Crime School

Nickel Boys

December 2024 •English

Chronicles the powerful friendship between two young Black teenagers navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Florida.

Kingpin

March 1985 •English

Willie, a likeable kid, forms a friendship with Rikki, a new arrival at the reform school. Willie discovers that Rikki is maybe tough enough to take on Karl, the kingpin. Although Rikki is strong, he does not like to fight, but tensions mount as Karl's bullying become more obnoxious. After being shown up by Willie, Karl loses his temper and gives Willie a thrashing. As a result, Willie joins with some other boys in an escape. They steal a car, get drunk, and have a serious accident. Meanwhile Rikki is in hospital, injured in a forestry "accident' engineered by Karl.

Call a Messenger

November 1939 •English

A tough street kid attempts to rob a post office and is caught. In order to avoid reform school, he takes a job as a messenger with the post office. He finds that he likes it, and when his brother is released from prison, attempts to help his brother go straight. However, the two of them get mixed up with a local gangster, who has plans to start robbing post office branches and using the messenger and his brother to do it.

Barbershop

April 2002 •English

A day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin, who inherited the struggling business from his deceased father, views the shop as nothing but a burden and waste of his time. After selling the shop to a local loan shark, Calvin slowly begins to see his father's vision and legacy and struggles with the notion that he just sold it out.

Freeway

August 1996 •English

Following the arrest of her mother, Ramona, young Vanessa Lutz decides to go in search of her estranged grandmother. On the way, she is given a ride by school counselor Bob Wolverton. During the journey, Lutz begins to realize that Bob is the notorious I-5 Killer and manages to escape by shooting him several times. Wounded but still very much alive, Bob pursues Lutz across the state in this modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

Welcome to Collinwood

October 2002 •English

Five hapless inner-city low-lifes attempt to burgle a pawnbroker's safe, but end up being plagued by bad luck.

Black Pearls

April 1958 •

Reform school teacher tries to carry his class to the right path by teaching them diving.

Newsies

April 1992 •English

A week in the life of the exploited, child newspaper sellers in turn-of-the-century New York. When their publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, tries to squeeze a little more profit out of their labours, they organize a strike, only to be confronted with the Pulitzer's hard-ball tactics.

These Dangerous Years

July 1957 •English

A Liverpool gang member wins a singing contest is then called up for National Service where he clashes with another soldier.

Angels with Dirty Faces

November 1938 •English

Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood.

Women of Whirlpool Island

February 1960 •Japanese

Havoc

October 2005 •English

A wealthy Los Angeles teen and her superficial friends wants to break out of suburbia and experience Southern California's "gangsta" lifestyle. But problems arise when the preppies get in over their heads and provoke the wrath of a violent Latino gang. Suddenly, their role-playing seems a little too real.

Hard Miles

April 2024 •English

A strong-willed social worker at a youth prison assembles a cycling team of teenage convicts and takes them on a transformative 1000-mile ride. Inspired by the life of Greg Townsend and the Ridgeview Academy Cycling Team. This is the story of how these troubled young men found another gear.

The United States of Leland

May 2003 •English

A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl Madison, a teacher at the prison, decides to write about Leland's case. Meanwhile, others affected by the murder, including Becky and her sister, Julie, must contend with their own problems.

Special Education

April 1977 •

Educator and those educated in a home for juvenile delinquents in the same test: approach, take a peek into his soul to become a man. The story of a minor, neglected boys-offenders and their teachers who try to reject the old methods of rehabilitation.

Unspoken

September 1997 •English

A triptych of youth-oriented stories set in a small New Brunswick town. Follow Jeff and Kristine into the woods for a night of forbidden passion that ends in tragedy...Meet Jennifer, a tough-talking teen who winds up in a compromising situation when she shoplifts in a record store...Celebrate football hero Brian Mair's farewell at a feverish all-night house party where everyone is out to score and nothing is what it seems.

Two Alone

January 1934 •English

Mazie, a poor orphan girl, is mistreated by cruel farmer Slag and his wife for whom she works. Mazie, who is growing into a woman, does not like they way Slag has been looking at her lately.

Give Us Wings

December 1940 •English

Dead End Kids epic. The boys want desperately to fly, and get mixed up with crooked crop dusters, whose planes are flying deathtraps.

Diary of a Lost Woman

October 1918 •German

Rodents

September 1999 •Spanish

The world of Salvador, a young and naive petty thief is changed by the arrival of his cousin Angel, an ex-convict in search of easy money, and with a hideout. Salvador gets wrapped up in Angel's twisted dealings in an attempt to escape from his suffocating family, dragging along his family and friends, in his criminal path. Where will this all lead?