Escape From Alcatraz

Starring:Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom, Jack Thibeau, Fred Ward, Paul Benjamin, Larry Hankin, Bruce M. Fischer, Frank Ronzio, Fred Stuthman, David Cryer, Madison Arnold, Blair Burrows, Bob Balhatchet, Matthew Locricchio, Don Michaelian, Ray K. Goman, Jason Ronard, Ed Vasgersian, Ron Vernan
Director: Don Siegel
Studio: Paramount
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com essential video

One of Clint Eastwood's two most important filmmaking mentors was Don Siegel (the other was Sergio Leone), who directed Eastwood in Dirty Harry, Coogan's Bluff, Two Mules for Sister Sara, and this enigmatic, 1979 drama based on a true story about an escape from the island prison of Alcatraz. Eastwood plays a new convict who enters into a kind of mind game with the chilly warden (Patrick McGoohan) and organizes a break leading into the treacherous waters off San Francisco. As jailbird movies go, this isn't just a grotty, unpleasant experience but a character-driven work with some haunting twists. --Tom Keogh

Death Wish / Escape From Alcatraz / Uncommon Valor (Triple Feature)

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Death Wish / Escape From Alcatraz / Uncommon Valor (Triple Feature)
Starring: Charles Bronson , Hope Lange , Vincent Gardenia , Steven Keats , and William Redfield
Director: Michael Winner , Don Siegel , and Ted Kotcheff
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Unsolved History ~ Escapes from Alcatraz

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Unsolved History ~ Escapes from Alcatraz

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Crime & Conspiracy | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video
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Escape From Alcatraz

ASIN: B000MWTEQM

Product Description

Unsolved History is history the way it was! Through detailed examination of archaeological and forensic evidence, existing photographs, authentic artifacts, and carefully selected interviews from eyewitnesses and experts events are reconstructed and historical questions are finally answered. Designed and built to hold the worst of the worst men like Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly and Creepy Karpis Alcatraz was a veritable fortress. During its three decades of operation, the prison saw 14 breakouts and 14 failures. But, were they all truly failures? Venture behind the walls of America's most famous penitentiary as guards and prison historians offer an insider's look at the most bizarre and brutal escape attempts. Former inmates lead you through the catacomb-like halls, explaining how their daring plans came together and were ultimately foiled by poor weather, lack of preparation or just bad luck. Learn how ex-Bonnie & Clyde henchman Floyd Hamilton made it to one of the island's nearby caves . . . only to sheepishly return to the prison after two days of starvation and cold. Visit the actual cellblock where prisoners and guards alike were cut down by grenade fire during the bloody Battle of Alcatraz. And hear the fascinating story of Frank Lee Morris, a prison genius who masterminded the last great escape from Alcatraz. His body and makeshift raft were never recovered from the icy waters of San Francisco Bay, lending credence to the belief that his was the only successful escape attempt from the prison widely considered escape-proof.

Average customer rating:

Eastwood gives his best screen acting to date...
Excellent movie
Must have
a classic
Very Lifelike

Escape from Alcatraz [Region 2]
Starring: Clint Eastwood , Patrick McGoohan , Roberts Blossom , Jack Thibeau , and Fred Ward
Director: Don Siegel
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( E ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Birdman of Alcatraz
Hang 'em High
Every Which Way but Loose
Joe Kidd
Two Mules For Sister Sara

ASIN: B000059H5F

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

Eastwood gives his best screen acting to date..........2006-12-28

In the 29 years of Alcatraz's existence, and despite the strict measures, 39 captives tried to escape from America's premier maximum-security prison during its existence... Thirty six of whom failed... This script is about the other three, of whom nothing is known... They may have drowned in San Francisco Bay, or they may have got away...

Morris (Clint Eastwood) was a loner, a rebel against society, the perfect hero that Siegel loves... Lee Marvin in 'The Killers', Steve McQueen in 'Hell is for Heroes', and Richard Widmark in 'Madigan' were all similar types in films which he had directed..

In 'Escape From Alcatraz,' Eastwood gives his best screen acting to date... It is a charismatic performance that is so idiosyncratic, persuasive, and powerful... Eastwood, gave Morris the rough, intelligent aspect that is immediately palpable...

The first few minutes of the film consist of Morris being brought by boat to Alcatraz, inspected by a doctor and thrown into a cell... Throughout this, Eastwood does not speak... But already the audience feels it... They know the character... He has been through this before... He tries to control his mind... He builds a barrier between himself and his surroundings... He holds back his fear but he's not so foolish as to appear brave... Behind his impassivity, his mind is calculating... He is studying everyone... Everyone knows, prison guards and fellow prisoners alike, that this is not a man to be intimidated with easily...

