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.