Escape from Alcatraz

1979

1h 53m

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

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99+ Images

Drama

Thriller

San Francisco Bay, January 18, 1960. Frank Lee Morris is transferred to Alcatraz, a maximum security prison located on a rocky island. Although no one has ever managed to escape from there, Frank and other inmates begin to carefully prepare an escape plan.

Directors

Don Siegel

Writers

Richard Tuggle(screenplay by)

J. Campbell Bruce(book by)

Stars

Clint Eastwood

Patrick McGoohan

Roberts Blossom

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Videos1

Trailer
Watch Escape from Alcatraz (1979) Original Trailer [HD]

Photos119

Top cast

Frank Morris

Warden

Doc

Clarence Anglin

John Anglin

English

Charley Butts

Wolf

Litmus

Johnson

Wagner

Associate Warden

Cellblock Captain

Fight Guard

Zimmerman

Weston

Stone

Cranston

Directors

Don Siegel

Writers

Richard Tuggle(screenplay by)

J. Campbell Bruce(book by)

All cast & crew

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User reviews3

Review

Featured review

9/10

Gotta feel for this due to the later emergence of '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/the-shawshank-redemption/">The Shawshank Redemption</a>' and even '<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_Break">Prison Break</a>', but 'Escape From Alcatraz' still merits its own props as a great film. I love a good prison escape flick, shown by my love for those two aforementioned productions which do improve on the formula; TSR - one of my favourite films, fwiw - particularly must've took a lot of inspiration from this, I noted a fair few similarities. With the cast, you have an excellent performance from Clint Eastwood. Patrick McGoohan fits his role nicely, while Paul Benjamin and Larry Hankin are the best of the rest. I would've liked more development for the characters of Fred Ward and Jack Thibeau, who felt a little tacked on. Elsewhere, Danny Glover makes his acting debut in a tiny, tiny role. I found the pacing to be very good, sure the story I guess is obvious in terms of its direction but I still got tense and edgy whilst watching the escape take place. The ambience of the film is a positive too, with the exception of one moment early on where there's an overly on the nose lightning strike as one of the characters mentions Alcatraz - nothing major, it's a nit-pick and it's my only one so that's a big plus. Interesting to note this was the final collaboration between Eastwood and director Don Siegel, take out '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/coogans-bluff/">Coogan's Bluff</a>' and that was an extremely effective partnership - this 1979 release and '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/two-mules-for-sister-sara/">Two Mules for Sister Sara</a>' being my favourites.

r96sk21 Jan, 2022