THE BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ is based on the true-life experiences of Robert Stroud, a lifer in the penal system who proves that a human life has the capacity to rise above the verdict of total doom and still make positive contribution to society under extreme odds. As a young doomed inmate at Leavenworth prison, Robert Stroud was a young and violent offender. When Stroud kills a guard, he is sentenced to be executed; only his mother's impassioned plea commutes his sentence to life imprisonment which he must serve in solitary confinement. One day, he finds a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard. Stroud soon takes a deep interest in caring for birds, which gives him a new purpose in lif, but also brings new conflicts with prison authorities. What follows is the story of Stroud's eventual expertise in the field of ornathology. John Frankenheimer scored his first directorial success with BIRDMAN. Lancaster delivers an angry, brooding performance. Intelligently filmed in black & white and based on the book by Thomas E. Gaddis, Frankenheimer creates a portrait of a withdrawn, antisocial prisoner who discovers his own potential after reluctantly rescuing a wounded sparrow from a storm and nursing it back to health. Lancaster's quiet portrayal comes from his eyes and restrained body language, earning him his second Oscar nomination. Frankenheimer's sensitive direction draws equally fine performances from Telly Savalas, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand, and Karl Malden as the tough warden whose ideas of confinement and punishment prompted Stroud to follow-up his studies of birds with a treatise on prison reform. This somber, subdued tale offers no truly happy ending, but it does present a powerful portrait of one man's efforts to earn back his dignity and respect under harsh conditions. The real-life Stroud's work and citations in the science of ornathology are still used as standards in bird science to this day.
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