Escape from Alcatraz (film) Alcatraz" marks the fifth and final collaboration between Siegel and Eastwood, following "Coogan's Bluff" (1968), "Two Mules for Sister Sara" (1970), "The Beguiled" (1971) and "Dirty Harry" (1971). On January 18, 1960, Frank Morris (Clint Eastwood) arrives at the maximum security prison Alcatraz. Soon after arriving, he is sent in to meet the warden (Patrick McGoohan), who curtly informs him that no inmate has ever successfully escaped from Alcatraz. Among the inmates, Morris makes acquaintances with the eccentric Litmus, (Frank Ronzio) who is fond of desserts, English (Paul Benjamin), a black inmate serving two life sentences for killing two white
Alcatraz Island August 1934. Alcatraz was designed to hold prisoners who continuously caused trouble at other federal prisons. At 9:40 am on August 11, 1934, the first batch of 137 prisoners arrived at Alcatraz, arriving by railroad from the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas at Santa Venetia, California, before being escorted to Alcatraz, handcuffed in high security coaches and guarded by some 60 special FBI agents, U.S. Marshals and railway security officials. Most of the prisoners were notorious bank robbers and murderers. The prison initially had a staff of 155, including the first warden James A. Johnston and associate warden J.