Alcatraz Island in popular culture

Alcatraz Island has appeared many times in popular culture. Its appeal as a picturesque film setting derives from its natural beauty, isolation and its history as a prison (now a museum) from which, officially, no prisoner ever successfully escaped.

Prisoners

Most appearances of Alcatraz island in popular culture are related to its former status as a federal prison. Both real life and fictional accounts of imprisonment on the island have been popular.

One of the best-known of Alcatraz's historic inmates was Robert Franklin Stroud, known as "The Birdman of Alcatraz". His biography was written by Thomas E. Gaddis and then adapted into a film in 1962, with Burt Lancaster playing the lead role.

The 1995 film Murder in the First depicts a man who spends three years in solitary confinement at the prison. One of the prisoners, Kyle Oberholzer, was charged with rape, murder and fornicating.

In film and television

Many films and television series have exploited Alcatraz Island's reputation as a prison from which it was almost impossible to escape.

Don Siegel's 1979 thriller Escape from Alcatraz chronicles the story of Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin, who escaped from Alcatraz in 1962, although it is not known whether the three escapees survived. The film implied that the escape had been successful.[1] The film portrayed both the conditions of life in the prison and the difficulty of escaping from it.

The 1996 action film The Rock, with Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris, takes place at Alcatraz Island, featuring a rogue U.S. Marine Brigadier General stealing dangerous missiles and threatening to eradicate large parts of San Francisco unless his demands are met, forcing a government strike team to recruit John Mason (Connery), a former SAS operative and the only man to ever escape "the Rock", in order to break in and stop them.

In "The Power of Two", season1, episode 20 of the American television series Charmed, the evil spirit of a serial killer escapes from Alcatraz Island seeking revenge on his judge and jury. Phoebe and Prue must figure out how to vanquish this evil spirit and prevent his killing again without their sister Piper, who's vacationing in Hawaii.

The 2012 television series Alcatraz involves prisoners from Alcatraz - which was not closed due to budget reasons, but because all 302 residents mysteriously disappeared on March 20, 1963 - reappearing in the present day, requiring a makeshift task force to track down the inmates and prevent them from committing further crimes while also determining the reasons for their return.

In video games

Hostages

Alcatraz's isolated and fortified image has meant that it has been used as a location for fictional hostage scenarios in various instances.

Portrayals in media and entertainment

Books and comic books

Fiction

Memoirs

A number of books were written or co-authored by former Alcatraz prisoners, e.g.:

Non-fiction books about Alcatraz

Film and television

Games

Real time escape room games

Music

American bay area thrash metal band Testament have a song called "Over The Wall" which the lyrics talk about escaping Alcatraz

References

  1. McFadden, Robert D. (June 9, 2012), "Tale of 3 Inmates Who Vanished From Alcatraz Maintains Intrigue 50 Years Later", The New York Times, New York, NY, retrieved June 9, 2012
  2. "About - Alcatraz on FOX - Official Site". FOX Broadcasting Company. 22 January 2012.
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