Plot
In New Alcatraz, the world's most secure prison located in Antarctica, a drilling operation inadvertently releases a giant, 80 ft (24 m) boa constrictor (fictional species Serpuca largas) from a large, hollow rock that had been preserving it in suspended animation. The boa chews a hole through the ice, enabling it to escape into the prison. The hole is discovered by workers and a guard is placed on it until the engineers can assess the hole and block it up. Jenkins, the guard, hears a strange hissing noise in the tunnels and is sent by Sergeant Quinn, his supervisor, to investigate; Jenkins, unnerved, requests backup, causing Quinn to send the engineers, Poluso and Goodman, to help him. Jenkins is stalked and killed by the boa; arriving on scene, Poluso and Goodman grumble about being woken up. Blood drips down from the pipes onto Poluso, causing him to stare up in confusion, just as the boa attacks him and Goodman. The engineers’ screams can be heard as the boa begins to move further into the prison.
The prison sends out a distress call which is received by the United States military. They hire paleontologist Robert Trenton and his wife Jessica to assist a military team led by Major Larsten in the search to destroy the boa. When they arrive at the prison, they discover a group of survivors, led by head of security Quinn and prison warden Fred Riley.
The security and military personnel split up and set out to find and kill the boa whilst Robert, Jessica and Fred watch on in the control room. A soldier named McCarthy is killed by the boa while his partner Simmons is found shot dead; one by one, the other personnel are also killed. Robert and Jessica join in the hunt. After a skirmish with the boa, a gas pipe ruptures and explodes, killing the remaining security and military members. Robert and Jessica survive and flee from the boa, but Jessica is seemingly killed. Robert returns to the security room and convinces Fred to release the prisoners to help in their escape. Fred releases the prisoners, and the group devises a plan to escape. During the escape, one of the prisoners, a “black hat” hacker named Kelly Mitich, attempts to save himself, only to be killed by the boa and accidentally causing another gas explosion, killing Fred.
Meanwhile, the other group led by Chechen prisoner Yuri Breshcov and his cousin Peter Yuvol who had been arrested at the beginning of the film for attempting to purchase mid-range nuclear missiles for Chechnya. He finds Jessica alive, and they take her in. The boa then kills two of the prisoners, but Yuri and Jessica escape to the surface. Meanwhile, Robert and prisoner Patricia O'Boyle, a member of the Irish Republican Army, attempt to escape, although the boa kills Patricia while Robert escapes to the surface.
Robert, Jessica, and Yuri attempt to escape on the military plane, although the boa sneaks onboard and kills one of the pilots. In the ensuing battle, the boa is ejected from the plane, but Yuri is dragged out with it, and the two fall to their deaths. Robert and Jessica, bewildered but alive, fly to safety.
Alcatraz Island is a small island 1.25 miles (2.01 km) offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military prison. In 1934, the island was converted into a federal prison, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. The strong currents around the island and cold water temperatures made escape nearly impossible, and the prison became one of the most notorious in American history. The prison closed in 1963, and the island is now a major tourist attraction.
Python is a 2000 made-for-TV horror film directed by Richard Clabaugh. The film features several cult favorite actors, including William Zabka of The Karate Kid fame, Wil Wheaton, Casper Van Dien, Jenny McCarthy, Keith Coogan, Robert Englund, Dana Barron, David Bowe, and Sean Whalen.
Murder in the First is a 1995 American legal drama film, directed by Marc Rocco, written by Dan Gordon, and starring Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, Embeth Davidtz, Brad Dourif, William H. Macy, and R. Lee Ermey. It tells the alternate history of a petty criminal named Henri Young who is sent to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary and later put on trial for murder in the first degree as the lawyer representing him recounts Henri's life and when he represented Henri. This film was described on the movie poster as "the case that took down Alcatraz". The film received a mixed critical response, although Bacon's performance was praised by critics.
Escape from Alcatraz is a 1979 American prison action thriller film directed and co-produced by Don Siegel, written by Richard Tuggle, and starring Clint Eastwood alongside Patrick McGoohan, Fred Ward, Jack Thibeau, and Larry Hankin with Danny Glover appearing in his film debut.
