Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Sleeper-Cell I watched this film last night and although interesting in some respects it was also hard to get my head around. We watch men on death row talk about their stories and how they are scared about going to the electric chair. I guess if they hadn't killed anyone in the first place they wouldn't be there. Perhaps watching this in 2017 where we have very lax sentencing against violent criminals and victims are ignored, made it feel different to how it might have been to watching it when the film was made. The performances are good but a little over wrought, Mickey Rooney makes a good tough guy. By the end of the film you can see why these men, especially Rooney are where they are and their final bid for freedom is just pointless. I didn't have any sympathy for the prisoners at all and was on the side of the wardens the whole way through. An interesting film which can be viewed in a number of ways. If made today the moralizing might be a lot more heavy handed. One of the good things about this film is it doesn't push any agenda's. It leaves it open to interpretation.

MartinHafer "The Last Mile" is a heck of a good prison movie. Although there are a LOT of really good prison film, I'd rank this up among the best due to a script that never gives way to sentimentality as well as a wonderful performance by Mickey Rooney in the lead.The film is set on Death Row in a prison. While quite a few other films have been set in such a location, the film's prologue claims it's based on a real story. Whether or not that's true, I have no idea. Regardless, much of the film is spent just passing time....waiting until each guy's number is up and they are sent to be executed. At times, it's interesting to watch the guards, as a couple of them are not much better than the inmates. But the most interesting, clearly, is 'Killer' Mears. Unlike others who sweat out their time and worry about death, he's a cool and nasty piece of work. You see just how awful and determined he is when he is able to overcome one of the guards and he leads a prison revolt. However, this is not just a run of the mill attempt to break out. This group has nothing to lose and Mears is more than willing to kill all their captives without hesitation. This grittiness makes the film and those who see Rooney as just a child star are unaware that he could really act--and here he is amazingly good. Overall, this is a wonderfully realistic film--one that never gives way to sentiment and which ends on a gritty note instead of a happily ever after contrived ending.Currently, you can see this film streaming from Netflix. Despite appearing like a low-budget and forgettable 50s film, it's anything but.

Michael_Elliott The Last Mile (1959) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Prison drama takes place on the Death Row floor as one man (Clifford David) finally accepts the fact that he's going to die later that night. Before that can happen, the most violent man (Mickey Rooney) in the joint manages to break free and release the other inmates and soon they're holding hostages. THE LAST MILE isn't the greatest prison flick you're going to see but I think it has enough interesting moments to make it worth sitting through once. Low budget master Howard W. Koch does a pretty good job at bringing the material to life and you've got to give him even more credit because the actual material isn't all that good to begin with. Koch at least brings a nice atmosphere to the film and I was also impressed with the visual style that he brought it. This is especially noticeable during the sequence where the David character is confessing to a Priest (Frank Overton) and the use of shadows was very impressive. I also thought he managed to bring some good tension towards the end of the film but it's too bad the screenplay didn't give him more chances at this early on. Perhaps I've seen too many "cute" Mickey Rooney roles but I always have a hard time believing him in some of his more adult things. He's playing a mad dog killer here and while I thought he did a fine job in regards to the performance, I still can't see him as much of a threat. I thought Overton was also good in the role of the Priest but the rest of the cast were very hit and miss. The screenplay was clearly the weakest aspect of the film as we never really get to know any of the characters and we don't even get to know why they're on Death Row. I thought the film didn't know if it wasn't to be a straight crime flick or if it wanted to send some sort of political message about killing people. The film even tries to make us "like" these men but not for a second did I want to see any of them succeed.

oxymoron-3 I have seen this movie many times. At least a Dozen. But unfortunatly not recently. However, Etched in my memory never to leave me is a scene in which Mickey Rooney, -"Killer Mears" knows that he is to be executed and it's getting close to the moment of truth, He dances, and cries, and laughs, he vacillates from hesteria to euphoria and runs the gambit of ever emotion. Never have I seen such a brilliant performance by any actor living or dead, past or present. It was then I know for sure that Mickey Rooney, yes, "Andy Hardy" was and is a actor of great genius. However I kept it, my opinion to myself for years thinking, surely I must be alone in this viewpoint. About 15 years or so after I saw this film for the last time on television, I chanced to read the old Q & A section of the Los Angeles Times. The question was posed to Lawrence Olivier, and the question was: "Mr. Olivier You are considered one of the greatest actors of all time, whom then do YOU consider to be among the greatest actors?" His answer was, "Peter Finch and Mickey Rooney" I was stunned, but not surprised. I immediatly flashed back to his "Killer Mears" And I felt very good for having seen this great ability in him, and now having my view supported by another whos work I admired.. Later of course there was "Bill" and many other great moments with Mikey Rooney. This film, "The Last Mile" should be seen by all acting students. I Frankly cannot remember a great deal about the film after all these years but Mr. Rooney in it, will never leave me. If anyone out there remembers this film the same as I do? I would be interested in hearing from you. For this picture etched in my heart alone I gave it a 10 just on the face of his performance.