Standing in the middle of San Francisco Bay with its stone walls and foreboding presence, Alcatraz Island, the former prison once thought to be escape-proof, has long captured the public’s imagination. For decades, the penitentiary served as an inspiration for movies based on the real events that took place behind its walls. In 1995, one year removed from the highly successful release of the prison drama The Shawshank Redemption, came Murder in the First. Loosely based on the trial of Henri Young (a case that would change how prisoners on the island were treated), the film’s greatest attribute is the performance of Kevin Bacon, who is completely unrecognizable in the role.
Bacon’s iconic performance aside, Murder in the First is one of many films with Alcatraz as its focal point that spend too much time portraying the institution as a symbol of barbarity that turns hardened criminals into anti-heroes,...
Bacon’s iconic performance aside, Murder in the First is one of many films with Alcatraz as its focal point that spend too much time portraying the institution as a symbol of barbarity that turns hardened criminals into anti-heroes,...
- 3/29/2025
- by Jerome Reuter
- MovieWeb
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