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From daring tunnels to improvised escapes, cinema has given us some truly unforgettable jailbreaks! Join us as we count down the most thrilling prison escapes in film history. Our countdown includes scenes from "The Shawshank Redemption," "The Great Escape," "Guardians of the Galaxy," and more! Which cinematic breakout had you on the edge of your seat?
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most exciting prison
00:10breaks in film.
00:12Since many of these scenes take place in pivotal points in the movie, we're issuing a spoiler
00:16warning.
00:25Number 10 Devil's Island Jump
00:29Based on the memoir of French criminal Henri Charrière, nicknamed Papillon because of
00:35his butterfly tattoo, the film chronicles his attempts at escape from an inhumane labor camp
00:40in French Guiana.
00:41You keep me alive until we land in Guiana, and I'll underwrite any escape you care to arrange.
00:49Escape for me, not for us.
00:51Of course I am, I have no intention of even attempting an escape, ever.
00:58After multiple attempts, he and his cohorts finally break out.
01:02However, he's tracked down and recaptured, and after spending years in solitary is moved
01:07to the notorious Devil's Island prison.
01:10That's the only way off Devil's Island.
01:12Despite the isolated island being seemingly inescapable, Papillon attempts a daring escape
01:19in the film's finale.
01:19He jumps off a high cliff over jagged rocks into a churning sea, surviving and making his
01:26way to freedom.
01:27Papillon made it to freedom, and for the remaining years of his life, he lived a free man.
01:36Number 9 Flying the Coop Chicken Run
01:39The first feature film from beloved animation house Aardman, this stop-motion flick put a
01:44great new spin on the prison break genre.
01:46Mr. Tweedy, what is that chicken doing outside the fence?
01:52Centering on a group of chickens living on a farm owned by the malevolent Mrs. Tweedy,
01:57the birds hatch an escape plan before they can be turned into pies.
02:01The breakout comes near the end of the film.
02:03As, unable to fly off themselves, the chickens construct a large mechanical bird for them to fly to freedom in.
02:10We're still going to fly out of here.
02:13What, what?
02:14Fowler's provided the answer.
02:16I have?
02:17Oh, yes, yes, yes, of course I have.
02:21How have I?
02:23We'll make a crate.
02:26As they make their way down the makeshift runway, their plans are nearly foiled by Mrs. Tweedy and her bumbling husband.
02:33However, a bit of last-minute heroics allow the chickens to knock the pair of farmers out and soar
02:39over the barbed wire fence.
02:41Uh-oh, that was good.
02:42That was good!
02:43Number 8.
02:46Across the Bay, Escape from Alcatraz.
02:50Based on the real-life escape, Escape from Alcatraz showed how three men used paper mache heads
02:56and a raft made of raincoats to break out of the world-famous island prison.
03:00Now we get across the bay.
03:01That's where you come in, John, because you work in the clothing shop.
03:06We're going to steal some raincoats, some contact cement.
03:11We'll make a life raft and some life preservers out of it.
03:14I read how to do it and pop into mechanics.
03:16Leaving the fake head in his bed, Clint Eastwood as Frank Lee Morris led the Anglin brothers
03:21past searchlights to their makeshift raft and life jackets.
03:25In the dead of the night, the three men crossed the frigid San Francisco Bay with the very
03:33real possibility they could perish beneath the waves.
03:37While the film ultimately leaves their fate ambiguous, it subtly applies that they were
03:42able to make it and find freedom.
03:44I wonder if they made it.
03:45They drowned.
03:46Yes, sir.
03:477.
03:48The Sunnyside Breakout – Toy Story 3
03:56Pixar put a unique spin on the prison genre when they set the third film of their flagship
04:01franchise in a daycare.
04:02New toys!
04:04While initially seeming idyllic, the daycare was soon revealed as anything but.
04:12With the toys tortured by toddlers during the day and locked up by the tyrannical Lotso
04:17at night.
04:18This leads Woody and his friends to plan an elaborate breakout.
04:20What that means?
04:21It means we're busting out of here.
04:22Tonight.
04:23What?
04:24Impossible!
04:25But there's no way out of here!
04:26No, there is one way out.
04:29One way.
04:30Slipping past searchlights and cameras watched by a monkey, it still haunts our dreams.
04:35The toys use their unique abilities to sneak out in the dead of night.
04:39However, their plan doesn't go off without a hitch, with the toys running into several
04:44roadblocks, including being caught by Lotso once outside, leading to a thrilling and heart-wrenching
04:50finale.
05:00Number 6.
05:01Bakery Breakout.
05:02The Grand Budapest Hotel.
05:05Often requiring elaborate shots, intricate set pieces, and specific details, it's no wonder
05:11that Wes Anderson was a perfect fit to direct a prison breakout.
05:14But we need digging tools, which have proven hard to come by in this Flophouse.
05:19Although initially antagonized by his fellow inmates, Gustav, played by Ralph Fiennes, wins
05:25over his fellow prisoners by giving them treats from Mendel's Bakery, a key location in the film.
05:30The gruff inmates let him in on their escape plan.
05:33Not only was Agatha immensely skilled with a palette knife and a buttercream flourish…
05:37Mendel, come.
05:39She was also very brave.
05:43And by smuggling in a few tools hidden in pastries from Mendel's, they initiate their
05:48plan.
05:49The long sequence sweeps from room to room in Anderson's signature style as the group of
05:53prisoners wordlessly grab keys, jump down a laundry chute, silently cross over sleeping
05:58guards, and use a bit of violence to get past the final hurdle.
06:02I suppose you'd call that a draw.
06:05Number 5.
06:06Prison Transport Crash.
06:08The Fugitive.
06:09As Dr. Richard Kimball, Harrison Ford's prison escape stands out for a few reasons.
