The Jericho Mile (1980)
Overview
A runner, serving a life sentence at Folsom Prison, works at becoming the world's fastest miler and wins a chance to compete for a spot on the Olympic team.
Cast
Peter Strauss
Larry "Rain" Murphy
Roger E. Mosley
"Cotton" Crown
Richard Lawson
R.C. Stiles
Brian Dennehy
Dr. D
Geoffrey Lewis
Dr. Bill Jankowski
Billy Green Bush
Warden Earl Gulliver
Ed Lauter
Jerry Beliot
Beverly Todd
Wylene
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Wuchak
***Run until the walls come tumblin’ down***
A loner at Folsom State Penitentiary (Peter Strauss) gains attention when it’s discovered that he can run a mile in less than four minutes. Officials naturally try to see if they can enter him in the Olympics. The cast includes Brian Dennehy, Geoffrey Lewis, Richard Lawson, Roger E. Mosley and Ed Lauter.
"The Jericho Mile" (1979) is a prison movie meshed with sports flick. It’s notable as Michael Mann’s first movie wherein he was limited by TV constraints, yet it shows his potential and explains why he moved on to greatness, e.g. “The Last of the Mohicans” (1992).
Being made-for-TV, profanity is replaced by wannabe edgy jive talk, which can be unintentionally amusing. If you can roll with that, this is a worthwhile serious story about great talent being trapped in a cage, not to mention the brotherhood of man regardless of skin color. I could relate to Strauss’ character and I imagine a lot of other viewers can too.
The movie runs 1 hour, 37 minutes, and was shot at Folsom State Penitentiary, Represa, California, about an hour northeast of Sacramento. Several of the peripheral cast members were prisoners at Folsom and do a commendable job.
GRADE: B-