But Siegel wasn't making a film about penal cruelty or miscarriage of justice or anything like that... He was presenting a meditative study of the inflexibility of human spirit, with a star strong enough in himself to join one sequence to the next... Both Siegel and Eastwood are known for violence, but there's relatively little of it this time...

This is not to say that Siegel has no interest in character... Stereotype characters, such as Doc and Litmus, make the film more entertaining... A further example is the inevitable homosexual Wolf (Bruce M. Fisher), who points out that Morris is a potential victim but realizes he has met his match when he approaches him in the showers one morning and gets three unexpected blows in the groin and a bar of soap in the mouth for his harassment... Another familiar type of character is English (Paul Benjamin), the leader of the Black mafia, who sits in the yard far away from the white inmates... English proves to be a nice guy..

But the biggest stereotype of them all is the cold warden, although Patrick McGoohan tries as hard as he can to provide Morris with some individual personality... Apart from the flower-crushing and constant attention to his nails, he is permitted by the scriptwriter merely to recite phrases that might have come from the prison handbook: 'No one has ever escaped from Alcatraz alive. Alcatraz was built to keep all the rotten eggs in one basket. I was specially chosen to make sure the stink from that basket doesn't escape.'

But two elements in the film are absolutely real: one is the central character, which will be considered in a moment, and the other is 'The Rock' itself...

Siegel's overwhelming achievement is to send the audience to infamous prison for two hours... The claustrophobia, the implicit suppression of any joy, the barbarity of being caged in isolation cells, all these suffocating atrocities come across with such reality that one experiences a total sense of relief when the camera moves into the recreation yard for the clear bright light of every early morning... Siegel's technique in this respect is unique...

Siegel's film style seems almost a cinematic interpretation of Eastwood screen persona: lean, clean, and harsh... Here is one example: When the incorrigible psychopath is out to finish Eastwood, his one chance is in the exercise yard... When he enters the yard, he is in need for a weapon... He has none! He slowly advances into the yard toward his victim... The camera goes down to the man's right hand as he walks... After a moment, another man puts a knife in that hand... The camera stays on the hand as he keeps moving... After another moment, another hand reaches in and grabs the con's arm.... The whole brief sequence is loaded with surprise and suspense... It is in two words: pure cinema...

Siegel's movie follows the known facts of the escape constantly, permitting itself only one act of poetic license at the very end... Throughout the film, Siegel uses a yellow chrysanthemum as a symbol of 'heart', to indicate that although the brutal system may have removed everything from the inmates save the questionable privilege of remaining alive, in some men at least their spirit survives...

'Doc', an elderly inmate who has spent twenty years there but who is permitted to paint and cultivate chrysanthemums, introduces the concept...

Excellent movie.......2006-11-03

This movie, I understand, waa a portayal of a true event. It is riveting and suspenseful. I would urge anyone to make this purchase witht heir eyes closed.

Must have.......2006-09-24

Have loved the film for as long as it's been out. Recently, visited Alcatraz and can't tell you enough ,how amazing and eerie place it is to visit.You gain more of an appreciation for the film ,after going to Alcatraz.If you haven't been there,make it a necessity.It just makes the movie,so so much better.

a classic.......2006-08-14

movie about one of the great myths " Alcatraz" of the 20th century. Eastwood in one of his finest dramatic performances. Atmosphere and the feel of the real Alcatraz out the whazoo!! A got to have movie.

Very Lifelike.......2006-07-28

We felt the entire movie was much like it probably was in Alcatraz during that time. Having just taken the tour, it was very much authentic as could be.

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Escape from Alcatraz [Region 2]
Starring: Clint Eastwood , Patrick McGoohan , Roberts Blossom , Jack Thibeau , and Fred Ward
Director: Don Siegel
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( E ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Birdman of Alcatraz
Hang 'em High
Every Which Way but Loose
Joe Kidd
Two Mules For Sister Sara

ASIN: B00005B9V5

Amazon.com essential video

Average customer rating:

Escape from Alcatraz [Region 2]
Starring: Clint Eastwood , Patrick McGoohan , Roberts Blossom , Jack Thibeau , and Fred Ward
Director: Don Siegel
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( E ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Birdman of Alcatraz
Hang 'em High
Every Which Way but Loose
Joe Kidd
Two Mules For Sister Sara

ASIN: B00005B108

Amazon.com essential video

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