Review – Birdman of Alcatraz

Vicious killer and bird expert Robert Stroud gets the Hollywood treatment in this occasionally-touching tale from the 1960s. The problem with casting Burt Lancaster in the title role is that he’s a bit too sympathetic. That may have been what they were going for here, but I would have preferred a more even balance between the kindly man who discovered cures for avian diseases and the murderer who was behind bars for a reason. This is more of a triumph-of-the-individual-spirit-over-the-system story, particularly the exchanges between Lancaster and Karl Malden as a by-the-book warden who pops in and out of the Birdman’s life. Mildly amusing