Just saw this on AMC last night! The movie that defined and laid out some of the most beloved prison cliches in the book--the sadistic guard (Hume Cronyn, doing his usual amazing job), the ratty informer (not one, but many this time), the guy who didn't do it (Howard Duff), the guy who did do it but we like him anyway (Burt Lancaster), the ineffectual warden, the kindly doctor, and the final riot.

I must admit the drainage pipe seems like a very silly thing for prisoners to work on if it is so easy to get to the prison tower from. It only seems like a few feet!

I love Burt Lancaster's death at the end. All his friends have been killed, and one of Cronyn's goons shoots him in the back. Lancaster does this amazing "AAAAAH!" like he's not even hurt, just ticked, machine guns the goon, and then (with a bullet hole in his back, mind you) manages to climb the steps to the tower, and battle Cronyn.

If all the prisoners in the drainage pipe knocked out the guards, couldn't they just escape?

This is a rather brutal movie for the 1940s. The scene where Cronyn beats up a prisoner for information still is gritty today. Also, the ways Lancaster deals with snitches are rather sadistic.