Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Drama, Thriller • 1h 53m
Overview
San Francisco Bay, January 18, 1960. Frank Lee Morris is transferred to Alcatraz, a maximum security prison located on a rocky island. Although no one has ever managed to escape from there, Frank and other inmates begin to carefully prepare an escape plan.
Director: Don Siegel
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom, Jack Thibeau, Fred Ward, Paul Benjamin, Larry Hankin, Bruce M. Fischer, Frank Ronzio, Fred Stuthman, David Cryer, Hank Brandt, Ray K. Goman, Blair Burrows, Madison Arnold, Garry Goodrow, Ron Vernan, Ed Vasgersian, Matthew Locricchio, Bob Balhatchet, Stephen Bradley, Regina Baff, Joe Miksak, Candace Bowen, Don Michaelian, Dan Leegant, John Garabedian, Jason Ronard, Ross Reynolds, Al Dunlap, Denis Berkfeldt, Jim Haynie, Tony Dario, Fritz Manes, Dana Derfus, Don Cummins, Gordon Handforth, John Scanlon, Don Watters, Joe Knowland, James Collier, R. J. Ganzert, Robert Hirschfeld, Lloyd Nelson, George Orrison, Gary Warren, Joseph Whipp, Terry Wills, Dale Alvarez, Sheldon Feldner, Danny Glover, Carl Lumbly, Patrick Valentino, Gilbert Thomas Jr., Eugene Jackson
Director: Don Siegel
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Don Siegel
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or 2018 Olive Films/BFI or 2012 Olive Films/Italy Sinister Films Blu-ray, all three are not ideal.
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or 2018 Olive Films/BFI or 2012 Olive Films/Italy Sinister Films Blu-ray, all three are not ideal.
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has frozen grain, sharpening, lots of debris, and handles lesser materials. The supposed non-Superscope version is false advertising. It merely reveals more picture information.
1992 Republic Pictures LaserDisc PCM Mono
Criterion LaserDisc has exclusive commentary. Olive Films Signature Blu-ray and BFI Blu-ray each have exclusive extras. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has exclusive commentary.
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or 2018 Olive Films/BFI or 2012 Olive Films/Italy Sinister Films Blu-ray, all three are not ideal.
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or 2018 Olive Films/BFI or 2012 Olive Films/Italy Sinister Films Blu-ray, all three are not ideal.
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has frozen grain, sharpening, lots of debris, and handles lesser materials. The supposed non-Superscope version is false advertising. It merely reveals more picture information.
1992 Republic Pictures LaserDisc PCM Mono
Criterion LaserDisc has exclusive commentary. Olive Films Signature Blu-ray and BFI Blu-ray each have exclusive extras. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has exclusive commentary.
Director: Don Siegel
WB 4K Blu-ray despite extreme frozen grain in moments, overzealous HDR brightness in outdoor sequences, color timing shifts in some shots
Original Mono Mix: 1990's LaserDisc stereo remix folded back to mono, original VHS and Beta Hifi, WB 4K Blu-ray mono
Director: Don Siegel
WB 4K Blu-ray despite extreme frozen grain in moments, overzealous HDR brightness in outdoor sequences, color timing shifts in some shots
Original Mono Mix: 1990's LaserDisc stereo remix folded back to mono, original VHS and Beta Hifi, WB 4K Blu-ray mono
Director: Don Siegel
Director: Don Siegel
Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray (damage removed, improved color/HDR, and best audio) or Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray (best compression but no damage removal and LaserDisc audio from Arrow)
Arrow UK /Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber US 4K Blu-ray, see caps
Arrow has done additional cleanup work removing nearly all the damage in the transfer. They have massaged the color timing and HDR to try and improve what they could. The Capelight may have better encoding but it does not have these improvements. The Arrow encoding is solid and in motion there are no issues whatsoever. The Kino Lorber release has the damage and other issues plus frequent noise due to the lesser encoding.
Some scenes in the Arrow transfer are better, some are better in the Capelight.
Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Image Entertainment LaserDisc
(Arrow is a port of the LaserDisc track, see spectrograms) This track has the best fidelity of any release but does have some channel bleeding baked in. The 2017 2.0 on the Arrow and Shout! Factory Blu-rays was the Dolby Stereo original mix without channel bleeding but that had heavy noise reduction resulting in a very flat and underwhelming presentation. The surround winds up being lessened as well due to the processing. It's a tough choice between the two but the Image LaserDisc audio wins out because it hasn't been messed with and the impact is so unrestrained that no other version hits in the same way.
Capelight and old Arrow Blu-ray included the original stereo mix, but with excessive noise reduction rendering it much less detailed. Kino Lorber only included a painfully defective 2.0 track sourced from somewhere with limited fidelity, volume spikes and screechy high end which frequently ruins the music. The 5.1 remix on most modern release is a processed version that does not sound as good as it once did.
The best and most accurate of the 5.1 mixes is the original version from the 2003 Special Edition DVD in lossy AC3 form.
The best source for the commentaries are from the 2003 Special Edition DVD.
Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray (damage removed, improved color/HDR, and best audio) or Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray (best compression but no damage removal and LaserDisc audio from Arrow)
Arrow UK /Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber US 4K Blu-ray, see caps
Arrow has done additional cleanup work removing nearly all the damage in the transfer. They have massaged the color timing and HDR to try and improve what they could. The Capelight may have better encoding but it does not have these improvements. The Arrow encoding is solid and in motion there are no issues whatsoever. The Kino Lorber release has the damage and other issues plus frequent noise due to the lesser encoding.
Some scenes in the Arrow transfer are better, some are better in the Capelight.
Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Image Entertainment LaserDisc
(Arrow is a port of the LaserDisc track, see spectrograms) This track has the best fidelity of any release but does have some channel bleeding baked in. The 2017 2.0 on the Arrow and Shout! Factory Blu-rays was the Dolby Stereo original mix without channel bleeding but that had heavy noise reduction resulting in a very flat and underwhelming presentation. The surround winds up being lessened as well due to the processing. It's a tough choice between the two but the Image LaserDisc audio wins out because it hasn't been messed with and the impact is so unrestrained that no other version hits in the same way.
Capelight and old Arrow Blu-ray included the original stereo mix, but with excessive noise reduction rendering it much less detailed. Kino Lorber only included a painfully defective 2.0 track sourced from somewhere with limited fidelity, volume spikes and screechy high end which frequently ruins the music. The 5.1 remix on most modern release is a processed version that does not sound as good as it once did.
The best and most accurate of the 5.1 mixes is the original version from the 2003 Special Edition DVD in lossy AC3 form.
The best source for the commentaries are from the 2003 Special Edition DVD.
Kino Lorber Philo Vance Collection Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Philo Vance Collection Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Philo Vance Collection Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Philo Vance Collection Blu-ray
Director: Arthur Dong
Director: Arthur Dong
Director: Arthur Dong
Director: Arthur Dong
Director: Rob Reiner
UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray release date September 21 2026
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or Germany Capelight 4K Blu-ray no comparison available
Shout! Factory Blu-ray has exclusive extras the Kino Lorber/ Capelight release doesn't
The initial release of the Capelight 4K mediabook had some playback issues with Dolby Vision on Panasonic devices due to an encoding error, the HDR10 apparently works fine, see Capelight’s official response here.
Director: Rob Reiner
UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray release date September 21 2026
Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or Germany Capelight 4K Blu-ray no comparison available
Shout! Factory Blu-ray has exclusive extras the Kino Lorber/ Capelight release doesn't
The initial release of the Capelight 4K mediabook had some playback issues with Dolby Vision on Panasonic devices due to an encoding error, the HDR10 apparently works fine, see Capelight’s official response here.
Director: Lou Breslow
Kino Lorber Blu-ray 2K restoration
Director: Lou Breslow
Kino Lorber Blu-ray 2K restoration
Director: Howard Hughes
Kino Lorber Blu-ray 2K restoration
Director: Howard Hughes
Kino Lorber Blu-ray 2K restoration
Director: Stuart Heisler
Kino Lorber Blu-ray 2K restoration
Director: Stuart Heisler
Kino Lorber Blu-ray 2K restoration
More Drama on Blu-ray
Disney 4K Blu-ray has neutered audio compared to OG home video release
Cinema DTS or DVD DTS 5.1 is better and has more bass.
The 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray lack the bonus features found in the old Collector's Edition DVD release. The France Blu-ray has all extras plus an isolated score.
Disney 4K Blu-ray has neutered audio compared to OG home video release
Cinema DTS or DVD DTS 5.1 is better and has more bass.
The 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray lack the bonus features found in the old Collector's Edition DVD release. The France Blu-ray has all extras plus an isolated score.
Director: John Badham
Director: John Badham
Director: Michael Mann
Theatrical Cut: Old Warner Bros DVD or fan restoration
Revised Cut: 2012 Japan Blu-ray for less revisionist colors, 2022 Disney 4K Blu-ray is controversially regraded and too dark overall.
Theatrical Cut: Old Warner Bros DVD or fan restoration
Revised Cut: 2012 Japan Blu-ray for less revisionist colors, 2022 Disney 4K Blu-ray is controversially regraded and too dark overall.
Director: Michael Mann
Theatrical Cut: Old Warner Bros DVD or fan restoration
Revised Cut: 2012 Japan Blu-ray for less revisionist colors, 2022 Disney 4K Blu-ray is controversially regraded and too dark overall.
Theatrical Cut: Old Warner Bros DVD or fan restoration
Revised Cut: 2012 Japan Blu-ray for less revisionist colors, 2022 Disney 4K Blu-ray is controversially regraded and too dark overall.
Director: Roy Andersson
Director: Roy Andersson
UK Entertainment in Video Blu-ray
Japan GAGA 4K Blu-ray is worse
UK Entertainment in Video Blu-ray
Japan GAGA 4K Blu-ray is worse
Director: Jon Favreau
Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray
Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray
Director: Jon Favreau
Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray
Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray
Director: Robert Altman
Director: Robert Altman
Director: Richard Linklater
Director: Richard Linklater
Director: Richard Linklater
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