Convicts 4

Ben Gazarra plays John Resko. He killed a shop owner over a teddy bear for his daughter and was sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in Sing Sing. Through the intercession of the lead guard and later warden, played by Stuart Whitman, he developed an interest and ability in art. After decades in prison, his sentence was commuted.

Writer Millard Kaufman (in his only turn as director) filmed prison scenes in Folsom and San Quentin, and filled the cast with major supporting actors, including Ray Walston, Rod Steiger, Sammy Davis Jr., and Timothy Farrell as convicts, Broderick Crawford as the warden (possibly intended to be Sing Sing's longtime warden Lewis Lawes), and Vincent Price as a visiting art expert and member of the parole board. The pace of the movie is deliberately slow as Gazarra inches towards rehabilitation, but the plethora of details and eccentricities of the performers (including, inevitably, Farrell's intimidating softie) keep it moving right along.