Ray and Claude arrive at the Mississippi prison in 1932. They spend give 65 years in jail, meaning the last year the movie takes place in is 1997. And Ray says in that year that he's 90 years old, meaning he was born in 1907 (Claude was also probably born in that year or somewhere close to it). So they were 25 when they came to jail, 37 when they are shown in the 1944, and 65 when they are shown in 1972.
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