Three men left a prison on an island in 1962 — in a boat made of coats. Nobody knows if they lived.
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These are the new words. Match each word (1–8) to its meaning (A–H). Say your answers out loud — "I think 1 is D" — then check.
1 = D (a prison) · 2 = H (a guard) · 3 = E (to dig) · 4 = A (a raft)
5 = B (an island) · 6 = G (to escape) · 7 = F (a plan) · 8 = C (a spoon)
Don Siegel's Escape from Alcatraz (1979), with Clint Eastwood. Read each part. Then try the questions from memory, and talk about the last one. (There are spoilers — that is fine, we want to talk about it.)
It is January 1960. A small boat crosses the water to Alcatraz, a prison on an island near San Francisco. A quiet man called Frank Morris comes off the boat in the rain. The guards take him to a small cell with grey walls.
The boss of the prison is called the warden. He is a cold man. He tells Morris: this prison takes the men that other prisons cannot keep, and nobody has ever escaped from here. Morris says nothing. But when he leaves the office, he takes something small from the warden's desk.
Morris makes friends. English works in the library. Litmus is an older man with a bad heart. Doc is an old man who paints pictures and grows flowers. But when the warden does not like Doc's picture of him, he takes Doc's paints away. Doc is very sad and hurts himself badly in the workshop. Morris understands: this place does not only keep men. It breaks them.
1. What does the warden tell Morris on his first day?
2. Who is Doc, and why does he lose his paints?
1. That Alcatraz keeps the men other prisons cannot keep, and that nobody has ever escaped from it.
2. Doc is an old prisoner who paints and grows flowers. The warden does not like Doc's picture of him, so he takes the paints away.
One day, Morris looks at the wall behind his bed. There is a small metal grille there, for the air. He touches the concrete around it. It is soft! The sea air has made it weak. He starts to dig with a spoon, and it works.
Then two brothers arrive: John and Clarence Anglin. Morris knew them before. Their cells are next to his. A fourth man, Charley Butts, also joins the plan. Every night the men dig. They use spoons and a little drill that they make from an old vacuum cleaner. Morris plays his accordion, so the guards cannot hear the noise. In the day, they cover the holes with cardboard.
Above the cells there is an old empty space. The men work there in secret. They make false heads from soap, paper and real hair, so their beds will look full at night. And they make a raft and life jackets from many old raincoats. The warden becomes harder and harder. Litmus dies. Nobody is going to help these men.
1. What does Morris find in the wall of his cell?
2. What do the men make from soap, paper and hair — and why?
1. The concrete around the air grille is soft, because of the sea air. He can dig it out with a spoon.
2. False heads. They put them in the beds, so the guards think the men are sleeping.
It is the night of 11 June 1962. The lights go off. Morris and the two brothers push out their grilles and put the false heads in their beds. Then they go into a small passage behind the cells.
But Charley Butts cannot open his wall. He is too slow, and he is afraid. When he is finally ready, his friends are gone. He goes back to bed and listens in the dark.
The three men climb up to the roof. They walk across it between the big lights. Then they go down a pipe, over two fences, and down to the water. They put air in the raft and go out into the dark bay. We do not see them again. In the morning, a guard touches a head in a bed and it falls on the floor! Later the warden goes to another island and finds pieces of raincoat — and a flower that cannot grow there. The film ends. Nobody knows what happened to the men.
1. Why does Charley Butts stay in the prison?
2. How do the guards find out that the men are gone?
1. He cannot open the wall of his cell in time. When he is ready, the other three men have already gone.
2. In the morning, a guard touches one of the false heads in a bed and it falls on the floor.
This story is all about what people can and cannot do. To talk about ability in the past, English uses could and couldn't.
Read the sentence and write the missing words.
1. When Morris was young, he (fix) machines very well.
2. Charley Butts was too slow, so he (not / go) with his friends.
3. It was very dark, but the men (see) the lights of the city.
1. could fix (he had this ability)
2. couldn't go (it was not possible for him)
3. could see (with see and hear we always use could)
Write could or couldn't and the verb. Remember: no -s, no -ed after them.
1. When I was six, I (not / read).
2. My grandmother (speak) three languages.
3. We (not / find) the key, so we waited outside.
1. couldn't read
2. could speak
3. couldn't find
Fill each gap with could or couldn't and the verb. Read it aloud when you finish.
Frank Morris was clever with his hands. He (make) useful things from almost nothing. The men (not / buy) real tools, so they used spoons from the kitchen. The Anglin brothers (swim) well, and that helped. But on the last night, Charley Butts (not / get) out of his cell, and the others left without him.
could make · couldn't buy · could swim · couldn't get
Use could for an ability people had, and couldn't when something was not possible. For one difficult moment that worked, say managed to: "That night they managed to reach the water."
Yes. Almost everything in the escape is true. And one big question is still open today: did the men live?
On 11 June 1962, three real men escaped from Alcatraz: Frank Morris and two brothers, John and Clarence Anglin. They were bank robbers, not heroes. A fourth man, Allen West, was in the plan, but he couldn't move the grille in his cell, so he stayed behind. The guards did not know about the escape until seven o'clock the next morning, because of the false heads in the beds.
The men really did dig with spoons and a drill made from an old vacuum cleaner. They really did make false heads from soap, paper and real human hair from the prison barber. And they really did make a raft and life jackets from more than fifty raincoats.
After the escape, people found a paddle in the water near Angel Island, a wallet with photos of the brothers' family, and one life jacket on a beach. But nobody ever found the raft. And nobody ever found the men. The FBI looked for seventeen years and closed the case in 1979. They said the men probably died in the cold water. But the US Marshals still have the case open today, more than sixty years later.
In 2014, scientists from the Netherlands used a computer to study the water around the island. They found that the time was very important. If the men left before 11.30 at night, the water took them out to the sea, and they would probably die of cold. But if they left between 11.30 and midnight, the water could take them to a beach near the Golden Gate Bridge. So the escape was possible — with the right hour. In 2013 the police got a letter from a man who said he was John Anglin. The tests gave no clear answer, and the US Marshals said it was not real. Nobody has seen the three men again.
One more thing. Alcatraz really did close in March 1963, less than a year after the escape. But it did not close because of the escape! It closed because it cost too much money, and because fifty years of sea air and salt water had destroyed the old buildings.
Do all three tasks out loud. Use the timer to keep talking.
Tell the story of Escape from Alcatraz in your own words. Use these steps to help you: a man arrives at a prison on an island → he finds soft concrete in his wall → three friends join the plan → they dig with spoons and make false heads → on 11 June they climb to the roof and go into the water → nobody knows what happened.
Try to use some key words (prison, guard, dig, raft, island, escape, plan, spoon) and could / couldn't.
The men in the film were real bank robbers. But in the film we want them to escape! Is this OK? Do you think they were clever heroes, or only criminals? Say why.
Talk about the past. Use could and couldn't.
Not sure what to say? Choose one: