The Age of Commercialism

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

A powerful indictment not just of the chain gangs, the penal system and the uncaring society that allowed such barbarities to flourish, but of politicians and their servant bureaucrats whose promises and assurances are so often deliberate lies and distortions. The tone of the movie is surprisingly anarchistic with the range of foes allied against our common-man hero (and he is just that, a hero in the classic heroic mould) extending all the way from the state governor down to his own wife. Every public official, no matter how humble his station, is suspect. And even the hero's brother, a sanctimonious do-gooder with an implicit trust in worthless conservative values, is presented most unsympathetically. Aside from his mother and his Chicago lawyer (who is presented fleetingly but significantly as a paid advocate), the hero has no friends but an ex-jailbird (Allen Jenkins), a chance prostitute (Noel Francis) and an inveterate, long-term convict (Edward Ellis), an anarchist by name and deed. To drive the message vividly home, the director has not only drawn forceful studies from his entire cast but has handled his scenes in short, sharply etched strokes, not a moment wasted. The pace is so fast that it's difficult to take in all the script's pointers on a single viewing. But if the dialogue is terse, the action scenes are even more taut, the chases presented with a frenzy that leaves the viewer gasping. It would be a pleasure to go through the players, one by one, handing out commendations to each, - the principals, Muni, Ellis, Jenkins, Foster, are all dynamic, though Hale Hamilton overdoes the purring unctuousness of the guileless clergyman whose naive stupidity and lack of cynicism is partly responsible for the hero's dilemma, - but I'll content myself with one: Glenda Farrell, in the best acting of her career, as the come-on who turns back-stabber. A wonderfully realistic and defiantly convincing performance!

I am a fugitive from a chain gang is a classic and not just in the sense that its old. this film follows a charismatic man come home from war and slowly loss his mind. when it starts of hes a perfectly fine adult, and that is saying something since his first scene is literally on a returning war ship. soon enough what change the military had on him takes its toll. it really doesn't take long to see where countless nights in a trench and a shine chunk of metal gets our main character. one could say that the following events save him. his following arrest and escape, as the title gives away, reinvigorate is once crushed dreams. it is only when thirsty tart stirs trouble for the escape does his mind take a swan dive below the bedrock. this movie isn't just a commentary on the issues of its time but a timeless reminder of the human condition.

Paul Muni's performance in this is incredible. He carries himself with such pride and grace and keeps it together through everything he goes through in this movie, but still conveys that tortured under layer. I think its great when a movie can take a political stance and have a role in the changing of politics. Paul Muni's tortured performance is what really makes an audience feel for this character that was innocent and forced to make deals to try to get out from under the justice system. I also loved the story and development, the rise and fall of Paul Muni's character and the range of experiences he has creates an interesting movie that is able to captivate and keep you entertained and invested throughout the entire film. I fully enjoyed this movie and would definitely recommend.

"I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" is a culturally and historically significant piece of film that highlighted the problem of injustice in its time. It also projects the story of James Allen in a relatable way that can be gauged to modern day. The "American Dream" of Allen's rise to prestige from nothing is conveyed as well as other lesser themes that can go unnoticed such as the struggles for returning veterans then and still today. The struggle to find a job and cope with the new world that a veteran returns too is briefly presented through James Allen's job hunt that only produces low paying odd jobs here and there across the country. Another relatable theme, or even cliché, that is often seen in even today's cinema is the main characters strive to do something more with their lives rather than fall into the familiar role of a cookie cutter pencil pusher that outside influences pressure the protagonist to become. Our protagonist James Allen eventually reaches the Chain Gang system in the south which is where the movies main overarching theme is realized. The corruption, misconduct, and legitimacy within the system at the time was brilliantly questioned and exuded within the film to give the audience an overall sense of what the chain gang was like. Paul Muni was brilliant in his role and i found many of the other in-depth characters to be likable as well. The film is a great work of film that i found enjoyable in each and every scene, especially the scene with the chain gang singing while they work as well as the poignant scene at the end which encompasses the overall message or lesson and provides cinema with one of its famous closers "I Steal."