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.
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Directed by: Don Siegel
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom, Jack Thibeau
Visible crew/equipment: In the non-widescreen version, a hole in the ceiling and a microphone can be seen picking up the dialogue between Patrick McGoohan and Clint Eastwood in the warden's office.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Frank Morris arrives at Alcatraz, he has to take all his clothes off for a routine check. When the guards escort him to his cell you can see him wearing a pair of white boxers, but in the next scene (still walking) he is naked again and when placed into his cell you can see him wearing a pair of pants. (00:06:15)
Prison Guard: Your painting privileges have been removed.
Doc: Why?
Prison Guard: I don't know.
Frank Morris: There's always the possibility that some asshole will be offended. Isn't there?
Litmus: What's your name kid?
Charley Butts: Charley Butts.
Litmus: Charley's Butt? Hahahah, you got a pretty friggin' funny name kid.
Charley Butts: Oh yeah? What's yours?
Litmus: Al Capone.
Question: When Frank is delivering books to inmates' cells, he reaches D block, but a guard stops him, and tells him they are not allowed in those cells. Were books really disallowed in D block cells?
Question: Why was Wolf such a bully to Frank Morris?
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.
More questions & answers from Escape from Alcatraz
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Answer: Those were the solitary confinement cells, with no light and no luxuries of any kind. So yes, they did not allow inmates on that block to have books.
This is inaccurate as a light in each cell was turned on at 6:30 every morning in solitary confinement at Alcatraz.