This movie is based on actual events (it actually sticks to the facts pretty well, according to people that were there) and follows the story of the men who succeeded in escaping the inescapable island prison of Alcatraz.
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Although nobody knows if the 3 men who escaped from their cells in 1962 actually survived after getting out of the prison, there is no information to prove they didn't and plenty of "half-information" to indicate that they did in fact live out the rest of their lives either in Mexico or simply by lying low in society while still in the USA.
The film covers the escape that actually did happen, lead by Frank Morris (played by Clint Eastwood.) While the film is actually very slow by today's standards, we have to accept the fact that this was 1979 and make some allowances.
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The film moves pretty slowly, and isn't particularly eventful because anyone who watched the film already kinda knew the ending. However, there were some aspects of it that made it pretty cooooo
The filming was actually done primarily at the actual Alcatraz prison and the refurbishing of the prison that had been closed for over a decade was quite expensive. Also, there are some scenes where the actors are scaling the exterior of the prison where no stunt doubles were used and well, Eastwood could have died. His co-stars Fred Ward and Jack Thibeau were selected at least in part, because they would be physically capable of doing these scenes.
One thing that stood out to me in this movie is how much Shawshank borrowed from this film. While a far superior film, Shawshank had a lot of similarities. I mean Clint even gets a job in the library while at Alcatraz.
Overall, I found this film to be quite boring but was on an Eastwood kick so I figured I would watch it anyway. I'm thinking that there must be a reason that this dude is considered to be one of the best actors ever.
I can't really recommend that anyone watch this film outside of its historical context. It really is pretty horrible and the fight scenes are just laughably bad. I suppose you can admire the fact that unlike other Alcatraz oriented films, this one was actually filmed on location.
