Still acutely relevant, and still unsurpassed as uncompromising prison drama, Riot In Cell Block 11 is considered by Siegel to be his first major work (it preceded Invasion Of The Body Snatchers by two years). Its success as a protest film he attributes to producer Walter Wanger, who produced many of the protest classics of the thirties:
“If I had read all the books on penology he piled on my desk, I'd still be reading. We wanted the film to affect prison reform, and I believe it did. We wanted a feeling of authenticity, and I think we got it. We shot the picture the way we thought it would have happened - with no tricks, no crooked District Attorney, no girl friend of a prisoner. The prisoners storming into the courtyard were actually prisoners. It was scary. We shot the picture in 16 days, at a total cost of less than $300,000, and it was an instant success. I still think it is one of my best pictures.” --Don Siegel