Oh, Brother Where Art Thou, or: Chain Gangs Stink

Movie: I Am A Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932)
Setting: New Jersey, Boston, New Orleans, Wisconsin, St. Louis, Kentucky, Chicago; 1919-193?

Famed story of a man wrongly sentenced to ten years on a chain gang, his escape, subsequent reinvention of himself as a successful Chicago area engineer, and later re-imprisonment by the state of Kentucky. Movie makes you angry at perverted hick justice. Paul Muni stars. Based on a true story.

Other films featuring Southern Chain Gangs: Sullivan's Travels, The Man Who Broke A Thousand Chains (same story), Oh, Brother Where Art Thou.