Search - Against the Wall on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Violence, Adult Language Movie Release: 1994 DVD Release: 10/03/2006 Format: DVD - Color,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 51 mins Studio: HBO Home Video Total Copies: 1 Genres: Drama, Docudrama, Prison Film

Made for cable TV, Against the Wall represents filmmaker John Frankenheimer's return to the small screen. This in-your-face reenactment of the 1971 Attica prison riots is jam-packed with political and sociological implications. Refreshingly, none of the participants -- the prisoners, the guards, the high-profile mediators, the New York powers-that-be-are rendered in strictly good-guy or bad-guy terms by screenwriter Ron Hutchinson. Anyone old enough to have witnessed the original live TV coverage of the riot, however, will be able to discern who was truly responsible for its tragic outcome. While the 1971 TV-movie Attica was told from a journalist's point of view, Against the Wall is filtered through the eyes of idealist young prison guard Kyle MacLachlan. Director Frankenheimer (who in 1962 helmed the vastly different prison picture Birdman of Alcatraz)stage-manages the proceedings with his usual aplomb, though he uncharacteristically leans towards B-flick melodrama in some scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kyle MacLachlan - Michael Smith
Samuel L. Jackson - Jamaal
Harry Dean Stanton - Hal
Clarence Williams III - Chaka
Frederic Forrest - Weisbad