The Birdman of Alcatraz

This 1962 movie directed by John Frankenhiemer was a fictionalized account of the life of Robert Stroud. Robert Stroud was a federal prisoner who became known as the Birdman of Alcatraz.

Played by Burt Lancaster Stroud is a rebellious young man who as the movie begins is being transferred to Leavenworth prison. One thing he does have is a devotion to his Mother and as we hear in his voice his letters to his Mother we see the devotion he has for her. When she travels a great distance to visit and is turned away until the weekend Stroud is very angry. This eventually leads to a confrontation with a guard that ends in the guards death. Stroud's situation has gone from bad to worse as he now faces a death sentence.

Karl Malden plays the prison warden who even when Stroud's mother gets his death sentence commuted to life in prison, resolves to make sure that he spends the rest of his life sentence in solitary. One day in the exercise yard Stroud finds a sparrow that appears to be injured. Over time this leads to his great interest in his life. He fights the prison system and earns the right to keep his birds, in fact other inmates follow suit. He becomes an expert on birds and the diseases that affect them.

From what I have read the mellowing with age that happened to the films character did not happen in quite the same way to Stroud. While he did become an expert in birds and later wrote a well received book on the history of America's prison system he never grew into the calm, almost cuddly figure that Lancaster plays in the movie.

The acting in this movie is top notch. Lancaster is wonderful in his role, fictionalized or not, the makeup artists deserve credit as Lancaster believably ages fifty years in this movie. One should remember that makeup can do much but Lancaster's physical acting and mannerisms to portray an old man believably are very strong. Telly Savalas appears as Vito a fellow inmate. Interestingly I picked him out and wondered if that was Kojak. He sure looked different with hair. Savalas himself earned an Oscar nomination for his part.

Lancaster garnered a well deserved Oscar nomination but one cannot overlook Karl Malden in this movie. As the warden who battles with Stroud for years and years as he progresses up the ladder of responsibility in the federal prison system Malden plays his role very well. He is believable as the well intentioned man who still administers, perhaps necessarily so, an inhumane, dehumanizing prison system. The grudging respect that develops between Stroud and Malden is summarized by Malden's last line in the movie. " He has been a thorn in my side for thirty five years but he has never lied to me." Malden is a wonderful actor.

This is a good movie but one should not take it as history, much has been modified, many of the sharp edges of the story have been removed. Still for what it is, it does well as a movie with great acting and a strong story.

From Here to Eternity

In 1953 this movie won the Oscar for best film, best adapted screenplay, best supporting actor and supporting actress. The movie, adapted from the best selling novel by James Jones tells the stories of soldiers based in Hawaii in the weeks prior to the beginning of World War II.

The movie has an all star cast. The movie begins with Private Robert E Lee Prewitt transferring to the Pearl Harbor base. Prewit is a bugler, has transferred in after having undisclosed troubles in his last regiment. As his reputation as an accomplished boxer precedes him the company commander assumes he will be a boon to the regiment's boxing team. Prewitt however insists he does not wish to box any longer leading to his being pressured to do so. Montgomery Clift gives a strong performance.

Burt Lancaster stars as Sgt. Milton Warden. Warden is an enlisted man who feels disdain for his commander who makes little effort at performing his duties, often neglecting them and or leaving Warden to perform them while he chases women. Eventually his disgust with his commanding officer leads Warden down a dangerous path, he begins and affair with the his commanders neglected wife played infamously by Deborah Kerr. Most anyone who has watched a movie or two in their lives has seen the infamous scene in which Lancaster and Kerr lay in the surf in a romantic clinch.

The movie also features Frank Sinatra in an Oscar winning performance as Private Angelo Maggio. Maggio befriends Prewitt when most of the soldiers either ignore or ostracize him. Maggio comes to a bad end however when he gets on the wrong side of the sadistic Fatso Judson. Ernest Borgnine is famous for this role.

