I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

A film from the early 1930s that attacks the American penal system directly. Coming back from the war, James does not want factory work; he wants to be an engineer. He cannot find a job, takes to the road, and is caught having been drawn into a stranger's robbery. The sentence is ten years on a chain gang. The middle of the film is the camp itself: breaking rock from sunrise to sunset, irons on the ankles, asking permission even to drink water, and a beating for the smallest objection. James escapes. He builds a life under a new name, sets up a business and becomes a respected man. Then his past surfaces and the state offers him a deal: serve a short time more and be pardoned. He trusts the deal. The source is Robert Elliott Burns's memoir. Burns was still a fugitive while the film was being made. The film had an effect on the American argument about chain gangs. Paul Muni plays James and was Oscar-nominated for it. Its final scene and final line are counted among the most cited endings in American cinema. A foundational work for anyone who likes early sound cinema and films of social criticism. For a viewer looking for hope, it offers consolation nowhere.