Factual error: In the opening scene that shows San Francisco scenery there is a shot of a large TV tower called Sutro Tower. The film takes place in 1960 and Sutro Tower wasn't built until 1973.
Factual error: The movie is supposed to take place in 1960, but the oscilloscope on the metal detector outside the wood shop is a new 1979 model, the year the movie was made.
Factual error: Guards are shown dressed with dark ties. In actuality, they all wore red ties.
Factual error: When Frank is "welding" the nail clipper handle to the spoon handle in his cell, there's no way just the heat from matches would melt clippings from a silver dime. Even so, the weld wouldn't be strong enough to withstand the hard use the tool would see while chipping away rock.
Answer: This is a fictional account of a real-life event and the people depicted in it. Frank Morris was a vicious and dangerous criminal who, played by movie-hero Clint Eastwood, is made into a sympathetic figure. The Wolf character, who was probably not real or highly fictionalized, is contrived solely to create conflict in the plot by making him Morris' enemy. It also shows the constant danger and abuse from other prisoners.
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