L'évadé d'Alcatraz

I first went on the evening tour of Alcatraz Island which I'd highly recommend, the prison was cast in a dark gloom which seemed appropriate as we walked around the jail cells and listened to many interesting facts on the audio tour, walked the grounds, and heard about the escape depicted in the move. Naturally, I had to go see this movie...

Watching the movie, I was very impressed with how accurate the movie mirrored what my sense of prison life and the escape would be like based on my impressions of the prison and the island during the tour. Having had walked around the space of the prison in the dim evening light really enhanced my sense of the movie's environment.

Small details like the painting of black shadows for sharp tools that they shared in the tour were also present in the movie, very authentic. The lack of action per se perfectly captures the actual mood of the prison, where boredom reigned, and I thought the film balanced this well with an entertaining cast of characters and well-timed action. Eastwood's silently intense attitude was a good fit for the role and the drama and atmosphere of the escape scene was done perfectly.

In short, I'd highly recommend the evening tour on Alcatraz, followed by a viewing of "Escape from Alcatraz", you will not be disappointed.

Escape from Alcatraz is a 1979 film starring Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGooghan, Roberts Blossom, and Paul Benjamin.

Eastwood is Frank Morris, who, with the two Anglin brothers (their names were changed for the film) contrived the most elaborate scheme ever to escape "The Rock."

Their bodies were never found, and a photo surfaced some years later of the brothers in Brazil. The escape, plus Alcatraz's bad reputation, helped it close less than a year later.

The movie gives a good idea of the horrors of prison life, and particularly the horrors of Alcatraz. Frankly, I don't think the escapees cared if they died. I'm sure anything was better than being in Alcatraz.

Escape from Alcatraz is old-fashioned in that it has the art of the buildup, something lost in today's scripts. Today you must get to the point of your story in the first ten minutes. A film, for instance, like San Francisco where the earthquake happens toward the end would be a no-no.

So we see the preparations, and they're impressive - papier mache heads with hair stolen from the barber shop to fool the guards into thinking they were asleep, digging out a grill at the back of the cell and putting a false grill up to fool the guards; welding a digging tool together with silver from a dime; the making of a raft; playing music while digging to hide the noise (though this really isn't shown). It was painstaking.

Patrick McGoohan plays the warden, who, like all film prison wardens, is a horror show. When he sees a portrait of himself in a cell, he takes away the painting privileges of one of the inmates, Doc. When he finds out two inmates are talking cell to cell, he demands that they be separated.

Actually, at the time of the escape, the warden was Olin Blackwell, considered the most lenient warden Alcatraz had ever had. And by then, inmates were performing music (shown in the film), and had weekend movies (also shown).

Clint Eastwood, heavier than we've seen him in years, does an excellent job as Frank Morris, low-key but lethal. There isn't a tremendous amount of dialogue, but with his great presence and Frank's quiet leadership, we really don't need it.

Recommended for a gritty look at life on Alcatraz, and the fascinating escape.

And Escape from Alcatraz is a great movie. Based on a true story, it's one of those rare films that doesn't contain endless mindless fight scenes, overt homo eroticism, impossible action scenes, cartoon like special effects that film makers seem to be overly obsessed about these days. Somebody on the board asked if they should do a re-make of the film. NO!!!! Escape from Alcatraz is excellent as it is. The film is all suspense and great acting. The prison scenes realistic. I'd been to Alcatraz before (as a tourist) and a lot of it is in ruins but the film makes it look like the prison is still intact.

I know some people may find the film dull, well that's fine. Go elsewhere and watch your cartoon action films. I'll stick with cool films like Escape from Alcatraz.

Alcatraz was America's toughest high-security prison, and has been much beloved by film-makers since it closed and became available as a set. Don Siegel's film is based on the true story of an attempted escape. Some aspects are clichéd (the psychopathic homosexual, for example) and by concentrating on the brutality of the regime the film gets you on the side of the escapees at the price of suggesting that prison break-outs are actually a good thing. But in general, this is a successful film that has aged well, with no sickly sentiment or overdone melodrama; by concentrating on the unadorned details of the story, the film allows each one to count. A strong, uncompromising movie, gripping even if you know the ending before it starts.

I'm undoubtedly going to get virtually molested for making statements like these, but whatever... It's my honest and humble opinion that, because of "Escape from Alcatraz" (and perhaps 2 or 3 other solid but underrated prison dramas), a film like "The Shawshank Redemption" does not deserve to be labeled as one of the greatest - or even THE greatest, according to this wonderful website - movie of all time. Don't crucify me just yet. I do concur "Shawshank" is a great film, but so many of the original and brilliant aspects that its fans praise and worship so much already featured here first, in this genius fifth (and final) collaboration between director Don Siegel and anti-hero Clint Eastwood. I won't go as far to claim the script/novel of "Shawshank Redemption" is a rip-off (although it wouldn't be the first time Stephen King steals from other sources) but it's definitely a big influence and inspiration.

The most astounding trick Siegel and Eastwood pull, is serving us a slow-paced and atmospheric drama rather than an exhilarating action flick, and yet it doesn't at all feel like a swindle. "Escape from Alcatraz" is a stoic and slow brooding, yet compelling depiction of prison life, its strict routines and its lack of privileges. The titular escape, which largely exists of tunneling out with a pair of nail clippers (!), is often even a mere footnote, while the real essence revolves around the solidarity between inmates and their collective fist against the corrupt prison authorities.

Needless to say, Eastwood is at his best portraying a cool, distant, arrogant and enigmatic Frank Morris. From the moment he arrives at Alcatraz, it's more than obvious that his sole mission will be to escape, even though the megalomaniacal head warden fanatically makes it clear The Rock is impossible to escape from. The latter is a strong role for Patrick McGoohan, by the way. Great, great film. No nonsense, no unnecessary dialogs or redundant sub plots, just pure craftmanship!