James Woods is a prison guard whose salary doesn't cover his expenses, so he works a second job at a brothel. He's a venial, shuck-talking guy, who gets involved in two plans: one to help a Black prisoner escape before he can be framed into an 'accident' and the other to help make that accident happen. Into this mix comes Kay Lenz, for the obligatory sex and frontal nudity scenes as a beautiful, ambiguous character whom Woods obsesses over.
It's clear that there is a lot of the book this was based on that was left out of the movie. What we are left with is a sloppy story about a sloppy individual who has managed to skate through a corrupt world so far; a common theme as the 1970s gave way to the 1980s. The opening sequence has an "Easy Rider" vibe to it, and the world comes down to the prison where the guards think they have the power, but are reluctant to use it, preferring to rely on habit, while some of the prisoners, like Tim McIntire, run the rackets inside.
There are bits and pieces left over from the book that indicate that writer-director James B. Harris left out a lot: Timothy Carey as a con strong-armed out of some of the rackets; two men standing outside of Woods' apartment; Charles Weldon as a fellow guard. Yet the movie seems to be more interested in the arresting moments than what they lead to, in the vague fog that is the movie's story. They certainly keep the movie interesting enough to watch to the end, but left me feeling that there was no real conclusion.
It's clear that there is a lot of the book this was based on that was left out of the movie. What we are left with is a sloppy story about a sloppy individual who has managed to skate through a corrupt world so far; a common theme as the 1970s gave way to the 1980s. The opening sequence has an "Easy Rider" vibe to it, and the world comes down to the prison where the guards think they have the power, but are reluctant to use it, preferring to rely on habit, while some of the prisoners, like Tim McIntire, run the rackets inside.
There are bits and pieces left over from the book that indicate that writer-director James B. Harris left out a lot: Timothy Carey as a con strong-armed out of some of the rackets; two men standing outside of Woods' apartment; Charles Weldon as a fellow guard. Yet the movie seems to be more interested in the arresting moments than what they lead to, in the vague fog that is the movie's story. They certainly keep the movie interesting enough to watch to the end, but left me feeling that there was no real conclusion.