Escape from Alcatraz (film) Escape from Alcatraz (film) Escape from Alcatraz is a 1979 American prison thriller film directed by Don Siegel. It is an adaptation of the 1963 non-fiction book of the same name by J. Campbell Bruce and dramatizes the 1962 prisoner escape from the maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island. The film stars Clint Eastwood, Jack Thibeau and Fred Ward as prisoners Frank Morris, Clarence Anglin and John Anglin. Allen West was played by Larry Hankin; his character's name was changed to Charley Butts. Patrick McGoohan portrays the suspicious, vindictive warden and Danny Glover appears in his film debut. "Escape from
Alcatraz Citadel prison escape of November 28, 1918, there were four prisoners who escaped in rafts, and they were seen at Sutro Forest. However, only one was caught and the others escaped. Due to high costs of maintenance of the Alcatraz as a defense establishment, a well thought out plan was mooted to convert it into the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Also during this period crime rate had escalated in the country due to the great depression with prohibition further exacerbating the situation resulting in mobsters and gangsters operating freely indulging in looting, violence and killings, with the law enforcing agencies failing to