I came away from Brubaker feeling that only part of the story had been told. The film is based on a true story and overall, the story is a good one and the acting hits almost all of the right notes. However, like many films of the 70's and 80's, this one labors on through most of its running time only to hit us with a snappy climax and resolution in the last 10 minutes. It's as though the filmmakers suddenly realized they were nearing the 2-hour mark and needed to vacate the theater for the next showing.

The film opens with star Robert Redford sitting on a bus along with several other convicts, all on their way to Wakefield State Penitentiary. He arrives at the prison only to be confronted with horrific living conditions and even more horrific cases of abuse. Prisoners are beaten, raped and even murdered with carefree abandon. The entire facility seems to be under the control of the "trustees," inmates who have earned the right to live in relative freedom, carry firearms and dispense justice according to their own whims. The prison is falling apart and the inmates are overcrowded and starving. They are forced to pay for what little food is available and even then, most of what they are given is rotten.

Redford has very little to say for much of the film's first half hour. Instead, he quietly takes in all of the attrocities. Eventually, he reveals his secret: he is really the newly hired prison warden, Henry Brubaker.

After officially taking over his new position, Brubaker begins to uncover layer upon layer of corruption and underhanded deals. Prisoners are being uses as slave labor by local businesses, with the businessmen and the prison officials splitting profits. Supplies, such as food, is being ordered at cost using prison accounts and then smuggled away, only to be sold for higher profits.

Brubaker ruffles feathers both within the prison and throughout the community by vowing to remove the corruption within Wakefield. The inmate trustees are unhappy because they view the changes as a threat to their power and freedom. The politicians and businessmen are afraid for their careers and profit margins.

Eventually, Brubaker uncovers a series of murders within the prison that have been covered up by quielty burying the bodies on prison grounds. This is where the movie begins to fall apart as it races to its conclusion, offering up little in the way of satisfactory resolution. The discovery of the bodies could easily have been the focal point of the corruption. Instead, this plot point is presented almost as an after thought.

Still, Brubaker is an effective story that remains engaging and interesting until nearly the very end. Redford, as expected, turns in a solid performance, but the film is also filled with some excellent supporting characters. Actors such as Yaphet Koto, Murray Hamilton, David Keith and an early appearance by Morgan Freeman help to populate the film both with likable and despicable characters.

If there are any flaws, it comes from the direction and editing by Stuart Rosenberg and Robert Brown, respectively. Tighter storytelling would have greatly benefitted this film, as well as more involvelemt in the film's final act.