''Walls'' is a 1984 Canadian drama film directed by Tom Shandel."Canadian prison drama unconvincing". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'', April 11, 1986. Based on the theatrical play by

Christian Bruyère Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, the film is a dramatization of the

British Columbia Penitentiary The British Columbia Penitentiary (BC Penitentiary, commonly referred to as the BC Pen and the Pen) was a federal maximum security prison located in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. The BC Penitentiary operated for 102 years, from 1878 u ...

hostage incident of 1975. The film stars

Winston Rekert Winston Houghton Rekert (June 10, 1949 – September 14, 2012) was a Canadian actor. He was best known for starring in the television series '' Adderly'' and '' Neon Rider''. Career A Vancouver native, Rekert started acting at age 12, appearing ...

as Danny Baker, the fictionalized version of prisoner Andy Bruce, and

Andrée Pelletier Andrée Pelletier (born August 24, 1951) is a Canadian actress, screenwriter and film director. As an actress, she is a five-time Canadian Film Award and Genie Award nominee, receiving nominations for Best Actress at the 29th Canadian Film Award ...

as Joan Tremblay, the fictionalized version of social worker and hostage

Mary Steinhauser Mary Steinhauser (August 25, 1942 – June 11, 1975) was a Canadian social worker and prison classification officer who was killed during a hostage-taking at the B.C. Penitentiary in 1975. On June 9, 1975, Steinhauser was one of 15 people that we ...

. The cast also included Elizabeth Leigh-Milne, Lloyd Berry, Anthony Holland, Perry Long, John Lord, Tony Morelli,

Alan Scarfe Alan John Scarfe (born 8 June 1946) is a British–Canadian actor, stage director and author. He is a former Associate Director of the Stratford Festival (1976–77) and the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool (1967–68). He won the 1985 Genie A ...

, Howard Storey, Dale Wilson and John Wright. The film premiered at the

1984 Toronto International Film Festival The 9th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 6 and September 15, 1984. The festival introduced ''Perspective Canada'' programme, devoted to Canadian films. The festival screened 225 fea ...

. It was criticized by real prison guards and prisoners, with the guards claiming that it was too sympathetic to prisoners, while prisoners and prison reform advocates stated that it was too sympathetic to the guards and insufficiently graphic about real prison conditions."Officials, prisoners pan penitentiary movie Walls". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', November 30, 1984. The film received four

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

nominations at the

6th Genie Awards The 6th Genie Awards were held on March 21, 1985, to honour achievements in Canadian cinema in 1984. It was the first time the Genies were broadcast live across Canada by CBC Television, and they drew 1.9 million viewers. The event, held at the Met ...

in 1985, for Best Actor (Rekert),

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...

(Pelletier), Best Supporting Actress (Leigh-Milne) and Best Original Score ( J. Douglas Dodd and Michael Oczko)."Bay Boy reels in 11 Genie nominations". ''

'', February 15, 1985.

References

External links

* 1984 films 1984 drama films Canadian prison drama films English-language Canadian films Films set in British Columbia Films shot in British Columbia Works about the penal system in Canada 1980s prison drama films 1980s English-language films 1980s Canadian films {{1980s-Canada-film-stub