By Frank Miller
Road Gang
Brief Synopsis
A reporter exposes corruption on a southern chain gang.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Louis King
Director
Donald Woods
James Larrabie
Kay Linaker
Barbara Winston
Carlyle Moore Jr.
Bob Gordon
Joseph Crehan
Shields
Henry O'neill
George Winston
Film Details
Also Known As
Injustice, Prison Farm
Genre
Drama
Adventure
Prison
Release Date
Mar
28,
1936
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 5m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
7 reels
Synopsis
Reporter James Larrabie's hard-hitting exposé of corrupt politician Moett earns him a job offer from the Chicago Sun and the enmity of Moett and his partner George Winston, the stepfather of Jim's fiancée Barbara. Fearing the breakup of their power if Jim writes more articles, Moett and Winston arrange for his arrest. Barbara hires Mr. Dudley to defend Jim and his friend, Bob Gordon, who was arrested with him. She doesn't know that Dudley is conspiring with Winston and Moett to send Jim and Bob to prison. Sentenced to five years in a prison camp, the two men are beaten and tortured and eventually Bob collapses under the strain. After Bob is killed during a desperate escape, Jim writes an article exposing prison conditions and tries unsuccessfully to smuggle it out through Barbara. He is sent to the prison mines as punishment for his attempt. When she is forbidden to visit the prison again, Barbara flies to Chicago and asks Shields, Jim's managing editor, for help in freeing him. Shields takes her to the attorney general and together they demand Jim's release. When the warden tries to have Jim killed rather than release him, the men riot. Jim escapes through another mine and the warden is forced to turn over the prison records. Jim is pardoned as a result, and Moett is destroyed.
Director
Louis King
Director
Cast
Donald Woods
James Larrabie
Kay Linaker
Barbara Winston
Carlyle Moore Jr.
Bob Gordon
Joseph Crehan
Shields
Henry O'neill
George Winston
Joseph King
Moett
Addison Richards
Warden Parmenter
Charles Middleton
Mine warden
Olin Howland
Doctor
William Davidson
Marsden
Harry Cording
Sam Dawson
Marc Lawrence
Pete
Eddie Schubert
Buck Draper
Ed Van Sloan
Dudley
Ben Hendricks
Policeman
George Lloyd
Gorilla
Ed Chandler
First guard
Herbert Heywood
Convict at farm
Tom Manning
Jailer
Tom Wilson
Bull
Edward Le Saint
Judge
Nick Copeland
Second guard
Douglas Gordon
Chuckler
Albert Russell
Expressionless convict
Ernie Adams
Jeff
Constantine Romanoff
Tangle-eye
Don Downen
Messenger
Bernice Pilot
Maid
Frank Shannon
Chaplain
Paul Kruger
Engineer
Rex Moore
Boy sent to Blackfoot
Stuart Holmes
Guard
Lee Prather
Guard
Jack Curtis
Guard
Edward Piel Sr.
Guard
Frank G. Fanning
Guard
Harry Hollingsworth
Guard
Jack Cheatham
Guard
Lee Phelps
Guard
Henry Otho
Guard
Ted Billings
Convict
Charlie Graham
Convict
Sailor Vincent
Convict
Frank Bruno
Convict
Crew
Film Details
Also Known As
Injustice, Prison Farm
Genre
Drama
Adventure
Prison
Release Date
Mar
28,
1936
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 5m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
7 reels
Articles
Road Gang
Warner Bros. promoted Dalton Trumbo from reader to screenwriter with this prison-camp exposé. The attack on political corruption and unfair prison conditions were in line with Trumbo's political sympathies (the writer would become part of the Hollywood Ten), but the film's failure to identify the state whose corruption is being exposed tends to blunt the message. Nonetheless, the film provides a nice workout for the cast, with Donald Woods as an enterprising reporter whose articles on corruption raise the ire of politicians Joe King and Henry O'Neill (in an uncharacteristic villainous role). They get him arrested on trumped-up charges leading to five years of hard labor. When Woods tries to smuggle out a story on the prison through fiancée Kay Linaker (who just happens to be O'Neill's daughter), it gets him assigned to an unsafe mine with little hope for survival. In addition to O'Neill, the film features other noted character actors like Joseph Crehan as Woods' crusading editor, Edward Van Sloan as a crooked lawyer, Olin Howland as a sympathetic prison doctor and Charles Middleton as the sadistic warden in charge of the mine. As Kate Phillips, leading lady Linaker would later co-write the screenplay for The Blob (1958).
