This cold, tough, gripping, atmospheric and fact-based thriller - telling the story of the only successful escape from America's former maximum-security prison - has some superb performances, tremendous attention to detail and an amibiguous ending to ponder.
Directed by Don Siegel and released in 1979, Clint Eastwood plays Frank Morris, a life convict of above average intelligence who has managed to escape from a number of prisons in the past. Fairly soon after he's incarcerated at Alcatraz, San Francisco's notorious island prison, Morris devises an ingenious escape plan, helped by three other convicts. The prison warden - a superb performance from Patrick McGoohan - prides himself on the fact that no-one has ever successfully escaped from the prison in nearly 30 years. But Morris has other ideas...
Escape From Alcatraz is a Film programme that first aired in 1979 and has been classified a 15 certificate.
