Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story

Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story

At 18, Carnes is the youngest man to be sent to The Rock, yet he vows he'll create the ultimate escape plan -- or die trying!

1980 · 196 min · ★ 5.5 · Crime, Drama, Action, TV Movie

Filmed on location at Alcatraz Island, this two-part "whole story" actually concentrates on a handful of the denizens behind the cold grey walls of "The Rock". Michael Beck plays the real-life Clarence Carnes, an Oklahoma Choctaw Indian said to be the youngest man ever incarcerated in the notorious maximum security prison. Serving a 99-year sentence for a gas station holdup and murder, Carnes makes periodic attempts to escape, the final attempt being the most violent. Many of the subordinate characters are fictional (as are most of the details concerning Carnes' escape efforts); the one exception is Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz", here portrayed by Art Carney as a gentle, kindly philosopher. Telly Savalas, a costar of the Burt Lancaster vehicle Birdman of Alcatraz, also guest starred in the 1980 film. Originally titled Alcatraz and Clarence Carnes, this made-for-TV movie wavers between gritty realism and "I'm bustin' outta here!" artifice.

Directed by Paul Krasny · Written by Clarence Carnes

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Streaming

Rent or Buy

Cast

Michael Beck Clarence Carnes
Art Carney Robert Stroud
Alex Karras Jughead Miller
Telly Savalas Cretzer
Will Sampson Clarence's Father
Ronny Cox Bernard Coy
Richard Lynch Sam Shockley
Robert Davi Hubbard
John Amos Bumpy Johnson
James MacArthur Walt Stomer
Ed Lauter Frank Morris
Joe Pantoliano Ray Neal

Make it a double feature

4h 49m together

Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story

Fugitive Family

Both from Paul Krasny.

More from Paul KrasnySee all →

Assignment: Vienna

Assignment: Vienna · 1972

Assignment: Vienna

SeriesDramaAction & Adventure

The story of Jake Webster, an American expatriate in Vienna who was the operator of Jake's Bar & Grill, an American-style establishment near the scenic heart of the city. In fact, the business was a cover for Jake's actual reason for being in Vienna. He was involved in tracking down various spies and international criminals at the behest of U.S. intelligence, which apparently held something against him which, if disclosed, would have resulted in his being deported from Austria and apparently then incarcerated in the United States. Jake's liaison with U.S. intelligence was a Major Caldwell.

Fugitive Family

Fugitive Family · 1980

Fugitive Family

MovieCrimeDrama

To the world Brian Roberts looks like a successful businessman, with a lovely wife and two children all living in a dream home. Nevertheless, he has really been working undercover for the Justice Department to snare a mob boss. When his cover is blown, he has to break the news to his family about the nature of his real job and, worse, that they are now in real danger! Consequently, they are forced into the federal government's Witness Relocation Program. However, the trauma to the family does not stop there, as the gangsters he double-crossed are determined he and his family shall not escape 'mob justice.'

The D.A.: Conspiracy to Kill

The D.A.: Conspiracy to Kill · 1971

The D.A.: Conspiracy to Kill

MovieDramaCrime

D.A. Paul Ryan doesn't buy self-defense when a pharmacist fatally shoots an armed robber and brings the man up on manslaughter charges, for which he's convicted. However, when Ryan discovers the pharmacist's double life--he's been running a burglary ring out of the pharmacy, and the dead man may have been a member of said ring, he vacates the manslaughter conviction and sets out to nail him for murder instead.

Big Rose

Big Rose · 1974

MovieMysteryCrime

Rose Winters, a private detective out of Los Angeles, teams with Ed Mills, a somewhat inexperienced young detective, to find out who is blackmailing a wealthy contractor.

Police Squad!

Police Squad! · 1982

SeriesComedyCrime

In this cult parody of cop dramas, replete with farce and sight gags, Lieutenant Frank Drebin and his fellow officers from Police Squad bungle their way though crime investigations.

MacGyver

MacGyver · 1985

SeriesDramaAction & Adventure

He's everyone's favorite action hero... but he's a hero with a difference. Angus MacGyver is a secret agent whose wits are his deadliest weapon. Armed with only a knapsack filled with everyday items he picks up along the way, he improvises his way out of every peril the bad guys throw at him. Making a bomb out of chewing gum? Fixing a speeding car's brakes... while he's riding in it? Using soda pop to cook up tear gas? That's all in a day's adventures for MacGyver. He's part Boy Scout, part genius. And all hero.

