200IQ Prisoner Uses Nail Clippers To Escape From The Most Secured Prison - YouTube

Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will  show you a thriller film from 1979 based on  

a true story, titled Escape from Alcatraz.  Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care. 

In 1960, Frank Morris, a very smart criminal that  has already escaped from multiple facilities,  

is taken to the maximum-security prison  on Alcatraz Island. It's quite a different  

prison from the average ones: there are no good  conduct programs, carrying news isn't permitted,  

knowledge of the outside world is only what guards  may tell you, every inmate is confined alone,  

visitors must be investigated by the FBI,  and while they do have the option to work,  

it's a privilege that must be earned. Every  morning there is also a prisoner count.  

During his first breakfast there, Frank makes  friends with Litmus, an eccentric man that likes  

to ask others for extra food and keeps a mouse as  a secret pet that he carries everywhere with him.  

Frank also can't help noticing that a huge man  known as Wolf keeps looking at him and making  

threatening gestures. Afterward, he's taken to see  the warden, who explains the rules Frank must obey  

and asks for the names he may want to authorize  as visitors, but Frank has nobody in his life,  

not even family. The warden lets him go with one  warning: nobody has ever escaped from Alcatraz,  

and nobody ever will. This encounter doesn't  end up being completely useless though:  

when the warden isn't looking, Frank steals one  of his nail clippers, which he later hides inside  

the Bible in his cell. When the time comes for  his first shower, Frank is approached by Wolf,  

who claims Frank will be his new punk. Since  obviously he won't take a no for an answer,  

Frank reacts by punching him a couple of times  and stuffing his mouth with a bar of soap. Later,  

Frank is sent to help at the library, and there  he meets English, a black man that is serving  

two life sentences. Ten years ago, he killed two  men in self-defense, but since they were white,  

they believed their lies over his story.  Since prisoners aren't allowed in the library,  

Frank's duty today is to go around the cells with  a cart and offer magazines and books to those who  

want them. While having his break in the yard,  Frank meets Doc, an elderly inmate that spends  

his time painting. He's incredibly talented,  and the subjects of his paintings go from  

himself to the warden - all his portraits include  a chrysanthemum flower as well. He also expresses  

worry for Frank's life after he has made an enemy  out of Wolf. Afterward, Frank goes to have a chat  

with English, who tells him all the details he  knows about the prison's anti-escape measures.  

Men that managed to leave their cells, which  is already an incredibly difficult task,  

were shot by the guards in the watchtowers. And  even if you somehow were able to successfully  

leave the building, there's still the issue of  Alcatraz being an island: there's a mile's swim  

to land, and the water is freezing. Some days  later, while chatting with Litmus in the yard,  

he mentions that there are ventilation shafts  on top of their block, the only trick would be  

finding the way to get up there. But the afternoon  suddenly takes a nasty turn when Wolf comes after  

Frank with a knife, which he manages to dodge  just in time thanks to a warning from Doc.  

The two men get into a fight that the guards hurry  to break up, and both Wolf and Frank are taken to  

solitary confinement because the warden doesn't  care if Frank has acted in self-defense: a fight  

is a fight. Those special cells are also known  as "the hole" because you're stuck there with  

no light or human contact - the only visit Frank  gets is from a guard that uses a hose to spray him  

with cold water under the excuse that he shouldn't  stink up the cell. Frank is released a couple of  

days later while Wolf is kept in the hole longer  for having started the fight and used a knife.  

That night, Frank's visited by Litmus' mouse, who  brings him a little note that says "welcome back".  

A few weeks later, Frank befriends a new inmate  assigned to the cell next to his, Charley Butts,  

who he introduces to his other friends when they  meet in the yard. While all the prisoners are  

outside, the warden wanders around the cells,  checking everything is in order, and discovers  

Doc's painting of him. The portrait is flattering  and very accurate, but just to be cruel, the  

warden still permanently removes Doc's painting  privileges. When a guard comes by to take the  

paint and the canvases away, Doc is left in a very  distressed state because painting is all he had.  

After gaining the privilege of a job, Frank  accepts to join the carpentry team. One afternoon,  

while they're working, he can't help noticing Doc  doesn't look well and tries to warn the guard, who  

just ignores him. As depression kicks in, Doc asks  for a hatchet and uses it to cut his fingers off,  

which will get him transferred out. After finding  a chrysanthemum that Doc left in his pocket,  

Frank gathers the fingers and puts  them in a box to give to the guard,  

sarcastically telling him to include that in  his report. The warden approaches Frank later  

during dinner to ask him about the incident, and  Frank takes the chance to indirectly insult him  

by commenting on how someone could get offended  by a flattering portrait. It's during that same  

meal that Frank gets a pleasant surprise:  the Anglin brothers, John and Clarence,  

have also been transferred to Alcatraz. Frank  knows them from one of his other prison sentences,  

and just like him, they're very good at escaping,  which is the reason why they are here now.  

