Director
: John Frankenheimer
Actors: Burt Lancaster Karl Madentelli Savale 1. The limitation of
space will not hinder the cultivation of human interest, and interest is the reconciler of the mind.
2. The world outside the prison is just a big prison, and the life inside the prison is my little world.
It's one of my favorite movies and one of the best performances by Burt Lancaster, and personally I think it's one of his best performances by an actor I admire the most. The movie itself also gave me confidence in life!
The film tells the story of the arrogant young American Robert Stroud who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for murder in 1909. In prison, he killed the jailer who prevented his mother from visiting the prison, and the sentence was commuted to death. Thanks to Stroud's mother running around for the president's help, the president commuted his sentence to life in prison. Stroud thinks life imprisonment is better than death, how painful it is to stay here all your life. Days passed, and one day he stumbled upon an injured little sparrow while he was out in the wind, and he took him to his prison to nurse it. Watching the little bird's injury improved day by day, Stroud regarded it as a companion. Bird was released again after he had fully recovered, but it was not long before the bird came back. Since then, Robert has gradually cultivated his interest in raising birds, which led to the interest of another inmate (Telly Savalas). There were more and more birds in the prison, and the conditions in the prison were so bad. With the death of the birds, Stroud began to not only keep birds, but also began to read books on birds and further study the disease of birds. Make bird potions. He also applied for a larger prison for his long-term bird experiments. Hard work pays off. After a long period of observation and exploration, Robert Stroud has become an internationally renowned ornithologist who is well versed in the habits of birds, and he has done experiments in prison to write books.
Adapted from real events, the famous American director John Frankenheimer, who is good at shooting political films, handles this complicated character in a methodical manner. Burt Lancaster also fully interprets the complex psychological feelings and unique temperament of the protagonist. His performance is quiet and restrained. From his twenties to his 60s and 70s, especially his performance in the latter part of the film has reached the level of perfection, showing the transition from a warm-blooded young man to a kind old man appropriately. For example, when he was young, he killed the jailer impulsively and did not obey the violent warden. When he began to study birds, he became obsessed with them. When his female partner gets married, he abandons his mother who opposes his research on birds; in his later years, the inmates in the prison riot, but he teaches them to lay down their weapons and treat the seriously injured inmates and negotiate with the warden... This complex psychological role passes through Lancaster The interpretation became vivid, although he won the Oscar for "Elmer Gantry" two years ago, but this time he lost to Gregory Peck's "To Kill a Mockingbird" It is a pity, fortunately he won He won the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival that year.
The title "Birdman of Alcatraz" works well. Robert Stroud is called "Birdman" (translated as "Birdman") because he later became an ornithologist; another meaning of "Birdman" is to want to be like a bird like a flying person. Stroud was sentenced to life in prison, and he longed for life outside prison, so "Birdman" was an apt title.
Alcatraz Prison is a famous prison in the United States, "The Rock" (Brave to the Dead Island) is Alcatraz Prison, Stroud is a famous prisoner in Alcatraz, and there was also the famous Al Kabon during the prohibition period in the United States!
Robert Stroud gradually changed his stubbornness when he was young because of raising birds. Stroud's love and devotion to birds made him delicate and emotional. Although he wanted to sit through the prison, he was calm and calm. Just take care of his "bird family". The most representative scene in the film is the middle-aged Robert sitting on a wooden bed, holding a bowl of water in both hands, earnestly quenching thirst for a few birds, surrounded by birds from head to toe. But his eyes full of sadness are telling the audience: he also longs for freedom but knows it is hopeless.
There is also a detailed description of Stroud's Oedipus complex in the film. I don't know if Stroud himself is like this, or the director did it intentionally, because films in the 1960s often described Oedipus complex. Stroud put his mother's photo on a shelf, and prevented other inmates from even beating them. He even killed the guard who prevented his mother from visiting the prison. It wasn't until he met a woman who studied birds like him that he turned against his mother, who was against her son's study of birds and was extremely fond of her son.
The film is the second collaboration between male protagonist Burt Lancaster and director John Frankenheimer. The two have worked together seamlessly, working together five times in the 1960s. In addition to this film: The Young Savages (1961), Seven Days in May (1964), The Train (1965), The Gypsy Moths (69), 90 John Frankenheimer also remade The Island of Dr. Moreau starring Lancaster in the 70s.
Other actors in the film are also excellent, such as Telly Savalas (often playing the villain's big bald head) who plays the inmate who also loves birds deeply. But it's not as bad as his later films in this movie. Although he is also a prisoner, he looks a little bad, but he is actually kind, and he loves raising birds. He is also very cute. And the "big nose" Karl Malden ("A Streetcar Named Desire"), who plays the warden, also played well. The warden's relationship with Stroud went from being antagonistic at the beginning to gradually trusting Stroud. In addition, the friendship between Stroud and the jailer is also very delicately portrayed. Stroud killed a jailer when he was young. Later, when he matured, he gradually established a deep friendship with another jailer who took care of him.
BTW:
The Real Robert Stroud
Robert Stroud was sentenced to 12 years for the murder of a man in 1909, and was commuted to death in 1916 for the murder of a jailer, but was later pardoned by Woodrow Wilson to life in prison. He spent a total of 54 years in prison, 40 of which were in solitary confinement (17 in Alcatraz), and died in 1963 (the year after the film was released) at the Federal Prisoners' Medical Center, a veritable life sentence.
05-03-26
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