The Greatest Jailbreak Scenes In TV And Film
By Samantha Abernethy in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 20, 2012 11:00PM
Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption
In case you haven't followed the story of the high-rise prison escape, it's fascinating. Someone is probably buying the movie rights as we speak. Two men tied bedsheets together into a makeshift rope and used it to climb 17 floors down, where they allegedly got into a cab. It's all a little unbelievable.
That's why we compiled some of the greatest jailbreak scenes of all time. Unfortunately the two men who escaped from the Metropolitan Correctional Center aren't as harmless as Andy Dufresne and Red Redding. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of convicted bank robbers Jose Banks and Kenneth Conley. While we wait for the great story of the capture of Banks and Conley, let's watch these great escapes.
Shawshank Redemption: Let's start with the obvious.
Escape From Alcatraz: We couldn't find a single scene for you, so here's the trailer. You might as well just watch one of Clint Eastwood's finest works.
Steve McQueen, in possibly his most physically demanding role as French convict Henri Charrière, tried and tried in 1973's Papillon. Charrière made numerous attempts to flee the penal colony in French Guiana. The last and successful one involved a bag of coconuts.
Finding Nemo: Let's lighten things up. After all, Nemo spent some time in the tunnels, too.
Out of Sight: In a "meet cute" that could only be written by Elmore Leonard, bank robber Jack Foley (played by George Clooney) breaks out of a Florida prison and in the process abducts federal marshal Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez) on his way to his getaway card driven by Ving Rahmes. Clooney and Lopez proceed to emit serious chemistry while locked in the trunk of thee getaway car.
Dukes of Hazzard: Yes, this clip includes the infamous General Lee.
Face/Off: No cinematic list is complete without at least one Nicolas Cage film. We went with Face/Off, but ConAir's high-flying escape was a close second — it was disqualified because technically Cage's character was going to be released anyway.
The Three Stooges in 3 Dumb Clucks: We don't remember how the Stooges got into prison, but that doesn't really matter.
Grand Illusion: Jean Renoir's epic tale of French WWI prisoners repeated attempts to escape their German captors set the stage for The Great Escape, Stalag 17, and all other war films after it.
A Man Escaped: Director Robert Breeson drew inspiration from the memoirs of André Devigny, a Frenc POW in WW II, to tell the story of Fontaine, a French Resistance member who put together an elaborate plan to escape from Montluc prison, where 7,000 men died at the hands of the Nazis.
The Dark Knight: We went with the Joker's escape from the second film in the latest Batman series, but Batman's escape in The Dark Knight Rises is a worthy addition, too.
The Great Escape: Steve McQueen makes a second appearance on this list thanks to his famous motorcycle jump over the fences of a German POW camp.
Toy Story 3: Let's get animated again. Here is a featurette on the escape from Sunnyside daycare.
Toy Story: Toy Story 3 was one great jailbreak after another, escaping from the trash, the evil daycare, or an industrial incinerator. It's fantastic. We couldn't pick just one, so we're taking it back to the original Toy Story with this scene from Sid's house.