By Frank Miller
By Frank Miller
Road Gang
Warner Bros. promoted Dalton Trumbo from reader to screenwriter with this prison-camp exposé. The attack on political corruption and unfair prison conditions were in line with Trumbo's political sympathies (the writer would become part of the Hollywood Ten), but the film's failure to identify the state whose corruption is being exposed tends to blunt the message. Nonetheless, the film provides a nice workout for the cast, with Donald Woods as an enterprising reporter whose articles on corruption raise the ire of politicians Joe King and Henry O'Neill (in an uncharacteristic villainous role). They get him arrested on trumped-up charges leading to five years of hard labor. When Woods tries to smuggle out a story on the prison through fiancée Kay Linaker (who just happens to be O'Neill's daughter), it gets him assigned to an unsafe mine with little hope for survival. In addition to O'Neill, the film features other noted character actors like Joseph Crehan as Woods' crusading editor, Edward Van Sloan as a crooked lawyer, Olin Howland as a sympathetic prison doctor and Charles Middleton as the sadistic warden in charge of the mine. As Kate Phillips, leading lady Linaker would later co-write the screenplay for The Blob (1958).
By Frank Miller
Marc Lawrence (1910-2005)
Born Max Goldsmith on February 17, 1910, in the Bronx, Lawrence had his heart set on a career in drama right out of high school. He enrolled at City College of New York to study theatre, and in 1930, he worked under famed stage actress Eva Le Gallienne. Anxious for a career in movies, Lawrence moved to Hollywood in 1932 and found work immediately as a contract player with Warner Bros. (an ideal studio for the actor since they specialized in crime dramas). He was cast as a heavy in his first film, If I Had a Million (1932). Although his first few parts were uncredited, Lawrence's roles grew more prominent: a sinister henchman in the Paul Muni vehicle in Dr. Socrates (1935); a conniving convict aiding Pat O'Brien in San Quentin (1937); a menacing thug stalking Dorothy Lamour in Johnny Apollo (1940); the shrewdly observant chauffeur in Alan Ladd's breakthrough hit This Gun For Hire (1942); and one of his most memorable roles as Ziggy, a fedora wearing mobster in the Bogart-Bacall noir classic Key Largo (1948).
Lawrence, when given the opportunity, could play against type: as the prosecuting attorney challenging Tyrone Power in Brigham Young (1940); a noble aristocrat in the Greer Garson-Walter Pidgeon period opus Blossoms in the Dust; and most impressively, as a deaf mute simpleton in the rustic drama The Shepherd of the Hills (both 1941). Better still was Lawrence's skill at comedy, where his deadpan toughness worked terrifically as a straight man against the likes of Joe E. Brown in Beware Spooks (1939); Abbott and Costello in Hit the Ice (1943); Penny Singleton in Life with Blondie (1945); and Bob Hope in My Favorite Spy (1951).
After that, Lawrence's career took a turn downward spin when he was labeled a communist sympathizer during the Hollywood witch hunts of the early '50s. He was exiled in Europe for a spell (1951-59), and when he came back, the film industry turned a blind eye to him, but television overcompensated for that. Here he played effective villains (what else?) in a series of crime caper programs: Peter Gunn, Johnny Staccato, The Untouchables, Richard Diamond, Private Detective; and eventually made a welcome return to the big screen as a returning exiled gangster in William Asher's underrated mob thriller Johnny Cool (1963).
It wasn't long before Lawrence found himself back in the fray playing in some big box-office hits over the next two decades: Diamonds Are Forever (1971), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Marathon Man (1976), Foul Play (1978); and The Big Easy (1987). Sure he was cast as a gangster, but nobody could play a rough and tumble mob boss with more style or conviction.
Interestingly, one of his finest performances in recent years was in television, as a severely ill old man unwilling to accept his fate in a fourth season episode of ER (1997-98). His last screen role was just two years ago, as a nimble minded VP in Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003).
