Director: Michael Mann
Cast: Peter Strauss, Richard Lawson, Roger E. Mosley

Although the following subject I am about to discuss is something that I mentioned before, I think it's worth discussing again for this particular review. That subject happens to be the prison system. To put it bluntly, I think that life for prisoners must really be horrible, so much so that I am not surprised why so many former inmates reoffend when they are introduced back into society. From various reports I have read, the interiors of prisons always seem to be too hot or too cold for comfort. The three meals a day that prisoners get are reportedly very bland and monotonous. There is a lot of noise in prisons, which means getting a quiet moment to sleep or relax would be very difficult to achieve. And of course, you would have to be on your guard all of the time, from prisoners named Bubba to sadistic prison staff members. But I think the biggest obstacle many prisoners have to face is the long periods of boredom. From what I have heard, prisoners with diminished mental facilities don't seem to mind as much that they are stuck in a small space for much of every day. But prisoners who have some brains are quickly affected by the lack of things to do in their environment, which is why so many prisoners have some kind of mental breakdown. Personally, I don't know what I would do to occupy my time if I was stuck in a cell for the rest of my life. I guess I could exercise, both with physical exercise and with mental exercises such as thinking about Schrodinger's cat. But I think I would run out of things to do quickly, and then in short notice I would start to have a mental breakdown.

I guess that if I were sentenced to life in prison, I would grab and cling onto any offered activity that could help reduce the monotony and discomfort of the reality of prison life. This is what some prisoners have done, and some became quite famous for what they managed to accomplish while behind bars. For example, there was the case of Nathan Leopold, who was one of the notorious participants in the Leopold and Loeb murder case in 1924. He and his partner were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder they committed. Leopold then spent the next few decades in prison being very busy, using his time to learn twelve new languages, improving the prison library, organizing and teaching classes to fellow prisoners, and writing his autobiography Life Plus 99 Years. All of his busy work in prison eventually helped him to be paroled after 33 years in prison. Another famous case is with Robert Franklin Stroud, who is better known as "The Birdman of Alcatraz". Imprisoned for life for murder, he managed to get a great interest in ornithology, not only raising many canaries in his jail cell, but also writing some books about bird diseases. (Actually, he did all this before being transferred to Alcatraz; at Alcatraz, he was unable to pursue his hobby further.) Then there is the case of Jerry Rosenberg, who was jailed for life for a murder he committed. With the use of a correspondence course outfit, Rosenberg occupied his time for several years by studying for a legal degree, which he eventually managed to achieve. Although subsequently he was unable to use his legal training to help reduce his prison sentence, he did represent many of his fellow prisoners in various legal matters for the next few decades.

Looking at cases such as the three I wrote about in the previous paragraph, I guess the lesson to be learned is that no matter how dire your situation might be, you can work hard to reach major goals within the situation. Still, I wonder how these people managed to get through the various hardships of prison life and achieve success. When I got my hands on The Jericho Mile, I was immediately interested in watching it because it promised to spotlight this question of mine. However, the biggest selling feature of the movie (at least in my eyes) was the fact that it was directed by Michael Mann, who has directed great movies such as Manhunter and Thief. In fact, The Jericho Mile happens to be Mann's first feature length movie (albeit made for American television.) The events of the movie center around a new entry in the American penitentiary system, a man by the name of Larry "Rain" Murphy (Peter Strauss, Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone). He has been given a life sentence for killing his father, and is sent to the notorious Folsom Prison. Although not sorry for his crime, Murphy has accepted his fate, and prepares to live the rest of his life in the prison without making any waves. To pass the time, he regularly runs around the prison's exercise yard, and soon his incredible running speed catches the eye of prison doctor Bill (Geoffrey Lewis, 10 To Midnight), and soon afterwards the prison's warden Earl (Billy Green Bush, Monte Walsh). Both men arrange for one the country's top track and field coaches Jerry Beloit (Ed Lauter, The Sweeper) to observe Murphy's running skills, and Jerry is impressed enough that he wants to get Murphy into the Olympic trials. But as you can guess, given Murphy's situation, there are a whole bunch of obstacles in the way that may not only defeat Murphy's Olympic dreams, but defeat Murphy's self esteem and worthiness.

