Trivia / Escape from Alcatraz

• Dawson Casting: Clint Eastwood is 13 years older than his character's age. Frank Lee Morris was 35 years old when he got away. Eastwood was 48 when he made this film.
• Race Lift: Black convict English is based on Clarence Carnes, who was a Choctaw Indian.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: The unnamed Warden is an amalgam of Paul J. Madigan, who was warden when Frank Morris arrived at Alcatraz, and Olin G. Blackwell, who was warden during the actual escape. At one point, the Warden namedrops Blackwell as his predecessor, persumably to avoid any legal issues with the real Blackwell, who was still alive at the time.
• No Stunt Double: The dangerous escape down the prison wall and into the water was performed without stunt doubles. It was performed by Clint Eastwood, Fred Ward and Jack Thibeau; the latter two were cast in the film partially due to their athletic ability. Don Siegel twice thought that he had lost his actors to the treacherous currents.
• The Red Stapler: One of the most popular questions the Alcatraz Prison tour guides get since this movie shot there has been "Which one was Clint Eastwood's cell?"
• Star-Making Role: This was Fred Ward's first major role, after appearing in a series of small roles.
• Troubled Production: The cast and crew noted that production for this movie was particularly harsh and unpleasant, due to the physical environment and shooting limitations. The weather was often rainy, windy, and severe, and the cast and crew had to endure the bitter cold, without any heat source. Also, Alcatraz's roles as a nationally-historic site and major tourist attraction required film workers to be careful not to damage the location.
• Wag the Director: Don Siegel’s original ending closed with the guards’ discovery of the dummy in Morris’s bed, leaving it ambiguous on whether the escape attempt succeeded or failed. Clint Eastwood disliked this and extended the ending, by having the Warden searching Angel Island and discovering a chrysanthemum on the rocks, a genus not native to the island, but grown on Alcatraz by Doc, and later used by Morris, though it is left unclear if the chrysanthemum was placed there by Morris having survived, or simply washed up when Morris drowned; it is left up to the audience as to whether the escapees succeeded or not.

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