Released in 1980 and starring Robert Redford, Brubaker is one of those really good movies that no one ever seems to talk about. Fun Fact: It also happens to be one of Morgan Freeman's first films (though he's only in it for a few minutes).
At the start of the film Henry Brubaker (played by Robert Redford) enters Wakefield State Prison as an inmate and almost immediately he identifies a slew of problems at the prison. Some of the issues include a doctor charging inmates for medical attention, inmates being tortured, and food with maggots in it. It's soon revealed that Brubaker is actually the new Warden and he plans to turn things around. Of course not everyone is on board with the reforms. Local businessmen had been benefitting from the free labor the inmates were forced into by the previous Warden. Then a political scandal begins to unravel when Brubaker confronts a group of politicians over corruption, repairs that are long overdue, the eventual discovery of several unmarked graves on the prison's property.
Overall, I think this is a really solid, well-crafted movie. A few of the characters are slightly underdeveloped and the film does drag just a little bit at times, but none of that ruins the movie for me. I recommend checking this one out if you've never seen it.
4 out of 5.
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