History Film / Felon

* TheOldConvict: John Smith, who is serving multiple life sentences, fills serves role: filling his cellmate Wade in on what he needs to know to survive in prison.

* TryingToCatchMeFightingDirty and CombatPragmatist: A given in prison.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

* CrapsackWorld: The Security Housing Unit. This is in large part intentional both in the film and [[TruthInTelevision real life]].

%%* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope [[spoiler: - Also narrowly averted by the lead.]]

* LightningBruiser: The Crip is [[TheBrute one of the biggest characters in the movie]] and also very quick. [[spoiler: Wade only manages to get the better of him with a GroinAttack.]]
%%* OhCrap
* PunchClockVillain: Outside the prison, Jackson is an ordinary guy who loves his family. Inside, he becomes what he needs to be in order to survive.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: John Smith, the "veterano" ObiWan character. He took revenge on the guys who raped and murdered his family, [[RevengeBeforeReason but first]] he wiped out ''their'' families to "purify the madness" and to show them what the loss feels like. He then became a DeathSeeker to end the cycle.

* DirtyCop
** JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope [[spoiler: - Also narrowly averted by the lead.]]

* AxeCrazy: The Crip. Also Wade, briefly.
* ClusterFBomb

* EvilIsPetty
* FaceDeathWithDignity: John Smith's last personal goal. [[spoiler: Successful.]]
* KarmicDeath

* OhCrap

* RedemptionEqualsDeath

* TheObiWan: John Smith, and he very much welcomes [[ObiWanMoment the implications]].

* RevengeByProxy: This is John Smith's backstory: gang members murdered his family, so instead of just going after them, he killed ''their'' relatives as well. The jury was sympathetic enough to give him life without parole instead of death (though he [[DeathSeeker didn't want that).

Wade Porter is a loving family man who also owns a business, and a few months away from marrying his girlfriend, Laura; however, one night a burglar enters his home. Wade purses the burglar as he follows him out onto the front lawn and subsequently strikes the burglar across the head with a baseball bat, killing him. The district attorney, while sympathetic to Wade's case, is nevertheless compelled by the evidence to reject his claim of self-defense and he pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter, for which he gets three years in prison. Wade's subsequent incarceration forces him into a world unlike any he had known before: first the crowded confines of the county jail where he's attacked by an irritable wannabe gangster, and then punished with transfer into the high security section of the prison called 'the SHU' (Security Housing Unit) for refusing to inform against some Neo-Nazis he saw commit a murder, which involves twenty three hours a day in a concrete box in shackles, listening to hundreds of barked orders and getting no warning shots for annoyance. The only freedoms left to Wade are in his head and in the yard, but he soon finds out that the yard has been turned into a figurative gladiatorial arena for the inmates of the SHU, where prison politics and violence rule. As he struggles to survive inside, Wade discovers two things—the humanity of his cellmate John Smith and the growing sadism of Lieutenant Bill Jackson.

Wade Porter is a loving family man who also owns a business, and a few months away from marrying his girlfriend, Laura; however, one night a burglar enters his home. Wade purses the burglar as he follows him out onto the front lawn and subsequently strikes the burglar across the head with a baseball bat, killing him. The district attorney, while sympathetic to Wade's case, is nevertheless compelled by the evidence to reject his claim of self-defense and he pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter, for which he gets three years in prison. Wade's subsequent incarceration forces him into a world unlike any he had known before: first the crowded confines of the county jail where he's attacked by an irritable wannabe gangster, and then the high security section of the prison called 'the SHU' (Security Housing Unit) which involves twenty three hours a day in a concrete box in shackles, listening to hundreds of barked orders and getting no warning shots for annoyance. The only freedoms left to Wade are in his head and in the yard, but he soon finds out that the yard has been turned into a figurative gladiatorial arena for the inmates of the SHU, where prison politics and violence rule. As he struggles to survive inside, Wade discovers two things—the humanity of his cellmate John Smith and the growing sadism of Lieutenant Bill Jackson.

* CrapsackWorld: The Security Housing Unit. This is in large part intentional both in the movie and [[TruthInTelevision real life]].

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge

* WellIntentionedExtremist: John Smith, the "veterano" ObiWan character. He took revenge on the guys who raped and killed his family, [[RevengeBeforeReason but first]] he wiped out ''their'' families to "purify the madness" and to show them what the loss feels like. He then became a DeathSeeker to end the cycle.

''Felon'' is a 2008 drama film about a family man who ends up in state prison after he kills an intruder. Written and directed by Ric Roman Waugh, it stars Stephen Dorff, Val Kilmer, and Creator/HaroldPerrineau in a story based on events that took place in the 1990s at the notorious California State Prison, Corcoran.

Wade Porter is a loving family man who also owns a business, and a few months away from marrying his girlfriend, Laura; however, one night a burglar enters his home. Wade purses the burglar as he follows him out onto the front lawn and subsequently strikes the burglar across the head with a baseball bat, killing him. The court's district attorney, while sympathetic to Wade's case, is nevertheless compelled by the evidence to reject his plea of self-defense and convict him of manslaughter for three years. Wade's subsequent incarceration forces him into a world unlike any he had known before: first the crowded confines of the county jail where he's attacked by an irritable wannabe gangster, and then the high security unit of the prison called 'the SHU' which involves twenty three hours a day in a concrete box in shackles, listening to hundreds of barked orders and getting no warning shots for annoyance. The only freedoms left to Wade are in his head and in the yard; but, he soon finds out that the yard has been turned into a figurative gladitorial arena for the inmates of The SHU, where prison politics and violence rules. As he struggles to survive inside, Wade discovers two things—the humanity of his cellmate John Smith and the growing sadism of Lieutenant Bill Jackson.

* CrapsackWorld: the Special Housing Unit. This is in large part intentional both in the movie and [[TruthInTelevision real life]].

** JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope [[spoiler: - also narrowly averted by the lead]]

* FaceDeathWithDignity: John Smith's last personal goal. [[spoiler: Successful]]

* SurvivalMantra: John Smith has his tattooed on his arm and chest. He also advices [[MundaneMadeAwesome using one's daily routine as one]].

''Felon'' is a 2008 drama film about a family man who ends up in state prison after he kills an intruder. Written and directed by Ric Roman Waugh, it stars Stephen Dorff, Val Kilmer, and Harold Perrineau in a story based on events that took place in the 1990s at the notorious California State Prison, Corcoran.

* TryingToCatchMeFightingDirty and CombatPragmatist: A given in prison.