BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ

US, 1962, 147 minutes, Black and white.
Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Neville Brand, Thelma Ritter, Betty Field, Edmond O'Brien, Telly Savalas, Hugh Marlowe.
Directed by John Frankenheimer.

Birdman of Alcatraz is very moving, full of hope, despite its grim beginning and even the limited happiness in its conclusion. It tells the story of murderer Robert Stroud, his early insolent years in prison, his life in solitary, his discovery of a sick bird and the transformation in his life as he discovers a purpose in life. He still clashes with prison authorities and is not allowed to pursue his interests and expertise in ornithology, but he has learned to cope with life and himself.

The film is a true story and was part of an attempt to help Stroud. Burt Lancaster is fine in boisterous roles (as in Elmer Gantry, The Professionals) and in quiet roles (Judgement at Nuremburg, Seven Days in May). This is one of his quiet roles and he is convincing. There is also a different supporting performance from Neville Brand as a warder, from Thelma Ritter as Stroud's possessive mother.

Director John Frankenheimer is one of Hollywood's most noted, although his reputation was in question in the 70"s. He also made The Young Savages, The Train, Seven Days in May and The Gypsy Moths with Burt Lancaster.

1. Why was this an impressive film?

2. Was the flashback structure, documentary-style effective? What attitudes did it ask for from the audience?

3. The impact of the close-ups of hands, birds and the musical score?

4. How well did the film show and Burt Lancaster portray the change in Robert Stroud over a period of fifty years imprisonment?

5. What kind of man was Stroud at first? Did he evoke any sympathy? Even in his killing of the guard, after the harshness of his not being able to see his mother?

6. Were the prisons and the warders presented fairly (the laundry scene, the dining-room sequence)?

7. The impact of his mother pleading for the community of his sentence? Mrs. Wilson? Was this just?

8. How cruel is solitary confinement for a prisoner? How necessary for a violent man like Stroud?

9. Why did he respond to the bird he rescued? How did it draw him out of himself? How did this transform, not only his interests, but his personality and life as well?


10. How impressive was Stroud's self-study and expertise? What does this say about a man's capacity to respond to positive therapy, even in solitary?

11. Why were the authorities suspicious of him? Why did they dislike him and penalise him?

12. Stroud's relationships and their impact on his life:
- Shoemaker - (what kind of man was he?), and the constant enmity, suspicion?
- his mother - an American Mom, her possessive affection, his attachment,
- her coldness at his marriage and the effect on both?
- Feto Gomez - companionship, his love for the birds in solitary?
- Bull Ransom - friendship, respect and an understanding of the effects of prison on a man?
- Stella Johnson - sharing interest, business, a friend, the arranged
and the useful publicity? (The impact of his being told to get rid of his birds within sixty days)?

13. The harshness of the transfer to Alcatraz? The reality of Alcatraz, the island prison?

14. How did he cope with the loss of his birds, the encounter with Shoemaker, his beginning to study penology?

15. How had he changed by this time - In relation to his mother, to Shoemaker, to Stella, in his quiet dignity, in his action in the riots? How well had his life changed him?

16. Were you sorry to hear that the publicity about his case had not helped him substantially? Why?

17. What values does a film like this embody? How hopeful a film is it? Why?