Best movies & TV Shows like Bars

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Bars Starring Gwion Tegid, Adam Woodward, Bill Skinner, Annes Elwy, and more. If you liked Bars then you may also like: The Unwritten Code, The Voorman Problem, Riot in Cell Block 11, Jail House Blues, Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

TV show

Based on testimonies from real-life prisoners and prison guards, the six-part series Bariau explores the complex interplay between four central characters on both sides of the law, highlighting the profound impact of the decisions they make on themselves and those around them.

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The Unwritten Code

The Unwritten Code is an offbeat, better-than-average Columbia wartime "B" picture. Though Ann Savage and Tom Neal are top-billed, the central character is supporting-actor Roland Varno. He plays a Nazi spy who sneaks into the U.S., hoping to release hundreds of German prisoners. He fails, but not until plenty of bullets have been spent. The most interesting aspect of The Unwritten Code is the casting of Savage and Neal as the "good" characters: in 1945, these two cult favorites would play the decidedly unsavory protagonists of the film noir classic Detour.

The Voorman Problem

Doctor Williams is called in to examine the enigmatic Mr Voorman, a prisoner with a peculiar affliction: he believes he is a god. The Doctor must decide on the sanity of Mr Voorman - is he a faker or a lunatic? Diagnose him insane and they can ship him off to the asylum. But before making a decision, the Doctor has several questions in relation to Voorman's claims: why would a god choose to be straitjacketed in a prison, is there a way he can validate his boast and what has any of this got to do with Belgium?

Riot in Cell Block 11

A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.

Jail House Blues

A prisoner about to be pardoned puts it off until he can put on one last variety show for his fellow inmates.

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer

British documentarian Nick Broomfield creates a follow-up piece to his 1992 documentary of the serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was convicted of killing six men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. Interviewing an increasingly mentally unstable Wuornos, Broomfield captures the distorted mind of a murderer whom the state of Florida deems of sound mind -- and therefore fit to execute. Throughout the film, Broomfield includes footage of his testimony at Wuornos' trial.

Attica

Acclaimed dramatization recreating the incidents surrounding the 1971 revolt in New York's Attica State Prison that lasted for 23 days and resulted in the greatest casualty toll between Americans since the Civil War.

Brubaker

The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.

Caged

An African American male is imprisoned and placed in solitary confinement after being found guilty of murdering his wife, as he's haunted by internal demons and his dead wife, and pushed to the breaking point by an abusive female guard.

The Emperor Jones

Unscrupulously ambitious, Brutus Jones escapes from jail after killing a guard and, through bluff and bravado, finds himself the emperor of a Caribbean island.

The McKenzie Break

A German U-Boat commander and 600 prisoners plan a daring escape from a PoW camp in Scotland.

Murder in the First

Inspired by a true story. A petty criminal sent to Alcatraz in the 1930s is caught attempting to make an escape. As punishment he is put in solitary confinement. The maximum stay is supposed to be 19 days, but Henri spends years alone, cold and in complete darkness, only to emerge a madman and soon to be a murderer. The story follows a rookie lawyer attempting to prove that Alcatraz was to blame.

Into Pitch Black

After the events of Pitch Black, a contractor is hired to locate Riddick, dead or alive. He reviews available information on him and the events of Pitch Black. Terrified, he hires a female cyberpunk merc to do the job for him.

Screwed

The film is a semi-biographical story based on the experiences of former prison guard Ronnie Thompson who spent seven years working in some of the UK's most dangerous prisons. Based on Thompson's book of the same name, the project stars James D'Arcy (Master & Commander), Noel Clarke (Kidulthood), Frank Harper (The Football Factory), Jamie Foreman (Layer Cake), Andrew Shim (This Is England) and Kate Magowan (Stardust). The story revolves around former soldier Sam Norwood who takes a job as a prison officer when he returns from Iraq and becomes exposed to the underworld of prison culture - including corrupt guards and drug trafficking.

Gun Street

In this movie filmed and released in 1961 (and not a 1962 production), an escaped convict returns to town and begins a reign of terror. Marked for death are Dr. Dean Knudtson, his wife Janice, formerly married to the killer, and Jeff Baxley, on whose testimony the man was originally sent to prison. Sheriff Charles Morton and deputy Sam Freed head a posse tracking down the killer in the desert. The man is found dead of the wounds inflicted by a prison guard trying to prevent his escape. The sheriff resigns his job and heads west with Joan. Written by Les Adams

Alcatraz

A group of prisoners, led by an armed robber and a gangster, attempt to escape from the infamous Alcatraz Island.

Devil's Canyon

An outlaw woman helps one Arizona convict stop another with a Gatling gun.

Boston Blackie

Boston Blackie is a former prison inmate campaigning to outlaw Warden Benton's infamous "Water Cross" torture. Benton, however, is successful in his attempt to have Blackie arrested and returned to the prison, but his evil schemes are ultimately thwarted by Mary Carter, Blackie's girlfriend, who manages to alert the governor.

How to Make Money Selling Drugs

Ten easy steps show you how to make money from drugs, featuring a series of interviews with drug dealers, prison employees, and lobbyists arguing for tougher drug laws.

