If it worked for Frank Sinatra... Singing star Johnny Desmond goes dramatic in the low-budget Escape From San Quentin. Desmond plays escaped convict Mike Gilbert, who goes on the lam with fellow prisoners Gruber Richard Devon and Graham Roy Engel. While hiding from the law, Gilbert comes to realize that he's fallen in love with Robbie Merry Anders, the sister of his ex-wife Peggy Maley. Through Robbie's influence, Gilbert decides to go straight, but his cohorts aren't quite so willing to reform. Like most Sam Katzman quickies of the era, Escape from San Quentin was loosely based on a true story.

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Mike Gilbert (Johnny Desmond) is a good kid who made a bad mistake. He’s got two years left on his stint at the San Quentin work farm. Fellow convict Ray Gruber (Richard Devon) tries to recruit him for an escape plan, relying on Mike’s flying talents to hijack a plane from a nearby airfield. Mike promises a big payoff out of his hidden stash from a previous heist, but Mike isn’t buying it. He changes his mind when he gets a “Dear John” letter from his wife. The two make their move, but things get complicated when a third prisoner, Hap Graham (Roy Engel), latches on to their escape.

Like Canon City, this film is more focused on the aftermath than the escape itself. Actually breaking out of the facility happens in the first 15 minutes or so, and is as simple as conking a guard over the head. It’s the getting away that proves to be messy, with Graham mucking up the works, Gruber’s ruthless scheming, and a variety of mishaps that keep upping the stakes. It’s a nice script that keeps adding tension (and raising the body count) as Mike goes further down the rabbit hole of corruption, trying to justify his role in the bloodshed. There’s some rough-and-tumble dialogue that isn’t especially sharp, but makes its point..