It is too bad that Hollywood has to immortalize an infamous individual who was not accurately depicted in the movie "Murder in the first". Henry (not actually spelled Henri) Young was not innocent as the movie would have you perceive and the rock (Alcatraz) was not unlike any other federal or state institution of the time. Kevin Bacon is a fine actor, it is just too bad that the truth could not be told about the trial and incarceration of Henry Young. Henry Young was never committed to Alcatraz for a petty crime of theft, it was a federal crime of kidnapping when he and a couple of cohorts stole a taxi and kidnapped the owner. That is one of the many reasons why Henry was sent to Alcatraz. The movie also does not truly depict the reason Henry began his life as a petty thief. He was working at the time and his younger sister and he were not destitute as the movie would have you believe. The producers should have done their homework before writing the script, truth is actually stranger than fiction and they may have come up with a more believable story. Since Henry is my uncle, (he has never been located since he walked away from parole in 1970) my family knowledge permits me to comment on the editorial license that the producers took in fabricating their story.
Review of Murder in the First
