History Film / IAmAFugitiveFromAChainGang

* ChekhovsGunMan: Allen's buddy mentions that one of the prisoners is an expert with a sledgehammer, never missing his target. That's the guy that Allen gets to take whacks at the shackles around his legs.

* WorkingOnTheChainGang: Well, duh.

* RichBitch: Marie Woods, who turns James in.

* TheGreatDepression

* ClearMyName

* ChekhovsGun: Allen's buddy mentions that one of the prisoners is an expert with a sledgehammer, never missing his target. That's the guy that Allen gets to take whacks at the shackles around his legs.

** Aside from that chilling ending, Jim's second escape is very symbolic--the man who dreamed of building bridges blows one up to get away from the police wagon.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Linda takes good care of James on his first night after his initial escape.

* ThrowItIn: The famous ending. It was supposed to be shot with normal lighting, but the bulbs burned out, and they decided to try to shoot it anyway. '''[[{{Understatement}} It worked.]]'''

[[quoteright:258:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chaingang_5488.jpg]]

This film contains the following tropes:

Allen is told that if he turns himself in, he will be out of the chain gang in 90 days, but after the 90 days he learns this was just a ruse to get him behind bars, and he must now serve the 9 years he missed. Brutally upset, he manages to escape once more, and is able to find Helen again in the shadows before he tells her he can never see her again, and will be on the run for the rest of his life.

* DownerEnding: Allen is left living a life of petty crime and desperation.
* FadeToBlack: Happens in the final scene. During filming a lightbulb on the set blew out, and director [=LeRoy=] liked the look of Muni creeping into the shadows so much, he decided to ThrowItIn, so by the end of the movie the quote at the top of the page is said in utter darkness.
* TheFilmOfTheBook

* ReturningWarVet: James fought in WorldWarOne, and not far into the film, he's riding the rails looking for any kind of employment. It often gets overshadowed by the film's penal reform themes, but this movie also deals with how American war vets had been abandoned by the government.
* RichBitch: Marie Woods.

* StarCrossedLovers: James and Helen.

* WomanScorned

Allen is told that if he turns himself in, he will be out of the chain gang in 90 days, but after the 90 days he learns [[spoiler: this was just a ruse to get him behind bars, and he must now serve the 9 years he missed.]] Brutally upset, he manages to escape once more, and is able to find Helen again in the shadows before he tells her he can never see her again, and will be on the run for the rest of his life.

* {{Blackmail}}

* DownerEnding

Based on the true story of Robert Elliott Burns, and with the help of this movie Burns -- who was still on the run at the time this was made -- was pardoned in 1945, and lived free until his death ten years later. (Burns, incidentally, is the subject of a 1987 made-for-TV biopic called ''The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains'', in which he's played by Creator/ValKilmer).

Based on the true story of Robert Elliott Burns, and with the help of this movie Burns (who was still on the run at the time this was made) was pardoned in 1945, and lived free until his death ten years later.

* HollywoodLaw: Averted - the practices you see in this movie were lawful until the 1950's. This movie helped it stop.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Linda.

* SdrawkcabAlias: Sort of; Allen just switches his first and last names around.

Allen decides he's had enough, and with the help of two other men he is able to escape to [[TheWindyCity Chicago]]. He becomes a success in the construction business under the name Allen James, but when femme fatale Marie Woods discovers he is an escapee, she blackmails him into marriage for his money. However, it's clear that they are not in love in the slightest; 'Allen' cheats on her for the beautiful and kind Helen. When Allen asks Marie for a divorce, she is so outraged she tells the authorities that Allen James is James Allen, and he is caught once more.

Muni plays Sergeant James Allen, who on his return home from WorldWarI knows he is now a changed man, and leaves home to go work in construction. However, along the way, he manages to talk to the wrong man at the wrong time, and on a trip to go get a bite to eat he is caught up in a robbery. Held at gunpoint, Allen is forced to steal 5 dollars from the restaurant (that's about 85 dollars today,) and when the man holding the gun at him dies, he takes the money and runs. He is soon caught, and sentenced to serve ten years in a DeepSouth chain gang.

Allen decides he's had enough, and with the help of two other men he is able to escape to [[TheWindyCity Chicago]]. He becomes a success in the construction business under the name Allen James, but when femme fatale Marie Woods discovers he is an escapee, she blackmails him into marriage for his money. However, it's clear that they are not in love in the slightest, 'Allen' cheats on her for the beautiful and kind Helen. When Allen asks Marie for a divorce, she is so outraged she tells the authorities that Allen James is James Allen, and he is caught once more.

* AllCrimesAreEqual: Allen is staying the same amount of time, doing the same labor, and living in the same conditions as people who murdered (most notably mentioned is a man who killed his mother, wife, and sister-in-law, which makes Allen reasonably unwilling to say he's only in for stealing five dollars at gunpoint).
* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Averted - the practices you see in this movie were lawful until the 1950's. This movie helped it stop.

Muni plays Sergeant James Allen, who on his return home from WorldWarI knows he is now a changed man, and leaves home to go work in construction. However, along the way, he manages to talk to the wrong man at the wrong time, and on a trip to go get a bite to eat he is caught up in a robbery. Held at gunpoint, Allen is forced to steal 5 dollars from the restaurant (that's about 150-200 dollars today,) and when the man holding the gun at him dies, he takes the money and runs. He is soon caught, and sentenced to serve ten years in a DeepSouth chain gang.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: While Robert Elliott Burns' real-life incarceration took place in Georgia, and naming his book ''I Am A Fugitive From a Georgia Chain Gang", the state is never named in the film. This did not stop numerous lawsuits being filed against the filmmakers by various Georgia prison officials, the film being banned in Georgia, or the studio head and the director of the film being threatened with firsthand experience on a chain gang if they ever set foot in Georgia.

Allen decides he's had enough, and with the help of two other men he is able to escape to [[TheWindyCity Chicago]]. He becomes a success in the construction business under the name Allen James, but when femme fatale Marie Woods discovers he is an escapee, she {{blackmail}}s him into marriage for his money. However, it's clear that they are not in love in the slightest, 'Allen' cheats on her for the beautiful and kind Helen. When Allen asks Marie for a divorce, she is so outraged she tells the authorities that Allen James is James Allen, and he is caught once more.

Hailed as one of the most influential films of the 20th century, ''I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang'' is a 1932 drama/crime film directed by Mervyn [=LeRoy=] and starring Paul Muni.

Allen decides he's had enough, and with the help of two other men he is able to escape to [[TheWindyCity Chicago]]. He becomes a success in the construction business under the name Allen James, but when femme fatale Marie Woods discovers he is an escapee, she blackmails him into marriage for his money. However, it's clear that they are not in love in the slightest, 'Allen' cheats on her for the beautiful and kind Helen. When Allen asks Marie for a divorce, she is so outraged she tells the authorities that Allen James is James Allen, and he is caught once more.

* TheManIsStickingItToTheMan: One of Warner Brothers' anti-establishment films of the 1930s, which were making them a pretty tidy income.