"The man who challenged Alcatraz"

Title: Escape from Alcatraz

Year: 1979

Genre: Action, Crime, Drama

Director: Don Siegel

Writer: J. Campbell Bruce (book), Richark Tuggle (screenplay)

Runtime: 112min

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom, Jack Thibaeu, Fred Ward, Paul Benjamin, Larry Hankin, Bruce M. Fischer, Frank Ronzio, Fred Stuthman, David Cryer, Madison Arnold

Produc.: Paramount Pictures, The Malpaso Company
Budget.: $8 million approx.

In Escape from Alcatraz we are told the true story of Frank Morris (Clint Eastwood), who, along with two other prisoners, carried out, what is believed to date to be the only successful escape from this prison.

On January 20, 1960, and after having already been circulating through various jails, Morris arrived to Alcatraz. Born in 1926, Morris had begun his history background with only 13, after which he would be arrested for his criminal behavior, on successive occasions. His crimes went, from the possession of narcotics, to the armed robbery.

Don Siegel directed this film, which, bridging the gap, would end up having some similarities with the 1997 blockbuster, Titanic. Both were based on the premise that these architectural wonders (a ship and a prison) were inviolables. It was thought impossible to breach the security of Alcatraz, and Frank Morris would do it. It was believed impossible that the world's largest boat went under, and that would also happen.

Escape from Alcatraz was a dramatization, which seek to recreate everything before the feat, and the achievement itself. Siegel, very determined, not to leave aside any detail, would let us see each movement performed by the inmate. Him, as qualified to do this as to have no oversights. Indeed, with an IQ higher than normal, Morris had advantages that others did not.

Once inside, Morris would be stripped naked, neat and made aware of the regulations, before entering his cell. Later he would meet the other prisoners, some of whom, would become his friends.

At narrative level, it would be essential that Siegel described the internal panorama of the place, to make it clear that, seek freedom was only one of several reasons for wanting to leave the prison. The thing is that, far from being a quiet place, this could become hell. One of two things, could happen to you here: or that you calm down and behave properly (getting along with some, and making your stay more bearable), or that you meddle with the others or went, somehow, crazy. And if you were of the meek, and repeatedly runned into someone aggressive, you would have to watch your backs. There would be a scene in the showers, where Wolf (Bruce M. Fischer), one of the most violent ones, stopped before Morris, with a smile and an attitude, that left one wondering between, if was he a homosexual, with temperament problems, or if was he, perhaps, simply a bully.

Out of such incidents, what we would understand at once, was that, if you had been free, to be a bad boy, in Alcatraz it would not take you long to straighten, or otherwise, you would suffer the consequences. English (Paul Benjamin) or Litmus (Frank Rozio), for example, were two guys who had done wrong outside, but now they behaved with discipline, unable to move a finger, if they saw it dangerous. Another of the inmates, the veteran Doc (Roberts Blossom), killed the hours, expressing his talent in his paintings. We would not see, in this way, sleazy criminals, but a lot of frightened men, fearing the possibility of finding something even worse than the very fact of being there, by itself.

I do not know if it might have been given to creative reasons, reality or chance, but this film would not be spared from the trend of showing the prison´s director as someone of bad character. Here, the prison´s warden (Patrick McGoohan), although not precisely "the" villain, would indeed, ocassionally suggest, that from time to time, he had some personal issues with the inmates.

Returning to the main plot, Siegel would care to show us to each of those who, either in a greater or lesser extent, had come to lend Morris a hand. Within an institution of this kind, there is something that has always existed, and that is the possibility of having access to certain types of tools, as long as you knew how to negotiate them. To Morris, for example, some help would cost him all of his desserts, at meal time.

Morris, then, would be by means of patience, long hours and skilled distraction strategies, that he would manage to succeed, with his two companions, Clarence and John Anglin (Jack Tibeau and Fred Ward), to develop the perfect plan, of which he was the thinking mind.

Regarding the weaker part of the movie, I would say that Siegel made the mistake of not delving into aspects of Morris´s psychology itself. Looking back at the fictional, 1994 prison drama, The Shawshank Redemption, Darabont had taken his time for us to meet Andy Dufresne as much as possible. Thus, afterwards, we would live the entire sequence of his getaway, almost as if we were the ones who were leaving behind Shawshank. This in Escape from Alcatraz also occurs, but to a much smaller scale, and thus, depriving magnitude to the last sequence. It is still true, that Morris's feat was far less impressive than what was done by Dufresne. But that does not change that it was up to Siegel, to ensure that the part of the escape, had in us the same effect, achieved by Darabont.

My rating: 6/10

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