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 Island in popular culture known whether the three escapees survived. The film implied that the escape had been successful. The film portrayed both the conditions of life in the prison and the difficulty of escaping from it. The 1996 action film "The Rock", with Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris, takes place at Alcatraz Island, featuring a rogue U.S. Marine Brigadier General stealing dangerous missiles and threatening to eradicate large parts of San Francisco unless his demands are met, forcing a government strike team to recruit John Mason (Connery), a former SAS operative and the only man to ever escape "the Rock", in