Clark Davis, a shy, soft-spoken, wholesome-looking middle class white male, is sent to prison for the heinous, unspeakable crime of child molestation. Clark's very presence causes the assorted racial conflicts, barely suppressed homosexual longings, and painfully nagging doubts about one's self-worth amongst the inmates to come to an explosive full boil on a heretofore calm multi-ethnic cellblock. The inmates band together to enforce their own vicious, complicated moral code upon the much pushed around Davis.
Tough, gritty and frightfully plausible, "Short Eyes" rates highly as one of the best, most accurate and brutally realistic prison films ever made. Bruce Davison gives an astonishing, almost excruciatingly delicate, unexpectedly sympathetic and even moving performance as the pathetic, guilt-ridden pedophile; the scene where Clark confesses to having molested several little girls since he was fifteen years old is quite chilling and haunting; it's perhaps the most blistering and gut-wrenching moment in a generally searing and hard-hitting film. The outstanding ensemble cast all turn in exceptional work: Jose Perez as the compassionate Juan, who makes a valiant, humane attempt at protecting and understanding Clark; Joe Carburry as the volatile, irascible Longshoe, who initially befriends Clark and becomes his chief tormentor after discovering he's a "short eyes" (prison slang for child molester); former real-life convict Tito Goya as Cupcakes, a cute Hispanic inmate who secretly likes all the sexual advances he receives from most guys on his block; Mark Margolis as a hostile guard, Don Blakely as El Raheem, an overbearing, overzealous advocate of black pride and Islamic religion; and Shawn Elliot as Paco, a crude, hulking gay felon who only knows how to show affection through aggression (the scene where Paco tries to seduce Cupcakes in the shower is very touching). Keep your eyes peeled for Luis Guzman in his film debut as an extra inmate in a few crowd scenes.
Richard Young's sharp, tautly wound direction, working from Miguel Pinero's unsparingly rough, profane, keenly observant and wholly credible script (Pinero, a onetime criminal who did five years in Sing Sing for armed robbery, based said script on his acclaimed Broadway play and acts in the film as GoGo, a coarse, hectoring homosexual inmate who frequently taunts Cupcakes), draws the grungy, desolate, claustrophobic and uncomfortable behind bars milieu in scarily lucid terms, smartly depicting the gloomy penitentiary as the filthy, festering, often ignored rusty bottom of America's melting pot culture (the film was shot on location in a notorious Manhatten Men's House of Detention called the Tombs). Country and western singer (and erstwhile jailbird) Freddy Fender has a remarkable bit as Johnny, a venerable felon who sings "Break It Down," a poignant song about the harshness and constricting nature of prison life; it's a wondrous, show-stopping moment. Pungent, shuddery score by Curtis Mayfield, who cameos as a disgusted elderly felon. By no means an easy film to watch (and at times a tad flat and stagy), "Short Eyes" nonetheless still qualifies as a truly startling and unnerving powerhouse of a movie.
Tough, gritty and frightfully plausible, "Short Eyes" rates highly as one of the best, most accurate and brutally realistic prison films ever made. Bruce Davison gives an astonishing, almost excruciatingly delicate, unexpectedly sympathetic and even moving performance as the pathetic, guilt-ridden pedophile; the scene where Clark confesses to having molested several little girls since he was fifteen years old is quite chilling and haunting; it's perhaps the most blistering and gut-wrenching moment in a generally searing and hard-hitting film. The outstanding ensemble cast all turn in exceptional work: Jose Perez as the compassionate Juan, who makes a valiant, humane attempt at protecting and understanding Clark; Joe Carburry as the volatile, irascible Longshoe, who initially befriends Clark and becomes his chief tormentor after discovering he's a "short eyes" (prison slang for child molester); former real-life convict Tito Goya as Cupcakes, a cute Hispanic inmate who secretly likes all the sexual advances he receives from most guys on his block; Mark Margolis as a hostile guard, Don Blakely as El Raheem, an overbearing, overzealous advocate of black pride and Islamic religion; and Shawn Elliot as Paco, a crude, hulking gay felon who only knows how to show affection through aggression (the scene where Paco tries to seduce Cupcakes in the shower is very touching). Keep your eyes peeled for Luis Guzman in his film debut as an extra inmate in a few crowd scenes.
Richard Young's sharp, tautly wound direction, working from Miguel Pinero's unsparingly rough, profane, keenly observant and wholly credible script (Pinero, a onetime criminal who did five years in Sing Sing for armed robbery, based said script on his acclaimed Broadway play and acts in the film as GoGo, a coarse, hectoring homosexual inmate who frequently taunts Cupcakes), draws the grungy, desolate, claustrophobic and uncomfortable behind bars milieu in scarily lucid terms, smartly depicting the gloomy penitentiary as the filthy, festering, often ignored rusty bottom of America's melting pot culture (the film was shot on location in a notorious Manhatten Men's House of Detention called the Tombs). Country and western singer (and erstwhile jailbird) Freddy Fender has a remarkable bit as Johnny, a venerable felon who sings "Break It Down," a poignant song about the harshness and constricting nature of prison life; it's a wondrous, show-stopping moment. Pungent, shuddery score by Curtis Mayfield, who cameos as a disgusted elderly felon. By no means an easy film to watch (and at times a tad flat and stagy), "Short Eyes" nonetheless still qualifies as a truly startling and unnerving powerhouse of a movie.