Alcatraz - Escape From Alcatraz (1979)

Escape from Alcatraz is a 1979 American thriller film, directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood. It dramatizes maybe the only successful escape from the maximum security prison on Alcatraz
Island. The film co-stars Fred Ward, and also features Patrick McGoohan as the suspicious, vindictive warden, and features the film debut of Danny Glover. Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin have the distinction of being possibly the only people to ever escape from the Alcatraz prison. The three experience difficulties of prison life and decide to escape. The three inmates dig through the walls of their cells with spoons, make papier-mache dummies as decoys, and construct a raft out of raincoats to escape across San Francisco Bay, never to be seen again. There is some hint at the end of the film that the escape was successful, but in fact it remains a mystery as to whether the escapees succeeded or not.

Screenwriter Richard Tuggle spent six months researching and writing a screenplay based on the 1963 non-fiction account by J. Campbell Bruce. He went to the Writers Guild and received a list of literary agents who would accept unsolicited manuscripts. He submitted a copy to each, and also to anybody else in the business that he could cajole into reading it. Everyone rejected it, saying it had poor dialogue and characters, lacked a love interest, and that the public was not interested in prison stories. Tuggle decided to bypass producers and executives and deal directly with filmmakers. He called the agent for director Don Siegel and lied, saying he had met Siegel at a party and the director had expressed interest in reading his script. The agent forwarded the script to Siegel, who read it, liked it, and passed it on to Clint Eastwood. Eastwood was drawn to the role as ringleader Frank Morris and agreed to star, providing Siegel direct under the Malpaso banner. However, Siegel insisted that it be a Don Siegel film and out-maneuvered Clint by purchasing the rights to the film for $100,000. This created a rift between the two friends. Although Siegel eventually agreed for it to be a Malpaso-Siegel production, Siegel went to Paramount Pictures, a rival studio, and never directed an Eastwood picture again.

Escape from Alcatraz was well received by critics and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1979.Frank Rich of Time described the film as "cool, cinematic grace", while Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic called it "crystalline cinema". It currently holds a 94% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.The film grossed $5,306,354 in the U.S. during its opening weekend from June 24, 1979, shown on 815 screens. In total, the film earned $43,000,000 in U.S. theaters.