The Clint Eastwood Archive: Escape from Alcatraz 1979

Escape from Alcatraz is a 1979 thriller film, directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood. The film co-stars Fred Ward, and also features Patrick McGoohan as the suspicious, vindictive warden.
The film is based on the non-fiction book Escape from Alcatraz by J. Campbell Bruce. It chronicles the story of Frank Morris (Eastwood) and brothers John (Ward) and Clarence Anglin (Jack Thibeau), who have the distinction of being possibly the only people to ever escape from the Alcatraz prison. It also features the film debut of Danny Glover.

Below: How Escape from Alcatraz would have opened when seen in UK cinemas with its original AA certificate

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Clint Eastwood AA UK QUAD Poster

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Original folded U.S. folded 1 sheet poster 27x41
Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Very rare Original ROLLED U.S. 1 sheet poster 27x41

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Clint Eastwood Directed by Don Siegel Original Australian Day bill poster

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Clint Eastwood Don Siegel Original Belgian poster

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Clint Eastwood Don Siegel Original German A1 poster

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Clint Eastwood Don Siegel Original Swedish Insert

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Clint Eastwood Fred Ward large Italian 2 piece 55x77

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Clint Eastwood Original Rolled U.S. Half Sheet poster

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Clint Eastwood very Rare 'X' cert version of UK QUAD. The main image was smaller and the title was set off centre.

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 DVD Paramount R1 (No extras, not even a trailer)

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 German film program
Escape from Alcatraz 1979 German Orig fold out style Press sheet with artwork

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Original French fold out Press book

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 German Orig Press sheets with full ad range
Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Japan Original full colour mini Poster

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Original Lobby set x 12 Spanish

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 lobby set x 8 German

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 lobby set x 8 U.S. 14 x 11

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 FOH set x 8 10x8

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Mounted Colour slides x 3
Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Original film tie in Paperback from Futura-1692

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Original US Silver Promotional folder from Paramount with full set of thick production notes and interview

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Original US Press book excellent but with one small ad cut

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 10 x 8 Press stills b/w x 27 + 2 colour

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 UK Original Publicity information
Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Rare Original Japanese Brochure, lovely item.

Escape from Alcatraz 1979 US 3 cards with artwork + logo sheets etc
Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Very rare Original 35mm UK cinema trailer

Below: An original full page UK advertisement showing the film's engagement at the Plaza cinema.

Below: When opting for the Blu-ray I bought the French version, which is in English - but has the benefit of the original artwork, however there were no extras again, not even a trailer. The more regular Blu-ray - with awful cover art - is shown below.

Below: Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Japanese VCD rare version of film on 2 discs

Some other great material:from around the world
Below: Escape from Alcatraz U.S. East Coast Subway Advance 1 Sheet

Below: Escape from Alcatraz UK Bus Shelter poster Size 60 x 40

Here is a rare Escape from Alcatraz Finnish poster Size 16 x 25

..and the rather strange looking Escape from Alcatraz Polish Poster!

Below: The Escape from Alcatraz U.S. 3 Sheet poster and U.S. Insert poster

Below: A rare shot of Clint making his walk to the cell block

Below: Taken when the production crew moved to Alcatraz Island, naturally, its a Malpaso styled bench! Nice shot!

Below:another great shot featuring the Malpaso bench - this photo taken by our friend Dave Worrall when he was visiting Alcatraz in 1979

Below: Original Escape from Alcatraz Italian Fotobustas

Below: The U.S. RCA Selectavision VideoDisc

Below: The US Paramount full screen Laserdisc

Below: The Original CIC UK Laserdisc was the first ever Eastwood film to be released on the Laservision format. Like the U.S. Laser, it was also panned and scanned

And at the other end of the technology scale, here is the Escape from Alcatraz Blu Ray release - complete with awful cover art and no extras... will the studios ever learn?

Escape from Alcatraz 1978 script originally intended for Charles Bronson:

Included with this script was a 4-page synopsis that was submitted by "P.D." to Pancho Kohner, Paul Kohner's son. It gives a summary and comments about the movie, and it was submitted for Charles Bronson, Paul Kohner's client. Of course, the movie was ultimately made with Clint Eastwood, but it wasn't because P.D. did not correctly think that this would be perfect for Bronson! He wrote that he loved the script and that he thought that since one of Bronson's best roles was in "The Great Escape", this would be perfect for him, and he wrote "Frank Morris would, in my opinion, be a superb role for Charles Bronson". He added that if Bronson can't do it because of some other commitment, maybe he could "hold this one in the wings", and he recommended that they lock this one in with a nice long option. Of course, this did not happen, and that is a real shame, because Bronson's career might have been significantly revived had he taken this role! Note that this script is from 1978 and the screenplay was written by Richard Tuggle.

Below: Cinematographer Bruce Surtees (left) preps a shot with Clint Eastwood for ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, the 1979 drama that marked the final collaboration between Eastwood and director Don Siegel.