One boring afternoon, Frank notices a roach in  his cell escaping through the grille on the wall,  

which is surrounded by very weak concrete. This  gives him an idea: using the nail clipper he  

had stolen, he tries chipping away the concrete  around the grille, and successfully gets to remove  

some. With enough patience, there's a chance he  could make a hole big enough for his whole body  

to get through. When visitors day comes, two of  Frank's friends get news from the outside world.  

English is visited by his daughter, who tells  him she's getting married, and Charley is visited  

by his wife, who tells him his mother only has a  few months left to live. Desperate to see his mom  

before she dies, Charley later tells Frank that if  he manages to find a way to escape, he wants in.  

This inspires Frank to finally tell Charley and  the Anglins of his discovery over dinner. The  

concrete and the grille metal have been weakened  by the moist sea air, so digging a hole there is  

just a matter of time - this could get them into  the utility corridor, which may lead to the roof.  

To hide the hole while they are working on it,  they will tear the ads out of magazines and  

make cardboard out of them to create a fake wall.  They can also obscure the hole with some objects  

like towels, in his case, Frank has ordered an  accordion under the excuse he's joining the prison  

band just to use the instrument case to cover  his hole. They can also use this cardboard to  

make dummy heads to leave on their beds, that way  they can escape at night and they won't be able  

to tell they're gone until the morning count.  The Anglin brothers work in the barbershop and  

the clothing shop, so one of them can get hair for  the dummy, and the other can steal some raincoats  

and contact cement to make life rafts that they  can use to cross the bay. The chances are slim,  

but everyone accepts to help. Frank begins working  more often on his hole while Charley keeps an eye  

out for guards, but using the clipper makes it  extremely difficult since it lacks a proper grip.  

So next day during mealtime, he uses his shoe  to get his spoon dirty on purpose and ask for  

another one. While one of the Anglin brothers  chats with the guard to keep him distracted,  

Frank takes two spoons instead of one  and brings one back to the cell with him.  

Later, when English comes by to leave some  magazines, Frank asks him if there's a way to  

weld metal together right there in the cell, and  English promises he'll teach him. Many days later,  

Litmus gets Frank a dime in exchange for fifteen  desserts. Frank uses this dime to do some wielding  

in his cell: he breaks the spoon to get the grip  and the clipper to get the file, then lights up  

a bunch of matches together to melt the dime  and connect the spoon grip with the nail file.  

Now he has a proper tool, he can dig faster, and  thanks to Charley's warnings, he always runs back  

to his bed when a guard comes by, so he doesn't  get caught. After many days of digging, he manages  

to remove all the concrete around the grille,  but it's attached to the wall and impossible  

to get off by hand. Next time he goes to work  at the carpentry shop, he makes a wedge that  

could help - the only problem would be getting it  through the metal detector, but Frank has a plan.  

When they leave the shop, Frank makes the detector  go off in purpose by having the wedge visibly in  

his hand and telling the guard he made it to hang  his clothes. The guard doesn't believe him and  

takes the wedge before checking Frank's pockets.  Since he has nothing there, he's allowed to leave,  

and Frank returns to his cell with success on his  shoulders: he has a second wedge hidden in his  

shoe. Using this wedge, he finally manages to get  the grille off the wall, and this is the sign he  

needs to get the plan rolling properly. Over the  next few months, Charley and the Anglin brothers  

begin digging as well. They also start working  on the cardboard dummies using magazine pages,  

water, and the concrete dust they get from  the digging. Charley orders a painting set,  

pretending to have picked up a new hobby, but  they'll be using this paint to color the dummies  

and make cardboard covers for the holes that look  like the grille. Once Frank's dummy is ready with  

the hair the Anglins got from the barbershop, he  puts it in the bed and finally enters the hole  

to see what's on the other side. He finds some  stairs that take him to the utility corridor and  

allow him to find the ventilation shafts, but  these are on the ceiling and out of his reach.  

Meanwhile, there's a guard making his rounds in  the cell area. He is tricked by the dummy the  

first time he walks by, but the second time  he finds it weird that Frank hasn't moved.  

