Movies Similar to Men of San Quentin

Felon(2008)

A family man convicted of killing an intruder must cope with life afterward in the violent penal system.

San Quentin(1937)

Ex-Army officer Jameson takes a job a prison guard at San Quentin. Joe, the brother of his new girlfriend May, is sentenced to the prison for robbery. When Jameson tries to separate lawbreakers from hardened criminals, badguy Hansen tries to stir up trouble by telling Joe about Jameson's interest in his sister.

A Double Life(2023)

The grim news made international headlines: On August 21, 1971, prison authorities discovered a gun on famed Soledad Brother author, activist and San Quentin inmate George Jackson. A shootout ensued, killing Jackson, two other inmates and three guards, and wounding three more officers. Authorities asserted that only lawyer Stephen Bingham could have smuggled the weapon into the prison. Fearing that a conviction for abetting the guards’ deaths would lead to his own murder, the attorney fled, beginning a long, strange odyssey of pseudonymous exile. Strange indeed for the Yale-graduate scion of politically prominent New England elites.

Women of San Quentin(1983)

A young female prison guard finds out that her first assignment is to San Quentin, one of the toughest prisons in the country.

San Quentin(1946)

An ex-con sets up a program to straighten out hard-core prisoners. Things don't go as planned.

Zoot Suit(1981)

Part fact and part fiction, Zoot Suit is the film version of Luis Valdez's critically acclaimed play, based on the actual Sleepy Lagoon murder case and the zoot suit riots of 1940s Los Angeles. Henry Reyna is the leader of a group of Mexican-Americans being sent to San Quentin without substantial evidence for the death of a man at Sleepy Lagoon. As part of the defense committee, Alice Bloomfield and George Shearer fight the blatant miscarriage of justice for the freedom of Henry and his friends.

Weeds(1987)

A San Quentin inmate, sentenced to life without parole, writes a play that catches the interest of a reporter.

The Steel Cage(1954)

Drama set in San Quentin prison.

Free Chol Soo Lee(2022)

On June 3, 1973, a man was murdered in a busy intersection of San Francisco’s Chinatown as part of an ongoing gang war. Chol Soo Lee, a 20-year-old Korean immigrant who had previous run-ins with the law, was arrested and convicted based on flimsy evidence and the eyewitness accounts of white tourists who couldn’t distinguish between Asian features. Sentenced to life in prison, Chol Soo Lee would spend years fighting to survive behind bars before journalist K.W. Lee took an interest in his case. The intrepid reporter’s investigation would galvanize a first-of-its-kind pan-Asian American grassroots movement to fight for Chol Soo Lee’s freedom, ultimately inspiring a new generation of social justice activists.

Duffy of San Quentin(1954)

San Quentin's new warden crusades for reform and for a framed inmate who loves a nurse.

Johnny Cash at San Quentin(1969)

On February 24th, 1969, two days before he turned 37, Johnny Cash led his traveling troupe behind the foreboding walls of the California State Penitentiary at San Quentin, long known as one of America's toughest prisons.

Ballad of an Unsung Hero(1983)

Using rare historical footage, vintage musical recordings, and interviews with 88-year-old Pedro J. Gonzalez and his wife, this film chronicles Gonzalez’s long and colorful life, from his early days with Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution, to his career as a popular radio personality in Los Angeles in the 1930s, to the controversial court case that sent him to San Prison, a victim of the repressive forces operating against the Chicano/Mexicano community during that period.

Paul Rodriguez: Behind Bars(1991)

Paul Rodriguez performs stand up comedy at San Quentin State Prison as well as has personal interviews with the prisoners.

Hidden Faces(2007)

Complex and intriguing Turkish drama about revenge killing. A young woman who went into hiding from her family talks about her life in a documentary. An uncle who sees the film in Germany won't let it rest .

Fatal Sin(2013)

A boy and a girl fall in love. But on the night they met, she was drunk and stoned and he took advantage of her. Although she does not remember almost anything from that night, she remembers something that may compromise their relationship.

Tortured Souls(1917)

Member Of Parliament(1923)

John Shilcott, a member of the English Parliament, a nervous, sickly man, has long since lost all energy for work, and only at times the increasing doses of morphine, which he injects into himself, give him the illusion of an influx of vitality. In his family life, too, not all is not well: over the past three years, he has become estranged from his wife, there is no spiritual closeness between them, and Ava Shilkott begs her father to help her get a divorce...

Project Power(2020)

An ex-soldier, a teen and a cop collide in New Orleans as they hunt for the source behind a dangerous new pill that grants users temporary superpowers.

Boucherie Halal(2012)

A muslim couple opens a butcher shop in Montreal and wishes to successfully integrate into Quebec society. But the butcher's father is an imam who sets up a little mosque in the back room and uses it to spread his fundamentalist views. When he is arrested by the RCMP on suspicions of past terrorist activities, his son, torn between love for his wife and allegiance to his father, gets involved in a plot to free him. Fed up by her husband's unwillingness to stand up to his father's wishes, the butcher's wife leaves to live a more fulfilling life away from the muslim community.