Clint Eastwood plans an ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ

Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood’s final film collaboration, the prison docudrama-thriller ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ (1980) is coming to Blu Ray in October from Warner Home Video. The story is based on true events surrounding the prison break of 1962 on Alcatraz Island.

Clint stars as the bustout ringleader Frank Morris with Fred Ward and Jack Thibeau as the Anglin Brothers, his fellow escapees. What’s interesting is how Morris is portrayed in an a matter of fact way, and nothing he does shows him to be a bad person. The movie lets us get to know Morris’ fellow inmates, some who are friendly and some who are not. The warden played by Patrick McGoohan is a particularly sadistic guy and is used as the main villain of the film. Don Siegel’s direction is as good as it gets and you can see from how well he and Clint (who was himself a successful director by this time) worked together as a team. The movie is a study in the finest kind of precise and frugal film storytelling as well. For fans of crime films and prison dramas this gets our highest recommendation. Co-starring Larry Hankin, Frank Ronzio, Paul Benjamin and Roberts Blossom.

Check out our 10 PRISON FILMS LIST HERE

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