The federal government never admitted, but I found it fascinating that a year after three convicts allegedly escaped from the island prison in San Francisco Bay the government closed it down. It had been advertised as an escape proof prison and when some people left that weren't accounted for, the government was too embarrassed to keep the thing open. Frankly I never understood why Alcatraz was closed, was it really an ego thing?
We do know that convicts Frank Morris, John Angelin, and Clarence Angelin, all left Alcatraz in the dead of night in 1962 and they were never seen or heard from again. A fourth man Allen West, his name changed here to Charley Butts for the film, was supposed to make the trip, but didn't. It's from him we get the details of the escape itself.
The rest of the film Escape From Alcatraz is fashioned by director Don Siegel and its star Clint Eastwood to fit the particular screen image of Eastwood. His Frank Morris is very much like Clint's spaghetti western character, the man with no name given a name and sent to the toughest prison there was.
Besides the general inclination against being locked up, Eastwood also faces a warden in Patrick McGoohan who takes a particular delight in breaking people down and using his power in petty ways. Since he's got all the power, sooner or later Eastwood will be broken and he knows it. But also Eastwood made an enemy of a big mean convict played by Bruce Fischer who made Clint an offer in the men's shower that he felt was inappropriate. Fischer doesn't take no for an answer and after a fight in the yard, he's out for Clint's blood.
The real Frank Morris was a real bad man, having no truly redeeming features. The film makes no mention of what got him to Alcatraz in the first place, the better so as not to kill your rooting interest.
Eastwood gives a tightlipped and restrained performance as does McGoohan whose very underplaying belies a sinister personality. In keeping with such jailers as Eddie Albert in The Longest Yard and Hume Cronyn in Brute Force.
Filmed on location at the tourist attraction that Alcatraz now is, you can't get better realism than that. I'm not sure if Frank Morris and his companions ever made it, but you sure can believe Clint Eastwood would have.
We do know that convicts Frank Morris, John Angelin, and Clarence Angelin, all left Alcatraz in the dead of night in 1962 and they were never seen or heard from again. A fourth man Allen West, his name changed here to Charley Butts for the film, was supposed to make the trip, but didn't. It's from him we get the details of the escape itself.
The rest of the film Escape From Alcatraz is fashioned by director Don Siegel and its star Clint Eastwood to fit the particular screen image of Eastwood. His Frank Morris is very much like Clint's spaghetti western character, the man with no name given a name and sent to the toughest prison there was.
Besides the general inclination against being locked up, Eastwood also faces a warden in Patrick McGoohan who takes a particular delight in breaking people down and using his power in petty ways. Since he's got all the power, sooner or later Eastwood will be broken and he knows it. But also Eastwood made an enemy of a big mean convict played by Bruce Fischer who made Clint an offer in the men's shower that he felt was inappropriate. Fischer doesn't take no for an answer and after a fight in the yard, he's out for Clint's blood.
The real Frank Morris was a real bad man, having no truly redeeming features. The film makes no mention of what got him to Alcatraz in the first place, the better so as not to kill your rooting interest.
Eastwood gives a tightlipped and restrained performance as does McGoohan whose very underplaying belies a sinister personality. In keeping with such jailers as Eddie Albert in The Longest Yard and Hume Cronyn in Brute Force.
Filmed on location at the tourist attraction that Alcatraz now is, you can't get better realism than that. I'm not sure if Frank Morris and his companions ever made it, but you sure can believe Clint Eastwood would have.