Review of Brubaker (1980) by Bill S — 31 Dec 2014

In 1969 a mysterious man (Robert Redford) arrives at Wakefield State Prison in Arkansas. As an inmate, he immediately witnesses rampant abuse and corruption, including open and endemic sexual assault, torture, worm-ridden diseased food, insurance fraud and a doctor charging inmates for care. Brubaker eventually reveals himself - during a dramatic standoff involving a deranged prisoner who was being held in solitary confinement - to be the new prison warden to the amazement of both prisoners and officials alike. With ideals and vision, he attempts to reform the prison, with an eye towards prisoner rehabilitation and human rights. He recruits several long-time prisoners, including trustees Larry Lee Bullen (David Keith) and Richard "Dickie" Coombes (Yaphet Kotto), to assist him with the reform. Their combined efforts slowly improve the prison conditions, but his stance inflames several corrupt officials on the prison board who have profited from graft for decades. When Brubaker discovers multiple unmarked graves on prison property, he attempts to unravel the mystery leading to a political scandal...

"Brubaker" is based on the real-life efforts of former prison administrator Thomas O. Murton to reform Tucker and Cummins Prison Farms in Arkansas in 1967-68. Murton served as a technical advisor for the film. The warden impersonating a prisoner story element was fictionalized and was not derived from Thomas O. Murton's experiences. It has been suggested though that this plot device was inspired by Sing Sing Prison Warden Thomas Mott Osborne who in 1913 under an assumed name had had himself committed to New York State's Auburn State Penitentiary. This is one of two Robert Redford movies released in 1980 that were Oscar nominated. This film was an Academy Award nominee for Best Original Screenplay whilst the other movie Ordinary People (1980) received six Oscar nominations. "Brubaker" was a critical and commercial success. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said, "...The movie (refuses) to permit its characters more human dimensions. We want to know these people better, but the screenplay throws up a wall; they act according to the ideological positions assigned to them in the screenplay, and that's that. ... Half of Redford's speeches could have come out of newspaper editorials, but we never find out much about him, What's his background? Was he ever married? Is this his first prison job? What's his relationship with the Jane Alexander character, who seems to have gotten him this job? (Alexander has one almost subliminal moment when she fans her neck and looks at Redford and, seems to be thinking unpolitical thoughts, but the movie hurries on.) Brubaker is a well-crafted film that does a harrowingly effective job of portraying the details of its prison, but then it populates it with positions rather than people." I have wanted to see "Brubaker" since 1980 as a fan of Robert Redford and now I finally bought a copy. However, I think that "Brubaker" is a bit too long, a bit too slow and a bit too talky to be honest. And I think that most characters are under developed, but the acting is truly solid and engaging. Nevertheless, in 2014 this becomes a bit like just another clichéd prison movie with a Messiah like figure with his own agenda and ways of change. In 1980 this was most likely different, but it´s not more than a 3 out of 5 in my point of view on the last day of 2014.