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Thanks for the memories!

best movie i've ever seen.

An Exercise In Nonsense

A Masterpiece!

Fascinating biopic about Robert Stroud, a man committed to life in prison who became one of the premier experts and authors in the world of bird diseases.The film has that raggedy visual style common to John Frankenheimer movies, which I like. But the screenplay is straight up inspirational Hollywood stuff about the inherent dignity of human life no matter what the circumstances, not a perspective I particularly share. It's also far too long, losing the thread of Stroud's story a bit along the way. A long segment detailing a famous escape attempt from Alcatraz will satisfy those who like a good prison break movie, but it feels tangential to the main plot and adds a good 20 minutes or so to the movie.Burt Lancaster was a go-to actor for steely resolve, and he reeks of it in this film. Another welcome presence is Thelma Ritter as Stroud's mother, a sweet old lady who turns out to have a heart of ice. Yikes, am I glad I wasn't born into this family. Lancaster and Ritter were both Oscar nominated, as was Telly Savalas as a fellow inmate and friend to Stroud. But one of my favorite performances came from the unrecognized Betty Field, as the woman who would eventually marry the incarcerated Stroud and turn his mother against him.Rounding out the film's quartet of Oscar nominations was the black and white cinematography of Burnett Guffey, who had already won for "From Here to Eternity" and would go on to win again for "Bonnie and Clyde."Aside: With her sixth loss, Thelma Ritter tied Deborah Kerr as the female actor with the most nominations never to have won, a record that stands to this day, though Kerr did win an honorary award in 1993. The all-time loser record goes to poor Peter O'Toole, with eight losses. O'Toole was also thrown an honorary bone in 2002, but lord knows he should have won legitimately any number of times.Grade: A-

Well acted film from a cast of excellent character actors who only add to Burt Lancaster's fine performance. If you give a man an inch he will often take a mile. Indeed a man who commits murder only to find a purpose of being curious and eventual caring for birds; shows how fulfillment can bring out the best in a human being. Enjoyable film with the directors close ups giving much flavor to the performances.

I would have bet some poetic license was taken with this depiction of Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz, and a host of other reviewers state that case pretty well. What I kept wondering as the film progressed was how he came to be known by his nickname since all of his bird study took place at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. I guess it doesn't matter much as Alcatraz sounds a lot catchier than Leavenworth.Well Burt Lancaster was given a large one man job here and he pulled it off pretty well. His presence dominates most of the picture and even when he's not on screen you can feel it. It seems to me that Lancaster had to have a certain kind of patience to film a host of scenes that required all manner of birds to behave in just the right way. A 'making of' film about this movie would probably be as interesting as the picture itself.Oddly, there were two different scenes that didn't involve birds that captured my interest the most. The first was when guard Bull Ransom (Neville Brand) challenged Stroud for not treating him like a human being, not even talking to him. In a strange way the dynamic of the picture turned the usual treatment of prisoners of the era on it's head. Then, towards the end of the film, Stroud basically uses the same tactic to let Warden Shoemaker (Karl Malden) know that his approach to inmates robs them of their individuality by treating them all the same way. I thought that was a clever observation for director Frankenheimer to make.So as a stand alone movie, this one rates pretty highly with me. In fact, when I finished watching, I immediately checked the awards competition for 1962 to see what edged this story out for the major Academy nominations. Not that I saw it as a contender for Best Picture, but between Lancaster, Savalas, and Ritter, I thought one of them might have pulled it off for their respective category. I guess it's fair enough that each was nominated; they all did an outstanding job. Savalas in particular had that crazed menace thing going for him making you wonder if he was going to flip out at any minute.Best quote of the movie and strangely apropos for it's subject matter occurs when Stroud goes on a drunken binge in his cell and releases all the birds to show his displeasure - "Fly my avian friends. I give you the illusion of freedom."

When I first saw this film I thought that Lancaster had done a very good job. Unfortunately, I then read up on the man the movie had practically immortalized and realized I'd been had. Again. I lost a lot of respect for Lancaster after that. Apparently the only way a story can turn out the way Hollywood wants is to simply manufacture it. Of all the historical films that I've seen whose events I am familiar with, the only one that I can honestly say was accurate was The Longest Day. As for the other reviewers who somehow find deep meaning in what, for all intents and purposes, seems to be some sort of religious or propagandistic morality play, well, I didn't discern any deep thinking floating around the cell block.