Centennial

Centennial · 1978

SeriesAction & AdventureDrama

The economic and cultural growth of town of Centennial, Colorado, through the intertwining lives of the brave men and women inhabiting it. Spanning two centuries from the settling of the area in the 1700s, to the late 1970s.

Mission: Impossible

Mission: Impossible · 1966

Mission: Impossible

SeriesAction & AdventureCrime

Mission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force. In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill; Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, takes charge for the remaining seasons. A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin. The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973, then returned to television for two seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1990, retaining only Graves in the cast. It later inspired a popular series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise, beginning in 1996.

Moonlighting

Moonlighting · 1985

SeriesComedyDrama

After being duped and going bankrupt, model Maddie is convinced by David to become a partner in a detective agency. Together they solve various cases, while getting comfortable with each other.

Christina

Christina · 1974

An unemployed engineer accepts a $25,000 bribe to marry a beautiful and mysterious woman so that she can stay in the United States. During their honeymoon, he starts to fall in love with her, but she suddenly disappears. When he tries to find her, it puts his life in danger.

Two Fathers: Justice for the Innocent

Two Fathers: Justice for the Innocent · 1994

Two Fathers: Justice for the Innocent

MovieDramaCrime

Two fathers from very different backgrounds reunite after 8 years to pursue the escaped drug dealer responsible for the deaths of their son and daughter.

Kojak: Ariana

Kojak: Ariana · 1989

MovieThrillerDrama

One of Kojak's old enemies uses Ariana, a young Greek girl, as bait to trap the legendary New York detective. Meanwhile, Kojak finds himself a brash young associate.

When Hell Was in Session

When Hell Was in Session · 1979

When Hell Was in Session

MovieDramaTV Movie

This film describes Navy Commander Jeremiah Denton's 7-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war. Held in numerous, brutal POW camps, he faced starvation, torture and terrible living conditions brought on by his North Vietnamese captors in an effort to keep communication alive between the prisoners. His wife, Jane, is also arranging a POW wives league in the U.S. in order to popularize their plight.

Miami Vice

Miami Vice · 1984

SeriesCrimeDrama

The story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking and prostitution, centered on the unlikely partnership of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs - who first meet when Tubbs is undercover in a drug cartel.

Crazy like a Fox

Crazy like a Fox · 1984

Crazy like a Fox

SeriesComedyDrama

Crazy Like a Fox is an American television series set in San Francisco, California, that aired on CBS from December 30, 1984 to May 3, 1986.

The Equalizer

The Equalizer · 1985

SeriesAction & AdventureCrime

Robert McCall is a former agent of a secret government agency who is now running his own private crime fighting operation where he fashions himself as "The Equalizer." It is a service for victims of the system who have exhausted all possible means of seeking justice and have nowhere to go. McCall promises to even out the odds for them.

More Like This

Four Minutes

Four Minutes · 2006

MovieDramaMusic

Jenny is young. Her life is over. She killed someone. And she would do it again. When an 80-year-old piano teacher discovers the girl’s secret, her brutality and her dreams, she decides to transform her pupil into the musical wunderkind she once was.

First Blood

First Blood · 1982

MovieActionThriller

When former Green Beret John Rambo is harassed by local law enforcement and arrested for vagrancy, he is forced to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.

Lights in the Dusk

Lights in the Dusk · 2006

Lights in the Dusk

Outcast by his co-workers and living alone, Koistinen is a security guard who works the night shift in a luxury shopping mall in Helsinki. But when icy blonde Mirja approaches him, the lonely Koistinen falls helplessly for her, unaware she is manipulating him for her criminal boyfriend.

The Docks of New York

The Docks of New York · 1928

The Docks of New York

MovieDramaRomance

A blue-collar worker on New York's depressed waterfront finds his life changed after he saves a woman attempting suicide.

Birdman of Alcatraz

Birdman of Alcatraz · 1962

Birdman of Alcatraz

MovieDramaCrime

After killing a prison guard, convict Robert Stroud faces life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Driven nearly mad by loneliness and despair, Stroud's life gains new meaning when he happens upon a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard and nurses it back to health. Despite having only a third grade education, Stroud goes on to become a renowned ornithologist and achieves a greater sense of freedom and purpose behind bars than most people find in the outside world.

