American History X: Derek Vinyard, the charismatic leader of a group of young white supremacists, lands in prison for a brutal, hate-driven murder. Upon his release, ashamed of his past and pledging to reform, Derek realizes he must save his younger brother Danny from a similar fate. A groundbreaking controversial drama about the tragic consequences of racism in a family.
The Green Mile: African American John Coffey is a gentle giant of a man, who is convicted of raping and murdering two little girls in 1935. While on death row, John must contend with psychotic inmates and sadistic guards, but his fellow inmates and the prison guards soon see that he has the uncanny ability to heal people and animals.
The Last Castle: General Irwin, a respected three-star tactician whose career ends in disgrace when he's court martialed and sent to a maximum security military prison, The Castle. Irwin quickly butts heads with the facility's autocratic warden, Colonel Winter, who runs his command with an iron fist, even killing prisoners when he deems it necessary. Irwin rallies his fellow convicts into a rag-tag army and leads them in a revolt against Winter, an action that the warden is ready to repel by violent means.
Law-Abiding Citizen: Clyde Shelton is a brilliant planner and inventor. One night two robbers invade his Philadelphia home and brutally kill his wife and daughter, almost killing him. When the killers are caught, Assistant DA Nick Rice is assigned the case. Nick makes a deal with one of the killers to testify against his partner for a 10 year plea bargain prison sentence. Clyde doesn't want Nick to make the deal, but Nick says the deal is done. The other killer gets the death penalty. After 10 years, the other killer is released from prison, and he soon ends up dead. Clyde is arrested and vaguely admits to Nick that he did it. Clyde is put in jail, and he warns Nick that he must fix the broken justice system that failed him and his family or else anyone connected to his case will soon die. Even from jail, Clyde's threats become a reality, and Nick must stop Clyde before his family is next.
The Shawshank Redemption: City banker Andy Dufresne arrived at Shawshank Prison in 1947. Convicted of two brutal murders, he received a double life sentence. Within the confines of the prison, Andy forms an unlikely friendship with the prison "fixer" Red. He also becomes popular with the Warden and the prison's guards, as Andy is able to use his banking experience to help the corrupt officials amass personal fortunes. With the extraordinary twist in the tale, Andy finds that survival comes down to a simple choice: get busy living or get busy dying.
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