Product Details

• Actors: Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom, Jack Thibeau, Fred Ward
• Directors: Don Siegel
• Writers: J. Campbell Bruce, Richard Tuggle
• Producers: Don Siegel, Fritz Manes, Robert Daley
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0), French (Dolby Digital 1.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: March 9, 1999
• Run Time: 112 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (130 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630531036X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,086 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Escape From Alcatraz" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

One of Clint Eastwood's two most important filmmaking mentors was Don Siegel (the other was Sergio Leone), who directed Eastwood in Dirty Harry, Coogan's Bluff, Two Mules for Sister Sara, and this enigmatic, 1979 drama based on a true story about an escape from the island prison of Alcatraz. Eastwood plays a new convict who enters into a kind of mind game with the chilly warden (Patrick McGoohan) and organizes a break leading into the treacherous waters off San Francisco. As jailbird movies go, this isn't just a grotty, unpleasant experience but a character-driven work with some haunting twists. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

Filmed on location on Alcatraz Island, this is an account of the only three men ever to escape from this maximum security prison.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG
Release Date: 28-MAR-2006
Media Type: DVD

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazon reviewers agree -- a great film. February 21, 2004

By Russell Fanelli VINE™ VOICE

Format:VHS Tape

Seldom do Amazon.com reviewers agree on ratings for films they watch, but for this one, the vote is in and it is unanimous. Escape from Alcatraz is a winner.

Director Don Siegel is pitch perfect from beginning to end. Many reviewers who have been to Alcatraz comment on the realism of this film. Siegel gives us an inside look at what it might have been like to be imprisoned on "the rock." From the black hole of solitary confinement to the painfully small individual cells of the prisoners, Alcatraz was a nasty place meant for only the nastiest criminals.

One of these prisoners is Frank Morris, expertly played by Clint Eastwood, who is transferred to Alcatraz, gets into a fight with an inmate who wants to make him his "punk," and spends time in the black hole. When he gets out of solitary, Morris begins to plan his escape. Several reviewers comment on the fact that Hollywood does not get these facts straight, but I didn't much care. I was pulled very quickly into Morris's plans and then the actual mechanics of the breakout, which were genuinely interesting and toward the end, had me sitting at the edge of my chair as I waited with suspense to see how the story would end.

The escape is obviously central to the entire plot, but the life of prisoners at Alcatraz is also dramatized expertly by Don Siegel. The warden, Patrick McGoohan, is aloof and professional, but he has a mean streak, which makes life harder than it needs to be on the rock. Frank Morris is smart enough not to get mad, but to get even, and this he does with three other inmates who assist him in the breakout. The warden and his guards are constanly on the alert for any suspicious behavior and we hold our breath from time to time as the escape plan is almost detected.

At last the time comes and we go step by step with Morris and two of his crew as they head for the icy waters surrounding Alcatraz. The fourth member of the crew hesitated and was left behind. This appears to follow the real-life events as mentioned by other reviewers.

Did Morris and his buddies successfully navigate the treacherous waters surrounding Alcatraz? I'll leave that question unanswered. Viewers can decide for themselves.

What is certain, at least to the reviewers of Amazon.com, is that Escape from Alcatraz is a well-made, highly suspenseful film from beginning to end, and it is one of Clint Eastwood's best roles -- that's saying something. Highly recommended!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Eastwood gives his best screen acting to date... December 27, 2006

By Roberto Frangie

Format:DVD

In the 29 years of Alcatraz's existence, and despite the strict measures, 39 captives tried to escape from America's premier maximum-security prison during its existence... Thirty six of whom failed... This script is about the other three, of whom nothing is known... They may have drowned in San Francisco Bay, or they may have got away...

Morris (Clint Eastwood) was a loner, a rebel against society, the perfect hero that Siegel loves... Lee Marvin in 'The Killers', Steve McQueen in 'Hell is for Heroes', and Richard Widmark in 'Madigan' were all similar types in films which he had directed..

