Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

When something feels so real, true to its life in all respects, you get let in and buried beneath its weight. "Short Eyes" is a film that takes straight reality, fills it with characters and words of full realization, and takes you down the corridor of a 1 hour, 39 minute hell. Miguel Pinero wrote a script from a world he knew well, words and people from the dark side of America. No one but a former prisoner could have reflected things so pure and so ugly. Robert M. Young as director sets the scene and understands what the story needs. He lets it happen with the freedom begged for.I could say a lot more, I suppose, but every event hinges on those surrounding it, so to say much is perhaps having to say all. It's a flat painful experience, leaving you with the title character, played by Bruce Davison. Regardless of who you are or what your sin may be, this character is meant to be you. Watch him, feel his hurt, live his guilt, and he might just reflect a little bit of you back. This is not an easy thing.

Child molester ''Short Eyes'' (Davidson) gets what's coming to him from his disgusted fellow inmates. Gripping, graphic, violent film was shot in the Tombs, the NYC prison. Powerful acting. Rated R for violence and profanity.

"Short Eyes" is an interesting film, it has many good points but at the end of the day it suffers from being viewed with the experience of 23 years of other films between the viewer and the production.Even looking at it based on dramas of the time , it would have been dated then and a moral hodge podge of "hippy" sentiment without the real "streetwise" attitude that it needs and wanted to so much. It even has a dreadful prison "sing-a-long" (only included because Curtis Mayfield leads the scene (otherwise it would not have been shot !) , the song itself is so well produced , and without having a wild track added makes you laugh at the pretentiousness of the scene rather than take it seriously.Having said that thou , it still has one or two scenes that shock , and I did not expect the ending that we got , and I did like it and would recommend it to everyone , but as long as they understand the time it was from , its a good film but time is not being kind to it.

"Short Eyes," filmed in and about the Men's House of Detention ("The Tombs") graphically documents the thoughtless conditions which existed in American prisons in our not too distant past. Without constructive programs for learning, personal growth and self improvement, physically or mentally, the inmates were left to fester with their own negative thoughts and actions. The results of such ingrowth is presented in an inactement which helps to foster social change. While the drama may be repulsive in many ways, it nevertheless informs on a topic which is extremely important. It's up to voting citizens to wield their power in bringing about proper rehabilitative opportunites for so-called criminals. With men couped up in close confines with virtually nothing to do, who wouldn't be tempted to succumb to unconstructive activities. Miguel Pinero wrote a powerful, educational play, and members of the New York cast are to be congratulated in their skillful ensemble work.