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I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932)

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Average Rating: 8.4/10
Reviews Counted: 20
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 0

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 0

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Movie Info

Warner Bros.' hard-hitting chain-gang movie was a faithful adaptation of the similarly titled autobiography of Robert Elliot Burns. Paul Muni plays World War I veteran James Allen, whose plans of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Flat broke, Allen is forced to pawn his war medals, which have become a glut on the market. When Allen is innocently involved in a restaurant holdup, the police don't buy his story that the robber (Preston S. Foster) had

Unrated, 1 hr. 33 min.

Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Classics

Directed By: Mervyn LeRoy

Written By: Howard J. Green, Brown Holmes, Sheridan Gibney

In Theaters: Nov 19, 1932 Wide

On DVD: May 10, 2005

Cast

Paul Muni
James Allen
Glenda Farrell
Marie Woods
Helen Vinson
Helen
Noel Francis
Linda
Preston S. Foster
Pete
Edward McNamara
Second Warden
Allen Jenkins
Barney Sykes
Sheila Terry
Allen's Secretary
Sally Blane
Alice
David Landau
Warden
James Bell
Red
John Wray
Nordine
Hale Hamilton
Rev. Robert Clinton All...
Robert Warwick
Fuller
Louise Carter
Mrs. Allen
Robert McWade
Ramsey
Everett Brown
Sebastian T. Yale
William Le Maire
Texas
Edward Arnold
Lawyer
Erville Alderson
Chief of Police
Irving Bacon
Barber Bill
Reginald Barlow
Parker
Frederick Burton
Georgia Prison Official
Berton Churchill
Judge
Wallis Clark
Lawyer
George Pat Collins
Wilson
of Commerce
Douglas Dumbrille
District Attorney
Edward Ellis
Bomber Wells
Lew Kelly
Man
Jack LaRue
Ackerman
Edward J. Le Saint
Chairman Chamber of Com...
Walter Long
Blacksmith
Charles B. Middleton
Train Conductor
William Pawley
Doggy
Willard Robertson
Prison Commissioner
Charles Sellon
Hot Dog Stand Owner
Lee Shumway
Arresting Officer
George Cooper
Vaudevillian
Dennis O'Keefe
Dance Extra
Harry Woods
Guard
J. Frank Glendon
Arresting Officer

Critic Reviews for I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang

All Critics (20) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (22) | Rotten (0) | DVD (7)

Based on a true story, its style is simple, direct, forceful -- even after more than six decades.

February 10, 2012 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Don Druker

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is a picture with guts. It grips with its stark realism and packs lots of punch.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

There's enough here to make I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang worthwhile, but its problems are deep enough to keep it a long way from sniffing greatness.

February 27, 2010 Full Review Source: Film and Felt

| Comment (1)

Gabe Leibowitz

Film and Felt

The film suggests the denial of the common worker, whose service to industry is only as worthy as his social status.

February 2, 2010 Full Review Source: Bright Lights Film Journal

| Comment

Matthew Sorrento

Bright Lights Film Journal

One of the stronget Depression era's social protest films, this expose shattered audiences in its harrowing depiction of guards' brutalities and other inhuman conditions of prison chain gangs.

August 17, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Suprisingly no-holds-barred portrait of institutional bullying for such an early film.

June 2, 2006 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine

| Comment

Kim Newman

Empire Magazine

Muni gives a brilliant performance as a regular guy wrongly convicted of murder and subjected to the hardships and beatings of a dehumanising chain gang regime.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Time Out

Still gripping and suspenseful, more than 70 years after its initial release

July 1, 2005 Full Review Source: Movie Habit

| Comment

Marty Mapes

Movie Habit

Time has not blunted the hard-edged anger of Fugitive.

May 22, 2005 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Jeremiah Kipp

Slant Magazine

The prison scenes are blatantly manipulative-and effective-but Fugitive really takes off during an intense escape sequence.

May 22, 2005 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment (1)

Jeremiah Kipp

Slant Magazine

a dark and thrilling story that's all the more gripping because it's based on a true story

April 30, 2005 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com

| Comment

Don Willmott

Filmcritic.com

Paul Muni gives a heart-wrenching performance.

December 21, 2004 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A searing Oscar-nominated performance from Paul Muni as the desperate James Allen and powerful uncompromising direction ensure that this film is as harrowing and vital today as it ever was.

May 24, 2003 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Film4

[A] difficult and heart-wrenching story of justice perverted.

April 20, 2003 Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies

| Comment

Michael W. Phillips, Jr.

Goatdog's Movies Source: Goatdog's Movies

Powerful social commentary and brilliant filmmaking.

March 19, 2003 Comment

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

One of the great social dramas of all time. The finale is a knock-out. One of Muni's best performances.

August 15, 2002 Comment

Bob Bloom

Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang

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If you're not interested in the volatile performance of Paul Muni, the violence of a 30's chaingang, or a morally obscured storyline, then watch this film for its historical and cultural aspects. This film caused an uproar during the heyday of the Hays Code for its portrayal of chain gangs as abusive and negligent

October 18, 2010

Spencer S.

Super Reviewer

One of the greatest and most famous of the social imperative films of the pre-Hayes Code 1930's, I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang depicts a man's decade long battle to attain the unattainable, peace. A truly fantastic Paul Muni plays James Allen, a returning WWI vet who gets wrongfully arrested and sentenced to ten

February 5, 2011

Bob O'Reilly

Super Reviewer

I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang Quotes

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1. Helen: How do you live?
2. James Allen: I steal.
– Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)

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