Clint Eastwood and the Don Siegel movie ‘Escape from Alcatraz’

Malpaso Productions was founded in 1967 as the production company closely tied to Clint Eastwood. Don Siegel directed five movies for the company, with the movie Escape from Alcatraz (1979) serving as the fifth. This day we look at the movie of a prison break inspired by the J. Campbell Bruce book Escape from Alcatraz: The True Crime Classic.

(From left, Clint Eastwood as Frank Morris and Paul Benjamin as English in the Don Siegel movie Escape from Alcatraz).

Escape from Alcatraz opens with a boat ride onto Alcatraz Island for prisoner Frank Morris, as portrayed by Clint Eastwood. The early part of the film acclimates Morris and the audience to the reality of prison life, including a visit with the warden. Patrick McGoohan protrays the warden.

(From left, Bruce M. Fischer as Wolf Grace, Roberts Blossom as Chester ‘Doc’ Dalton and Frank Ronzio as Litmus in the Don Siegel movie Escape from Alcatraz).

It’s at mealtime the day after arrival that Murray becomes acquainted with some of the prison regulars, including English, Wolf Grace, Chester ‘Doc’ Dalton and Litmus. Paul Benjamin portrays English, who serves as a leader of sorts among the prisoners. Bruce M. Fischer offers an undercurrent animosity in portraying Wolf Grace. In portraying Chester ‘Doc’ Dalton and Litmus, Roberts Blossom and Frank Ronzio offer distinct and interesting color to what the prison experience is like.

(From left, Clint Eastwood as Frank Morris and Larry Hankin as Charley Butts in the Don Siegel movie Escape from Alcatraz).

You might consider now that the nature of prison life is great and all, but when do things turn into an attempted escape. The notion of this was always on the mind of movie protagonist Frank Morris. When Charley Butts, as portrayed by Larry Hankin is moved into the cell next to Frank Morris, the makings of a potential plan are started.

(From left, Fred Ward as John Anglin and Jack Thibeau as Clarence Anglin in the Don Siegel movie Escape from Alcatraz).

When John and Clarence Anglin, as portrayed by Fred Ward and Jack Thibeau were moved to Alcatraz, the plan became a degree more serious. The drama of how the administration of the prison functioned made for intense drama as the plan for escape proceeded. The drama as the warden performed cruel and psychologically harmful things to the Alcatraz inmates prompted a certain stick it to him feeling for the audience and inmates alike. Then there’s the question of how things work out.

(From left, Hank Brandt as Associate Warden and Patrick McGoohan as Warden in the Don Siegel movie Escape from Alcatraz).

I’ll leave it to you to watch the movie Escape from Alcatraz to see if the folks aiming to escape made it out of the prison. I’ll leave it to you to determine what became of the inmates and that were not attempting to escape. The realism of the filming combined with filming that occurred onsite at Alcatraz Island offered to the feeling the feeling of true crime that the movie, as well as the book it was based on, were meant to portray. I give Escape from Alcatraz as directed by Don Siegel 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Clint Eastwood as star and director of the movie ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’

A Western in a time when Westerns were out of fashion in the movie making universe, The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) was a successful bet for the Clint Eastwood company Malpaso Productions, earning well beyond its production budget in revenue following its release.

(Clint Eastwood as Josey Wales in the movie The Outlaw Josey Wales).

The Outlaw Josey Wales begins during the American Civil War with pro-Union militants from Kansas murdering the wife of Missouri farmer Josey Wales. Aiming for revenge, Wales learns to shoot a gun and joins pro-Confederate bushwhackers from Missouri. As the war comes to an end, treachery from the Union in orchestrating a surrender that Wales refuses leads to a massacre that sets the stage for the remainder of the plot for the film.

(Sondra Locke as Laura Lee in the movie The Outlaw Josey Wales).

Clint Eastwood plays Josey Wales. John Vernon as Confederate Captain Fletcher is setup in opposition to an unlikely band of post-massacre confederates of Wales, including Lone Watie as played by Chief Dan George, Paula Trueman as Grandma Sarah and Sondra Locke as Laura Lee. Fletcher, while arguably a reluctant adversary to Wales, becomes clearly a backer of the morally gray area that the film explicitly explores on the fringes of anything actually related to the subjects driving the conflict of the American Civil War.

(Chief Dan George as Lone Watie in the movie The Outlaw Josey Wales).

The elevation of Lone Waite, portraying a Cherokee native, and Ten Bears as a Comanche native, adds an interesting multi-cultural representation to the film that adds depth to the story told in The Outlaw Josey Wales. Will Sampson portrays Ten Bears.

(From left, Will Sampson as Ten Bears and Clint Eastwood as Josey Wales in The Outlaw Josey Wales).

In certain ways thematically more graphic than I was expecting, coming as I am to this film 44-years after The Outlaw Josey Wales was released, I found myself entertained by the film. With a running time at slightly more than two hours, I rate my experience with The Outlaw Josey Wales at 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, October 28, 2020