Riot in Cell Block 11

A riot breaks out at Folsom State Prison in California, where inmates in Cell Block 11 seize several guards and take them hostage. Led by James V. Dunn, with the volatile Crazy Mike Carne at his side, the prisoners demand an end to overcrowding, brutal treatment, poor food and the housing of mentally ill inmates alongside the general population. Dunn insists the press be brought in so their grievances reach the public, and he holds his fellow convicts back from harming the hostages. The warden and state officials appear willing to negotiate reforms, but the agreement Dunn believes he has won may not hold.

Don Siegel directed this crime drama, the third of the eighteen features he made, following The Big Steal and preceding Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Richard Collins wrote the screenplay, and Walter Wanger produced; Wanger had served a prison term himself before embarking on the project. Neville Brand plays Dunn, Emile Meyer is Warden Reynolds, Frank Faylen is Commissioner Haskell, and Leo Gordon appears as Crazy Mike Carne. The film runs eighty minutes and was released in early 1954.

On IMDb it holds a 7 out of 10 from around 2,700 votes, and on TMDB a 7.1 from a smaller pool of 76. A critics' rating of 7.9 from fifteen reviews places it above both audience scores. Its worldwide box office of 2 million dollars was a solid return for an Allied Artists release of its modest scale.