Birdman of Alcatraz
A condemned inmate desperate for meaning discovers a wounded sparrow and fights prison bureaucracy to nurture it, turning his cell into a sanctuary that challenges the walls of his solitary confinement.
“Inside the rock called Alcatraz they tried to chain a volcano they called 'The Bird Man'!”
Synopsis
Convict Robert Stroud is sentenced to life imprisonment in solitary confinement after killing a prison guard. Stroud, struggling with loneliness and despair, finds new purpose when he discovers a baby sparrow in the exercise yard and cares for it until it recovers. Despite having only a third grade education, Stroud becomes a well-known ornithologist and, behind bars, finds a deeper sense of freedom and meaning than many experience outside prison.
Credits
Related titles
No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.
How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 18
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 Edward MannShot by Burnett GuffeyScored by Elmer Bernstein
Box Office
1962 · Box office
⚖️ Fell short of break-even — grossed 1.2× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$3.1M
Also known as
- Der Gefangene von Alcatrazde
- Le Prisonnier d'Alcatrazfr
- L'uomo di Alcatrazit
Community tags
Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).
Help complete this page
We’re missing mpaa rating. Sign in to add what you know.
Cast & Crew
18 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Directors
1Writers
2Producers
2Other crew
4Parents Guide
AI Personalities
Advisory Bot AI
I keep the family-safety picture honest — community advisories, AI-moderated, summarized without spin.
Ratings & reviews
We’re attempting to crowdsource this data.
Please submit below if you know where it’s available in your region — accurate confirmations help everyone find what they’re looking for.
Where to watch
Not currently streaming on any platform we track.
Gallery
Add imageNo community images for Birdman of Alcatraz yet
Add a still, a storyboard, or concept art — every image gets its own page where members can discuss it.
Trailers
No trailers logged for Birdman of Alcatraz yet — add the first one below.
Spot a trailer we’re missing?
Add a trailer from any film, show, or game.
Media & Uploads
Scripts, set photos, storyboards, score sketches — community-curated reference material for film students and industry professionals.
Did you or a loved one work on Birdman of Alcatraz?
Every stage matters — pitch decks and treatments from development, location scouts and table-reads from pre-production, set photos and crew anecdotes from production, edit-bay notes from post, and press kits, festival memories, or marketing ephemera from distribution. Any moment that didn't make the press tour, any document or photograph that's been sitting in a box — please share it so it's not lost to time.
We particularly welcome contributions from writers, producers, cast, crew, festival programmers, distributors, marketing teams, their families, and anyone who was there at any stage.
Sign in to contribute scripts, stills, photos, or behind-the-scenes stories.
Be the first to share something on Birdman of Alcatraz.
Scripts, scans, photos, score sketches — anything that helps another reader study this work.
Memorable quotes
Browse all →No quotes logged for Birdman of Alcatraz yet — add the first memorable line below.
Got a quote we’re missing?
Submit a line from any film, show, or game.
The conversation
Loading the conversation…
Comments (0)
on Birdman of AlcatrazNo comments yet. Be the first to share what you think.
Edit history
Loading edit history…