The physical transformation that Burt Lancaster goes through over the course of this movie is impressive, and he's as engaging as always. I didn't like the character's mental transformation all that much though, because it's such a glorified view of Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz. I'm all for the film's messages of rehabilitation and treating prisoners with respect, but think that should have been accompanied by the truth, that Stroud was violent, aggressive, and dangerous. Also, for 143 minutes, I would have loved to have seen the things that shaped him, e.g. His abusive father, who took him out of school in the 3rd grade, and his becoming a hobo on freight trains at 13. I would have loved to have seen more of his victims, e.g. The prostitutes he pimped out, his first murder, or the family of the guard he killed at Leavenworth. I would have loved to seen the sinister side that other inmates talked about, even while he was doing wonderful things studying all those birds. As it is, the film became tiring to me in its second half, as much as I liked seeing Lancaster throw himself into this part.
Review of Birdman of Alcatraz
