Escape From Alcatraz DVD > Reviews > How To Escape From Alcatraz?

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Unmemorable
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Excellent tense storytelling, Eastwood at his best
Disadvantages:	Lack of action sequences

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Once you're sent to The Rock, you stay on The Rock. San Francisco's legendary prison sits on its own little island, a mile away from the shore. It's an escape artist's very worst nightmare. How do you reach safety without being swept out to sea or freezing to death in the notorious waters? How do you break out of an airtight security camp in the first place? These were all problems which faced Frank Morris, one of only three men who are believed to have escaped Alcatraz. This movie depicts the real-life story. Clint Eastwood steers the reigns and puts in a commanding performance as a 1979 version of Frank Morris. It won't go down as his most glorified appearance in Hollywood, but it will certainly last as one of his most effective.

Eastwood plays a gruff rock of a character who shows absolutely no emotion beyond his desire to escape the confinement. He remains resolute and stoic throughout, a loyal man who buys the audience's affection from his no-thrills attitude. It's the Eastwood style. And it's cranked up for maximum enjoyment. Charismatic in the most dogged of manners, he spits his presence in to every scene and it's easy to see where the inspiration for casting him in to the western classics came from. Morris has been locked up for armed robbery. After several attempted escapes, his fate is sealed. The authorities have grown tired of his antics and it's time that he rests in his cell for good. There can be only one destination and Morris is despatched on the notorious night boat to the island of Alcatraz. "The only way you leave Alcatraz is in a body bag." we're told. We believe them.

Escape From Alcatraz tells an unlikely story for a Hollywood hero. It's a brash move, and in such a confined environment, you have to commend the foresight from the directors in allowing it to blossom. An actor below the caliber of Eastwood in his prime would have produced a memorable movie to forget. Thankfully, this isn't the case. We have Clint and he's on song.

"Either you're afraid to sit down or you don't like niggers." says the leader of the black men, when Morris trespasses on their segregated steps. Eastwood delivers his trademark deadpan glare and takes a seat amongst them.

"I just don't like niggers." he says.

It sums up Morris's character in a nutshell. We're not supposed to like this guy, yet he has an honest quality to him that endears. His bond with the opposite race grows and a mutual acceptance is about as far as you're going to get in terms of development on an emotional level. This movie was never scripted to cater for the soppy at heart. It's all about the escape. And it delivers in spades.

The atmosphere is hardly one for a candle lit dinner and a romance flick. The closest we get to a love affair is when "Wolfy", played by Bruce Fischer, makes sexual advances on Morris in the showers. Frank displays his tough guy appeal and refuses to be swayed, preferring rather to shove Wolfy's mouth full of soap and seal himself a grudge which comes back to haunt.

The cameo perfomances are strong throughout. Doc portrays one of the most likable characters in the film, sticking to his cell and painting in his spare time. It's hardly fairytale stuff, but it's not supposed to be. It's worth noting that the budget was extremely low for the movie. Most of it was shot on site at the real Alcatraz prison so the atmosphere is true and honours the progression of the story. On repeated viewing, it's fair to say that the movie would never have stuck if it wasn't for the on-site filming. Using the real camp cranks up the tension and we begin to feel as if we're amongst the prisoners, desperately engaging in intricate escape bids.

I won't spoil the fun for anybody who's yet to watch or hear of the Morris escape attempt, but it's all highly addictive stuff. The picture is directed extremely well and the tension mounts considerably throughout. It seems at times as if Morris is the only one able to keep cool, even the viewer is biting nails on the edge of their seat in some of the later scenes.

Morris is aided in his escape attempt by two newcomers in the movie. It's a strange move. A brave one? Maybe a foolish one. We'll never know what might have been. But if the movie is going to tell the story of three men breaking out, you'd expect the picture to invest time in all three of the men. Instead it opts to cover Frank's story on it's own. The result is that we don't really care about the other two men and they could drown at sea for all of our interest.

The point was obviously to focus the viewer on Morris himself. This is evident where Frank gets thrown in the D Block cooler for a fortnight. Instead of skipping to see how the other characters cope without him, we instead watch the sun disappearing beyond the horizon only to cut forward to Frank's re-emergence from the confinement. The strategy has it's positives. We begin to see things through the very eye of Morris and even the slightest bump in the night has us jumping in our seats, but it does alienate the rest of the characters somewhat. Which ever way you look at it, the movie delivers what it sets out to provide; a suspenseful nerve-jangling ride.

It's worth noting that there is very little dialogue in the movie. On first viewing, you might not even pick up on such an occurance. But you can bet that if the visual storytelling had been anything less than top notch, it would have stuck out like a sore thumb. At times, minute pass without any speech. We see lengthy sequences of Morris left to his own devices, scrapping away in his escape attempt. I can't imagine the ammount of side notes that would have been required in the scripting, but you really have to praise the directing in sustaining a movie by simply letting us watch Frank at work.

If you're looking for a glorified escape attempt where Morris blitzs his way out of town to the theme tune of The Great Escape, don't waste your time. The escape is gritty and dogged, like much of the pictured. We witness what is essentially a ten minute piece without any dialogue where Morris executes the most daring of breakouts. I found myself leaning forward and almost squinting at the television set, searching for guards like Morris might have at the time. Such is the bond that the viewer grows with its unlikely hero.

Escape From Alcatraz does an honorable job of leaving the movie to it's grass routes. There are no flamboyant artsy fartsy shoot-out scenes. If gun-totting is your hobby, you might want to look elsewhere. This movie is about one man's bid for freedom. And even though we shouldn't be cheering him on, even though he's a convicted criminal, we still find ourselves pushing and shoving Eastwood towards the finishing line. Does he make it? Well, you'll have to watch it and find out. Alternatively you could notch up a quick Wikipedia search and read the entire story, but why waste a fantastic two hours of entertainment in favour of a brief article on the net?

If DVD features are your thing, get ready to marvel over the wonderfully remastered audio and uh, not much else. There are no extras and it seems as if they've taken the VHS, slapped it back in to production and churned a new batch out in DVD form. A big disappointment since an audio commentary would have been fantastic over the long scenes without dialogue. The movie itself is worth it's place in your collection. If you're a prison escape fan like myself, you'll love this. Highly recommended stuff.