Convicts 4, also known as Reprieve, is a 1962 American neo noir crime film starring Ben Gazzara and directed by Millard Kaufman.

[1][2][3] The film is a fictionalized version of the life of death row convict John Resko, who wrote his autobiography: Reprieve.

It becomes even less bearable after hearing that his wife has left him and that his father has died while rescuing a drowning child to make up for the life that was lost.

On February 5, 1931, Resko and an accomplice, Frank Mayo, killed a grocer, Samuel Friedberg, during an attempted robbery of his store at 885 East 167th Street in the Bronx.

"[5][6] Resko's sentence was commuted by then-Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt to life imprisonment after he testified against Mayo, who was executed on July 21, 1932.

New York Times critic A.H. Weiler said the film "is forthright and serious in its attempt to limn a striking figure but is only rarely compelling or memorable.