MovieChat Forums > Escape from Alcatraz (1979) Discussion > The escapees might NOT have been terribl...

The escapees might NOT have been terrible people.

posted 10 years ago by creatorof2002
23 replies | jump to latest

Ok in the movie they were portrayed as heroes even though they were all hardened criminals BUT I was watching a documentary on the National Geographic channel about the incident some months ago and one day after the escape shown in this movie a man was carjacked. Three (emphasis on the number THREE) men roughed him up and zoomed off in his car and this was in the hills of Marin County not that far from Alcatraz. The now elderly man was being interviewed recounting what had happened to him and he says it happened very fast and it was dark so he never got a good look at the faces but it did occur a day after the escape and it was 3 men.

He had to walk for several hours to get help as nobody had cell phones then and in the hills there was no phone booth. Being late at nite there were very few other cars and usually people do not stop for hitchhikers or lone walkers trying to wave down help. By the time he was able to report the carjacking several hours had elapsed and he never did get his car back and the carjackers were never found out.

Now it IS possible that it is a coincidence and 3 DIFFERENT men just happened to do a carjacking the next day but IF it had been those 3 escapees I am kind of heartened that they did NOT kill the guy, they did NOT take the guy hostage (kidnapping to add to the crime of carjacking and prison escape etc) and they did not hurt the guy too badly (they beat him up a little but he was not too badly hurt to walk down the mountain for help).

Killing the guy might have been the wisest thing to do since he would report the incident and if they were afraid of murder charges they could have kidnapped him to buy time but they let him go basically unharmed.

If it was the escapees to me it gave them some good Karma which may be part of why they were never caught.

[–] joel-craike 10 years ago

Wow that was so interesting! where did you manage to get this information from and how can I find the video of the now elderly man being interviewed (the guy who's 1955 blue chevrolet got stolen by 3 hijackers on the same night of the great escape june 11 1962?)

[–] creatorof2002 10 years ago

It was a documentary on the National Geographic Channel that I saw a while ago and I do not remember the exact title of it but it was a documentary about the escape and some elderly inmates who had finally been released and some guards are still alive and they were interviewed in the show.

Escapees cases are not officially closed until they are 100 years old since so few people live more than a century. There is a proverb that justice delayed is justice denied. If any of the escapees are still alive and caught now they have already had so many decades of freedom that cannot be taken from them that they have already pretty much won.

Same goes for these elderly 95 year old Nazi officers they periodically have caught. A "life" sentence would be measured in months not years and they got all those decades of freedom.

Anyway, the carjackers were never caught and carjackers are almost always MEN (as opposed to women) and tend to work in groups so its quite possible it was a coincidence I just meant IF it had been the escapees it would show that there is some good in everyone and that is kind of a sweet thing.

It kind of reminds me of Russel Crowe in 310 to Yuma taking the guns and horses from that family who was a witness to his robbing a stagecoach but then he told them to walk home. It sucks that they lost their horses and guns but he did not kill them. Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger also would never kill a hostage, they always released their hostages in an isolated forest area knowing it would take them several hours to walk to help (no cell phones then)

[–] marktayloruk 10 years ago

If they were found now,I'd pardon them!

[–] fairy_depp 10 years ago

It could be true but then they would also have had no motive to kill him. I'm not sure what crimes they had committed but they didn't need to kill the man, they just needed to overwhelm him enough to get his car.. They knew where they left him and that he had no way of telling anyone before they had got to safety. It doesn't make them good people in my mind, it makes them just slightly less awful

[–] creatorof2002 10 years ago

Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu6RGEebnKg

[–] DJDigiMark 10 years ago

They were all in for robbery, burglary etc. None of them were in prison for murder, so there was no reason they would kill someone at that point unless absolutely necessary.

