Honestly, if you grew up in the eighties, you probably remember the poster: Sylvester Stallone, drenched in mud, looking like he’d just crawled through a mile of sewage to save a car. That movie was Lock Up. Released in 1989, it’s one of those films that sits in a weird spot. It’s not quite as iconic as Rocky, and it’s definitely not as explosive as Rambo, but the lock up film cast is actually one of the most fascinating groups ever put together for a prison flick.
Most people think of it as just another "Sly in a tank top" movie. But if you look closer, this cast was a mix of legendary veterans, future stars getting their first big break, and—this is the part that still blows my mind—real-life convicts.
The Powerhouse Leads: Stallone vs. Sutherland
The whole movie hinges on the tension between Frank Leone and Warden Drumgoole.
Sylvester Stallone plays Leone. He’s basically a "good" prisoner, a mechanic who’s just months away from finishing a light sentence. Stallone was at a point in his career where he was trying to prove he could actually act again, moving away from the cartoonish invincible soldier of Rambo III. He’s vulnerable here. He gets beaten down. A lot.
Then you have the late, great Donald Sutherland. He plays Warden Drumgoole, and he is just pure, cold-blooded slime. Sutherland was nominated for a Razzie for this role, which is kinda hilarious because he’s actually terrifying in a very quiet, bureaucratic way. He doesn't need to scream. He just stares with those icy eyes and ruins your life with a signature on a piece of paper. The dynamic between them works because it’s not just a physical fight; it’s a psychological war of attrition.
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The Supporting Players Who Stole the Show
While Sly and Sutherland get the top billing, the guys in the yard are the ones who give the movie its soul.
Tom Sizemore (Dallas)
This was actually Tom Sizemore’s first major film role. He plays Dallas, the fast-talking, slightly untrustworthy "weasel" of the group. You can see the raw energy he’d later bring to Saving Private Ryan and Heat starting right here. He’s the comic relief, but he’s also the tragic figure who reminds us that prison makes people desperate.
John Amos (Captain Meissner)
You probably know John Amos from Good Times or Coming to America. In Lock Up, he plays the hard-nosed Captain Meissner. At first, you think he’s just another one of the Warden’s goons. But Amos plays him with this underlying sense of honor. He’s the "tough but fair" archetype, and he eventually becomes the moral compass of the guards.
Frank McRae (Eclipse)
Eclipse is the heart of the prison workshop. Frank McRae was a former NFL player (he played for the Chicago Bears in '67), which explains why he looks so natural in that famous mud-bowl football scene. When he does the "Ickey Shuffle" after a touchdown? That was a real-time pop culture reference to Ickey Woods of the Cincinnati Bengals.
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The Most Dangerous Men on Set
Here’s a fact that usually surprises people: a huge chunk of the lock up film cast wasn't actually made up of actors.
The movie was filmed at Rahway State Prison in New Jersey (now East Jersey State Prison). It was a real maximum-security facility. Director John Flynn didn't want a bunch of Hollywood extras looking clean and polished. He wanted the real deal.
- The production used about 200 actual inmates as extras.
- The guards you see in many scenes? Those were the real prison guards.
- The tension in those yard scenes feels real because, frankly, it was.
Speaking of real tough guys, look at Sonny Landham, who played the villainous "Chink" Weber. Landham was notorious in Hollywood for being so genuinely intense that insurance companies reportedly required him to have a bodyguard—not to protect him, but to protect everyone else from him. He brought that exact same "don't look me in the eye" energy to his role as Leone's nemesis.
And let’s not forget a very young Danny Trejo. Long before he was Machete, Trejo was a real-life ex-con who found his way into acting. He appears as one of Chink’s gang members. It’s a "blink and you’ll miss it" role, but it adds to that thick layer of authenticity the movie has.
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Why This Cast Still Matters
Lock Up works because it treats the prison like a character itself. The cast had to endure some pretty brutal conditions. In the football scene, Stallone was actually getting tackled by those real inmates. No body doubles. Just a movie star getting slammed into the Jersey mud by guys who didn't necessarily care about his box office numbers.
The film also features Darlanne Fluegel as Melissa, Leone’s girlfriend. She’s the only real female presence in the movie, serving as the "outside world" motivation for Leone. It’s a bit of a thankless role in a testosterone-heavy movie, but she provides the stakes. If Leone snaps, he loses her.
Key Cast Members and Their Roles:
- Sylvester Stallone: Frank Leone
- Donald Sutherland: Warden Drumgoole
- John Amos: Captain Meissner
- Sonny Landham: Chink Weber
- Tom Sizemore: Dallas
- Frank McRae: Eclipse
- Darlanne Fluegel: Melissa
- William Allen Young: Braden
- Larry Romano: First Base
What to Do Next
If you’re a fan of eighties action or prison dramas, you should definitely give Lock Up a re-watch on a high-definition format. The 4K restoration really highlights the grit of the Jersey prison.
Keep an eye out for the "Maybelline" car scene. The car they build is a 1965 Ford Mustang GT, and the genuine joy on the actors' faces during that sequence—especially Frank McRae and Larry Romano—is one of the few moments of pure light in an otherwise dark film. It’s a masterclass in how a great supporting cast can turn a standard action movie into something much more memorable.
Check out the "Making Of" featurettes on the Blu-ray if you can find them; hearing Stallone talk about working with the actual inmates at Rahway gives you a whole new level of respect for what they pulled off on that set.