I have lived in and around the San Francisco Bay Area for most of my life, yet had never set foot on Alcatraz.
Not that it mattered. Because this Federal Prison turned National Park, popular tourist attraction, and legendary local landmark has served as a backdrop or dramatic setting for numerous films and television shows.
My first cinematic visit to Alcatraz was, most likely, The Enforcer (1976), the third Dirty Harry adventure. This was where the so-called leftist agitators (and willing tools for a pair of sociopathic extortionists) held the mayor of San Francisco hostage.
As our boat approached the island, I admired the exterior location(s) used in The Enforcer. 46 years later, the guard tower Harry knocks a gunman out of is still standing, albeit it is now fenced off to keep visitors safe from potential harm.
Nineteen years would pass before I would make my second cinematic visit to Alcatraz with Murder in the First (1995). Kevin Bacon’s intense performance as a man destroyed by three years spent in solitary confinement is the only memorable thing about this otherwise bland melodrama.
A year or so later, I would suffer through Michael Bay’s bombastic and braindead action extravaganza The Rock (1996). So it goes.
It took some twenty years and change, but I finally sat down and watched Escape from Alcatraz (1979).
Directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood, Escape from Alcatraz is a dramatization of the only successful attempt at what was believed to be impossible, escaping Alcatraz. It was a phyirric victory, though. The trio of escapees vanished without a trace. It is believed they were swept out to sea and drowned.
Escape from Alcatraz‘s dark and foreboding opening, which charts the night time arrival of escape leader Frank Morris (Eastwood) on the island, was the second thing that came to mind after I stepped onto the island. I hoofed it up to the prison.
The three cells that housed the escapees contain replications of the fake heads used to fool guards into thinking the men were asleep. The tools and resources they used are also displayed.
Seeing the real life location makes the verisimilitude Siegel and Eastwood created in their film all the more chilling, unsettling, and admirable.
I also enjoyed walking around the recreation area and dining hall, using my phone to figure out where and how Escape from Alcatraz was shot.
After completing the audio tour, I browsed the museum shop. I stayed true to my cinematic fascination(s) and opted to purchase Alcatraz: The Ultimate Movie Book by Robert Lieber over a book about Robert Stroud, the infamous Birdman of Alcatraz. I’ll try and remember to get the latter some other time.
In 2007 or 2008, maybe, I cracked opened Rock Hard by Leon “Whitey” Thompson, an autobiography by a former inmate. In the book Thompson recounts an unpleasant encounter he had with a man that turned out to be Robert Stroud.
What little I know of Robert Stroud comes from a fragment of Birdman of Alcatraz (1962). I have no idea as to where, when, or precisely how much of the movie I actually saw. All I remember is Burt Lancaster feeding a bird with his mouth, while Telly Savalas bellyaches about being unable to do the same.
My final fictional visit to Alcatraz, before my first actual visit the other day, was watching the (very) short lived television series Alcatraz (2012).
As much fun as I had seeking out and identifying the locations used in The Enforcer and Escape from Alcatraz, I wished I could have spent a little more time wandering the island.
Looks like a return visit needs to be made.
Ghoulies, Ghosties, and Long-Leggedy Beasties 