Murder in the First

It is too bad that Hollywood has to immortalize an infamous individual who was not accurately depicted in the movie "Murder in the first". Henry (not actually spelled Henri) Young was not innocent as the movie would have you perceive and the rock (Alcatraz) was not unlike any other federal or state institution of the time. Kevin Bacon is a fine actor, it is just too bad that the truth could not be told about the trial and incarceration of Henry Young. Henry Young was never committed to Alcatraz for a petty crime of theft, it was a federal crime of kidnapping when he and a couple of cohorts stole a taxi and kidnapped the owner. That is one of the many reasons why Henry was sent to Alcatraz. The movie also does not truly depict the reason Henry began his life as a petty thief. He was working at the time and his younger sister and he were not destitute as the movie would have you believe. The producers should have done their homework before writing the script, truth is actually stranger than fiction and they may have come up with a more believable story. Since Henry is my uncle, (he has never been located since he walked away from parole in 1970) my family knowledge permits me to comment on the editorial license that the producers took in fabricating their story.

Great piece of fiction played as if factual. Tonight I was looking at the Birdman of Alcatraz. Robert Stoud was not a model meek prisoner and he was in jail because he was pimping and a customer did not pay up. Once he got into jail he was so uncontrollable he spent most of his time in solitary confinement or in the prison hospital. Killed a few people in prison too. This movie reminds me of the Birdman of Alcatraz but even worse. Robert Stroud did write books and he did contribute to society in someway. And the BOA had some hints of Strouds lunacy. BUT this guy Henry Young who Murder in the First is suppose to be about was a a known bank robber who took hostages and beat them up in more then one robbery. He wasn't some poor guy who stumbled into a grocery store which just happened to be a post office and took some money. This man was a hard core criminal. He also killed a person 3 years before he went to Alcatraz. He killed another person in jail not because of the solitary confinement which ended over a year before the murder. The real story of his life would of been more interesting. They did not even get the warden thing right. You can't be a warden in 3 different prisons at the same time. And by all accounts the warden in the movie was a pretty stand up guy as wardens go. Plus if my math is right the Warden played by Karl Malden in the BOA is suppose to be the same warden in this movie. Oh Boy. Not only that, in this movie we are to think poor Henry committed suicide. And he wrote the word Victory. Not true..he might be alive right now. He was sent to Springfield where Robert Stroud was also a medical center prison then Walla Walla for another murder he committed and then was released and jumped parole in 1972, never to be found. Maybe he is hanging out with that CB Cooper guy who jumped out that airplane in Washington state after committing a bank robbery lol. Now the acting was very good. Kevin Bacon is in that class of actors which include Jeff Bridges and Dennis Quaid, the vastly underrated actors club. Gary oldman well they just might of made-up the warden part so he could play it because he was great. Christian Slater still somehow sounds like Jack Nicholson, I am not sure if that is a good thing or not. Bacons wife Kyra Sedgwick was in the movie I think just because she is his wife. I like her though but not in this flick. For some reason I felt this movie when it first came out was suppose to be a special project for Kevin Bacon. I feel he could of taken a person who is truly a victim of the penal system, there sure is enough of them and spread some light on their plight. Other then picking a psychopath to show as a victim.

"This Film is Inspired by a True Story" reads the opening card. I watched this film an was actually deeply affected by it, believing it was based in fact. Moved profoundly, I was left to ponder; man's inhumanity to man, the corruption of our penal system, the injustice of it all, how could this happen in America? etc. etc. I came here to post a glowing recommendation. Imagine my shock when I read the review here, titled; "Based On Facts ??????", and then did a little research to confirm that this story is indeed, total fiction!!! "True Story", my ass! Oh my God, manipulated by these Hollywood bastards again? Oliver Stone, Michael Moore, and now this. These elitists liars are just selling us Leftist propaganda, people. You really have to be full of hate to make up a story that makes your country look bad, and then peddle it as the truth to convince the masses that America is truly evil at the core. Why do they do it? How sad.

Just happened upon this movie the other night & decided to tape it as I couldn't watch on TNT's schedule. How I missed this movie 17 years ago I'll never know. This is by far one of the best movies I've ever seen! Not only was Kevin Bacon FANTASTIC, Christian Slater GREAT!!! I've never been a big Gary Oldman fan he was also EXCELLENT. I was riveted to my chair throughout the entire movie; wish I'd seen it years ago when it first came out. I grew up in the Bay Area and the scenery indoors and out were spot on! They truly did a great job on this movie.