Also winning an Oscar was Donna Reed as Alma Burke. Called Lorene in the gentleman's club she works at she and Prewitt develop a relationship after Maggio takes Prewitt out for a night on the town. Seeing Reed in any role that is not innocent or later, matronly, is a bit of a surprise. She was strong enough in this role to win the Oscar. We forget what a strong actress she was.

I have seen several movies Lancaster started in now and what becomes more clear each time is that he was a towering figure. Truthfully I have not seen anything that makes me think that he was a great actor, but he certainly could carry a role.

Eventually the Japanese come to call and our characters lives change forever. The movie offers more depth than a typical World War II film and is well worth a look. Sinatra, so skinny he looks like he could blow away, is especially strong.

Seven Days in May

This is a great movie. Directed by John Frankenheimer from a screenplay by Rod Serling no less this movie from 1964 tells the tale of a military coup planned for the United States by an unhappy military.

Later interviews revealed that President Kennedy felt that under the right circumstances such an event could happen in the United States.

In the movie Col Jiggs Casey becomes aware of a plot within the Joint Chiefs of Staff to depose the President. The Chiefs are led by Air Force General James Mattoon Scott. This General is the charasmatic leader of the coup. Believing that the President is a weak leader being taken advantage of by the Russians. Scott, played conviningly by Burt Lancaster is a true beleiver.

Frederic March plays the President and is perfect for the role. Playing a Midwestern liberal with ease the role of President Lyman is not far a huge stretch from his role of the banker in The Best Years of Our Lives.

The movie is dramatic, suspenseful and could easily be converted to the screens today. Of course today they would curse, have sex and blow things up.

Elmer Gantry

This movie won Besp Picture in 1960. Adapted form the Sinclair Lewis novel of the same name it tells of a small revival troup making its way across the rural Midwest.

Burt Lancaster, Oscar winner for Best Actor plays Elmer Gantry a traveling salesman who does all the things a traveling salesman of the nineteen twenties normally did. He appears at the Revival of Sister Sharon Falconer and ingratiates himself with her and soon uses his sales skills to become part of the act.

Act is a troubling word however as he is, or tells himself he is , a believer and feels the glitz and show of the revival helps to bring people to God. For Sister Sharon there is no doubt of Gods word. Soon she fi ds herself attracted to Gantry and he of course loves her, or hismperception of her as all that is good.

Reporter Jm Lefforts played by Arthur Kennedy is another conflicted character. He would love to believe in God, is put off by the revivalist hucksterism, but still admires something he can not name in Gantry.

Buoyed by their success the revival comes to Zenith, a big city away from the rural roots of revivalism. The show is controversial and the city is split when Gantry leads followers to a brothel. Little does he know that one of the girls working their is Lulu, a woman who years earlier he had seduced leading to his dismissal from a seminary school and Lulu from the good graces of her Father, the Dean of the school.

Played by Shirley Jones lomg before she was Mrs. Partridge the very beautiful actress was striking in her role and also wn an Oscar for Best Supportng Actress. also in the movie was Jean Simmons as Sister Falconer. A good movie with a great cast.

Burt Lancaster was a great actor, a physically imposing man, who just filled the screen. Even singing on the soundtrack he captivatea. The movie was good but Lancaster was amazing.

The Killers ( 1946 Movie )

This movie is adapted from the short story by Ernest Hemingway. However the story being short only tells the first twenty minutes of the movie. The movie provides the backstory.

In the movie two hit men arrive in a diner in Brentwood, New Jersey asking after a an man named Ole' Anderson otherwise known as the Swede. The Swede works as a pump attendant at the local garage and the people in the diner, where Ole' is known to take his meals have no idea why hit men would be looking for him. When warned that they are searching for him he appears to be resigned to his fate stating only that " he did something bad a long time ago."

The story is told from there as an insurance investigator looks into the murder as a life insurance policy is to be paid. Through a series of vignettes we learn the true nature of the murder.

Burt Lancaster plays Ole' Anderson in his film debut, Edmund O' Brien plays insurance investigator and Ava Gardner is the woman that causes all the trouble.

A fine movie that keeps you guessing.