Convicts 4
| Convicts 4 | |
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| Directed by | Millard Kaufman |
| Produced by | A. Ronald Lubin |
| Written by | Millard Kaufman John Resko |
| Starring | Ben Gazzara Stuart Whitman Vincent Price Rod Steiger |
| Music by | Leonard Rosenman |
| Cinematography | Joseph F. Biroc |
| Editing by | George White |
| Distributed by | Allied Artists Pictures Corporation |
| Release date(s) |  September 15, 1962 February 15, 1963 |
| Running time | 105 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
Convicts 4 is a 1962 prison film drama starring Ben Gazzara and directed by Millard Kaufman.[1][2][3] A true story, it is based on the autobiography of John Resko, Reprieve.
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[edit] Plot summary
John Resko is condemned to the electric chair at the age of eighteen. It is Christmas and Resko wants to give his baby daughter a new teddy bear. He goes, without money, into a shop and tries to get the shopkeeper to give it to him saying he will pay him later. The shopkeeper refuses, Resko grabs a gun he saw in the till and points it at the man. The shopkeeper lunges at Resko and is shot.
Pardoned by the governor at the last minute, Resko is sentenced to Dannemora prison, where he has difficulty adjusting to life behind bars. It becomes even less bearable after hearing that his wife has left him and that his father has died.
Resko does long stretches in solitary confinement. But he is befriended eventually by fellow convicts like Iggy and Wino who help him to pass the time. When he takes up art as a hobby, Resko's work is seen by an art critic, Carl Carmer, who believes him to have promise.
In 1949, after 18 years in prison, Resko is released. His daughter and granddaughter are waiting when he gets out.
[edit] Production
The governor who pardoned Resko was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, not identified by that name in the film.
Rather than a pawn shop, the real Resko actually was after a stuffed toy for his daughter and wrestled the store owner when he tried to steal it. His gun went off, killing the store owner unintentionally.
[edit] Cast
- Ben Gazzara ... John Resko
- Stuart Whitman ... Principal Keeper
- Ray Walston ... Iggy
- Vincent Price ... Carl Carmer
- Rod Steiger ... 'Tiptoes'
- Broderick Crawford ... Warden
- Dodie Stevens ... Resko's Sister
- Jack Kruschen ... Resko's Father
- Sammy Davis Jr. ... Wino
- Naomi Stevens ... Resko's Mother
- Carmen Phillips ... Resko's Wife
- Susan Silo ... Resko's Daughter
- Timothy Carey ... Nick
- Roland La Starza ... Duke
- Tom Gilson ... Lefty
- Jack Albertson ... Art teacher
[edit] External links
- Convicts 4 at the Internet Movie Database
- Convicts 4 at AllRovi
- Convicts 4 at the TCM Movie Database
[edit] Notes
- ^ Variety film review; April 4, 1962; reviewed as "Reprieve."
- ^ Harrison's Reports film review; April 28, 1962, page 63.
- ^ Monthly Film Bulletin review; 1962, page 115.
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