Orgbd02 Not that this matters with regard to the quality of the movie but this was one of the first original movies made for HBO where they didn't have to sell their soul to a movie studio. Enough preaching, this is on the level of Shawshank. In my opinion better but different. Prison is hell for the guards and the inmates. Sometimes the inmates need to revolt and this movie does a good job taking a real situation and presents both sides of the story perfectly. You feel for the inmates, you feel for the guards. The problem is the system. The acting is great and this isn't a politically correct movie or a movie with a political agenda with the exception of an anti government theme. I would recommend this film to anybody with a sense of personal freedom or revolt against the system. I am surprised this isn't a cult movie on the lines of A Clockwork Orange.

jboyter Frankenheimer was a bear to work with, he treated the crew terrible and all the extras worse. I guess he was struggling to save his career. I worked in the property department, and I still think about digging the old man up and setting his body on fire. The prison was a good location except all water had to be shipped in. (bad plumbing) Kyle McLaughlan, Samuel L. Jackson, Fredrick Forrest were top notch to be around...they and of course Harry Dean Stanton are true professionals.The movie in the end was missing the "ummp" that makes it a big release. But hey, a job's, a job. Nashville deserves bigger pictures to be made there, they have great production people.

Vedder13 Against the Wall is another one of those movies that just slipped away. Its about the true story of the take-over of Attica Prison by the in-mates in 1971 and is seen through the eyes of a novice prison warden (Kyle MacLachlan).Although made for cable, what make this brilliant movie different from the others are the incredibly brutal prison scenes and unsettling violence (one scene has an unlucky wardens' head slammed between two iron doors) and the brutality of the film, along with the nudity, may turn off some viewers.The acting is some of the best I've ever seen. The characters are not stereotyped and are actually quite believable. Samuel L Jackson, in particular is a highlight as a black inmate while Kyle MacLachlan is just as good as a sympathetic warden. These performances give the film a lot of depth and the bonding between these two is very powerful.John Frankenheimer direction is incredibly good and that sets the mood for this powerful and sad movie. Check it out but be aware that this is not a happy movie. ***/****

George Parker "Against the Wall" is a journeyman tv docudrama (with the emphasis on "drama") which tells of the Attica prison riot of 1971. Okay as a gritty and violent prison drama, "ATW" fails to crystalize prison issues or make significant social commentary. Pretty much your usual run-of-the-mill Hollywood exploitaition flick fraught with inconsistencies and a poor sense of direction though, perhaps, there's no more to be found in the Attica story.