06:15The first being that it doesn't happen in a prison at all, but rather in a prison transport
06:20bus.
06:21Hey!
06:22Somebody get in there quick!
06:23Get out of here!
06:24Hey!
06:25Sit back here!
06:26Let's go, move!
06:28Man, he's moving into my home.
06:30Almost to the prison!
06:31The second is that the protagonist isn't involved at all with the escape plan.
06:35After an inmate stabs a guard with a shiv and a second guard pulls a shotgun, all hell breaks
06:40loose and the bus careens off the road.
06:51However, things quickly worsen as they've landed on railroad tracks with a train barreling
06:56down on them.
06:57Kimball narrowly saves himself and the stab victim from certain death as the train crashes
07:02into the vehicle, and he sets off into the night, ready to try to clear his name.
07:08You listen.
07:09Don't give a damn which way you go.
07:12Just don't follow me.
07:14You got that?
07:15Yeah.
07:16Hey, Goplin.
07:17You'll be good.
07:20Number 4.
07:21Escaping the Kiln.
07:23Guardians of the Galaxy
07:25One of Marvel's most famous groups of film superheroes, the Guardians of the Galaxy first
07:31came together to escape from the space prison, the Kiln.
07:34My friend Rocket here has escaped 22 prisons.
07:37Oh, we're getting out.
07:38Initially captured on Xandar, Peter Quill, Gamora, and the mercenary duo of Rocket, Raccoon,
07:43and Groot come into conflict while fighting over the mysterious item known as… the Orb.
07:49In prison, they meet the violent and literal Drax… and Rocket, who has escaped every
07:54prison he's ever been to, hatches an escape plan, forcing the enemies to become allies.
07:59How are we supposed to do that?
08:01Well, supposedly these bald bodies find you attractive, so maybe you can work out some
08:04sort of trade.
08:05You must be joking.
08:06No, I've really heard they find you attractive.
08:08With each member of the newly formed group grabbing a necessary piece of tech, along
08:12with one unnecessary piece, the group makes it into a watchtower, shutting down the gravity
08:18and detaching from the base of the tower, they fly to freedom.
08:21That was a pretty good plan.
08:23Huh?
08:24Number 3.
08:25The Final Attempt – Cool Hand Luke
08:28Paul Newman would arguably become best known as the title character in Cool Hand Luke.
08:33Any man don't keep order spends the night in the box.
08:36I hope you ain't gonna be a hard case.
08:40Sent to a prison camp, the brazen Luke escapes multiple times but is recaptured after each
08:45attempt, gaining respect from his fellow prisoners but ire from the warden.
08:50Toiling away on the chain gang, the rebellious inmate seems to have finally broken down.
08:55But he has one more trick up his sleeve.
08:58They took the keys off a dog boy's truck!
09:01He got the keys here too!
09:03Luke steals a truck, driving to freedom as rifles fire at him.
09:07While the law would catch up to and ultimately kill Luke, his rebellious attitude in rallying
09:12cry against the establishment lives on.
09:28Number 2.
09:29Andy Dufresne's Rebirth – The Shawshank Redemption
09:33Somehow, an escape that we don't see coming, yet one that feels inevitable once we've seen
09:39it.
09:40And I guess you ought to escape the tunnel under the wall, maybe.
09:45I missed something here that's funny.
09:46When Andy Dufresne escapes Shawshank State Prison, he is literally and metaphorically
09:51cleansed.
09:52A plan that took nearly two decades to fulfill, Andy slowly chiseled a hole in his prison wall,
09:58concealed by Hollywood starlet posters.
10:01Until one stormy night, he seemingly vanished.
10:04His tunnel led to a sewer pipe, which he cracked open, masking the sound by timing it with
10:10thunderclaps.
10:11After crawling through the vilest substance imaginable, he emerged into the rain, raising
10:24his arms to the sky in triumph.
10:27Then, thanks to a handful of forged documents and a swiped pair of shoes, Andy Dufresne started
10:34a new life.
10:35I must say, I'm sorry to be losing your business.
10:38I hope you'll enjoy living abroad.
10:41I'm sure I will.
10:43Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
10:47The Great Escape.
10:48War for the Planet of the Apes.
10:50The beloved bear breaks free.
11:04Paddington 2.
11:05Good luck, no bear.
11:06This is the life, lads.
11:19Woohoo!
11:20Snake Plissken escapes a city that's become a prison.
11:23Escape from New York.
11:24We'd make one hell of a team, Snake.
11:26The name's Plissken.
11:33A quick change of plans.
11:35The Count of Monte Cristo.
11:37We could've handled that a bit better.
11:39A breakout and comeback during the match.
11:42Escape to victory.
11:441.
12:09The Great Escape.
12:11The Great Escape.
12:12Having previously busted out of a number of POW camps, a group of Allied soldiers were sent
12:17to a newly constructed camp specifically intended to house the escape artists.
12:22There will be no escapes from this camp.
12:24This, of course, only provided a greater challenge for the captured soldiers.
12:29The prisoners secretly construct three tunnels, nicknamed Tom, Dick, and Harry, with the sound
12:34of digging suppressed by song.
12:362.
12:46Under the cover of darkness, the leaders of the escape attempted to get dozens of prisoners
12:51out, encountered both trouble when a tunnel began to collapse and serendipity with a power
12:56outage.
12:57Despite coming up 20 feet short, 76 men make it out through Harry, right under the German
13:03guards' noses.
13:04Roger, you and I had better get out of here, we won't have a chance of any of the trains.
13:07Which cinematic breakout was the best?
13:10Let us know in the comments!
13:12Let us know in the comments.
13:15We will see you again next time!
13:202.
13:21The Return of Crime
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