Welcome to Alcatraz

Escape from Alcatraz (1979)   

Before the success of "The Shawshank Redemption", and before Alcatraz became the focus of military action in "The Rock", there was "Escape From Alcatraz", featuring Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood. Based upon the real life events, surrounding the supposedly only successful escape by a group of inmates from the infamous Alcatraz prison. The outcome of which was a contributory factor which caused the closure of the prison just a year later, as they realized the place was in a seriously dilapidated condition and was no longer viable as a non money making facility. I say supposedly successful escape, because they were never found alive or dead, so there is no proof to the validity of the story.

After arriving at Alcatraz, Frank Morris (Clint Eastwood - Absolute Power) is introduced to the narcissistic prison warden (Patrick McGoohan) who assures Frank that despite having escaped from other prisons he wouldn't escape from Alcatraz. Having quickly made friends with a few of his fellow inmates as well as enemies of others, Frank discovers that two old friends from another prison, the Anglin brothers are both banged up with him. It doesn't take long to start organizing an escape from the now archaic and crumbling Alcatraz.

Released back in 1979, "Escape from Alcatraz" attempts to paint a realistic picture of life on Alcatraz, even though it does come across as slightly watered down. Compared to the epic "The Shawshank Redemption", which dwelled upon each grizzly aspect of time on the inside, "Escape from Alcatraz" may be perceived as poor relative. But considering its age, "Escape from Alcatraz" is still a very good movie, which uses many subtle techniques to convey the atmosphere and story, which modern day movies seem to ignore.

Straight from the opening scenes, involving the arrival of Frank to the prison, you realize that this film is going to be slightly different to other films from the prison movie genre and era. For the 5 minute duration of the opening sequence, we get introduced to the bleak and miserable world of Alcatraz through the sounds of the beating rain and the sound of the handcuffs around Frank's wrists; there is no dialogue at all. This use of minimal dialogue, substituted for the sounds of items within the scene is used through out the whole movie and really helps to demonstrate what a miserable life it was in the prison.

The actual dialogue when used is not the typical cliche ridden text that is the main stay of a lot of movies and at times shows a real intelligence in what is being said. On the subject of sound, it should be mentioned that "Escape from Alcatraz" does not use a soundtrack other than the opening and closing credits. This also aids the film in not only setting the mood but also allows the film to create a strange sense of suspense and drama. Admittedly, I found this lack of soundtrack a bit unnerving to start with, but it really does help to make "Escape from Alcatraz" that little bit special.

"Escape from Alcatraz" came at a point in Clint Eastwood's career, where he was venturing into roles where he was not necessarily a gun totting force to be reckoned with. In this film, although he was playing a typical strong silent type, he was able to demonstrate his skills as an actor in areas we had not seen from him before. Although his performance is convincing and captivating, it lacks some of the class he has demonstrated in more recent movies and at times he relies heavily on his tough guy image rather than his acting ability.

The film also has some great characters such as the stern warden played by Patrick McGoohan, as well as Fred Ward as one of the Anglin brothers. But in all honesty, the focus of "Escape from Alcatraz" is the character of Frank Morris, and it is a testimony to Eastwood's ability as an actor that this film is as good as it is.

"Escape from Alcatraz" was the fifth and final collaboration between director Don Siegel and actor Clint Eastwood, having previously worked together on both the Spaghetti Westerns and the Dirty Harry films. This final collaboration proved that Siegel and Eastwood knew how to get the best from each other and in my opinion, although not their most famous of joint efforts, it demonstrated their abilities to a much greater extent than their previous efforts. In the same way that Eastwood was experimenting with this different sort of role, Siegel was experimenting with a slightly unorthodox way of creating atmosphere and drama by dispatching with the soundtrack and overlong dialogues. This resulted in a rather unsettling film, with long periods of silence, but in reality it was remarkably effective in getting over the point of how depressing the atmosphere on Alcatraz really was.

Although there is a sort of experimental feeling to the movie it does have its share of memorable scenes such as the filing down of a coin to provide welding material to make a tool, the dummies which are made and of course the expected trouble that Frank Morris encounters from tough prisoner Wolf.

What this all boils down to is that although "Escape from Alcatraz" is now over 25 years old and has been surpassed by the truly magnificent "The Shawshank Redemption", it is still a remarkable piece of cinema, considering the era that it was made in. The fact that it is based upon a true story adds to its appeal, especially as it manages to maintain a gritty realism about it. Compared to modern movies, it does feel very dated and in all honestly would only appeal to hardened fans of Clint Eastwood and Don Siegel. This is a shame, as "Escape from Alcatraz" is a master class in film making which does not necessarily follow the rules set out by other Hollywood movies of this genre.