Taglines: Inside the rock called Alcatraz they tried to chain a volcano they called “The Bird Man”!
Birdman of Alcatraz movie storyline. In 1912, the notorious and violent prisoner Robert Franklin Stroud is transferred to the Leavenworth Prison convicted for murdering a man. When a guard cancels the visit of his mother, Elizabeth Stroud, due to a violation of the internal rules, he stabs and kills the guard and goes to trial three times. He is sentenced to be executed by the gallows, but his mother appeals to President Woodrow Wilson who commutes his sentence to life imprisonment. However, the warden, Harvey Shoemaker, decides to keep Stroud in solitary for the rest of his life.
One day, Stroud finds a sparrow that has fallen from the nest in the yard and he raises the bird until it is strong enough to fly. Stroud finds a motivation for his life raising and caring for birds and becomes an expert in birds. He marries Stella Johnson and together they run a business, providing medicine developed by Stroud. But a few years after, Stroud is transferred to Alcatraz and has to leave his birds behind.
Birdman of Alcatraz is a 1962 American biographical drama film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Burt Lancaster. It is a largely fictionalized version of the life of Robert Stroud, a federal prison inmate known as the “Birdman of Alcatraz” because of his life with birds. In spite of the title, much of the action is set at Leavenworth Prison, where Stroud was jailed with his birds. When moved to Alcatraz he was not allowed to keep any pets.
The film was adapted by Guy Trosper from the 1955 book by Thomas E. Gaddis. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Burt Lancaster), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Telly Savalas), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Thelma Ritter) and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White.
This was to have been the American film debut for British director Charles Crichton until he clashed with Lancaster and was replaced by Frankenheimer. According to Strother Martin, “I had a nice role in Birdman of Alcatraz. They fired the original director, Charles Crichton, and I went out with him. I was replaced by Leo Penn who was eventually cut out of the picture entirely.”
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Directed by: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand, Edmond O’Brien, Telly Savalas, Edmond O’Brien, Hugh Marlowe, Whit Bissell, Crahan Denton, James Westerfield
Screenplay by: Guy Trosper
Cinematography by: Burnett Guffey
Film Editing by: Edward Mann
Art Direction by: Fernando Carrere
Makeup Department: Robert J. Schiffer
Music by: Elmer Bernstein
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: United Artists
Release Date: July 3, 1962
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