Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)

Birdman of Alcatraz is an American film first released in 1962, directed by John Frankenheimer.  The film stars Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand and Betty Field.  Our overall rating for this film is: excellent.


Whilst serving a 12-year prison stretch for killing a man in a brawl, a wayward adolescent Robert Stroud is transferred to Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas.  Here, his rebellious nature and lack of discipline immediately brings him into conflict with the warden, Harvey Shoemaker.  When his request to receive a visit from his mother is denied, he attacks a guard and kills him in self-defence.   Stroud is sentenced to death but, after a successful publicity campaign orchestrated by his mother, his sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.  The prisoner is outraged when he discovers he is to be kept in solitary confinement for the rest of his life.  Boredom soon sets in and Stroud begins to wish he had been executed.  Then, one day, he sees a sickly sparrow in the exercise yard and decides to nurse it back to health.  Stroud adopts the bird as a pet and within no time his fellow prisoners have each been given a bird.  Stroud begins to breed canaries, building cages for them from fruit crates.  When his avian friends fall ill, Stroud carries out research to discover a cure, and in doing so he becomes a world authority on bird diseases.  But then a change in federal law prohibits prisoners from keeping pets in their cells.  Stroud is sent to another penitentiary on the small island of Alcatraz, where he once again runs up against Shoemaker...

Whilst some will doubtless question the morality of lionizing a convicted killer, most will see Birdman of Alcatraz for what it is, a deeply moving account of a man fighting to retain his identity and individuality within the confines of an oppressive, overly authoritarian prison system.  Burt Lancaster’s sympathetic portrayal of Robert Stroud (the man whose real life experiences are the basis for the film) makes this a compelling and poignant character study which delivers a fair case for reform of the penal system in the United States.  

Critics of the film have pointed out that Stroud was not the likeable humanitarian that Lancaster portrays but a hardened psychopath who showed no remorse for his crimes.  In a sense this is irrelevant because the film is not really about Stroud but about how the prison system is failing to do its job effectively.  As the film argues so effectively, the primary goal of prison should be to rehabilitate criminals, not to try to convert them into obedient puppies through a regime that crushes their individuality and self-esteem.

Director John Frankenheimer was at his creative peak when he made this film, showing a consistent flair that he would have difficulty sustaining in future years.  Around this time, he made four of his best films: The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Seven Days in May (1964), The Train (1964) and, of course, Birdman of Alcatraz.  What these films have in common is an earthiness, a stark post-noir realism, which was pretty rare in mainstream American cinema at that time.  

What makes Birdman of Alcatraz so effective and so compelling (other than Burt Lancaster’s superb performance) is the way in which it is staged and shot.  Cramped sets, harsh lighting and tight camera angles all work together to emphasise the confined setting and sheer vacuity of the life that had to be endured by convicts serving a long stretch in solitary confinement.  Frankenheimer would turn out some Grade A turkeys in future years but here he is at his best, telling a remarkable story of survival and redemption, without fuss and sentimentality, that leaves a lasting impression.

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