Movie Madness: Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

Yesterday was a pretty easy day. I had my one class on campus and I got my science lab grade back. I did a lot better than I expected. (Although I always think I'm going to fail, so it's kind of hard to go any lower than that.) I was almost late to class because a vending machine ate some of my money and I swearrrrr the fact that they made me fill out paperwork for $1 is ridiculous to me. I ended up just going to the "cafe" (their way of attempting to class up the college) and getting water and some roasted red pepper hummus and pita slices. That's pretty much the only vegan option readily available and on the go. And it was HORRIBLE. I had no idea they could mess up hummus that badly.

Taken from my Instagram (if you want to follow me, my username is chasingpages). Not only was the portion size HORRIBLY off (and I mean, really? a lettuce leaf? now my pita is soggy!), but I swear to god the hummus was BLAND. The pita was BLAND. I might as well have been eating cardboard. For $3, I was pretty angry. I wish I had stopped at Wawa instead. Fucking disgrace. (I'm really mostly annoyed at the fact that this was SO EXPENSIVE and some of the nasty, chemical-ridden foods there are sooooooo much cheaper. And we wonder why we're fat. Ugh. But that's an entirely different discussion.)

I'm going to be doing some homework today (I like to stay ahead a little), so I'm actually writing this the day before. I was going to read tonight, but I'm just not in the reading mood. Which is unfortunate, I really wanted to get through some more of my book collection.

But that's okay, because now I'm making room in my Netflix queue. And I'm sure my Netflix account is probably incredibly grateful.

So, here's the piece we're watchin' tonight.

Tonight's feature is 'Escape from Alcatraz', starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Don Siegel. 

I haven't seen this in a REALLY long time. I honestly can't remember the last time I watched it. Maaaaaybe high school? (Which was almost a decade ago, oh god. MORTALITY. SETTING IN. DEATH APPROACHING. I'M GETTING OLD. WHEEZE WHEEZE.)

The movie is loosely based around the true events of an escape from Alcatraz that had been planned by three prisoners. (I checked up on some of this through Wikipedia, and apparently it was never confirmed if they ACTUALLY escaped or not, but supposedly people had caught glimpses of them so it's currently believed to be true. But you never know, really. This could always be thrown off by the Rashomon effect - the idea where multiple people could all witness the same event but have completely different stories. Perhaps multiple people had "seen them", but others that were there may not have. Who knows?)

I'll admit I haven't seen much of Eastwood's work, but he's generally hit or miss with me. But he's a hit here. (Also, the only films of his that I HAVE seen are from this era, so whenever I see the current-day Eastwood I'm completely thrown off.) He has the harsh look of a criminal (dramatic and sharp cheekbones and jawline), yet he has the eyes of an intelligent and well-spoken man. (In the shower scene, doesn't he actually look a bit like Bryan Cranston? Maybe I'm stretching, but.) Eastwood gives an incredible performance though. In my mind, I had no doubt that he was indeed a prisoner. Sometimes I forgot Alcatraz wasn't operational anymore, and perhaps Eastwood was still in there, rotting away.

I thought the idea of keeping The Warden nameless was incredibly clever. It kept him from being humanized by the audience, and kept us from really cheering for him or sympathizing. He was a "villain" we could boo against because he was an "unknown" figure.

I looooove Litmus and his little mouse. I loved the idea of his nickname and the reasoning behind it. And I mean come on, a prisoner with a soft spot for animals? It's just kind of refreshing to think of a criminal having some good in him, and it shows that not everyone is good or evil. You're not one or the other, you're a bit of both. (Though you maaaay have one that's a bit stronger than the other, heh.) Also, he bathes the sweet little mouse by HAND. That's precious and so endearing! But Doc the painter might be my favourite. Art therapy, a wonderful train of thought that is sadly falling away in these times (for some reason), has proven to be helpful, and I can't see why it's so dismissed. The idea of someone digging inside themselves and trying to find something beautiful is terrifying, yet brilliant. It makes people think.

There was one scene that especially struck me in a very particular sad way. When Morris first meets English, English talks about how if he had been fighting with white men, he probably wouldn't be serving two 99-year sentences back-to-back. And I was hit by this because it's still true today. I mean, maybe he wouldn't get 99-year sentences, but this still happens. I always thought we were better than this - that maybe we'd evolve as human beings. And I guess we have, but it's at a much slower rate than I had anticipated. I didn't even understand the concepts of racism and sexism and homophobia and such when I was a child. People were people. Even though I grew up in a predominantly white community, I still wasn't really shocked when I saw someone that wasn't white, either? I remember being a kid and some of the other kids would make a fuss, and I just sat there quietly in confusion. And sometimes I'm still like that. I'll hear people hissing at those that are different and I just get confused. I'll hear people talking about how "gays are evil" and "oh fuck these n-words" and blah blah blah, and I just get confused. I wonder where they thoughts come from, where this ridiculous hatred comes from. Sometimes it's almost comical to me - that people can DESPISE those they've never met before. I mean, an entire race! That's a loooooot of people to hate. It must be exhausting. Maybe that's a reason to pity hateful people. It seems to be a tiring gig. But I could be wrong. Who knows? I've never claimed to be intelligent or wise, heh.

As stated before, 'Escape from Alcatraz' is currently available to stream on Netflix, or buy on Amazon. It's an iconic movie that you should check out at least once in your life! (Plus, if you haven't seen it before, they reference it on The Simpsons in a few instances and after you watch it, you'll GET the references. And your friends will think you're "cultured" or something! That'll show them.)

If you have any movie suggestions or any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email!

xo, Kate