The Glass House

TV Movie
1972
Not Rated
1h 30m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Corrections officer Brian Courtland, naive drug pusher Alan Campbell, and college professor Jonathan Page convicted of manslaughter report to prison and soon learn the truth about the prison... Read allCorrections officer Brian Courtland, naive drug pusher Alan Campbell, and college professor Jonathan Page convicted of manslaughter report to prison and soon learn the truth about the prison system. From a Truman Capote story.Corrections officer Brian Courtland, naive drug pusher Alan Campbell, and college professor Jonathan Page convicted of manslaughter report to prison and soon learn the truth about the prison system. From a Truman Capote story.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

976

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Primetime Emmy
- 2 wins & 4 nominations total

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Alan Alda on his autobiography "Never Have Your Dog Stuffed - and Other Things I've Learned" claims that this movie was shot in real prison with real prisoners as extras. During the filming of the movie, its director Tom Gries made jokes with prisoners that they should take Alan Alda as their hostage because that is the only way they can escape from prison. On the last day of shooting, two prisoners approached Alda and put an improvised knife on his throat telling him that he is their hostage. Luckily prison guard arrived shortly after and carefully negotiated with prisoners to let Alan Alda go. They let him loose telling him that they were just joking. Alda also states that no prisoner was punished for the incident.

Goofs
The word 'fictitious' is misspelled as 'ficticious' during the opening disclaimer.

Quotes
Lennox: That thing you did over there did sure took a lot of style. And I'm gonna tell you something: it's not gonna end there and you're gonna have to answer to some people.

Crazy credits
[prologue] "This motion picture was filmed entirely in a state prison. Most of the faces and voices are those of actual prisoners. The story and characters are fictitious, but the situations are real".

Connections
Featured in The 24th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1972)

User reviews24

Review

Featured review

TV movie or not, one of the best prison movies ever

THE GLASS HOUSE, is a stomach-churning morality play. However, it's morals are more grounded in reality (so don't go expecting happy endings or dangerous escapes) and the underlying theme of 'forced corruption' is evident throughout. ALAN ALDA, gives a performance light years away from MASH (check out WHISPERS IN THE DARK, as well) and (the late, great) VIC MORROW matches him, in a gutsy role, as an all too human 'bully'.Apperently, a lot of real-life inmates were cast as extra's in this movie. But the professional cast fit in so well, it's quite hard to tell. At certain points, the viewer can (or wants to) identify with ALDA, as he wants to help others, but also wants to maintain his pride. It asks us questions about ourselves, is there a fine line between foolishness and cowardice? Given that this movie was also made the same year i was (ha-ha!) it may now seem 'formulaic' in regards to set up, but i'm sure this broke a lot of new ground, when first released. The scenes of ALDA running for his life, will set any viewers pulse racing, and 32 years on, the movie has to power to shock and mortify.

Usually released at a TV-friendly running time of 73 minutes, my recently purchased 'CATCOM' DVD runs in at 91. And certain scenes include profanity and mild nudity, so i wonder if this movie was intended to go to theaters?

Great movie 10 out of 10