Don Siegel (1912–1991)

Four Alcatraz inmates try to escape.

3/4 (Good).

I went in knowing the details of the escape, which didn't help the suspense any. And the attempts to make the characters sympathetic check a lot of my Bad Storytelling Pet Peeve boxes. But I still enjoyed it, so it must be a pretty good movie.

Plants from space are replacing people.

Maybe I would have liked it if I hadn't read the book. I can't tell. During the time when suspense might (or might not) have been building, the adaptation is so close to the book that I couldn't really separate the two. The best thing about the book is the ending, and yet they felt the need to mess it up in both movie versions. In the 70s, they gave it a mindless zombie movie ending. But in this version, they don't even bother to replace it with show more anything. There's just... no ending. The last 20 minutes of the movie is nothing but flailing gibberish.

Concept: B
Story: C
Characters: C
Dialog: D
Pacing: C
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: C

Enjoyment: C plus

GPA: 2.3/4 show less

Superior story of San Francisco police detectives after Brian Keith's father and Eli Wallach, who are collecting heroin (and perhaps other drugs) that have been unwittingly brought into the country by unsuspecting tourists. The whole cast is good, but Wallach is truly psychotic, cold-blooded, and unforgettable. Milburn Drysdale also appears, but no Clampetts. As always, the San Francisco locations are incredible--this film looks great. In fact, the city looks better then than it does now....

2025 movie #73. 1953. When a migrant farm worker is falsely accused of murder, an attorney reluctantly takes his case. And gets obsessed with proving his innocence. A low budget B-picture, but well played and directed.