Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

The notorious Alcatraz was the most secure prison ever built, no one escaped from it... until three men did. Frank Morris (Clint Eastwood) has arrived in the prison after a conviction for bank robbery. With the Anglin brothers John (Frank Ward) and Clarence (Jack Thibeau) he decides to escape the jail when he finds that salt water (the prison is an island in San Francisco Bay) has made the concrete around the ventilation grill in his cell weak and he begins to chip away...

Over long months a careful plan is formed, amid harassment by the Warden (Patrick McGoohan) and violent fellow cons. Frank and his compatriots will chip away at the concrete around the grills, remove the grills and then slip away. They then try and escape the prison in roughly fashioned rubber dinghies...

The film is based on a true story and implies the escapees got away (their ultimate fate is still unknown). An intelligent film full of details and suspense. It has some great performances especially by Clint Eastwood.