Deathwatch 1966

Greeneyes, Michael Forest, and Snowball are both murderers in prison awaiting their death sentences to be carried out by guillotine. The jewel thief Lefranc, Leonard Nimoy, and hoodlum Maurice, Paul Mazursky, Greeneyes’ cellmates, are imprisoned for lesser crimes but must align themselves with more brutal inmates for their survival behind bars. A tense web of alliances and rivalries forms as each man tries to secure safety, status, and a possible path to parole through proximity to Greeneyes.

Greeneyes is illiterate; he relies on Lefranc, Leonard Nimoy, to read letters from his wife. Lefranc also writes replies aloud to her. Once his wife learns that Greeneyes wasn’t the one who wrote, she loses interest. Greeneyes erupts into rage. He wants her dead, and he suggests letting either cellmate kill her after they leave prison. The desire to control his fate coexists with a growing sense of vulnerability that he can’t escape.

Greeneyes later breaks down. He laments that he’s trapped in a prison of his thoughts and actions, unable to change the course of his life or turn himself around.

He’s taken away for a visit with his wife. While Greeneyes is gone, Maurice and Lefranc fight over who the better criminal is. Each thinks that he deserves Greeneyes’ favoritism.

Once Greeneyes returns, he no longer wants his wife dead. Instead, he gives her away to a guard. The guard is friendly with Greeneyes and gives him contraband from Snowball, another powerful inmate. Lefranc becomes disillusioned with Greeneyes and with Snowball, realizing that they both work with the guards. However, he still wants Greeneyes’ respect and power.

Maurice and Lefranc get into a fight; Lefranc’s shirt rips, revealing a tattoo. He thinks he’s gained Greeneyes’ favoritism, but Maurice exposes the tattoo as a painted-on fake. Maurice starts to taunt Lefranc.

Lefranc attacks Maurice and strangles him to death. He expects Greeneyes to praise him for the murder. Instead, Greeneyes is disgusted and alerts the guards. Lefranc is left with the realization that he’ll never be the kind of man Greeneyes is.