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.
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
