Best Prison Break Movies
AMC Movie List

Best Prison Break Movies

In times like these, who hasn't wanted to make a run for it? But at least you're not in jail. Which of these movies features the best escape?

rank title points votes your vote
1 The Shawshank Redemption
Unjustly imprisoned, Andy Dufrense's ultimate triumph makes us cheer not only because he deserves it, but because he earns it. 1541 2157
2 Escape from Alcatraz
Clint Eastwood plays stoic Frank Morris, one of the three prisoners believed to have succeeded in getting off "The Rock." 801 1369
3 The Great Escape
Steve McQueen stars in this true story about a group of Allied soldiers who plan to escape a German POW camp. 556 1412
4 Cool Hand Luke
The late, great Paul Newman brilliantly portrays the stubbornly hard-to-tame Lucas Jackson, who tries to hop the fence time and time again. 429 1215
5 The Count of Monte Cristo
Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce and Richard Harris all deliver excellent performances in the powerful retelling of Dumas's classic tale. 326 1090
6 Con Air
The violence is relentless; the dialogue is clever; and as usual, Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich, Ving Rhames and Steve Buscemi are great. 314 1234
7 Papillon
Henri Charriere's memoir of his incarceration in and flight from Devil's Island, a French penal colony. 232 1154
8 Stalag 17
Billy Wilder's World War II classic pits a group of American pilots against their Nazi captors (and a traitor in their midst). 166 896
9 Midnight Express
A young Oliver Stone adapted Billy Hayes's autobiographical tale of being thrown into a Turkish prison for drug smuggling. 80 892
10 Escape from New York
In John Carpenter's futuristic tale, Manhattan is a maximum security prison where the President is being held hostage, and only Kurt Russell can get him out alive. 74 940