Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Alcatraz is the most secure prison of its time. It is believed that no one can ever escape from it, until three daring men make a possible successful attempt at escaping from one of the most infamous prisons in the world. Escape from Alcatraz is another specactular Eastwood film not only in terms of story, suspense and direction but also in terms of perfomances, Clint Eastwood is superb as always but Roberts Blossom as Doc (mostly known for his work in Home Alone) also gives a terrific perfomance and Patrick McGoohan was very good as The Warden. The film was even filmed on Alcatraz which makes the suspense to hit the roof, definitely a triumph for Eastwood and Siegel!! (A+)

Escape From Alcatraz (1979)Plot In A Paragraph: The true story of Frank Morris (Eastwood) a cunning bank robber who was sent to Alcatraz Island, the most feared prison in the world. Although nobody had ever escaped from Alcatraz, Frank masterminded this elaborately detailed and, as far as anyone knows, ultimately successful, escape. In 29 years, this seemingly impenetrable federal penitentiary, which housed Al Capone and "Birdman" Robert Stroud, was only broken once by three inmates never heard of again.Rounding out the decade that saw him jump back in the saddle again, make Harry Callahan a household name, hang out with an Orangutan, steal Nazi gold and run The Gauntlet, Eastwood ended the decade back with Don Siegel in their final movie together. It's a shame a silly ego fuelled rift ruined a great working relationship. They made up of course, but they never worked together again.One of my favourite non franchise Clint Eastwood movies Escape From Alcatraz is brilliant. It's well directed, has a tight, tense script and is well acted!! It's just simply masterful storytelling. If there is one criticism of the movie, it's that it's ending is a little anti climactic. But there's so much that's so good in the film, in the performances, the characters, the minutely observed details of prison life, the timing of events leading up to the escape that it's hard to pick faults with such a well done movie.Escape From Alcatraz grossed $43 million at the domestic box office to end the year as the 15th highest grossing movie of 1979.

"Escape From Alcatraz" (1979) was a decent flick; I'd give it a 7 out of 10. (And, yeah, I do know I'm going to get nailed to the wall by my film buff friends who no doubt can point out reasons why it would deserve a higher rating. This is why I hide behind an internet connection with these reviews.)Clint Eastwood really is a wonderful actor, and there are nice amounts of tension here. I personally think the best actor was Roberts Blossom as "Doc." I was also pretty surprised to discover just how much "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994) borrowed from this – right down to an elderly, eccentric prisoner nurturing a pet and dying tragically.To me, the movie seemed a little thin. Of the four protagonists, the only one we really get to know is "Butts," and two others are convenient Italian American stereotypes. Little was done to exploit Patrick McGoohan's amazing acting skills as the warden. (This was the guy who played Longshanks in "Braveheart" (1995)!!)It also seems thinly plotted. Little transpires beyond four prisoners gathering small objects to effect their escape. And if you've already read about the true story of Frank Norris, there are no surprises here. Finally, we do not even fully see the aftermath of the story for the one unfortunate conspirator.This movie also might suffer from … "genre fatigue?" Yes, it's regarded as a classic, but, since 1979, we've seen fictional film prisons do more with this kind of setting. One, of course, is the obviously inspired "Shawshank." Another is HBO's "Oz." I just don't think this movie would thrill a modern audience the way it did in 1979.http://ericrobertnolan.wordpress.com/

At the end of the film I thought 'is that it?' I couldn't believe I'd sat through the entire film to find out that was the ending.I understand that the film was based on a true story however with it being a film I expected some sort of drama and climax. The first 1 hour of the film was a complete waste of time - I found myself falling asleep and that never happens when I watch a film! You barely find out anything about the characters... Therefore, I felt no real connection to anyone I didn't really care whether they left or not.Nothing dramatic happened in the film and the thing just went from one scene to another with very little happening. Just when you thought they'd be a climax - there wasn't.