford plays a determined prison reformer who first impersonates an inmate in order to experience actual conditions at a prison farm. Then he assumes his official duties in casual dress, while continuing to mix with the convicts. Definitely, no romance here for movie star Redford.To say conditions at the penitentiary are corrupt understates them. The movie's quite good at showing how petty pay-offs decide who gets what among the inmates themselves, and then how the surrounding business community benefits from both inmate labor and the crops they produce. That's not to leave out state government and its slick go-betweens that tolerate the system since it does produce a profit.Determined to humanize brutal prison conditions, Redford takes a hands-on approach by daily eating and mingling with the convicts. Apparently, the higher-ups remain confident he'll be co-opted by the system at some point, just as previous reformers apparently were. However, they've underestimated his dedication, as even his politically liberal connection to the state governor, Lillian (Jane Alexander), finds out. Their low-key showdown is really the movie's most telling point. For it's the principled Redford's refusal to settle for a few changes that separates him from the more pragmatic Lillian. After all, only a few changes will leave the basically corrupt system in place. Redford understates his role in a generally emotionless way. And though he's in about every scene, he draws no attention to himself. Instead, as the pivotal convict Coombes, a commanding Yaphet Kotto gets the dramatic play. And in a touch of expert casting, the sly Murray Hamilton appears as a slippery politician who's used to smilingly fix things at the state level. The film's one false note occurs at the end,which is obviously staged. I can understand wanting to end on a hopeful note, but the uniform crowd response overdoes it. After all, wouldn't a few "realists" hang back in the interest of identifying with the new regime since that's where the future lies.Sad to say, I think the movie's also a reflection of too much of our current state of national affairs. On that national level, slick politicians maintain a system where the wealthy 1% rake off profits from a debt-ridden working class, kept in place by a growing government surveillance network. At the same time, our infrastructure crumbles like the prison roof in the movie. Of course, I'm not saying the country amounts to a prison, at least as long as the Constitution has some effect. But I am saying there are more parallels with Redford's movie than I'm comfortable with. Agree or not, the film is well worth pausing over.

The new warden (Robert Redford) of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.I don't think this is one of Redford's better-known films, and the true story it is based off of is not well known either. But it is a darn fine film, and if for no other reason, people should see it for the young Morgan Freeman. At this point in his career, he didn't even have the full "voice of God" yet.What I find most interesting about this story is not the treatment of the prisoners, but how those on the outside abused the system. In real life, did they really purchase all sorts of equipment that was never sent? That is major corruption. And the "slave labor" seems sketchy, even more questionable than the 13th Amendment's rules allow.

My favorite kind of dramas have been those regarding prisons and their attempt to reform inmates. In fact, my top 2 films all time are 1994's Shawshank Redemption and 1999's The Green Mile. This film, Brubaker may not reach that scale, but it's still a great movie that tackles the subject of prison corruption. The film is well-acted especially by Robert Redford. Stuart Rosenberg's film is about a man named Brubaker who is a new warden at this Arkansas prison. He disguises himself as a prisoner to witness the corruption firsthand. When he reveals himself, he enacts many changes which angers the local community because they benefited from the corruption. After Brubaker threatens to reveal secrets about old murders, Brubaker's life may be threatened. Robert Redford delivers another fine performance, a more subtle performance this time around. But as the man who is performing the right moral moves and receiving sneers and jeers from everyone around him, he does a great job withholding to the pressure. There were also good performances from the likes of Yaphet Kotto and Jane Alexander as well as an early great performance from Morgan Freeman.Overall, Brubaker is a very good film. It is not the best prison drama ever made, but it still is a highly entertaining one. The one thing I suggest would have worked was more scenes involving Brubaker's disguise. I felt the beginning of the film moved too fast. A good drama with some thriller aspects. The film shows that prison corruption is more real than it seems. I rate this film 9/10.

*** HERE BE SPOILERS *** Even at the time I remember 'Brubaker' being an overlooked film ... I told everyone i could about that film and even my parents, who went out anywhere about once ever 25 years or so, agreed it was a great movie ... one of the last things we agreed on certainly and one of the few things we agreed on ever ... but i think it says something in some way about this film basically, you've got the general outline of the story from other reviews but this is not your typical, southern prison film where even at the lowest levels of the prison system it is all about race ... this film has so much more to offer but first one plot hole ... Redford's character is the new warden of the prison but he goes undercover into the general population of the prison first for a while to see what is really going on in the prison ... this is a cool idea of course and you get to see how the prison really is, which is of course god-awful ... BUT how did he NOT get BUTT-RAPED??? seriously ... i'm not trying to be funny ... rape in prison is nearly as introductory as the lice-bath and it is not about sex (as many will point out and mention that Redford's good looking and all that) ... rape isn't about sex ... it's about power ... ask any psychologist or sociologist ... look at the statistics of how many rapes end in ejaculation (under 3% last time i looked some time ago) ... and in prison, well, it's all about power ... so how did he not get raped?? perhaps it's 1980 and people aren't ready for that ... or they thought maybe it was too much of a repeat of 'Deliverance' ... but just a big plot hole imho ...OK aside from that we see all the terrible things in the prison, etc ... and then Redford slips into a nearby phone booth and 'ta-da', changes into Super-Whitey, here to save the abused underclass of prisoners ....i'm being facetious ... the film brings out one truly horrible thing that's been going on and i won't spoil that bit plot turn ...but among the things found is a young Morgan Freeman's character who has basically been chained up like a dog for years and whose mental imbalance shows from it ... Freeman gives us an all out, frothing-at-the-mouth performance that gives way to subtleties we are now all familiar with from this very gifted actor ... but this was early in his Hollywood career and this was a big break for him indeed ... a great role and of course brubaker is the guy who can talk to this crazy man that the other guards, even the few good ones, disregard as nuts ... but from the mouths of babes and the lunatic fringe comes the truth ... and so it is for this relationship in the movie but one of the truly gut wrenching scenes is one where an old black trustee, one-eyed and spirit broken to an easy gentle submissiveness that gives him just enough motivation to push a broom basically, is told by brubaker who is looking at his file, that he should have been released YEARS before ... i haven't seen the movie in a while so don't recall the character's name or who played him but you'll know it when you see it of course ... the look on his face is one of the most haunting committed to celluloid ... but then the realization that he might actually HAVE to LEAVE the prison, the safe cocoon he's now so adjusted too and so comfortable in, makes the revelation one of truly horrific proportions ... we see a similar and longer-played out version of this in the immortal "Shawshank Redemption" where Brooks Hatlen is given his freedom after decades in prison and has become so institutionalized, there is no way he can adjust to the outside ... and we see our friend Morgan Freeman explaining this during this film also and nearly see his character succumb to choosing the path Brooks chooses in the film to deal with this terrifying reality ... quite a pair of bookends for Freeman in these two prison films ...anyway, don't miss this one ... it's probably easily found for a buck in a big bin at wal-mart ... or for a penny on amazon ... and don't miss the other films in this 13 year run of Redford's including his directorial debut from the same year, "Ordinary People", which is probably why "Brubaker" got overlooked so much ... when you can make Mary Tyler Moore into the Bitch of the Decade, well, you've done some Oscar-worthy directing, my friend lol ...also don't miss 'Electric Horseman' ... one of those anti-hero classics that gets overlooked as well ... a wild and wooly start that turns into a contemplation on the American condition that is another underrated classic imho and directed by one of my personal faves, Sydney Pollack