IMDb 6.4 1989 HD

Lock Up

Lock Up

1989
Action Crime Drama Thriller
115 min R USA
6.8 / 10
6.4 IMDB

Frank Leone is nearing the end of his prison term for a relatively minor crime. Just before he is paroled, however, Warden Drumgoole takes charge. Drumgoole was assigned…

Personnel // Cast & Crew

Director John Flynn / Nelson Cabrera / David Sosna / Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom / Frank Capra III / Newt Arnold / David Lux / Kathryn Weygand / Stephen A. Glanzrock
Starring
Sylvester Stallone / Donald Sutherland / John Amos / Sonny Landham / Tom Sizemore / Frank McRae / Darlanne Fluegel / William Allen Young

How Viewers Describe This Film

Common themes and sentiments

intense grim vengeful powerful brutal suspenseful unforgiving stoic sadistic dramatic survival

Reviews

I
Isabelle Moreau
May 19, 2026
3.0 / 5
3.0

'Lock Up' offers a potent dose of 80s prison drama, driven by the magnetic performances of Sylvester Stallone as the wrongly targeted Frank Leone and Donald Sutherland as the chillingly cruel Warden Drumgoole. The film excels in establishing…

A
Arthur Pendelton
May 19, 2026
2.0 / 5
2.0

The premise of 'Lock Up' is simple: a good inmate versus a bad warden. Sylvester Stallone, in his familiar tough-guy persona, plays Frank Leone, a man whose quiet determination is tested by the sadistic Warden Drumgoole, portrayed with…

G
Genevieve Dubois
May 19, 2026
3.5 / 5
3.5

In 'Lock Up', Sylvester Stallone embodies the wronged man seeking only peace, a man whose impending parole is cruelly snatched away by the malevolent Warden Drumgoole, brought to life with unnerving intensity by Donald Sutherland. This is a…

M
Marcus Bellweather
May 19, 2026
2.5 / 5
2.5

As an artefact of 1980s prison action cinema, 'Lock Up' delivers a straightforward, often unsubtle, narrative of retribution. Sylvester Stallone’s Frank Leone is the stoic protagonist, facing off against Donald Sutherland’s Warden Drumgoole, a villain carved from pure,…

E
Eleanor Vance
May 19, 2026
3.0 / 5
3.0

Sylvester Stallone anchors 'Lock Up' with his characteristic muscular presence as Frank Leone, a prisoner nearing freedom only to be ensnared by the vindictive Warden Drumgoole, played with unsettling menace by Donald Sutherland. The film plunges headfirst into…

FAQs

Beyond the immediate prison conflict, 'Lock Up' touches upon themes of justice, revenge, and the corrupting influence of power. It examines the lengths to which an individual will go to exact retribution and the resilience of the human spirit when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. The film also implicitly critiques the potential for abuse within institutional settings.