3-Iron

MovieDramaRomance

A drifter lives in people's houses while they are away and repays them by doing chores for them. His life changes when he meets a beautiful woman who wants to escape her unhappy marriage.

Cool Hand Luke

Cool Hand Luke · 1967

MovieDramaCrime

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.

Dead Man Walking

Dead Man Walking · 1995

Dead Man Walking

A death row inmate turns for spiritual guidance to a local nun in the days leading up to his scheduled execution for the murders of a young couple.

Pickpocket

Pickpocket · 1959

MovieCrimeDrama

Michel takes up pickpocketing on a lark and is arrested soon after. His mother dies shortly after his release, and despite the objections of his only friend, Jacques, and his mother's neighbor Jeanne, Michel teams up with a couple of petty thieves in order to improve his craft. With a police inspector keeping an eye on him, Michel also tries to get a straight job, but the temptation to steal is hard to resist.

The Living Daylights

The Living Daylights · 1987

The Living Daylights

MovieActionAdventure

After a defecting Russian general reveals a plot to assassinate foreign spies, James Bond is assigned a secret mission to dispatch the new head of the KGB to prevent an escalation of tensions between the Soviet Union and the West.

Face/Off

Face/Off · 1997

MovieActionCrime

In order to foil a terrorist plot, an FBI agent undergoes facial transplant surgery and assumes the identity of a criminal mastermind. The plan turns sour when the criminal wakes up prematurely and seeks revenge.

GoodFellas

GoodFellas · 1990

MovieDramaCrime

The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.

Lost Highway

Lost Highway · 1997

MovieDramaThriller

A tormented jazz musician finds himself lost in an enigmatic story involving murder, surveillance, gangsters, doppelgängers, and an impossible transformation inside a prison cell.

The Color Purple

The Color Purple · 1985

The Color Purple

MovieDramaHistory

An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing 'Mister' Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa.

The Professional

The Professional · 1981

The Professional

MovieActionAdventure

Josselin Beaumont, a French secret agent, is tasked with assassinating Njala, the president for life of Malawi in Africa. A shift in French policy means that assassinating Njala is no longer an option. But instead of recalling their agent, high-ranking officials deliberately sacrifice Beaumont by handing him over to the Malawian authorities. Arrested, tried, and imprisoned, he nevertheless manages to escape. Back in Paris after a two-year absence, he informs his superiors through Colonel Martin that he will fulfill his contract during Njala’s upcoming official visit to Paris between the 12th and 15th of this month, and that he has a few scores to settle with the D.G.S.E. The question is, should Beaumont be stopped or not?

Chicago

Chicago · 2002

MovieComedyCrime

Murderesses Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.

More on Prime VideoSee all →

The Runner

The Runner · 2026

MovieThrillerAction

Maia Marten, a brilliant London lawyer, has her life shattered by a single call on her morning run: her son has been taken. To get him back, she must keep running, obey every ruthless command, and trust no one-each second a test of how far a mother will go to save her child.

The Last Sunrise

The Last Sunrise · 2026

The Last Sunrise

MovieRomanceDrama

Ry, a college student with a chronic illness, escapes to Mallorca for the summer with her mother, where she unexpectedly falls for a local and begins to embrace living in the moment. But as her condition worsens and long-hidden family secrets come to light, everything she has found before summer's end is threatened.

War of the Worlds

War of the Worlds · 2025

War of the Worlds

MovieScience FictionThriller

Will Radford is a top analyst for Homeland Security who tracks potential threats through a mass surveillance program, until one day an attack by an unknown entity leads him to question whether the government is hiding something from him... and from the rest of the world.

Masters of the Universe

Masters of the Universe · 2026

Masters of the Universe

MovieActionFantasy

After being separated for 15 years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam back to Eternia, where he discovers his home shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor. To save his family and his world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies, Teela and Duncan/Man-At-Arms, and embrace his true destiny as He-Man — the most powerful man in the universe.

