Up The River

Spencer Tracy made his film debut in this prison comedy which is all but lost today. The film opens with Tracy and his slow-witted sidekick, Hymer, breaking out of jail. They go their separate ways but meet up years later when Tracy sees Hymer preaching in front of a Salvation Army band. Tracy taunts him with shouts of "Crime doesn't pay!" until the fugitive can take no more and swings at Tracy. They brawl and are thrown into prison again, only this time in a medium security lockup that the two have no desire to break out of. Here they have more comforts than home, including dramatics, a baseball league, and women just on the other side of a dividing wall. Messages...