Roy G. Gardner was an American criminal active during the 1920s. He stole a total of more than $350,000 in cash and securities and several times escaped from custody. He is said to have been the most hunted man in Pacific Coast history, having had a $5,000 reward for his head three times in less than a year, and newspapers in the West referred to him as the "Smiling Bandit", the "Mail Train Bandit", and the "King of the Escape Artists" He is a former prisoner of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary (1934–38).
Boa vs. Python is a 2004 science fiction horror film. It was directed by David Flores, from a script by Chase Parker and Sam Wells, and was filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria. In the film, an FBI agent seeks help from a herpetologist and a marine biologist to release a specially bred Boa to hunt a gigantic Python that has been attacking humans. The film is a crossover between Python (2000) and its indirect sequel New Alcatraz.
Samuel Richard Shockley Jr. was an inmate at Alcatraz prison, who was executed for his participation in the Alcatraz uprising or Battle of Alcatraz in 1946.
The Battle of Alcatraz, which lasted from May 2 to 4, 1946, was the result of an escape attempt at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary by armed convicts. Two Federal Bureau of Prisons officers—William A. Miller and Harold Stites—were killed. Three inmates were also killed during the incident. Fourteen other officers and one uninvolved convict were also injured. Two of the perpetrators were executed in 1948 for their roles.
Alcatraz is an island in San Francisco Bay, California, United States.
Joseph Paul "Dutch" Cretzer was an American bank robber and prisoner at Alcatraz who participated in and was slain in the bloody "Battle of Alcatraz" which took place following a failed escape attempt between May 2 and May 4, 1946.
Arthur Raymond "Doc" Barker was an American criminal, the son of Ma Barker and a member of the Barker-Karpis gang, founded by his brother Fred Barker and Alvin Karpis. Barker was typically called on for violent action, while Fred and Karpis planned the gang's crimes. He was arrested and convicted of kidnapping in 1935. Sent to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1936, he was killed three years later while attempting to escape.
Alcatraz Island has appeared many times in popular culture. Its appeal in film derives from its picturesque setting, natural beauty, isolation, and its history as a U.S. penitentiary – from which, officially, no prisoner ever successfully escaped.
In June 1962, inmates Clarence Anglin, John Anglin, and Frank Morris escaped from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, United States. Late on the night of June 11 or early morning of June 12, the three men tucked papier-mâché heads resembling their own likenesses into their beds, broke out of the main prison building via ventilation ducts and an unused utility corridor, and departed the island aboard an improvised inflatable raft to an uncertain fate. A fourth conspirator, Allen West, failed in his escape attempt and remained on the island.
Theodore "Ted" Cole and Ralph Roe took part in the second documented escape attempt from Alcatraz, in 1937. Although officials were quick to conclude they died in the attempt, their remains were never found and their fate remains unknown, making the incident the first to challenge Alcatraz's reputation as an "escape-proof" prison.
The Alcatraz Gang was a group of eleven American prisoners of war (POW) held separately in Hanoi, North Vietnam during the Vietnam War because of their particular resistance to their North-Vietnamese military captors. These eleven POWs were: George Thomas Coker, USN; Jeremiah Denton, USN; Harry Jenkins, USN; Sam Johnson, USAF; George McKnight, USAF; James Mulligan, USN; Howard Rutledge, USN; Robert Shumaker, USN; James Stockdale, USN; Ron Storz, USAF; and Nels Tanner, USN.
Fort Alcatraz was a United States Army coastal fortification on Alcatraz Island near the mouth of San Francisco Bay in California, part of the Third System of fixed fortifications, although very different from most other Third System works. Initially completed in 1859, it was also used for mustering and training recruits and new units for the Civil War from 1861 and began secondary use as a long-term military prison in 1868.
United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz or The Rock, was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, 1.25 miles (2.01 km) off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States. The site of a fort since the 1850s, the main prison building was built in 1910–12 as a U.S. Army military prison.
Rufe Persful was an American criminal, convicted of murder, kidnapping and robbery. He was considered one of the most dangerous criminals of his era by the authorities.
