ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

evanston_dad Fascinating biopic about Robert Stroud, a man committed to life in prison who became one of the premier experts and authors in the world of bird diseases.The film has that raggedy visual style common to John Frankenheimer movies, which I like. But the screenplay is straight up inspirational Hollywood stuff about the inherent dignity of human life no matter what the circumstances, not a perspective I particularly share. It's also far too long, losing the thread of Stroud's story a bit along the way. A long segment detailing a famous escape attempt from Alcatraz will satisfy those who like a good prison break movie, but it feels tangential to the main plot and adds a good 20 minutes or so to the movie.Burt Lancaster was a go-to actor for steely resolve, and he reeks of it in this film. Another welcome presence is Thelma Ritter as Stroud's mother, a sweet old lady who turns out to have a heart of ice. Yikes, am I glad I wasn't born into this family. Lancaster and Ritter were both Oscar nominated, as was Telly Savalas as a fellow inmate and friend to Stroud. But one of my favorite performances came from the unrecognized Betty Field, as the woman who would eventually marry the incarcerated Stroud and turn his mother against him.Rounding out the film's quartet of Oscar nominations was the black and white cinematography of Burnett Guffey, who had already won for "From Here to Eternity" and would go on to win again for "Bonnie and Clyde."Aside: With her sixth loss, Thelma Ritter tied Deborah Kerr as the female actor with the most nominations never to have won, a record that stands to this day, though Kerr did win an honorary award in 1993. The all-time loser record goes to poor Peter O'Toole, with eight losses. O'Toole was also thrown an honorary bone in 2002, but lord knows he should have won legitimately any number of times.Grade: A-

elvircorhodzic BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ is a biographical drama about the life of a federal prison inmate.Robert Stroud is imprisoned as a young man for committing a murder in Alaska. He is a rebellious prisoner who is in a frequent conflict with a rigid prison system and its staff. Soon, he stars an open conflict with a strict warden of Leavenworth Prison. Stroud is sentenced to death, due to a fatal incident in prison, but his mother runs a successful campaign and he is commuted to life in prison. To break the monotony, Stroud adopts an orphaned baby sparrow as a pet. Soon, the birds have become the most important part of his everyday life. When they fall ill, he conducts experiments and comes up with a cure. The killer and conflicted character becomes a genius...It's very easy to draw the line between the real and the fictional part of the story. This is, perhaps, the most obvious weakness of this film. However, this is a very striking portrait of a prisoner, which stimulates the emotions. A kind of manipulation of the true facts led to the results, after which the birds have completely changed the character of a wicked prisoner. There is too much coincidence, I think that one part of the true event, which would likely have a powerful effect on the audience, is set aside. A rehabilitation of a semi-literate prisoner, taking into account the fact that this prisoner fell rescued from certain death, is simply amazing.The love between the main character and his pets is fascinating, at the same time his relationship with other people is vague and inarticulate. People have taken his liberty, dignity and later his love and intimacy. Scenery is realistic and characterization is very good.Burt Lancaster as Robert Stroud is a vital, conscientious and temperate character. A prisoner, who has found a way out of his despair and loneliness. This is, perhaps, his best performance. Karl Malden as Harvey Shoemaker is a frustrated antagonist, which is driven by his own passion. The passions sometimes blind a man.Their support are Thelma Ritter (Elizabeth McCartney Stroud) as a persistent and passionate Robert's mother, Betty Field (Stella Johnson) as a bit desperate wife, who can not tolerate tightness of a brilliant mind and Neville Brand (Bull Ransom) as the voice of reason and compassion in this film.Well, we have saw the bright side of this story, some might know the other side.

Claudio Carvalho In 1912, the notorious and violent prisoner Robert Franklin Stroud (Burt Lancaster) is transferred to the Leavenworth Prison convicted for murdering a man. When a guard cancels the visit of his mother Elizabeth Stroud (Thelma Ritter) due to a violation of the internal rules, he stabs and kills the guard and goes to trial three times. He is sentenced to be executed by the gallows, but his mother appeals to President Woodrow Wilson that commutes his sentence to life imprisonment. However, the warden Harvey Shoemaker (Karl Malden) decides to keep Stroud in the solitary for the rest of his life.One day, Stroud finds a sparrow that has fallen from the nest on the yard and he raises the bird until it is strong enough to fly. Stroud finds a motivation for his life raising and caring birds and becomes an expert in birds. He marries Stella Johnson (Betty Field) and together they run a business, providing medicine developed by Stroud. But a few years after, Stroud is transferred to Alcatraz and has to leave his birds behind. "Birdman of Alcatraz" is an impressive film based on a true story of a prisoner that finds a purpose of life raising and caring birds and becoming a recognized ornithologist by himself. Burt Lancaster has a top-notch performance in the role of Robert Franklin Stroud and the footages with birds are impressive. However, it seems that Stroud did not have the glamour of the character performed by Burt Lancaster and was actually a psychopath. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "O Homem de Alcatraz" ("The Man of Alcatraz")

ramonhleigh When I first saw this film I thought that Lancaster had done a very good job. Unfortunately, I then read up on the man the movie had practically immortalized and realized I'd been had. Again. I lost a lot of respect for Lancaster after that. Apparently the only way a story can turn out the way Hollywood wants is to simply manufacture it. Of all the historical films that I've seen whose events I am familiar with, the only one that I can honestly say was accurate was The Longest Day. As for the other reviewers who somehow find deep meaning in what, for all intents and purposes, seems to be some sort of religious or propagandistic morality play, well, I didn't discern any deep thinking floating around the cell block.