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Poster for Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story
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Released
1980 · FILM

Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story

At 18, Carnes is the youngest man to be sent to The Rock, yet he vows he'll create the ultimate escape plan -- or die trying!

Directed by
Runtime
196 min
CrimeDramaActionTV Movie

Synopsis

Filmed on location at Alcatraz Island, this two-part film focuses on a small group of inmates within the prison's cold, grey walls. Michael Beck portrays Clarence Carnes, a real-life Oklahoma Choctaw Indian who was the youngest person ever incarcerated at the maximum security prison. Carnes was serving a 99-year sentence for a gas station robbery and murder, and the film depicts his several escape attempts, with the final one being the most violent. Most of the supporting characters and details about Carnes' escape efforts are fictional, with the exception of Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz," who is portrayed by Art Carney as a gentle, philosophical figure. Telly Savalas, who previously co-starred with Burt Lancaster in the 1962 film *Birdman of Alcatraz*, also appears in this 1980 production. Originally titled *Alcatraz and Clarence Carnes*, the made-for-TV movie shifts between gritty realism and more dramatic, stylized elements.

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 22

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Les GreenShot by Robert B HauserScored by Jerrold ImmelDesigned by William L Campbell

Also known as

  • Alcatrazde
  • Alcatraz - Historia de una fugaes

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