Memorable, crazy movie

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I was really very shocked...pleasantly shocked...when the film began. The narration was among the most vivid and vicious I can ever recall hearing at a film's introduction! You can clearly tell this is NOT one of those films that is anti-prisoner but is an exposé of sorts about the evils of this particular prison! In many ways, the toughness and style remind me of another classic film..."Brute Force".Soon the prison has a riot and several prisoners try to escape. A couple guards are killed and the psychotic Warden (played wonderfully by Ted de Corsia) seems almost happy about it! Now he can really make the prisoners' lives hell! He also beats the ring leader half to death...and seems to take pleasure doing this. He also uses stoolies...and then deliberately exposes them to the retribution of their fellow prisoners...all for kicks! It's obvious that the place is horrible even by prison standards...thanks to this sociopath. Not surprisingly, a new Captain of the Guards is brought in from the outside (David Brian). He's not a sadist but has plans on straightening out the system and restoring humanity to Folsom. Surprisingly, the Warden lets him implement his reforms...but you also realize that sooner or later, the Captain's days are numbered and the Warden will attempt to destroy the Captain.Overall, this is a very impressive film. After all, the film stars a lot of folks who are normally supporting actors and they all acquit themselves very well. This is also thanks to a taut script and excellent direction. Well worth seeing...and far better than I'd anticipated!

***SPOILERS*** Excellent behind bars or prison film narrated by Charles Lung, as the voice of Falsom Prison, on how brutal the US Prison System was at the turn of the 20th Century and how men of consciouses and humanity went as far as risking their careers as well as in some cases their live in order to correct it.Falsom Prison run by the take no BS and give no mercy warden Ben Ricky, Ted de Corsia, has become so untenable for the convicts sent there that they were more then willing to risk their lives, as well as take the lives of others,in making attempts to break out of it. It's when the new second in command Mark Benson, played by future Mister District Attorney David Brian, got there that things started to improve for the prisoners to the point that even the most hardened convicts accepted their being incarnated there as long as they were treated humanely. ***SPOILER ALERT*** It was Warden Rickey who's brutal actions, that he mostly participated in himself, against the prisoners that soon lead to a major prison breakout that cost the lives of some dozen convicts as well as his own. That despite Benson's best efforts in trying to prevent it. It was the soon to be paroled convict Red Pardue, Philip Carey, who touched off this bloody break-out by informing on fellow convict Nick Ferretti, William Campbell, who was about to make a break out that would have, in Parude driving the truck that Ferritti was hiding in, cost him his release. In fact Prude saved Ferretti's, who's in for murder one, life by preventing him from breaking out which would have ended up with him being shot down before he made it to the prison walls or high wire electrified fences. With Warden Ricky instead of putting Pardue in protective custody until his release from prison putting him into the general prison population he ended up getting killed, by a boobie trap explosion, a day before he was t be released from jail.**SPOILERS*** Convict Chuck Daniels, Steve Cochron,who's been planning a break-out for years sees his chance not only to break out of Falsom Prison but get even with those who were responsible for the death of his good friend and fellow convict Red Pardue convicted murderer Ferretti and the two bit white collar hood and official Folsom Prison plumber Tinker, Dick Wesson, who dynamited Pardue to death! All hell breaks loose as Danial & Co. make their escape attempt with warden Ricky instead of defusing the situation actually inflames it. With everything going to pot and the national guard called in to prevent the bloodshed Daniel and a number of his attempted escapees brake into Ferretti and Tinker's cell to exact Justice, prison justice, on them. As things turned out the justice that Daniel's & Co. exacted was to backfire on them as well!It was this failed prison break out that cost the lives of over a dozen prisoners and prison guards, including warden Ricky, that finally got the state of California to put into its prison the reforms that Mark Benson was asking for. Those behind bars in Folsom Prison or any other prison in the country did forfeit their rights as free man and women for the crimes that they committed in being sent there. But by brutalizing them like Warden Ricky did it made them even worse and caused them to takes the kind of actions that unlimitedly ended up not only taking their but innocent persons, convicts and prison guards, lives as well!

"Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison", brutal warden Ted de Corsia (as Ben Rickey) cracks down hard on inmates who don't follow the rules, tripling sentences and making sure troublemakers are either shot dead or smacked upside the head. He favors hard-edged discipline, but newly arrived captain David Brian (as Mark Benson) wants Folsom to try a more humane approach with the prisoners. As the two men clash, the inmates contemplate the hellish conditions. Serving a life term, leader Steve Cochran (as Chuck Daniels) is planning an escape. Future "One Life to Live" star Philip Carey (as Red Pardue) wants to stay out of trouble...Another in a long line of Warner Bros. productions encouraging better conditions those confined for wrongdoing, this one was written and directed by veteran actor Crane Wilbur. He makes the point. Supposedly, this film inspired Johnny Cash to write his classic "Folsom Prison Blues" (1955), but there are no train whistles, and plenty of sunshine herein; in fact, Mr. Cash copped his song from Gordon Jenkins' album "Seven Dreams" (1953). The escape plotted by Mr. Cochran is captivating. Early in the running time, "Dark Shadows" paroled convict Anthony George is the man holding the knife up near Mr. De Corsia's jugular.****** Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (5/18/51) Crane Wilbur ~ Steve Cochran, David Brian, Philip Carey, Ted de Corsia

Who narrates? A snippet of this film is played in "Walk The Line", and the snippet has turned me into a whirling dervish. The narrator voice I CANNOT get out of my head. I have been on the main message board already. Any help would be appreciated. The narrator sounds like the burning bush voice in The Ten Commandmants. I know it is supposed to be Heston as the God voice in the Ten Commandmants, but ......I am not sure. The two voices, narrator Inside Folsom Prison, burning bush Ten Commandmants sound the same to me and I Do not think it was Charlton Heston. I don't know how much can be done with sound manipulation in the 50's. Is anyone else hearing what I am hearing or am I just crazy? Please see main message board, Trivia for thread of answers. Thanks for any help.