I Like Prison Movies

Shhh, I have a secret. I like prison movies. Classic ones that is. I was just thinking about the movies I'’ve recoded off TiVo lately and it just dawned on me. In the past week or so I've watched Each Dawn I Die & 6,000 Enemies.

Each Dawn is prime Jimmy Cagney. While he's not a gangster in this film, he lives, breathes & nearly becomes one when he'’s sent to prison.

6,000 Enemies, which is probably lesser known than Each Dawn, is just as entertaining. Walter Pidgeon stars as a DA who gets framed and sent to prison. In prison, he's surrounded by criminals he's sent to jail - hence the 6,000 Enemies. To gain the confidence of his fellow inmates, he'’s shoved into a legal boxing match against the jailhouse "leader"” (the criminal "“boss "– whatever you'’d call him). While Walter gets the crap beaten out of him, it'’s replaced with respect from the other inmates who wanted to kill him anyway. This film has the most rushed ending I'’ve seen in a classic film in a long time. I won'’t blow the ending for you though...