Escape from Alcatraz

(1979)

PLOT | AUDIO | TRIVIA | CAST | CREDITS | PURCHASE

Veteran genre director Don Siegel directed this simple and gripping story about an actual escape from the supposedly escape-proof Alcatraz Prison. The film chronicles this story which is based an actual events, and is convincingly enacted by Eastwood as mastermind Morris, an extremely intelligent, calculating man with nerves of steel

The pace of this movie is a bit slow, but Siegel's deliberate, sparse direction works to the benefit of a film where time is all his characters have. This production marked the fifth time Eastwood worked with Siegel, his directorial mentor.

Listen as Clint Eastwood speaks candidly about his thoughts on this film including what he thinks really happened to the escaped prisoners.

• Alcatraz was closed shortly after the true events on which the film was based. It is not known whether the three escapees survived, but their bodies have never been found.
• Look out for a youthful Danny Glover as one of the inmates.
• Fifteen miles of cable were required to reconnect the island to the city's electricity, and a great deal of work was required to restore the prison to its 1963 state. Many of the improvements were kept intact after the film.
• The dangerous escape down the prison wall and into the water was performed without doubles by Clint, 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.
• Siegel makes a cameo appearance as the prison doctor.

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