blowero
03-11-2004, 02:03 AM
Probably hard to spoil a movie called "Escape from Alcatraz" (starring Clint Eastwood), but please don't read my questions if you haven't seen it and don't want to know what happens.
In no particular order:
1. Is it actually possible to weld a spoon to nail clippers using a bunch of matches bundled together, as Morris does in one scene? He is shown filing off part of a dime, so I would assume he was doing some sort of silver-soldering, using the dime filings as the solder. But silver-soldering doesn't work unless you get the object red-hot. Would that be enough heat to do it?
2. On the night they escape, Butts is still in his cell when the others go into the utility corridor. They call to Butts, who says he'll meet them "up top". Then Butts is shown, still in his cell, looking very distraught, but it doesn't seem clear why. Does he chicken out and not have enough nerve to go through with it at first? Is the guard watching and thus preventing him from making his escape? A guard is shown looking in on Butts, but only later after Butts has already initially failed to get out of his cell. There is a suggestion that the phony vent grill he made is stuck in the hole (earlier, Morris had told him to use contact cement to keep it from falling out), but again, it's only shown after Butts' initial failure to escape, and he easily circumvents this problem by smashing it with his foot. So what's the real reason that Butts doesn't get out of his cell in time?
3. When they are discussing the escape plan, Morris says they will go to Angel Island, because he believes the guards will look for them in San Francisco. But in the final scene, the warden and guards are shown searching Angel Island. Was Morris supposed to be wrong? He was portrayed as being highly intelligent; it seems unlikely that he would end up being wrong at the end of the movie with no explanation. If they had gone to Angel Island, why didn't the guards find them? I realize that it's a true story, and that in reality they were never found, so then why have the premise that they would escape to Angel Island at all?
4. Why do you suppose the warden didn't like the portrait of himself? It seemed like a pretty good likeness, and not unflattering. Was it just the idea of a prisoner painting him that bothered him?
5. What was the purpose of the headphones that a prisoner is shown wearing in one scene? Were the prisoners provided with piped-in music at Alcatraz? I have visited Alcatraz and noticed the headphone jacks in every cell, and wondered the same thing, then later noticed it in the movie.
Apologies if any of these questions are incredibly stupid - please be gentle with me. ;)
In no particular order:
1. Is it actually possible to weld a spoon to nail clippers using a bunch of matches bundled together, as Morris does in one scene? He is shown filing off part of a dime, so I would assume he was doing some sort of silver-soldering, using the dime filings as the solder. But silver-soldering doesn't work unless you get the object red-hot. Would that be enough heat to do it?
2. On the night they escape, Butts is still in his cell when the others go into the utility corridor. They call to Butts, who says he'll meet them "up top". Then Butts is shown, still in his cell, looking very distraught, but it doesn't seem clear why. Does he chicken out and not have enough nerve to go through with it at first? Is the guard watching and thus preventing him from making his escape? A guard is shown looking in on Butts, but only later after Butts has already initially failed to get out of his cell. There is a suggestion that the phony vent grill he made is stuck in the hole (earlier, Morris had told him to use contact cement to keep it from falling out), but again, it's only shown after Butts' initial failure to escape, and he easily circumvents this problem by smashing it with his foot. So what's the real reason that Butts doesn't get out of his cell in time?
3. When they are discussing the escape plan, Morris says they will go to Angel Island, because he believes the guards will look for them in San Francisco. But in the final scene, the warden and guards are shown searching Angel Island. Was Morris supposed to be wrong? He was portrayed as being highly intelligent; it seems unlikely that he would end up being wrong at the end of the movie with no explanation. If they had gone to Angel Island, why didn't the guards find them? I realize that it's a true story, and that in reality they were never found, so then why have the premise that they would escape to Angel Island at all?
4. Why do you suppose the warden didn't like the portrait of himself? It seemed like a pretty good likeness, and not unflattering. Was it just the idea of a prisoner painting him that bothered him?
5. What was the purpose of the headphones that a prisoner is shown wearing in one scene? Were the prisoners provided with piped-in music at Alcatraz? I have visited Alcatraz and noticed the headphone jacks in every cell, and wondered the same thing, then later noticed it in the movie.
Apologies if any of these questions are incredibly stupid - please be gentle with me. ;)