In 1933, Alcatraz island or 'Bird Island' as it was originally called became a Federal Prison. During it's thirty year history, 15 attempted escapes were made by twenty five inmates, of which only one was ever successful by three men. Known as perhaps the most brutal facility of its kind, it has housed perhaps the most infamous of criminals. One such inmate was Henri Young. In this film, called "Murder in The First Degree ", Henry is played superbly by Kevin Bacon. (Giving an Academy award performance) Convicted of robbing a small grocery store of five dollars, it turned serious when a prosecutor argued, the place was also used as a Post Office, making it a Federal Crime. Thus, instead of receiving a minimum sentence, Young was given the maximum of 25 years. The movie encapsulates the ensuing years as a black nightmarish collection of excruciating physical torture, extreme mental retaliation. barbaric conditions and medieval retribution. Gary Oldman, plays Milton Glenn, the cold, dispassionate, insensitive and vindictive warden. After years of dark, isolation and physical torture, Henri is allowed out of the hellish Dungon. Due to his sadistic treatment by the guards, resulting in his unstable mental condition, he attacks another inmate and kills him. Facing the death Penalty, he is given an inexperienced attorney named James Stamphill (Christian Slater) who argues his case before Judge Clawson (R. Lee Ermey). Seen by the new prosecutor as an open and shut case, the trial takes a bizarre turn when Stampthill argues, Alcatraz Prison, it's Warden, his guards and it's barbarous, malicious treatment of prisoners be included in the charge of Murder. The movie is an vivid portrayal of Alcatraz prison and it's treatment of inmates. Further, the fine performances by the cast depicts a cold brutal reality of man's inhumanity to man. Spending years in a dark, dank isolated cell, Henry Young and many other abandoned prisoners gave their pathetic lives, to eventually have the Rock closed down. This film becomes a great tribute to their forgotten experiences. Terrific Film. ****

The movie is absolutely fictional, and its creators should have said so. There was a prisoner in Alkatraz with the name of Henry Young, but he was servicing time for bank robbery. He was never tortured, and he did not commit suicide. He was released on parole and then disappeared. The movie is a typical leftist Hollywood propaganda that pursues a political agenda and has nothing to do with the truth. From the artistic point of view, the movie is full of stamps, trivial moves and disrespect to the viewers who are invited to believe in situations that could never happen in court or jail. The performance of Kevin Bacon is primitive. He basically mimics the great role of Charles Laughton in the "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". It's a sad reality of today's America, when a movie like "Murder in the first" gets high scores from public. Did people stop thinking?

I can take about anything in films, even blood-and-guts (you can see that on television in the CSI shows) but torture is another thing. This movie was tough to watch because of the terrible treatment given to a prisoner, played well in here by Kevin Bacon. It's an interesting story, and well performed and told, but so unpleasant to see in a number of spots that I wouldn't watch it again. Some of it was really disgusting. I am also getting tired of Liberal filmmakers making the prison warden a brutally sadistic person. That has become such a film cliché. Libs just hate any authority figure. They also hate the facts, according to "jorge's" review here, which I believe.

Having caught up again with this film on t.v., I can only support all other commentators who have observed how utterly ridiculous is the American Academy Award system for not having even nominated the utterly brilliant performance by Kevin Bacon in this film for the best actor award, let alone in not giving him the damned thing! I am always impressed by whatever Kevin Bacon does, and am constantly surprised that he is one of those stars who always seems to creep under the public's radar of appreciation and awareness. As to the comments about the film not exactly being the "true" story of Henri Young, there again it always come down to the precise meaning and interpretation of a film's initial caveat of "inspired by a true story". Certainly, the film will have me searching the internet for more of the "true" facts of this harrowing story. And whether exactly the film was totally "true" or not, as any visitor to Alcatraz (as I have been myself) can tell you, just imagine yourself in any part of that prison in its heyday and say whether any filmic representation needs to be totally 100% accurate to convey the horrendous nature of what it must have been like there. Returning to the antics of the members of the U.S. Academy Award, their failures over this Kevin Bacon performance remind me of the time they robbed Cate Blanchett for her out of this world outstanding performance in "Elizabeth" in favour of that whimpering blonde piece of fluffy air Gwyneth Paltrow for the paltry "Shakespeare in Love".

If you want to see a historical movie about Alcatraz, don't watch this one. THE FACTS: There was a Henry Young and there was a Rufus McCain. Henry (Henri is an alias) Young was a bank robber and murderer (he confessed to the 1935 murder of a baker in 1943). Henry Young spent a very short time in isolation (about the same as other troublemakers). There were 3 (not 2) others in the breakout attempt. Arthur "Doc" Barker was the only escapee killed. Dale Stamphill and Rufus Franklin were the other two escapees. Rufus Franklin stabbed Henry Young in the back in 1945, Young recovered and was transfered to Springfield MI federal prison in 1948. In 1954 Henry Young was sent to Washington State Prison to serve time for the murder of the baker. Henry Young was released (on Parole) from Washington State Prison in 1972 (he did not die on Alcatraz) This movie is good as a story but Michael "I wouldn't know the truth if it kicked me" Moore could have come closer to the truth on this one.

This film was excellent. Yes it's true that it wasn't as factually accurate as it could have been, but judged purely as a drama, it was film making at its best - superb acting, directing and cinematography. However, I would especially like to commend Christopher Young's amazing music score. It was haunting, beautiful and emotive, and contributed so much to the feel of the movie. Two scenes where the music was used to great effect: the tracking shot after Henri attacked the other prisoner, and the setting up of the court room then dissolving into an aerial shot of Alcatraz. Thank you to all concerned for making this great and moving picture - it makes me want to go and make movies!