I had not seen this until the other day, last time was over 40 years ago. I found my self thinking...wow that's Joe Pesci, that's Curtis Mayfield, that's Freddie Fender, that's Luis Guzman, that's Bruce Davison, and on and on, sometimes so young they're barely recognizable, you're thinking it can't be, but then it is, kinda like Cuckoo's Nest. So you have this huge cast, sometimes mainly famous as major music stars, all jammed together as cons united in one thing only, their lethal hostility to the "short-eyes, the chomo, the child molester. Even his few fellow white con-mates reject and despise him in this well known hierarchy of power and hate, brought to it's natural apogee in prison, where respect and power gain huge currency when there's nothing else to place value on, and social position isn't buffered and diffused by anything.
Written by an ex-con, who also shows up in the film, sort of like Edward Bunker did in Straight Time with Dustin Hoffman and Theresa Russel and Gary Bussey and Emmet Walsh, to name a few in that great prison flick.
There's no shortage of prison movies and over the decades the styles and security protocol's change, and this is no exception. The style of a 1977 NYC hell-hole is different from a 50's Alcatraz, or that super modern fictionalized thing with Stallone and Schwarzenegger, I think it was called Escape....but the Hatred and Frustration are always ready to explode in all these movies, and here an entire staff and every prisoner, some profoundly perverted themselves, are united in persecuting just one underdog, the Short-Eyes, who is automatically at the bottom of the Prison pecking order, as they often are out here, but vastly intensified in so claustrophobic an environment, where a special amplified premium is placed on WHO YOU ARE, not what you have.
It's dated in some senses, which gives it interest as a period piece, but pretty spot on with the treatment of the central persecutory theme. It also can be deliberately funny and a lot of the action suggests these talented people were given a directorial nod to just interact, and much of the action has a kind of loose semi-rehearsed natural flow to it...like after hours musicians getting together to jam for the fun of it.....no surprise considering that some of yesterday's musical stars keep popping up.
Touted for its realism, that I can't speak to from experience, but considering who wrote it and HIS experience, and the willingness to tackle a not-to-typical topic, it likely is pretty close to the bone. The first thing that struck me as odd were that all the prisoners seemed allowed to wear their street clothing....and maybe in 77 in some joints that flew......but it all adds up to the impending and inevitable conclusion.
The Short-Eyes is ironically the most innocent person among them, the least lethal anyway, and his sickness or perversity, somehow seems mitigated in comparison to the ceaseless ocean of persecution around him. Of course all this makes for a very interesting sort of thing to watch. Certainly ensemble acting, in a sense like Weeds, that old prison flick led by Nick Nolte, but a lot grittier and compelling, and the only romance here is of the prison -homosexual variety, often performed by heteros using whatever is available, willing or not, the same guys persecuting and calling perverted the "Short-Eyes".
Not for everybody i suppose, but some sort of classic thing in its own strange category. I'd rate it as a must-see for anybody really into movies which I 'd think we all are. It'll be especially interesting to older people who are gonna recognize these people who were and sometimes still are very famous. See it.