Also among the supporting cast are a pre-fame Brian Dennehy (First Blood), Richard Moll (The Sword And The Sorcerer), and Roger E. Mosley (McQ). Richard Lawson (The Days And Nights Of Molly Dodd) also appears in a prominent role as the prisoner whose cell is next to Murphy's cell, with his character's presence as a key reason why Murphy slowly starts to break out of his shell. This process of Murphy regaining humanity as well as a reason to keep going on would challenge a lot of actors, but actor Strauss incredibly manages to keep it both believable and feeling natural. In the opening scenes of the movie, while not aggressive with his self absorbance, Strauss all the same gives a strong feeling to everyone around Murphy that while he wants to do his things his way, he won't bother anyone about anything in return. He is silent much of the time, yet we can still read his body language to know the exact emotion he is feeling. When he does speak, even when his dialogue threatens to come across as cliched ("Can't do no time? Don't do crime"), he makes a strong point that makes you believe everything he says. There is also a great deal of physical activity Strauss has to do with Murphy, mainly running. Strauss manages to sell Murphy's athletic ability as well. You can feel the strain and the building exhaustion building up in Murphy when he's out in the prison yard going all out, but also a strong feeling that this character is not going to give up any time soon. Strauss won an Emmy for this performance, and this is one award that was totally deserved. As it turns out, all the other performers in the movie do extremely well with their characters, even though most of them are just in supporting roles that don't have a great amount of screen time.

The fact that all the actors save for Strauss just have brief supporting roles does lead to a few moments where I wish there had been more time for more explanation. Why the doctor feels that Murphy's incredible running ability is worth reporting, why subsequently the warden immediately contacts one of the top running coaches in the country, and why the coach is willing to go to so much trouble to coach Murphy aren't clearly answered. For that matter, the character of Murphy is somewhat murky in some areas, such as why he decided to totally cut himself off from anything coming from the outside world once he was sent to prison. I feel I should point out that while there are questions like those, they come across as minor details and don't threaten at any time to sink the entire enterprise. The script (by director Mann and Patrick J. Nolan) as a whole is very well written. For one thing, the screenwriters seemed to have wisely realized that too much focus on the character of Murphy would slow down the movie and result in bored viewers. They threw in some subplots concerning rival prison gangs and their feuds, and these subplots do manage to immediately or eventually involve the character of Murphy, so it never feels like padding. There's also some well-crafted dialogue exchanges, such as when Lawson's character angrily and a bit jealously tells Murphy he has nothing to fear, unlike himself. Later on, the coach and Murphy have a short but very interesting exchange just before the big race where the coach reveals exactly why he is helping Murphy. (It would have been even better had both characters spoke somewhat more before the next scene.) And I think that a lot of viewers will be surprised by the end of the movie. While they will probably guess correctly early on that towards the end of the movie there will be a big race, they might not expect that the movie afterwards takes the time to show the aftermath, leading to the very end of the movie striking a note that's neither overly happy nor extremely negative.

As I said earlier, The Jericho Mile was Michael Mann's first movie, and it's for the most part an auspicious debut. There are (probably inevitable) flaws here and there, ranging from one scene where the shadow of the boom mike is clearly seen for several seconds, plus that Mann was somehow okay for music composer Jimmie Haskell (Death Game) to make a score that distracts by borrowing heavily from The Rolling Stones' Sympathy For The Devil (though it's possible this was intentional, and the production did legitimately get the license to use the music through the proper channels.) Other than those small details and a few others, Mann gets the movie's direction completely right. He manages to shoot on location in the real Folsom prison, using real prisoners in the foregrounds and backgrounds, and this gives the movie a real authentic atmosphere. Adding to this great atmosphere is that Mann doesn't tighten his direction too much, adding just the right amount of casualness (people milling around here and there) instead of stiff choreography. Where Mann really gets to show his abilities as a director is with the scenes involving Murphy running. It's kind of hard to describe what these scenes are like. The best I can describe them is that they are sometimes dream-like, portraying that while Murphy is running, he can momentarily forget his present situation and concentrate completely on something that he enjoys to do. Mann uses several tricks to do this, ranging from slow motion to cutting out all sound except for Murphy's breathing. Running has never before seemed to be so magical. These running sequences, plus all the other merits of the movie on full display thanks to Mann's careful direction, make The Jericho Mile not just a great made for television movie, but a great movie period. In fact, it did manage to get released to theaters overseas, and I really think the movie would be better remembered today had it been theatrically released stateside. Fortunately, the movie was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2018 using a great-looking new HD master, so you have no excuse to not run out and see it.

(Posted September 20, 2024)