Brute Force
Brute Force • 1h 40m
Directed by Jules Dassin • 1947 • United States
Starring Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford
As hard-hitting as its title, BRUTE FORCE was the first of Jules Dassin’s forays into the crime genre, a prison melodrama that takes a critical look at American society as well. Burt Lancaster is the timeworn Joe Collins, who, along with his fellow inmates, lives under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey (a riveting Hume Cronyn). Only Collins’s dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey’s chains? Matter-of-fact and ferocious, BRUTE FORCE builds to an explosive climax that shows the lengths men will go to when fighting for their freedom.
Up Next in Brute Force
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BRUTE FORCE Commentary
Record in 2007, this commentary features Alain Silver and James Ursini, coauthors of “The Film Noir Reader” and “The Noir Style.”
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Paul Mason on BRUTE FORCE
Paul Mason is a criminologist specializing in media representations of prison. He is the editor of “Captured by the Media: Prison Discourse in Popular Culture.” He also directs the Prison Media Monitoring Unit and is a founding member of the group No More Prisons. In this 2007 program, he discuss...
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BRUTE FORCE: The Actor’s Tool Kit
What do actors do when they act? Few aspects of film craft are as widely discussed—and as little understood.
