Joe Don Baker plays a gambler who is framed for a crime he did not commit. A corrupt legal system leads him into a plea bargain and four years behind bars. By the time he gets out of prison, he's determined to put together the pieces of his frame-up and dole out the justice he was denied to those responsible.
Acting
Baker's simmering physical presence carries every scene.
Direction
Karlson's final film, stripped-down and vicious.
Director
Phil Karlson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Phil Karlson collapsed from exhaustion during production; this was his swan song after decades of B-pictures and the original Walking Tall.
Released months after Watergate's finale, Framed channels post-Nixon paranoia about institutional rot—except here, one angry man can actually shoot his way to satisfaction.
US
