is this prison?
i belive they were in a maximum security prison... Do prisons really let prisonners work on cars in a garage... the movie is sorta not realistic...unless im wrong?
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MovieChat Forums > Lock Up (1989) Discussion > is this prison?
In reality? No. I work in a medium security prison, in the same prison system where this movie was filmed, and inmates are only by themselves in the bathroom, shower, or their cell. Never left unattended in a garage with lots and lots of tools/weapons. Never, ever.
Ever.
"If you can do it, it ain't braggin'"-Dizzy Dean
I wondered the same thing the whole movie. One of the hardest prisons and all of the inmates seem to have tons of free time to just walk around, work on cars, etc. Gotta admit though Stallone bein in the hole for six weeks is one the greatest scenes........Leonite 510 GOLD
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That killed the movie for me so once we got into the extended scenes, I turned it off in disbelief. Contradicts the story entirely. We are faced with a harsh brutal incarceration facility yet all of a sudden there's a massive workshop that's managed by a convict himself? Just where do they get the parts procured for the car they're working on? That stuff costs bucks! Yet they get it for free and can work in seclusion without oversight, drinking booze too? Story is so full of it I cannot see how anyone enjoys this movie at all.
Don't forget they're basically 5-6 convicts left unattended around heavy equipment, sharp objects and an assortment of other hazards (at one point Leone uses a Phillips head screwdriver; something that was equivalent to a contraband shiv earlier in the movie). Leone and pals are also left alone in a steam/maintenance room unattended. For trying to put the hurt on Leone, the warden sure does a terrible job keeping tabs on Leone.
Even if they managed to procure the parts via grant or donation, there's no way the guards would allow the prisoners access to gasoline (and if there happened to be fuel in from the last time they tried rebuilding it it would have gelled up long ago).
From what I've heard many medium security prisons don't have communal yards and many maximum security prisons (or prison areas) make it a point to keep individuals apart. They generally don't allow prisoners access to free weights either, since every piece of them can be used as a weapon.
Cafeteria-wise many prisons differ. Some have a buffet-like operation, others are more like a traditional cafeteria where convicts need to be given foods. But either way no maximum security prison is going to let their prisoners run around with metal spoons.
This movie is better viewed as a man forced to live in a tyrannically run society instead of a prison movie.
I thought it was a very good flick, but yeah, the prisoners were given things they'd never be given in real life. I think you could explain it away with Leone to a degree, say the warden was giving him opportunities to escape so that he could add more time to his sentence. That would explain Leone getting his hands on things and being able to stay alone in places he normally wouldn't, but that still doesn't explain why another convict has his own garage and tools and all that. Since the warden was like a crazy super villain with his own "master plans", I could see him arranging some of that for his own purposes, but it would still never be allowed by superiors, inspectors, and that sort of thing.
So yeah, as another poster said it is "just a movie" and entertainment, and for that reason I'm willing to try to justify scenes that don't make sense unless you "fill in the blanks" yourself. I don't think there's really any way around some of these issues though, so I guess you just have to overlook it. Or as another poster said, look at the prison as more of a metaphor for society under a tyrannical dictator or something like that.
There's other issues as well, like the warden being able to choose a model prisoner to come on over to a maximum security prison and do all the things he does, although to me that seems slightly more plausible given the right circumstance. Despite all that, I definitely enjoyed the movie. Probably one of my top five Stallone movies that isn't Rocky/Rambo.
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