Synopsis
A man is framed for murder and sent to prison. He is beaten and tortured, then forced to fight the prison's worst killer, a martial-arts fighting midget called Thud.
Penitentiary III
1987 Directed by Jamaa Fanaka
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“Guts. Guts. Guts!!!”
“Balls on face!”Back on the Jamaa Fanaka train. We’re in Cannon Films land now, and Fanaka keeps it pretty silly with the last entry in the series. When Too Sweet gets sent back to prison, he’s sitting in the paddy-wagon and there’s mournful saxophone music playing on the film soundtrack. Then the camera pans over to reveal that there’s actually another prisoner in the paddy-wagon playing a saxophone, and I lost my shit. That’s a ZAZ gag right there, but it’s played completely straight.
Sadly, other than Leon Isaac Kennedy as Too Sweet, there’s no returning cast. But in exchange we get two of the best/weirdest characters in a series full of great characters: The Midnight Thud, a tiny feral Haitian killer/Yoda, and Mr. Serengeti, a silk robe wearing prison impresario played by General Hospital’s Luke. Not quite on the level of the first two films, but good, goofy fun.
Jamaa Fanaka films ranked here.
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The decision to turn Too Sweet's second stretch into a Boschean hellscape might seem like the fundamental mistake that sends this into the realm of pure cartoonishness. It's easy to dismiss a movie with a crack-smoking extreme-wrestling little person called "The Midnight Thud", but that character's third act shift into Yoda territory makes this seem more like Fanaka's EL TOPO, an introspective phantasmagoria dedicated to controlling and channeling fear and anger into something redemptive.
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I actually like this more than the second film. Does that mean series writer/director Jamaa Fanaka has returned to the stark drama of the original? Hell no! But with the integrity of that film a faint memory, PENITENTIARY 3 is easier to enjoy as a batshit alternate universe broadcast. This is what the characters of the first film would see if they turned on VIDEODROME.
Part 2 had some 80s regional independent strangeness going for it, but seemed like a couple sequel ideas unsuccessfully merged: a boxing film and a rape revenge movie reminiscent of Cannon Films. Perhaps Fanaka was trying to get Golan & Globus’ attention on purpose, because this third outing was actually released by Cannon! It fits right…
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I'm not sure if I like this one as much as the first two, but I love how Fanaka trades in the blaxploitation trappings of the second one for a deliberately late 80s Cannon aesthetic. Is it just me, or is there a big pro wrestling influence here, as opposed to the actual boxing of the first two?
It's easy to make fun of the Midnight Thud character, but I kind of love him and his redemption as a LOUD, barely-cloaked metaphor for the dehumanizing effect of drug usage and incarceration. I'd take him over any number of other late 80s anti-crack PSAs any day.
Why hasn't this gotten a DVD or blu ray release??
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Boxing matches not interrupted by horny people and a cast that isn't 99% Black people? The Midday Thud is the last thing I heard before I fell asleep. Still fascinating in moments, but coming off the first two just lacks the disinterest in structure. I'd love to rewatch this one day if someone can get it restored, so I can see what was going on in most scenes.
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Corrupt whites in power allow drugs to enter a black community where the drugs lead to crime for which black men are arrested and sent to prison where their bodies are exploited for monetary gain. Also, The Midnight Thud (The Haiti Kid) and Hugo (Magic Schwarz) have a flex-off during a Bloodsport-esque free-form fight and two women boxers make-out mid-match. The most nutso and auteur-driven movie to come out of Cannon. I wish there were 10 more.
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Slicker, shorter, but not still not quite wild enough for my taste.
And that may be a lot to ask for a film that features a ferocious little person called Midnight Thud.
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Early on in Penitentiary III, Martel "Too Sweet" Cordone has found himself on his way to prison yet again for a crime that wasn't his fault. A mournful saxophone wails on the soundtrack, and the camera pans down to reveal it's actually coming from a guy playing the saxophone rather than the movie's score - that's this in a nutshell, real emotions rooted in sociopolitical realities juxtaposed with a gag out of Mel Brooks or The Naked Gun. A grimy, pulpy cartoon that nevertheless scores points against the dehumanization of sport and the exploitation of black athletes at the violent hands of The System.
Speaking of The System - it's been a bit since I saw the first two movies…
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This stands out pretty hard from the first two movies considering the prisons in the first two films didn't have 16th century dungeons underneath them. Jamaa Fanaka got that sweet CANNON money and decided to make something utterly insane and you gotta give respect where it's due. I watched a horrible VHS rip on YouTube and the smogginess only added to the wow factor of "why is Too Sweet being lobotomized and why are rats crawling all over him while he's being lobotomized what's happening." I wish Fanaka made 30 of these things. I think this is just the point where he realized that the franchise had nowhere to go but all over the place. The central themes of a…
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A bizarre, radical end to one of cinema’s sleaziest trilogies
Really would love to see this get a proper restoration
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Somebody killin’ somebody!
Jamaa Fanaka was a goddamn genius. I’m not exaggerating when I say his films should be shown as prime examples of perfect pacing. Never a dull moment.
I really need Vinegar Syndrome to release this on blu to complete the trilogy. Gimme the slip, vinsyn.
Guts! Guts! Guts! Guts!…
Oak tree! Oak tree! Oak tree! Oak tree!…