[–] vestdennis 9 years ago

Interesting but hardly proof that was the three escapees. Experts say there is no way they could have survived the extremely cold, choppy, waters. Discovery Channel ran a special a few years ago, reenacting that night with nearly identical conditions. They used an expert swimmer and even he couldn't navigate those waters. He had to be rescued or else he would have drowned. The tide most certainly pulled them into the ocean.

[–] imadbasayev 9 years ago

Again, they had a raft. And why do you think they didn't reveal the stolen car till decades later?

[–] vestdennis 9 years ago

Flimsy rafts made of raincoats are hardly adequate to traverse the violent waters in the bay. As for the stolen car, that proves/disproves nothing.

[–] imadbasayev 9 years ago

Yes, a raft on Angel Island with footprints leading away from it, and a stolen car hijacked by three men the same night doesn't prove anything. The lack of any bodies washed up when on average 75% of bodies wash up in the bay proves nothing. Try again champ.

[–] vestdennis 9 years ago

What is your obsession with trying so foolishly to prove they survived? Yes, a raft was found on Angel Island but it could have easily washed ashore there. As for the stolen car story the FBI and local law enforcement authorities deny a car was stolen the same night.

This link details how the only way they could have possibly survived was leaving between 11pm- midnight. And that doesn't mean they did, just that they might could have. We were never know for sure but given how violent, cold & choppy the waters are (especially at night) their chances were slim and none.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/15/the-alcatraz-escapees-could-have-survived-and-this-interactive-model-proves-it/

[–] imadbasayev 9 years ago

What is your obsession with trying so foolishly to prove they died?

Yes, a raft was found AS WERE FOOTPRINTS leading away from it. Are you trying to be a moron or is it natural? Why would you ignore that point and claim it could've washed ashore? And if it did wash ashore then why didn't any bodies wash ashore? Wouldn't that prove that the tides worked in their favour if the raft washed ashore? It doesn't even matter though, cause there were footprints leading from the raft and 3 men stole a car. Sorry budz, but with the release of the previously hidden fbi files, the circumstantial evidence is in favour of them living, not dying.

[–] vestdennis 9 years ago

Dream on buddy. You try swimming that distance in those waters at night with a flimsy raincoat raft if you think it's so easy. Let me know how it turns out for you. Be sure to leave an updated will first though.

[–] imadbasayev 9 years ago

They didn't have to swim because they had a raft. If it was so flimsy how did it make it to the beach intact? Also, it seems you're still dodging the footprints lol.

[–] creatorof2002 9 years ago

Didn't the mythbusters show have an episode where they proved the raft would work, didn't they build a similar raft?

[–] imadbasayev 9 years ago

Ya they did. But that's doesn't matter anyway cause they found the raft with footprints leading away from it.

[–] PaladinNJ (21582) 2 years ago

No they didn't. In real life, they found pieces of the raft washed up on Angel Island. No footprints.

[–] millsey72 (10539) 2 years ago

A raft easily could have worked. Like a million years prior, there was a man named Noah who built some kind of ark and it was able to save him and thousands of animals from drowning torrential rainstorms

[–] unknown_soul278 9 years ago

They probably didn't need the raft. They could have used anything to hook on the back of the last ferry out. It may have taken about 15 minutes to get across and the ferry pulling them also minimized the energy they needed. The raft could have been used as a distraction like the dummy heads they left in their beds.

[–] LeonardPine 9 years ago

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3270269/The-picture-proves-two-inmates-DID-escape-Alcatraz-Notorious-escapees-didn-t-drown-body-surfed-passenger-ferry-freedom-started-farm-Brazil-claims-family.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Was it a millionaire who said "Imagine no possessions"?

[–] willydoe71 9 years ago

So, by your standards, someone can rape a person, but as long as they don't kill them, then they aren't a terrible person?

[–] creatorof2002 8 years ago

You are going to compare rape to taking a car?? In prison certain people are not even liked by the other inmates, child abusers and rapists are not even liked by the other inmates but stealing a car is fair game.

[–] liscarkat (18886) 2 years ago

In 1962 they didn't have cell phones?