In 1991, Lawrence published a memoir about his venerable career, Long Time No See: Confessions of a Hollywood Gangster that received much critical acclaim. He has also developed a cult following due to his appearances in such offbeat items as From Dusk to Dawn and Pigs aka Daddy's Deadly Darling, the 1972 horror film he directed and starred in with his daughter Toni. He is survived by his wife, Alicia; two children from a previous marriage, Toni and Michael; and a stepdaughter Marina.
by Michael T. Toole
Marc Lawrence (1910-2005)
With his sharp glare, pockmarked cheeks, clipped speech pattern and menacing air, Marc Lawrence had certainly carved a reputation for himself as one of the screen's finest character actors for villainous
roles. Lawrence, whose career was harmed by the
Hollywood blacklist in the '50s, died of natural causes on November 27 at his home in Palm Springs. He was 95.
Born Max Goldsmith on February 17, 1910, in the Bronx, Lawrence had his heart set on a career in drama right out of high school. He enrolled at City College of New York to study theatre, and in 1930, he worked under famed stage actress Eva Le Gallienne. Anxious for a career in movies, Lawrence moved to Hollywood in
1932 and found work immediately as a contract player with Warner Bros. (an ideal studio for the actor since they specialized in crime dramas). He was cast as a heavy in his first film, If I Had a Million (1932). Although his first few parts were uncredited, Lawrence's roles grew more prominent: a sinister henchman in the Paul Muni vehicle in Dr.
Socrates (1935); a conniving convict aiding Pat O'Brien in San Quentin (1937); a menacing thug stalking Dorothy Lamour in Johnny Apollo (1940); the shrewdly observant chauffeur in Alan Ladd's breakthrough hit This Gun For Hire (1942); and one of his most memorable roles as Ziggy, a fedora wearing mobster in the Bogart-Bacall noir classic Key Largo (1948).
Lawrence, when given the opportunity, could play against type: as the prosecuting attorney challenging Tyrone Power in Brigham Young (1940); a noble aristocrat in the Greer Garson-Walter Pidgeon period opus Blossoms in the Dust; and most impressively, as a deaf mute simpleton in the rustic drama The Shepherd of the Hills (both 1941).
Better still was Lawrence's skill at comedy, where his deadpan toughness worked terrifically as a straight man against the likes of Joe E. Brown in Beware Spooks (1939); Abbott and Costello in Hit the Ice (1943); Penny Singleton in Life with Blondie (1945); and Bob Hope in My Favorite Spy (1951).
After that, Lawrence's career took a turn downward spin when he was labeled a communist sympathizer during the Hollywood witch hunts of the early '50s.
He was exiled in Europe for a spell (1951-59), and when he came back, the film industry turned a blind eye to him, but television overcompensated for that. Here he played effective villains (what else?) in a series of crime caper programs: Peter Gunn, Johnny Staccato, The Untouchables, Richard Diamond, Private Detective; and eventually made a welcome return to the big screen as a returning exiled gangster in William Asher's underrated mob thriller Johnny Cool (1963).
It wasn't long before Lawrence found himself back in the fray playing in some big box-office hits over the next two decades: Diamonds Are Forever (1971), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Marathon Man (1976), Foul Play (1978); and The Big Easy (1987). Sure he was cast as a gangster, but nobody could play a rough and tumble mob boss with more style or conviction.
Interestingly, one of his finest performances in recent years was in television, as a severely ill old man unwilling to accept his fate in a fourth season episode of ER (1997-98). His last screen role was just two years ago, as a nimble minded VP in Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003).
In 1991, Lawrence published a memoir about his venerable career, Long Time No See: Confessions of a Hollywood Gangster that received much critical acclaim. He has also developed a cult following due to his appearances in such offbeat items as From Dusk to Dawn and Pigs aka Daddy's Deadly Darling, the 1972 horror film he directed and starred in with his daughter Toni. He is survived by his wife, Alicia; two children from a previous marriage, Toni and Michael; and a stepdaughter Marina.
by Michael T. Toole
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film's working title was Prison Farm. Although contemporary sources call Joseph King's character Metcalfe, the name was clearly altered on the viewed print, both in the credit list and on the sound track. No information was found about this change. The film was released in Great Britain as Injustice.