Barreda

Barreda · 2026

MovieDramaCrime

A fictionalized drama film based on one of the most shocking crimes in Argentina's history. In 1992, Ricardo Barreda was an unassuming dentist, brutally murdered his wife, mother-in-law, and two adult daughters in their family home. Branding himself as a victim, Ricardo Barreda ignited a media storm and fueled a national scandal.

The Sheep Detectives

The Sheep Detectives · 2026

The Sheep Detectives

MovieComedyFamily

George Hardy is a shepherd who reads detective novels to his beloved sheep every night, assuming they can't possibly understand. But when a mysterious incident disrupts life on the farm, the sheep realize they must become the detectives. As they follow the clues and investigate human suspects, they prove that even sheep can be brilliant crime-solvers.

The Devil's Mouth

The Devil's Mouth · 2026

The Devil's Mouth

MovieHorrorThriller

A group of college friends' Thailand adventure turns deadly when they become trapped in submerged caves with a dangerous predator. As oxygen runs low, past conflicts emerge in their desperate fight for survival.

My Fault

My Fault · 2023

MovieDramaRomance

Noah must leave her city, boyfriend, and friends to move into William Leister's mansion, the flashy and wealthy husband of her mother Rafaela. As a proud and independent 17 year old, Noah resists living in a mansion surrounded by luxury. However, it is there where she meets Nick, her new stepbrother, and the clash of their strong personalities becomes evident from the very beginning.

Crime 101

Crime 101 · 2026

MovieCrimeThriller

When an elusive thief whose high-stakes heists unfold along the iconic 101 freeway in Los Angeles eyes the score of a lifetime, with hopes of this being his final job, his path collides with a disillusioned insurance broker who is facing her own crossroads. Determined to crack the case, a relentless detective closes in on the operation, raising the stakes even higher.

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War · 2026

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War

MovieActionThriller

Jack Ryan is reluctantly pulled back into espionage when an international covert mission unravels a deadly conspiracy. Racing against time, he joins CIA allies Mike November & James Greer and sharp MI6 officer Emma Marlowe to battle a rogue black-ops unit in a high-stakes, deeply personal fight.

The Wrecking Crew

The Wrecking Crew · 2026

The Wrecking Crew

MovieActionComedy

Estranged half-brothers Jonny and James reunite after their father's mysterious death. As they search for the truth, buried secrets reveal a conspiracy threatening to tear their family apart.

Road House

Road House · 2024

MovieActionThriller

Ex-UFC fighter Dalton takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems.

Vengeance

Vengeance · 2026

MovieActionThriller

The brutal murder of the wife of “Toro,” a military hero in the special forces, turns him into a man with a single purpose: revenge. After a stroke of fate makes him a millionaire, Carlos transforms his fortune into an arsenal and, together with his closest soldiers, sets out to hunt down those responsible.

The Accountant²

The Accountant² · 2025

The Accountant²

MovieMysteryCrime

When an old acquaintance is murdered, Wolff is compelled to solve the case. Realizing more extreme measures are necessary, Wolff recruits his estranged and highly lethal brother, Brax, to help. In partnership with Marybeth Medina, they uncover a deadly conspiracy, becoming targets of a ruthless network of killers who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried.

Red One

Red One · 2024

MovieActionAdventure

After Santa Claus (codename: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security must team up with the world's most infamous tracker in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.

Blade Runner

Blade Runner · 1982

MovieScience FictionDrama

In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.

Jurassic World

Jurassic World · 2015

MovieAdventureScience Fiction

Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond.

Our Fault

Our Fault · 2025

MovieRomanceDrama

Jenna and Lion's wedding brings about the long-awaited reunion between Noah and Nick after their breakup. Nick's inability to forgive Noah stands as an insurmountable barrier. He, heir to his grandfather's businesses, and she, starting her professional life, resist fueling a flame that's still alive. But now that their paths have crossed again, will love be stronger than resentment?

Over Your Dead Body

Over Your Dead Body · 2026

Over Your Dead Body

MovieActionComedy

A dysfunctional couple head to a remote cabin to "reconnect", but each has secret intentions to kill the other.

Your Fault

Your Fault · 2024

MovieDramaRomance

The love between Noah and Nick seems unwavering despite their parents' attempts to separate them. But his job and her entry into college open up their lives to new relationships that will shake the foundations of both their relationship and the Leister family itself.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter