Escape from Alcatraz is a 1979
AmericanThe cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
thriller
filmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, directed by
Don SiegelDonald Siegel was an influential American film director and producer. His name variously appeared in the credits of his films as both Don Siegel and Donald Siegel.-Early life:...
and starring
Clint EastwoodClinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
. It dramatizes
possibly the only successful escape attemptThe June 1962 Alcatraz escape was an escape attempt by American criminals Clarence Anglin, John Anglin, Frank Morris, and Allen West from Alcatraz Island, one of the United States' most famous prisons, it is possibly the only successful escape attempt from the prison.- Previous attempts :There...
from the maximum security prison on
Alcatraz IslandAlcatraz Island is an island located in the San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. Often referred to as "The Rock" or simply "Traz", the small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, and a Federal...
. The film co-stars
Fred WardFreddie Joe "Fred" Ward is an American actor. He began his career in 1979 alongside Clint Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz. He is best known for his starring roles in the motion pictures Remo Williams, Tremors, Henry & June, Short Cuts, The Right Stuff and Exit Speed...
, and also features
Patrick McGoohanPatrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...
as the suspicious, vindictive warden, and features the film debut of
Danny GloverDanny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
. The film marks the fifth and final collaboration between Siegel and Eastwood, following
Coogan's BluffCoogan's Bluff is a 1968 American Universal film directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood, Lee J. Cobb, Don Stroud, and Susan Clark...
(1968),
Two Mules for Sister SaraTwo Mules for Sister Sara is an American-Mexican western film starring Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine set during the French intervention in Mexico. The film was released in 1970 and directed by Don Siegel. It was to have been the first in a five-year exclusive association between Universal...
(1970),
The BeguiledThe Beguiled is a 1971 drama film directed by Don Siegel, starring Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page. The script was written by Albert Maltz and is based on the 1966 Southern Gothic novel written by Thomas P. Cullinan, originally titled A Painted Devil...
(1971) and
Dirty HarryDirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
(1971).
Plot summary
Frank Morris is sent to the prison on Alcatraz. There, he meets his old friends, brothers
JohnJohn William Anglin was an American criminal who took part in the June 1962 Alcatraz escape and was never seen again.- Alcatraz :...
and
Clarence AnglinClarence Anglin was an American criminal who took part in the June 1962 Alcatraz escape and was never seen again.- Early life :...
, and also makes the acquaintance of the prisoner in the cell next to his, Charlie Butts. After a series of negative experiences involving the warden of Alcatraz, Morris decides to escape and persuades the other three men to join him. The inmates dig through the walls of their cells with spoons, make
papier-mâchéPapier-mâché , alternatively, paper-mache, is a composite material consisting of paper pieces or pulp, sometimes reinforced with textiles, bound with an adhesive, such as glue, starch, or wallpaper paste....
dummies to act as decoys, and construct a raft out of raincoats. On the night of their escape, Butts gets frightened and does not go with the others. Morris and the Anglin brothers make it out of the prison and paddle their raft towards Angel Island, never to be seen again. Still, there is some hint at the end of the film that they made it to shore.
Cast
- Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
as Frank Lee Morris
- Jack Thibeau as Clarence Anglin
Clarence Anglin was an American criminal who took part in the June 1962 Alcatraz escape and was never seen again.- Early life :...
- Fred Ward
Freddie Joe "Fred" Ward is an American actor. He began his career in 1979 alongside Clint Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz. He is best known for his starring roles in the motion pictures Remo Williams, Tremors, Henry & June, Short Cuts, The Right Stuff and Exit Speed...
as John AnglinJohn William Anglin was an American criminal who took part in the June 1962 Alcatraz escape and was never seen again.- Alcatraz :...
- Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...
as the Warden
- Larry Hankin
Larry Hankin is an American actor, performer, director and producer.Hankin studied acting at Syracuse University. He is known for his roles in TV shows Friends and Seinfeld; as well as for his major role in the movie Escape from Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood...
as Charlie Butts
- Paul Benjamin
Paul Benjamin is an American actor.Benjamin was born in Pelion, South Carolina. He made his film debut in 1969 as a bartender in Midnight Cowboy...
as English
- Frank Ronzio
Frank Ronzio was an American actor famous for playing 'Litmus' in the film Escape from Alcatraz. Ronzio was born in Rhode Island on June 26, 1920. He played only ten roles in his life. He also acted in Hill Street Blues and Fear City. He died in Los Angeles on January 19, 1989 at age 68.-External...
as Litmus
- Roberts Blossom
Roberts Scott Blossom was an American theater, film and television actor and poet. He is best known for his roles as Old Man Marley in Home Alone and as Ezra Cobb in the horror film Deranged...
as Chester "Doc" Dalton
- Bruce M. Fischer
Bruce M. "Bear" Fischer is an American actor, best known for playing the prisoner Wolf Grace, in the 1979 film, Escape from Alcatraz. Typecast as a rapist, Mr. Fischer was also played a rapist in Clint Eastwood's The Outlaw Josie Wales. In addition Mr. Fischer was one of the Beauregard Brothers on...
as Wolf Grace
Ward made his first starring role in a motion picture. Siegel makes a cameo appearance as the prison doctor.
Danny GloverDanny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
makes his film debut in a brief appearance as an inmate.
Screenplay
Screenwriter Richard Tuggle spent six months researching and writing a screenplay based on the 1963 non-fiction account by J. Campbell Bruce. He went to the
Writers GuildWriters Guild of America, West is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. The Guild was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, which include the Screen Writers Guild...
and received a list of literary agents who would accept unsolicited manuscripts. He submitted a copy to each, and also to anybody else in the business that he could cajole into reading it. Everyone rejected it, saying it had poor dialogue and characters, lacked a love interest, and that the public was not interested in prison stories. Tuggle decided to bypass producers and executives and deal directly with filmmakers. He called the agent for director
Don SiegelDonald Siegel was an influential American film director and producer. His name variously appeared in the credits of his films as both Don Siegel and Donald Siegel.-Early life:...
and lied, saying he had met Siegel at a party and the director had expressed interest in reading his script. The agent forwarded the script to Siegel, who read it, liked it, and passed it on to
Clint EastwoodClinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
.
Eastwood was drawn to the role as ringleader Frank Morris and agreed to star, providing Siegel direct under the
MalpasoMalpaso Productions, originally known as The Malpaso Company, is Clint Eastwood's production company. It was established in 1967 by Eastwood's financial adviser Irving Leonard for the film Hang 'Em High, using finances from the Dollars trilogy...
banner. However, Siegel insisted that it be a Don Siegel film and out-maneuvered Clint by purchasing the rights to the film for $100,000. This created a rift between the two friends. Although Siegel eventually agreed for it to be a Malpaso-Siegel production, Siegel went to
Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, a rival studio, and never directed an Eastwood picture again.
Background and filming
Alcatraz was closed shortly after the true events on which the film was based. It is not known whether the three escapees survived, as they have never turned up.
Although Alcatraz had its own power plant, it was no longer functional, and 15 miles of cable were required to connect the island to San Francisco's electricity. As Siegel and Tuggle worked on the script, the producers paid $500,000 to restore the decaying prison and recreate the cold atmosphere; some interiors had to be recreated in the studio. Many of the improvements were kept intact after the film was made.
The dangerous escape down the prison wall and into the water was performed without stunt doubles by Eastwood, Fred Ward, and Jack Thibeau (who had both been cast partly for their athleticism). Director Siegel twice thought they had been lost to the treacherous currents.
Reception
Escape from Alcatraz was well received by critics and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1979.
Frank RichFrank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...
of
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
described the film as "cool, cinematic grace", while
Stanley KauffmannStanley Kauffmann is an American author, editor, and critic of film and theatre. He has written for The New Republic since 1958 and currently contributes film criticism to that magazine....
of
The New RepublicThe magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
called it "crystalline cinema". It currently holds a 94% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. The film grossed $5,306,354 in the U.S. during its opening weekend from June 24, 1979, shown on 815 screens. In total, the film earned $43,000,000 in U.S. theaters.
American Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
nominated the film under AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills category.