Genre: Crime/Biography
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Jack Thibeau, Fred Ward, Larry Hankin, Patrick McGoohan, Paul Benjamin
The Island of Alcatraz, off the coast of San Fransisco, was known for harboring some of the most deadly American criminals. It was one of the most closely guarded prisons in USA and it had a record of nobody being able to escape from it. People either got killed, caught or re-captured but nobody ever managed to escape. Frank Morris (Eastwood) is a new inmate at Alcatraz and has arrived here after escaping various other prisons in the past. Morris slowly and steadily starts blending with the other inmates, making some friends and some enemies. Morris discovers a damp cement patch around the ventilator grills and soon realised that it could be a way for him to get out. With some help from 3 other inmates, the 4 start planning their escape. They become the only people to have ever successfully escaped from Alcatraz although whether or not they made it across the water is still something that is not ascertained yet. They either drowned or made it across, no one is sure till date. The best thing about the movie, which could also be it's biggest drawback, is the bland and vanilla manner in which the story is narrated. There are no over-dramatic bits, no parallel stories that would steal your attention from the main plot line and no unnecessary fancy bits. Due to all of this, the movie is not amazing in any aspect but is still a very interesting watch. The movie seems to have an uncanny resemblance to The Shawshank Redemption with numerous similarities. One might easily ascertain Shawshank to be a modern remake of this movie, although that is not officially declared so.
Thumbs up: Good precise story
Thumbs down: Perhaps a little too direct
Rating: 7.3/10
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