Covert Action

Inside the stately Senate Hearing Room, Frank White, professional soldier, Vietnam vet and CIA operative, is fighting the toughest battle of his life: he's on trial for the assassination of Miguel Rivera, a Central American diplomat. Only two men could have made the shot - White or his friend Rick Burns, ex-military sniper now working as a Mafia hitman. Testimony unravels the intricate web created by Rivera and Daniel Waterman, head of an international cartel dabbling in both Latin American Politics and cocaine.

Prisoners of the War on Drugs

From its beginning during the Reagan years through current times, the War on Drugs has left many victims stranded in the prison system. PRISONERS OF THE WAR ON DRUGS reveals life behind bars in the nation’s prisons. Each prisoner has his or her own story, but for most, the story is predictably similar; they have been criminalized for drugs or drug related offenses, locked up with easy access to substances, and given little opportunity for rehabilitation. This film provides an inside look at the prison system, its prisoners and a war on drugs we do not seem to be winning.

Imprisoned

Dylan Burke attempts to move on from his former life as a criminal with his true love Maria. He soon realizes that his past will continue to haunt him, when he learns the new local prison warden, Daniel Calvin, has not forgiven him for an old crime.

The Cross of Lorraine

French soldiers (Jean-Pierre Aumont, Gene Kelly) surrender to lying Nazis and are herded into a barbaric prison camp.

Shadows of Sing Sing

Muriel Rossi (Mary Brian), the sister of a racketeer, Al Rossi (Harry Woods), falls in love with Bob Martel (Bruce Cabot), the son of a police detective, Joe Martel (Grant Mitchell). Their love affair causes bot families problems when Bob is framed, but saved as a result of his father's access to police department films.

Bad Girls

Bad Girls is a British television drama series that was broadcast on ITV from 1 June 1999 to 20 December 2006 and starred Simone Lahbib, Mandana Jones, Debra Stephenson, Linda Henry, Jack Ellis and many more throughout the eight-year run. The series was broadcast in 17 countries and was produced by Shed Productions, the company which later produced Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road. It is set in the fictional women's prison of Larkhall, and features a mixture of serious and light storylines focusing on the prisoners and staff of G Wing. From 2010, the UK broadcast rights were bought by CBS Drama, and is repeated regularly – as of September 2012, the channel is re-running the series again in a late-night time slot.

The Daltons

Unshackle your laughing gas, put your ball and chain away, take a prison break and get ready to escape with the Daltons! The fab four are back! The Daltons will try every trick in the books to get out and then some: a maze of tunnels, explosives, hot air balloons and rain dances, and a whole cast of zany characters to help them get free ... or not! The only thing they don’t try using are their brains! But what they lack in intelligence, they sure make up for in willpower and imagination! The far west has never been crazier!

Prison Break

Due to a political conspiracy, an innocent man is sent to death row and his only hope is his brother, who makes it his mission to deliberately get himself sent to the same prison in order to break the both of them out, from the inside out.

The Rifleman

The Rifleman is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black-and-white, half-hour episodes. "The Rifleman" aired on ABC from September 30, 1958 to April 8, 1963 as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first prime time series to have a widowed parent raise a child.

Superjail!

An eccentric warden and his staff run a bizarre maximum security prison full of dangerous prisoners.

Beyond Scared Straight

Observing programs for troubled teens in which inmates reveal the realities of prison life in the hope of deterring them from a life of crime.

Escape from Colditz

The best known and most notorious PoW camp in history is Colditz, an 18th century castle in eastern Germany. With its imposing walls, steep cliffs, and rigorous policing, it was seen as the ultimate prison, home to the worst troublemakers from allied PoW camps all over Europe. Using archive material and dramatic reconstruction, and the personal testimony of Colditz veterans, this series documents the creative and often spectacular attempts to go over, under, around or through the walls. A specially commissioned archaeologist, working with the veterans, also uncovers the secret rooms, hidden tunnels and concealed doors that were so important in securing each precious escape from Colditz. At the start of 1942, British prisoners were lagging behind the French and Dutch in terms of "home runs" but the British success rate was about to improve, as they were getting help from a new source.

Arrepentidos

Testimonies of real people, living lives of repentance, from a bad decision that will affect the rest of their lives.

Hard Cell

A Netflix comedy series written and directed by Catherine Tate set in a women's prison. Tate plays multiple characters as a documentary crew follows the inmates and staff of HMP Woldsley capturing the penal system at its brutal humorous best.

Theodore Roosevelt

The two-part premium miniseries event on Theodore Roosevelt, the first modern President of the United States, will provide a rich, panoramic biography weaving Roosevelt's captivating personal story while revealing little-known truths behind his expansive curiosity, restless spirit and the profound, lasting impact he has had on the country.

Parole

As futures hang in the balance, what would you decide? An eye-opening look at Britain's parole boards, making complex, life-changing decisions for prisoners - and their victims.

God Save Texas

Returning to their hometowns, Texas filmmakers Richard Linklater, Alex Stapleton, and Iliana Sosa chronicle the complex history of each city, while examining the toll that the prison system, oil business, and border laws have on those communities.

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