Charley Butts aka Allen West

I don't know why they changed his name, but I'm tempted to think it might have been because the real Allen West was still alive when the screenplay was being written. West died at the end of 1978, and the film was released in mid 1979, but the script would probably have been written about a year before the release. Maybe his name was changed so him or his relatives couldn't claim he was being wrongly depicted (such as being more involved in the escape planning). Just a theory, or maybe his name was changed for comic relief. I don't know the real reason, but the warden of Alcatraz in the film was changed from the real warden in 1962, to avoid legal trouble, maybe the same was done with West. Sorry that's not much help.

There seem to be two parts to the question. The first part, why change the name? The answer is obvious, because he was still alive so they avoid any potential legal issues. The second part, why make the name Charley Butts?! By far, the more confusing and intriguing question.

the actor playing cellmate charley butts was so unexpected in this sort of role after i've only seen him later in his career playing goofy parts, the most disturbing part of this movie was when the cellmate whose whole existence revolves around painting and the sadistic warden takes away his permission to continue to paint and what the cellmate then does to himself, that is a scene i have to look away from ever since i first experienced watching that scene when i first saw this movie ages ago, but i remember how disturbing it was, as this aired recently it was to be screened again shortly afterwards and i was gonna tune in for another view, but i really just couldn't bear with it when that warden appeared again, as i recall that actor always played villains, i will always remember a segment on "the tonight show" at the time he passed on, jay leno picked out a paper reporting on his death, and the photo of the actor the newspaper had chosen was where he had a gun pointed right at his head, and leno said something like "was this the right photo to use?". the chatty cellmate seemed a bit out of place behind bars, right, more like he was at a grocery store having a friendly sociable chat, and the big guy who wants eastwood as his "girlfriend" adds a lot to the story, including humour, suspense and tragedy, i can't believe how he was still able to move around after such a long time in that dark miserable cell, i wasn't sure he would appear in the movie again after all he injured a guard. there is great imagery contrast between the grey walls bars of prison and the outside footage of the sunset over the ocean, sort of like a "green grass of home" vibe.



🌉🌅🏊‍🏊‍🏊‍⛰🌺🖼🎨🥄




letting me use your well sweet,
source to soil fertility,
a lot of area to delve was used drift alone,
you showed whats a home,
feel good inside walkin from shallow path,
you guided me to a better land.