Synopsis
A disturbed, but highly intelligent man is sent to a criminally insane hospital to serve time and rehabilitate. But when he arrives, he discovers it's in fact a closed world where brutality is an everyday occurrence.
The Other Side of Hell
Cast
Alan Arkin Roger E. Mosley Morgan Woodward Seamon Glass Shay Duffin Richard L. Hawkins Al Checco Leonard Stone Tony Karloff Nicky Blair Barbara Dana Rocky Soriano Ron Ben Jarrett Robert Ferguson James Bradley Harry Helm James Minahan Jock Dove George Peckham Stan Yale Jeffrey Bingham Alexander Conley III Bob Hoy Richard Riehle John Graham James Schuster Jack Wax Joel Fredrick Richard Arnold Show All…
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Releases by Date
TV
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USANR
Releases by Country
USA
17 Jan 1978
- TVNR NBC
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Alan Arkin plays a man committed to a mental institution, only to discover it’s run like a prison. Patients are frequently beaten (sometimes fatally), as well as paired up in planned fights, which the guards bet on. The executives in charge turn a blind eye to the corruption, and maintain a comfortable bureaucratic indifference. Arkin becomes friends with a fellow patient (Roger E. Mosley), which helps keep him sane to some extent, but he learns very early on that this is not a place that people are supposed to ever leave (and any who do always get sent back). Arkin takes it upon himself to expose this horribly inhuman place if he has to die doing it — it becomes…
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A spectacular mental institution drama that shows how corrupt and prison like the inside of institutions can be - senseless violence, depravity and even murder. Alan Arkin and Morgan Woodward give arguably career best performances. If your a fan of One Flew Over A Cuckoo's Nest then this is a must watch, be prepared for its 2.5 duration!
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And finally, the conclusion of Roman and I’s Alan Arkin Power Week, directed by someone I’m very familiar with: Ján Kadár. This two-hour-and-a-half-long TV film was made by Aubrey/Lyon, Inc. and supported and screened on NBC. It wasn’t successful, but it wasn’t entirely a waste, and there are many circumstances that contribute to its lackluster nature which I’d love to touch on.
The script is actually based on a true story. William Thomas was a man committed for nearly the entirety of the 1960’s in a Pennsylvania hospital for the criminally insane. After being cleared of his charges, he managed to escape and found his way to California, where the concept eventually found its way to Aubrey/Lyon in 1976. During…
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I've had this on my watchlist for a long time, but the extensive runtime kept it firmly in the "well, maybe one day" pile. Lucky for this film, my near-crippling anxiety is creeping back and I have been reverting to my hobby of assorted textile work while something plays in the background as I sew my little heart out.
This is very obviously a made-for-TV movie, so that accounts for the lower quality, but it is hardly the best offering from anyone involved. Arkin is always a champ, but this was not a great showcase for either his comedy or his dramatic chops - likewise, Kadár is a fantastic director with the Oscar winning The Shop on Main Street, but…
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2023 #450
Man, Alan Arkin...what a loss. While there's some small shades of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest here, The Other Side of Hell is entirely its own beast. It's not exactly the most upbeat of movies as Arkin's Frank Dole tries to navigate life in a hospital for the criminally insane (which makes it sound like its populated by Batman villains, but that's unfortunately not the case), but it does a decent job of showing Frank looking for a help and then wanting out when he realises the broken system won't give him any. -
Great work by Alan Arkin, who stars in this bleak tale about the grim realities behind the locked doors of a hospital for the criminally insane, where patients don't have rights and each day is a gamble to see who survives. Similar to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but nothing about it is fun. There's no Jack Nicholson cracking jokes to break up the seriousness. Good performances all-around. Plenty of interesting characters. Being a TV movie, it's very long, but ends rather abruptly.
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For "I think that dude in the background might be Sidney Lassick" completists only.
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This was a powerful movie filled with powerful performances. It's 2.5 hours long but doesn't feel it. This is definitely worth watching if you can track it down.
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