New On Netflix: Murder in the First

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Gary Oldman is especially chilling in this hardcore true-life prison drama as Milton Glenn, a sadistic warden who makes the life of prisoner Henri Young (Kevin Bacon) a living hell — and we do mean hell. Young was sent to Alcatraz for stealing five bucks from a post office; after he’s caught trying to escape, he’s put in solitary confinement, where the maximum stay is supposed to be 19 days. However, Glenn has him in there for years, from which he emerges a wild animal and soon kills another prisoner. Recent law school graduate James Stamphill (Christian Slater) is appointed as his lawyer, and the trial helped shut down Alcatraz forever. Murder in the First is a powerful and often hard-to-watch experience — Oldman, Bacon and even Slater are all excellent, and you also get the added bonus of Brad Dourif as Slater’s brother (?!), who always looks like he’s on the verge of tears.