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
Clint Eastwood
Frank Morris
Patrick McGoohan
Warden
Jack Thibeau
Clarence Anglin
Fred Ward
John Anglin
Paul Benjamin
English
Larry Hankin
Charley Butts
Bruce M. Fischer
Wolf
Frank Ronzio
Litmus
Fred Stuthman
Johnson
David Cryer
Wagner
Hank Brandt
Associate Warden
Ray K. Goman
Cellblock Captain
Blair Burrows
Fight Guard
Madison Arnold
Zimmerman
Garry Goodrow
Weston
Ron Vernan
Stone
Ed Vasgersian
Cranston
Directors
More like this
User reviews3
Review
Featured review
Gotta feel for this due to the later emergence of <em>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/the-shawshank-redemption/">The Shawshank Redemption</a>'</em> and even <em>'<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_Break">Prison Break</a>'</em>, but <em>'Escape From Alcatraz'</em> 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 <em>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/coogans-bluff/">Coogan's Bluff</a>'</em> and that was an extremely effective partnership - this 1979 release and <em>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/two-mules-for-sister-sara/">Two Mules for Sister Sara</a>'</em> being my favourites.
r96sk21 Jan, 2022
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Box office
Budget
$8,000,000Gross worldwide
$43,004,381

































