In 'Escape From Alcatraz,' Eastwood gives his best screen acting to date... It is a charismatic performance that is so idiosyncratic, persuasive, and powerful... Eastwood, gave Morris the rough, intelligent aspect that is immediately palpable...

The first few minutes of the film consist of Morris being brought by boat to Alcatraz, inspected by a doctor and thrown into a cell... Throughout this, Eastwood does not speak... But already the audience feels it... They know the character... He has been through this before... He tries to control his mind... He builds a barrier between himself and his surroundings... He holds back his fear but he's not so foolish as to appear brave... Behind his impassivity, his mind is calculating... He is studying everyone... Everyone knows, prison guards and fellow prisoners alike, that this is not a man to be intimidated with easily...

But Siegel wasn't making a film about penal cruelty or miscarriage of justice or anything like that... He was presenting a meditative study of the inflexibility of human spirit, with a star strong enough in himself to join one sequence to the next... Both Siegel and Eastwood are known for violence, but there's relatively little of it this time...

This is not to say that Siegel has no interest in character... Stereotype characters, such as Doc and Litmus, make the film more entertaining... A further example is the inevitable homosexual Wolf (Bruce M. Fisher), who points out that Morris is a potential victim but realizes he has met his match when he approaches him in the showers one morning and gets three unexpected blows in the groin and a bar of soap in the mouth for his harassment... Another familiar type of character is English (Paul Benjamin), the leader of the Black mafia, who sits in the yard far away from the white inmates... English proves to be a nice guy..

But the biggest stereotype of them all is the cold warden, although Patrick McGoohan tries as hard as he can to provide Morris with some individual personality... Apart from the flower-crushing and constant attention to his nails, he is permitted by the scriptwriter merely to recite phrases that might have come from the prison handbook: 'No one has ever escaped from Alcatraz alive. Alcatraz was built to keep all the rotten eggs in one basket. I was specially chosen to make sure the stink from that basket doesn't escape.'

But two elements in the film are absolutely real: one is the central character, which will be considered in a moment, and the other is 'The Rock' itself...

Siegel's overwhelming achievement is to send the audience to infamous prison for two hours... The claustrophobia, the implicit suppression of any joy, the barbarity of being caged in isolation cells, all these suffocating atrocities come across with such reality that one experiences a total sense of relief when the camera moves into the recreation yard for the clear bright light of every early morning... Siegel's technique in this respect is unique...

Siegel's film style seems almost a cinematic interpretation of Eastwood screen persona: lean, clean, and harsh... Here is one example: When the incorrigible psychopath is out to finish Eastwood, his one chance is in the exercise yard... When he enters the yard, he is in need for a weapon... He has none! He slowly advances into the yard toward his victim... The camera goes down to the man's right hand as he walks... After a moment, another man puts a knife in that hand... The camera stays on the hand as he keeps moving... After another moment, another hand reaches in and grabs the con's arm.... The whole brief sequence is loaded with surprise and suspense... It is in two words: pure cinema...

Siegel's movie follows the known facts of the escape constantly, permitting itself only one act of poetic license at the very end... Throughout the film, Siegel uses a yellow chrysanthemum as a symbol of 'heart', to indicate that although the brutal system may have removed everything from the inmates save the questionable privilege of remaining alive, in some men at least their spirit survives...

'Doc', an elderly inmate who has spent twenty years there but who is permitted to paint and cultivate chrysanthemums, introduces the concept...

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Eastwood and Siegel's Last Collaboration March 3, 2006

By Scott T. Rivers VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel were sympatico in terms of taut, economic filmmaking. "Escape From Alcatraz" (1979) remains a standout in their careers. It's a gritty, atmospheric prison drama that demands repeated viewings. Eastwood delivers one of his finest performances as convict Frank Morris - perfectly matched by Patrick McGoohan as the sadistic warden. Highly recommended.