lavatch The film is set in Shandaken, a town of approximately 3,000 in Ulster County, New York. The time is the late 1960s. Frequent shots appear of the beautiful landscape around Wittenberg Mountain and Slide Mountain that are part of the Burroughs range in the Catskills. It is there that an escaped convict from Albany is on the run. It it up to two bumbling deputy police officers of Shandaken to save the day. The two nincompoops do their best to imitate Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and they eventually form a sympathetic bonding with their prisoner.After Butch and Sundance locate prisoner 614, a nice guy named André, they learn that he was arrested in Albany in 1968 during a civil rights protest. When he fled, he was pursued by an obese police officer, who dropped dead from a heart attack, which was a matter of record. But André was nonetheless convicted of killing a cop. Now Butch and Sundance entertain the idea of setting the prisoner free. But first, they must deal with their authoritarian boss, the Sheriff of Shandaken, who has just fired them for incompetence.Unfortunately, the film's clever idea materializes very, very slowly in a poorly paced film. As Butch and Sundance plod through the Catskills with their prisoner in tow, they speak lines like "Let's sit and think what to do." As they are sitting and thinking, the home video audience for whom the film was intended is thinking of hitting the "fast forward" button. And next: Butch and Sundance get lost in the Catskills! Throughout this ordeal, the time is spent by one and all (including the proprietress at the diner) in lighting up and smoking Lucky Strikes!There is a payoff to this low-budget film, but it is as lukewarm as the coffee that is served at the Shandaken diner. While riding in handcuffs in the police vehicle driven by the sadistic sheriff, André is told by his captor that there is "irony" in his situation. The irony will become apparent when the sheriff pulls off the side of the road and escorts the fugitive into the woods. The reckoning that occurs in the forest will offer a bit of redemption and humor for a mediocre film.

Mark Thomas REVIEW - THE ESCAPE OF PRISONER 614I've been meaning to watch this film for a while and finally got around to doing so. I saw the trailer while waiting for another movie to start and I must admit I was very pleasantly surprised. The trailer makes the film seem to be one genre of film but upon watching the film itself you quickly realise that it's actually both, again I'm not going to give too much away, but needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed this. It's slow, as its set in a small town where nothing ever happens, this fact is true to the whole essence of the story, the film and the location. Personally I really enjoyed this but I'm aware that others may not. Acting is excellent, story excellent, just an interesting bit of fun for a Sunday evening. Rating 8 out of 10

mallaverack ...but the scenery is very scenic; the music is quite tuneful. Two stars. Words fail me. This is an abysmal movie. Devoid of humour. Surely this should go straight to video.

adonis98-743-186503 Two inept, small-town Sheriff's Deputies catch an escaped prisoner that they believe was wrongly convicted. Despite the talented Ron Perlman (Alien: Resurrection, Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Blade 2) on the starring role 'The Escape of Prisoner 614' is a disappointing, unfunny and boring as hell comedy that has some terrible written characters, slow as hell pacing and an ending that is dumb, short and so freaking weird that left more questions than answers and despite Perlman's talent this film can't even use him properly which is sad to be honest. Overall one hell of a waste of time, talent and above all? Money from both the studio and the people who might pay to see this.