Review of Escape from Alcatraz (1979) by Jean-Francois V — 19 Apr 2012

"Escape from Alcatraz" is a rather successful prison caper movie, which manages both to convey the claustrophobia of prison life and the tension of breaking out, awhile staying reasonably close to the facts. Based on a non-fiction book on the events described (J. Campbell Bruce's "Escape from Alcatraz") and shot on location, it seems to have altered little of the original events, though Wikipedia does mention a few elements of the escape that are not featured in the film (Frank Morris painting above his cell and using blankets to hide a clandestine workshop, for instance) and one name at least has been changes (Larry Hankin was renamed Charlie Butts.).

One thing I didn't like too much about the film was the biased portrayal of the characters. The anonymous prison warden (Patrick McGoohan) and the guards are so cold-hearted, unfair and (morally) sadistic that they seem almost inhuman and are impossible to relate to, while the prison inmates are creative, warm, compassionate, ingenious, resourceful, humourous and therefore highly relatable. But one has to remember that Frank Morris (Clint Eastwood) and the Anglin brothers must have been rather unpleasant fellows to have ended up in Alcatraz (according to Wikipedia, "by his late teens [Morris] had been arrested for crimes ranging from possession of narcotics to armed robbery" and the Anglin brothers were also bank robbers.) So the film has to trick us into rooting for these felons and hoping they will succeed, while we are actually much more secure with the likes of them behind bars.

One way in which the film fools us is by glossing over the crimes committed by these people. The black librarian, for instance, is presented as a victim of a racist miscarriage of justice, and it is virtually assumed that everybody arrived there through sheer bad luck and the corruption of the system rather than their own evil deeds. Only the oversized prison bully seems to actually deserve to be there, because he is the only one anybody needs protection from.

Another way in which we are made to root for these guys is that the film is transformed into a rather abstract allegory of freedom versus enslavement, with a yellow flower symbolising man's indomitable spirit in several key scenes. Because we can recognise this theme, we can disregard the injustice involved in these guys breaking out of prison, and just crave for fresh air, vegetation and open spaces as they do.

I found the second half of the film very unnerving, but I can't say whether it's Don Siegel's art, or just my age and the fact that I don't see that many movies these days.