Murder in the First

Synopsis: Henri Young stole five dollars from a post office and ended up going to prison - to the most famous, or infamous, prison of them all: Alcatraz. He tried to escape, failed, and spent three years and two months in solitary confinement - in a dungeon, with no light, no heat and no toilet. Milton Glenn, the assistant warden, who was given free reign by his duty-shirking superior, was responsible for Young's treatment. Glenn even took a straight razor and hobbled Young for life. After three years and two months, Young was taken out of solitary confinement and put with the rest of the prisoners. Almost immediately, Young took a spoon and stabbed a fellow prisoner in the neck, killing him. Now, Young is on trial for murder, and if he's convicted he'll go to the gas chamber. An eager and idealistic young attorney, James Stamphill, is given this impossible case, and argues before a shocked courtroom that Young had a co-conspirator. The true murderer, he says, was Alcatraz.
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Director(s): Marc Rocco
Production: Warner Bros. Pictures
  2 wins & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.3
Rotten Tomatoes:
50%
R
Year:
1995
122 min
419 Views


They're coming. Run!

- No. Come on, this way.

I think I see them, Mr. Glenn.

To the water.

They're heading for the beach.

Down by the beach.

Look out. Run.

No. Doc, no!

Don't stop moving.

They're down there, Mr. Glenn.

- There they go.

Okay.

Lay down.

Hurry up.

Lay down or I'll shoot you, goddamn it.

Hurry up.

Lay down!

That's right, shoot them!

I give up, Mr. Glenn. Please.

- Shut up, Henri.

- Please, don't hit me. Please.

Clean him up. Take him to the hole.

And call the press.

Dateline, San Francisco.

Alcatraz was the scene last night

of a dramatic escape attempt.

Four desperate prisoners

were apprehended...

...on the rocky beach below the prison.

The recently completed

Golden Gate Bridge serves as a backdrop.

So near, yet so far from freedom,

the surviving escapees...

...Henri Young and Rufus McCain,

are escorted back to lockup...

...while their less-fortunate cohorts

are destined for the morgue.

The body of Doc Barker,

son of the infamous Ma Barker...

...lies bullet-riddled,

cooling on a steel gurney...

...attended by a triumphant guard.

The squad of jubilant correctional officers

who foiled the escape...

...congratulate each other

and reluctantly show their battle scars.

A proud Warden Humson,

supervisor of three penitentiaries...

...Folsom, San Quentin and Alcatraz,

and confidant of J. Edgar Hoover...

...congratulates his troops.

Uphold the honor of Alcatraz.

Humson returns to his duties...

...as the inmates are sent

through metal detectors...

...cells are searched,

extra guards are called up...

...and Alcatraz goes on full alert

to forestall any additional trouble.

As public interest reached a frenzy...

...Warden Humson

and Associate Warden Glenn...

...left the island in the bay

for a press conference...

...headed for the San Francisco City Hall...

...which was inundated

with a veritable plethora of reporters...

...from around the globe,

all gathered to hear the official reaction.

Associate Warden Milton Glenn

introduces Warden John Humson.

Uh, Warden Humson will now make

a brief statement...

...and if you please,

no questions at the end.

Thank you.

I just want to reassure...

...the American people that...

...Alcatraz is an escape-proof prison.

They have nothing to fear.

The inmates, McCain and Young...

...will be brought up on escape charges.

There will be time in solitary confinement.

Uh, privileges will be taken away from them.

And the whole rehabilitation process

will begin.

Definition of rehabilitate:

"To restore to a state of physical,

mental and moral health...

...through treatment and training."

Hello.

Hello, hello, hello.

Eleven times eleven...

...121.

Twelve times twelve...

...144.

Thirteen times thirteen...

...169.

Fourteen...

When Henri Young

began his rehabilitation...

...I was in my first year of law school

at Harvard.

How long?

Alcatraz was opened...

...as a federal penitentiary

in the spring of 1934.

In the era of the gangster,

it was opened more for the publicity value...

...than the incarceration level.

Alcatraz was the most feared prison

in the world...

...and the most expensive.

There were only so many Al Capones

and Machine Gun Kellys...

...so the prison had empty cells.

In order to justify the costs...

...the government took incorrigibles

from other prisons...

...men that had committed smaller,

more petty crimes...

...men like Henri Young.

Hallowing be thy name.

Our Father who art in heaven...

...hallowing be thy name.

Our Father...

Prior to 1938...

...there had been five escape attempts.

No one had made it.

The reputation ofAlcatraz as being

unescapable was secure.

Six inmates had died.

The ones who didn't die

sometimes wished they had.

The federal guideline

regarding solitary confinement states...

...that the maximum stay for an inmate

shall not exceed 19 days.

Our Father who art in heaven...

...hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done...

...on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread...

...and forgive us for our trespasses...

...as we forgive those

who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Alcatraz is a half-mile

off the coast of San Francisco.

There were 276 inmates...

...110 guards, with their wives

and children stationed on the island.

And the associate warden, Mr. Glenn.

This is the story of Henri Young

as I know it.

October 2nd, Game 2, 1936 World Series.

American League Yankees versus

the National League New York Giants.

The Yankees...

The Yankees score 18 runs, a series record.

Every single man in that lineup hits

at least once.

Every single man in that lineup scores

at least one run.

Daddy.

- Hello. Hello.

Have you been a good boy?

Here, take Daddy's lunchbox.

We'll go see Mommy.

Good news, Henri.

It's over. You're out of the hole.

You stink, boy.

I did it. I made it.

Oh, unh, come on.

- Did good.

- made it.

I did it. I did it. I did it.

Unh, come on now. Unh.

You did good.

The only other survivor

of the escape attempt was Rufus McCain.

He had betrayed his fellow inmates

by tipping off the associate warden.

McCain was rewarded

and left in the general population.

Henri Young was sent to solitary.

- Come on.

- Hey, hey, hey.

Okay, okay, okay.

Henri.

Some men are broken

by the laws that they break.

Unable to resist the forces

that are pulling them down.

Other men live by the rules...

...that society has set down.

You're not one of them.

Henri, I have a job to do here at Alcatraz.

Do you know what that is?

To protect you from yourself.

You were among the selected sinners

the state set apart...

...so that you could simmer in scum.

The good people of the United States

have decided...

...that you are better off here.

I had nothing to do with that decision.

But where I play a part in your life is

to make sure that you stay here.

That you rehabilitate yourself...

...become a model prisoner...

...a better human being.

That's my job, Henri.

You, too, have a job.

And trying to escape...

...is not one of the duties

of your job description, if you follow me.

In life, Henri...

...for every action...

...there is a definite and distinct reaction.

Action...

...reaction.

- Yes, Mr. Glenn.

Now, if you escape, action:

I lose my job.

Reaction:
I have a family...

...that I will not be able to provide for!

I'm not done yet, Henri.

Now, knowing this information, Henri...

...can you tell me...

...why you would possibly

want to escape...

...and jeopardize my family?

I've done nothing to you but my job.

And instead of letting you learn

by breaking the rules...

...I feel I need to show you

how to obey them.

Tolerance.

Tolerance for pain.

My tolerance of you.

But tolerance can be mistaken

for kindness...

...and kindness can be mistaken

for weakness.

And we can't have weakness,

can we, Henri?

I understand. I'Il... I'll... I'll be good.

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Dan Gordon

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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