His suspicions get worse when he drops his baton  and the noise doesn't make Frank even stir,  

but by the time he comes closer to the cell to  check the head out, Frank has made it back to bed,  

avoiding the dummy being found. The next day,  he tells his friends what he's found and checks  

on their progress: the brothers are almost done,  but Charley has fallen behind. Later that night,  

Frank and John get into the utility corridor so  that they hide the raincoats they've stolen from  

the clothing store and check out the ventilation  shaft. Now that he has John giving him a boost,  

Frank can reach it and take a closer look, which  makes him realize they'll need some serious  

tools to get it open. They also make note of the  electrical outlet on the wall. Next time they go  

to band practice, Frank asks Litmus to get him  an extension cord and a drill out of the shop  

he's in charge of, an action he could be sent to  the hole for. Litmus accepts after being promised  

every dessert of Frank's from now on. Frank also  takes the chance to steal a small desk fan that  

he sneaks inside his accordion case and manages to  get away with by tricking the guard into checking  

Charley's case instead. Once they have all the  tools, including a penlight they steal from Doc,  

Frank and John go back to the utility corridor to  get to work. Always keeping an out for any passing  

guard, they use a pipe John tears off the wall  to break the bars that protect the shaft hole.  

Then Frank climbs inside and, using the drill  he's made with the tip Litmus got him and the fan,  

he takes off the screws on the metal plates that  cover up the passageway. Many months have passed  

since Frank's arrival to Alcatraz and the group  is finally ready to escape. Charley is worried  

because his fake grille keeps falling apart, but  John confirms the raft will be ready next Tuesday,  

so Frank decides they'll be going through the plan  on Tuesday night. One morning, during breakfast,  

Frank takes out the chrysanthemum Doc had left  him to water it. Litmus is pleasantly surprised  

to see it because it brings him memories of when  he and Doc planted those flowers together, but  

the warden has a completely different reaction:  the chrysanthemum reminds him of the paintings,  

so he comes by the table and crushes it, claiming  it's against the regulations. This enrages Litmus,  

who tries to jump on him, but instead he passes  out from a heart attack. After this encounter, the  

warden gets suspicious of Frank, so he orders an  inspection of his cell. They find nothing unusual  

and the fake grille manages to trick them, but the  warden is still worried, so he orders a guard to  

transfer Frank to another cell. The paperwork  required will take a couple of days, so the  

transfer will be done on Tuesday morning. The next  day, the group finds out Wolf has been brought  

back from the hole and swears he'll kill Frank as  soon as he gets the opportunity, so Frank decides  

they'll be escaping tonight instead of Tuesday.  Wolf does try to get him during their afternoon  

break in the yard, but English intercepts him  and drags him to meet his gang, implying they'll  

be beating him up for trying anything. When  night falls, it's finally time for the group  

to get going. Frank and the Anglins successfully  trick the guards with their dummies and enter the  

utility corridor, but Charley loses courage and  stays in his cell, crying. Carrying the raft and  

Litmus' mouse with them, the trio climbs up the  ventilation shaft and makes it to the roof, where  

they carefully sneak around by keeping an eye on  the movement of the searchlights to dodge them.  

They manage to cross the roof and find a pipeline  against the side wall that they use to climb down  

and reach the yard, where they are careful to,  once again, move around while avoiding the lights  

until they reach the fence. Meanwhile, Charley has  changed his mind and gone through the hole too.  

But when he reaches the ventilation shaft,  he can't reach it because he doesn't have his  

friends to give him a boost, so he returns to his  cell to spend the rest of the night sulking over  

the missed opportunity. Back to Frank and the  Anglins, they climb over the barbed-wire fence,  

using calculated jumps to avoid getting hurt,  and now they are officially out of the building,  

so they easily run towards the shoreline of the  island. There, they inflate the raft and jump  

on the water while clinging to it and using their  legs as their propelling force to swim away into  

freedom. The following morning, the guards find  out they're gone as soon as they check their cells  

and a massive search of the prison and the entire  island ensues. They find some of the inmates'  

personal effects floating in the bay, which makes  the warden believe they've drowned because they  

would never leave these things behind, but one  of the guards points out it could all be a decoy  

to make them think they're dead. The warden also  finds a chrysanthemum on a rock, and since these  

flowers aren't native to the island, it can  only mean Frank left it there as a message.  

The fugitives' bodies are never found, and the  prison of Alcatraz is shut down a year later.