Top Twenty Greatest Escapes
AMC Movie List

Top Twenty Greatest Escapes

Some of these prisoners want freedom, some want their ladyloves. All are adept at outwitting redneck sheriffs. Which movie has the greatest escape?

rank title points votes your vote
1 The Shawshank Redemption
Posters of Rita Hayworth and Raquel Welch hide Tim Robbins's tunnel to freedom. Who says there's no glamour in the joint? 765 1193
2 The Great Escape
Steve McQueen wouldn't sign on until they added the infamous scene where he attempts to break out on a motorcycle. 683 1143
3 Escape from Alcatraz
Some doubt the escapees really survived the swim from the Rock -- their bodies were never found. 398 828
4 The Fugitive
Only Harrison Ford could escape a horrific train wreck and still have the energy to elude Tommy Lee Jones and solve his wife's murder. 391 829
5 Cool Hand Luke
Paul Newman's repeated, and nearly sucessful, jailbreak attempts may get him killed, but they also make him a prison legend. 341 847
6 The Silence of the Lambs
It would take an evil genius to escape from a cage that could hold a wild animal. That genius is Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). 294 842
7 Papillon
Steve McQueen did his own stunts for this escape from Devil's Island, including a dangerous cliff jump that he called "exhilarating." 255 797
8 Stalag 17
Americans in a Nazi prison camp save one of their number by helping him get away, killing a German spy in the process. 254 772
9 Star Wars
The movie that made George Lucas one of the richest men in Hollywood proves that an escape can be just as great all the way in outer space. 248 810
10 The Count of Monte Cristo
This story of wrongful imprisonment and revenge has an escape so great that it's referenced in The Shawshank Redemption. 205 737
11 Con Air
A double escape for Nicolas Cage: first from a prison's transport plane, then from the clutches of his murderous fellow inmates. 89 787
12 Misery
Who can escape the peril that is the obsessive fan? James Caan, who uses a typewriter as a weapon against Kathy Bates. 82 702
13 Escape from New York
Kurt Russell's Snake is an enterprising criminal who uses a presidential hostage as a bargaining chip for freedom -- and an excuse to kick ass. 39 677
14 The Poseidon Adventure
In this sinking-ship blockbuster, a group of survivors are saved from a gauntlet of obstacles by a preacher (Gene Hackman). 37 657
15 Midnight Express
An American caught with drugs experiences hell before managing a way out. You'll never again confuse a Turkish bathhouse and prison. 1 603
16 V for Vendetta
Not only does the masked V break out of his prison in a ball of flame; he leaves with the desire to bring down an entire government. -64 668
17 Public Enemies
As the legendary John Dillinger, Johnny Depp gets into the escape game, springing his gang from the joint under cover of a prisoner drop. -90 622
18 Chicken Run
Based on the formula of an outsider organizing misfits and hatching an escape, this flick was so good it led to the creation of an Oscar category. -118 610
19 Rescue Dawn
Christian Bale wasted away for the role of a Vietnam POW. The flick was shot in reverse, to protect Bale from unhealthy eating habits. -134 552
20 Out of Sight
Has an escape artist ever been more suave than George Clooney? He's a bank robber who busts out of prison and flirts with J.Lo. -230 542