McGoohan’s Dollison knows Eastwood’s Morris is up to something, but he can’t quite figure out what so he probs and prods offering privileges only to take them away just to see what Morris will do. But Eastwood is in the lead so you’ve got to root for the man, right? To help resolve this little discrepancy in character, Siegel and screenwriter Richard Tuggle work in a sort of battle of wills and intellects between Morris and Warden Dollison. This isn’t like in The Shawshank Redemption or The Great Escape where you have a band of WWII heroes doing their duty or an innocent man surviving his incarceration any way he can. While Dollison is cruel in his own unusual ways, Morris and the Anglin brothers are actual criminals with very violent pasts. Where I have a special fondness for Escape From Alcatraz over other prison break movies is this film actually asks you to root for the bad guys. One slip and everything falls apart making their time in the hell of Alcatraz even worse. The plan is intricate enough that even the smallest detail can’t be overlooked. We follow Frank’s entry into the prison, his acclimation to life on the Rock, and then we get to watch him do what he does best - break out of jail. Loosely based on the real-life breakout of Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers, the film is pitch-perfect suspense. Thanks to director Don Siegel and frequent collaborator Clint Eastwood, we have Escape From Alcatraz. What could go wrong? Who is a threat? How are they going to get away? As the seconds tick away that tension and suspense rise as each risk to the plan is slowly uncovered so that by the time the big breakout happens, you’re sitting on the edge of your seat. From the jump, the audience is on high alert and tense. Prison break movies are like heist flicks, everything has to go exactly to plan with little deviation or interference or the whole endeavor is shot. When he finds out a pair of fellow frequent escapees Clarence Anglin (Jack Thibeau) and John Anglin (Fred Ward) have been incarcerated on the island, they partner with Charley Butts (Larry Hankin) to do the impossible - break out of Alcatraz and survive. After several breakouts, Frank Morris (Clint Eastwood) is the newest inmate of The Rock. Warden Dollison (Patrick McGoohan) rules over Alcatraz with an iron fist with the worst of the worst offenders under his watch.
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