Birdmn of Alcatraz

Release Year: 1962

Director: John Frankenheimer

Review: 'Birdman of Alcatraz' is a biographical prison drama based on the real life of Robert Stroud. Stroud, an against-the-grain type of prisoner who refuses to bend to the rules of the prison, which earns him a permanent stay in solitary confinement.  Upon finding a wounded bird, Stroud begins keeping birds and studying them.  Despite being uneducated, he meticulously studies the birds and becomes one of the leading experts on the subject and even writes two books.  The real life of Stroud is an amazing story which is unfortunately watered down and sensationalized in the film adaptation.  The film was released while Stroud was still alive and there was a movement to get him released from prison.  In a sense it was a bit of a propaganda piece.  In the film, Stroud is played to be very heroic and sympathetic, completely ignoring the fact that he was a unremorseful killer, or that he wasn't a very pleasant person.  Burt Lancaster plays him as if he were to be looked up to.  There was no depth to the character, but rather a generic cardboard cut out of a Cool Hand Luke type.  There are several scenes where Lancaster tries to deliver powerful lines and they just fall flat, only amplifying the problem with the film.  While some films featuring small sets enhance the drama within, it felt suffocating in the prison cell with Stroud from sheer lack of anything interesting happening.  Instead of telling a compelling story of a complex man, they sugarcoat the only person of any interest into bland character.  All the plot points are by-the-book.  The love interest felt forced and all the conflicts felt like filler.  The Birdman of Alcatraz is a fascinating real person but a completely generic film.
Rating: 2/5