''Convicts 4'', also known as ''Reprieve'', is a 1962 American

neo noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

starring

Ben Gazzara Biagio Anthony "Ben" Gazzara (August 28, 1930 – February 3, 2012) was an American actor and director of film, stage, and television. He received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Drama Desk Award, in addition to nomina ...

and directed by

Millard Kaufman Millard Kaufman (March 12, 1917 – March 14, 2009) was an American screenwriter and novelist. His works include the Academy Award-nominated '' Bad Day at Black Rock'' (1955). He was also one of the creators of Mr. Magoo. Early life Kau ...

. The film is a fictionalized version of the life of death row convict John Resko, who wrote his autobiography: ''Reprieve''. The film was initially released as ''Reprieve'' to "poor box office," and was released again as ''Convicts 4'', also without commercial success.

Plot

It is Christmas, 1931, and John 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 prosperous shopkeeper, who cleans his eyeglasses with a dollar bill, refuses. Resko grabs a gun he saw in the till and points it at the man. The shopkeeper lunges at Resko and is shot. Resko is condemned to the electric chair at the age of eighteen. Pardoned by the governor at the last minute, Resko is sentenced to, (???—sentenced to what? In the film Resko is sentenced to life imprisonment 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 while rescuing a drowning child to make up for the life that was lost. Resko attempts to escape twice, and 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.

Cast

as John Resko *

Stuart Whitman Stuart Maxwell Whitman (February 1, 1928 – March 16, 2020) was an American actor, known for his lengthy career in film and television. Whitman was born in San Francisco and raised in New York until the age of 12, when his family relocated to ...

as Principal Keeper *

Ray Walston Herman Ray Walston (November 2, 1914 – January 1, 2001) was an American actor. He started his career on Broadway theatre, Broadway earning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance as Mr. Applegate in ''Damn Yankees'' (1956 ...

as Iggy *

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor. He was known for his work in the horror film genre, mostly portraying villains. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price ...

as Carl Carmer *

Rod Steiger Rodney Stephen Steiger ( ; April 14, 1925 – July 9, 2002) was an American actor, noted for his portrayal of offbeat, often volatile and crazed characters. Ranked as "one of Hollywood's most charismatic and dynamic stars", he is closely associ ...

as 'Tiptoes' *

Broderick Crawford William Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 – April 26, 1986) was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Willie Stark in the film ''All the King's Men'' (1949), which earned him an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Of ...

as Warden *

Dodie Stevens Dodie Stevens (born Geraldine Ann Pasquale, February 17, 1946) is an American rock and traditional pop singer. She is best known for her 1959 song " Pink Shoe Laces." It debuted at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 when Stevens was one day sh ...

as Resko's Sister *

Jack Kruschen Jacob "Jack" Kruschen (March 20, 1922 – April 2, 2002) was a Canadian character actor who worked primarily in American film, television and radio. Kruschen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Dr. Dreyf ...

as Resko's Father *

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician. At age two, Davis began his career in Vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which t ...

as Wino *

Naomi Stevens Naomi Ruth Stevens (November 29, 1925 – January 13, 2018) was an American character actress of film and television from the 1950s through the 1980s. She appeared in almost 100 roles over the years, usually depicting mothers, landladies, gossi ...

as Resko's Mother * Carmen Phillips as Connie Resko *

Susan Silo Susan Silo (born July 27, 1942) is an American actress who is known for her work in voice-over roles. Early life Susan Silo was born in New York City. Both her parents were actors Jon Silo and Ruth Silo. Career Her acting career started in ...

as Cathy (as an adult) *

Timothy Carey Timothy Agoglia Carey (March 11, 1929 – May 11, 1994) was an American film and television character actor who was typically cast as manic or violent characters who are driven to extremes. He is particularly known for his collaborations with S ...

as Nick *

Roland La Starza Roland La Starza (May 12, 1927 – September 30, 2009) was an American boxer and actor. La Starza was a top rated heavyweight contender in the early 1950s and is best known for his two fights with heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano. Biography ...

as Duke * Tom Gilson as Lefty * Arthur Malet as Storekeeper *

Jack Albertson Harold "Jack" Albertson (June 16, 1907 – November 25, 1981) was an American actor, comedian, dancer and singer who also performed in vaudeville. Albertson was a Tony, Oscar, and Emmy winning actor, which ranks him among a rare stature of 24 ...

as Art teacher

Factual background

On February 5, 1931, Resko and an accomplice, Frank Mayo, killed a grocer, Samuel Friedberg, during an attempted robbery of his store at 885 East 167th Street in the Bronx. Resko confessed to the crime. Both men were sentenced to death, and the jury recommended clemency for Resko, who was 19 and had a wife and infant daughter. The jury recommended clemency, with the foreman saying that he was a tool "in the hands of a hardened criminal." Resko's sentence was commuted by then-Governor

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

to life imprisonment after he testified against Mayo, who was executed on July 21, 1932. Resko became a noted artist while in prison and was freed shortly before Christmas 1949 by Governor

Thomas E. Dewey Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in 1944 and ...

. The film mixes fact with fiction, turning the killing into a crime of passion.

Production

Resko was technical advisor of the film, whose prison sequences were filmed at

Folsom State Prison Folsom California State Prison is a California State Prison in Folsom, California, United States, approximately northeast of the state capital of Sacramento. It is one of 34 adult institutions operated by the California Department of Correcti ...

. Sammy Davis Jr. put on a show for the actual inmates after filming.

Critical reception and legacy

''New York Times'' critic

A.H. Weiler Abraham H. Weiler (December 10, 1908 – January 22, 2002) was an American writer and critic best known for being a film critic and motion picture editor for ''The New York Times''. He also served a term as chairman of the New York Film Critics ...

said the film "is forthright and serious in its attempt to limn a striking figure but is only rarely compelling or memorable." The ''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

'' gave the film three of four stars, and called the film "commendable" even though it failed to substantiate its premise that becoming a good artist means that one is a "rehabilitated soul." The convicts are sympathetically portrayed as "sympathetic at heart and good for occasional laughs." Although the film did not find an audience in the theaters, it was played often on late-night television, and is included in the 2008 anthology, ''101 Forgotten Films''.

References

External links

* * * {{AFI film, id=23048, title=Convicts 4 1962 films 1960s biographical drama films 1962 crime drama films American crime drama films American biographical drama films American black-and-white films American neo-noir films 1960s prison films Films scored by Leonard Rosenman Films based on biographies Films based on non-fiction books Films set in the 1930s Films set in the 1940s Films set in New York (state) American prison drama films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films English-language biographical drama films English-language crime drama films