“The Glass House” (1972) directed by Tom Gries, screenplay by Tracy Keenan Wynn, starring Vic Morrow, Alan Alda, Clu Gulager & Billy Dee Williams / Z-View

The Glass House aka Truman Capote’s The Glass House (1972)

Director: Tom Gries

Screenplay: Tracy Keenan Wynn; story by Truman Capote, Wyatt Cooper

Stars: Vic Morrow, Alan Alda, Clu Gulager, Billy Dee Williams, Kristoffer Tabori, Scott Hylands, Roy Jenson, Alan Vint, Luke Askew, G. Wood and Dean Jagger.

Tagline: The most brutal prison story ever filmed!

The Plot…

It’s Brian Courtland’s (Gulager) first day on the job as a prison guard.  The same day a new  bus load of prisoners arrive. In the new group is college professor Jonathan Paige (Alda) and a nineteen year old named Allan Campbell (Tabori).  Paige is there on a manslaughter charge for accidentally killing a man.  Campbell was caught selling marijuana.  Neither Paige nor Campbell are built for prison.  The jury is still out on Courtland.

All three quickly learn that Hugo Slocum (Morrow) is the inmate who runs things.  Slocum leads a gang of convicts.  He also has at least one guard on the take.  What Slocum says goes.  Failure to fall in line leads to a beating or worse.  Slocum and his crew think nothing of killing to keep their power.

Paige warns Allan about Slocum.  Allan is young and naive and doesn’t see how he’s being played. Slocum is treating Allan good, offering protection with no strings attached.  Or so it seems.

The Warden (Jagger) wants Paige put to work in the prison pharmacy.  Courtland warns against that.  He knows Slocum’s man works there.  To switch him out will cause problems for Paige.  The warden doesn’t want to hear it.

When Paige starts work in the pharmacy, he learns about Slocum’s system to get drugs into the prison.  Paige refuses to play along.  He becomes a marked man.  Slocum decides to make an example out of Allan in the worst possible way.

What chance does Paige have?  He’s a college professor in a corrupt prison, marked for death by the con who runs things.  Don’t expect a happy ending.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The Glass House was nominated for three Primetime Emmys and won one…

• winner for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama – A Single Program: Tom Gries
• nominee for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama – Adaptation: Tracy Keenan Wynn
• nominee for Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing for Entertainment Programming – For a Special or Feature Length Program Made for Television: Gene Fowler Jr.

The Glass House was filmed at Utah State Prison.  Real prisoners were seen in the movie.

The Glass House was filmed for television, but a cut released for theaters and video features slight male nudity and profanity.

I saw The Glass House when it premiered on television.  I was thirteen.  It opened my eyes to things I’d never considered.  Over 50 years later it still is powerful filmmaking.  You might not believe it was made for tv.

Director Tom Gries directed episodes of many television programs and feature films that I enjoyed as a kid.  He’s probably best known for directing Charles Bronson in Breakheart Pass and Breakout in the same year.  The Glass House is my favorite of his films.

Screenwriter Tracey Keenan Wynn was the son of actor Keenan Wynn.  He had written the excellent television movie The Tribe starring Darrin McGavin and Jan-Michael Vincent two years prior.  Wynn won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama – Original Teleplay.  He followed The Glass House with The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman.  For that he won another Primetime Emmy for  Best Writing in Drama – Adaptation.  Wynn followed with the screenplays for The Longest Yard starring Burt Reynolds and Harper starring Paul Newman.  Wynn was on quite a roll.

Vic Morrow should have won or at least been nominated for a Primetime Emmy.  This is arguably his best performance ever.

A young Bill Dee Williams coming off of Brian’s Song has a co-starring role.

The Glass House aka Truman Capote’s The Glass House (1972) rates 5 of 5 stars.