Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Winstar
• VHS Release Date: August 11, 1998
• Run Time: 50 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 1572522925
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #593,897 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Alphonse "Scarface" Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, Arthur "Doc" Barker, and "The Birdman" Robert Stroud - all of them were sent to Alcatraz. Prison guards and the ex-cons who shared the prison with them share tales of "the worst of the worst."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A documentary on the most famous inmates at Alcatraz, December 28, 2001

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Public Enemies: On the Rock [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Narrated by Rod Steiger this 50-minute documentary looks at the famous criminals who were incarcerated on America's most famous island prison, Alcatraz. Stories are told about Al "Scarface" Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Arthur "Doc" Barker, Alvin "Creepy" Karpis and Robert Stroud, a.k.a. "The Birdman," by guards and ex-cons who were on the Rock with them. "Public Enemies" was J. Edgar Hoover's name for these notorious criminals, some of whom met unglamorous fates on the rock: Capone died of syphilis and Barker was killed in an escape. "Public Enemies on the Rock" manages to be information without being sensational, mainly because despite Steiger's dramatic narration it is the old men telling the tales who demystify the famous criminals. This documentary would make an interesting double feature with either "The Birdman of Alcatraz" or "Escape from Alcatraz," depending on which side of the generational divide you happen to fall. (No, it would not be appropriate to watch this with "The Rock," which is fictional tale, as opposed to the other pair, which are at least based on true events.)