Movies Similar to Escape in the Desert

Broken Bars(1995)

Typical low budget action thriller about an undercover cop forced to infiltrate a tough American jail

Savage Dog(2017)

A story set in Indochina in 1959, a lawless land controlled by the criminal class: Vietnamese warlords and European war-criminals. Den-Dhin-Chan Labor Camp is run by four such dangerous men. The worst prison in the land, it is here that an Irish, former-champion boxer Martin Tillman has made a name for himself fighting tournaments, on which wealthy criminals gamble in high stakes events. When Tillman is due for release, he just wants to return home, but the corrupt forces running the jail will do everything in their power to keep him locked down. When all that Tillman holds dear is taken away in a vicious act of violence, he is forced to confront the men responsible and take his revenge. The birth of a legend.

5.3

Looking Glass(2018)

A psycho- sexual thriller following a couple that buys an old motel in the desert looking for a new beginning, but what seemed at first as an escape is soon a thrilling ride through a mysterious world when Ray discovers a two way mirror and witnesses a horrifying murder. In a twisted game of cat and mouse, Ray must race to save his wife and himself from a gruesome secret connected to the motel and the strange people who visit there.

4.7

Malcolm X(1992)

A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.

7.5

Salvador (Puig Antich)(2006)

The story of Salvador Puig Antich, one of the last political prisoners to be executed under Franco's Fascist State in 1974.

6.8

Für den unbekannten Hund(2007)

Almost casually, the young concrete worker Bastian kills a tramp. The police believe it was an accident and so the murder remains undiscovered for the time being.

3.8

Dark Blue Almost Black(2006)

Jorge is a young man whose plans for the future are put on hold when his father has a stroke. For seven years, he diligently nurses his father and works as a janitor while studying part time to get a business degree. When Natalia, his childhood crush, returns from a stint studying abroad, Jorge begins to yearn for something better. He is desperate to find a new and better job, but finds that no one will hire him because he has experience only as a janitor. Antonio, Jorge’s older brother, soon to be released from jail, is an opportunist who has never gotten along with their father. In prison, at a theater workshop, Antonio meets Paula, a beautiful young woman in jail on drug charges. Paula has a problem because she flirted with another inmate's boyfriend.

6.9

The Believer(2001)

A hardcore US racist skinhead who, because of his intelligence, leads a gang dedicated to fighting the enemy: the supposed American-Jewish conspiracy for domination. However, he's hiding a secret: he's Jewish-born, a brilliant scholar whose questioning of the tenets of his faith has left him angry and confused, turning against those who he thinks have a tragic history of their own making.

6.9

Full Metal Jacket(1987)

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

8.1

THX 1138(1971)

People in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government uses to make puppets out of people. As THX is without drugs for the first time he has feelings for a woman and they start a secret relationship.

6.4

Psycho(1960)

When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.

8.4

The Man with the Golden Arm(1955)

When illegal card dealer and recovering heroin addict Frankie Machine gets out of prison, he decides to straighten up. Armed with nothing but an old drum set, Frankie tries to get honest work as a drummer. But when his former employer and his old drug dealer re-enter his life, Frankie finds it hard to stay clean and eventually finds himself succumbing to his old habits.

7.2

Transamerica(2005)

A transgender woman takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she had a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.

7.0

The Experiment(2001)

20 volunteers agree to take part in a seemingly well-paid experiment advertised by the university. It is supposed to be about aggressive behavior in an artificial prison situation. A journalist senses a story behind the ad and smuggles himself in among the test subjects. They are randomly divided into prisoners and guards. What seems like a game at the beginning soon turns into bloody seriousness.

7.4

Tonny(1962)

Tonny is a school boy in foster care who serves his first sentence in jail. We follow him 24 hours before his parole and 48 hours after his release. We get to see his experiences in prison and his relationship with his mother, friends and girlfriend Kari.

5.5

Lost Highway(1997)

A tormented jazz musician finds himself lost in an enigmatic story involving murder, surveillance, gangsters, doppelgängers, and an impossible transformation inside a prison cell.

7.5

When Harry Met Sally...(1989)

During their travel from Chicago to New York, Harry and Sally debate whether or not sex ruins a friendship between a man and a woman. Eleven years later, and they're still no closer to finding the answer.

7.4

Ariel(1988)

A Finnish man goes to the city to find a job after the mine where he worked is closed and his father commits suicide.

7.1

A Mother's Right: The Elizabeth Morgan Story(1992)

Based on the custody case involving Elizabeth Morgan and the subsequent Elizabeth Morgan Act.

7.0

Dead Man Walking(1995)

A death row inmate turns for spiritual guidance to a local nun in the days leading up to his scheduled execution for the murders of a young couple.

7.3