Very well executed

An unexpected masterpiece

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

When Bogie once said he made more stinkers than any other actor in Hollywood, one can laugh, but sadly San Quentin can also be one of those stinkers.With an all star cat of O'Brien, Sheridan, and Bogart; it's hard to really think of this film being a let down.In a prison drama with Pat O'Brien taking over, and Bogart's typical 1930's gangster role being thrown in the pen, it's not the actors fault in this movie. Red (Bogart) is as all other gangsters he played in most films from these days, a bad seed. O'Brien is the officer in charge of the prison but really not a bad guy, while dating Red's sister (Ann Sheridan), Red is slowly planning an escape from the prison.Surely it's not one you can remember Bogie by as he was not given much to work with from the start, and Ann Sheridan was in many gangster related pictures, San Quentin falls in the category of the forgettable ones from the classic Hollywood era. I give this movie a 5 out of 10 just for the strong cast. It has a good outline plot but it's poorly executed and serves as a missed opportunity of things that could have worked in this film. Overall if you're collecting Bogart's movies, this is one you can watch and line up on the shelf.

"San Quentin" was Humphrey Bogart's 21st picture, his fifth of seven in the year 1937 alone, and the ninth following his 1936 breakthrough in "The Petrified Forest." In this one he plays Joe "Red" Kennedy, who goes to the titular big house as a young tough and comes under the wing of an even tougher bird, "Sailor" Hansen, well played, as usual, by Warner Bros. character actor Joe Sawyer. The new "captain of the yard," underplayed nicely by the always dependable Pat O'Brien, enters into a romance with Kennedy's sister May, a sassy and brassy nightclub singer appealingly portrayed by Ann Sheridan, whilst causing resentment in the previous captain, the forever growling Barton MacLane. This was an important role for Bogey, in a relatively minor (though undeniably fun) picture, in that it provided him with his first "criminal with a heart of mush" role, a role that would see its apotheosis four years later in "High Sierra." "San Quentin" is a remarkably compact film, and it really is something how much action and story are crammed into its brief 70 minutes. Director Lloyd Bacon does keep things moving; his film is filled with swiftly delivered, hard-boiled patter, and an aborted prison strike, an escape attempt, a dynamite high-speed car chase, a romance and even a nightclub number (Ann's rendition of the very bright and bouncy "How Could You?") keep things percolating right along. There is no flab or wasted moments in this Warner Bros. outing, that's for sure! Although not quite in the same exalted league as Bogey's next picture, "Dead End," "San Quentin" does still deliver the goods. It is a must-see for fans of any of the stars mentioned above, especially for those who want to see Bogey's star early on and unmistakably on the rise....

This is one of those odd situations where the actors were some big names and decent in their performances, and the story wasn't bad....yet there wasn't much appeal to it, either. Only the action scene in the last 10-15 minutes provided any spark to this film which was too flat, for the most part.The story was about a new guy in charge of the San Quentin prison yard who was going to be humane and make things work. Pat O'Brien plays that guy, "Capt. Steve Jameson." The previous man in charge is a nasty, corrupt bird named "Lt. Druggin," who Barton MacLane plays effectively well. In the meantime we have the featured crook, "Red Kennedy," played by Humphrey Bogart, who almost always played villains in his 1930 films, and we have his sister "May" played by Ann Sheridan. O'Brien has the hots for her and promises to be fair to her brother. "Red," however, is too paranoid and stupid to appreciate what's done for him and that's when we get to the interesting finale to the film.Overall, not bad but not worth watching a second time. At 70 minutes, at least it didn't overstay its welcome.

This is an early Humphrey Bogart film in which he plays a tough young hood about to start his first stretch in prison. At the same time this occurs, a new supervisor of the guards (Pat O'Brien) begins working there--taking the place of the sadistic and brutal Barton MacLane. It seems MacLane was demoted due to the way he treated the prisoners and it was obvious early on that he had it out for O'Brien and would try to get his revenge.At the same time all this is occurring, O'Brien coincidentally meets Bogart's sister (Ann Sheridan). They hit it off great and when O'Brien is later lenient with Bogart, the prisoners begin talking as if this is being done strictly because O'Brien is dating Bogart's sister. Eventually, these rumors make it back to now model prisoner Bogart who vows to break out of jail, as he doesn't want anyone doing him favors (yeah, right--most prisoners would LOVE to try to exploit a situation like this). But, after Bogart breaks out (thanks to help from MacLane), he realizes that O'Brien is a swell guy and honestly wanted to help, so, shot and wounded, he crawls his way back to prison to turn himself in--thus saving O'Brien's reputation as a tough but very fair captain of the guards. Sure.While the script is pretty syrupy in places and tough to believe, the production values are high and the acting and dialog are very good and typical of an A-quality Warner Brothers film. Exciting and fun to watch but also with some faults in plotting as well as an impossible to believe ending.