Final Escape story
A prisoner matches wits with his custodian in his efforts to escape from a maximum-security prison. Directed by: William Witney. Story by: Thomas H. Cannan, Jr., Randall Hood (story), John Resko (teleplay).
15 total · 1 choice · 6 major · 8 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| human vs. captivity | choice | As alluded to in the title, the driving force of the story is John Perry's ardent desire to escape prematurely from his 11 years of incarceration for bank robbery. |
| compromising one's ethical principles for personal advantage | major | The plot turned on a point of contention between John and Doc: Should John hasten the surely dying inmate along to the afterlife to ensure his own escape, or wait for nature to take its course? In the event, John did not intervene. The mere fact that he had pondered doing so, however, lead Doc to mistrust him and to drink heavily. This in turn lead to Doc's own death, which foiled John's plans and presumably caused him to die of slow asphyxiation buried alive at the conclusion of the story. |
| forced labor camp | major | The story takes place in and around State Prison Lumber Camp No. 2: a maximum security penal labor camp in the US, focused on lumber processing. |
| grandfather and granddaughter | major | Doc was driven by concern for his granddaughter who sorely needed an expensive operation. |
| medical occupation | major | Doc was an acting physician and long time prisoner at State Prison Lumber Camp No. 2. |
| what it is like in prison | major | The story takes place in a maximum security penal labor camp in the US, focused on lumber processing. |
| what it is like to be buried alive | major | The story pointedly concluded with John finding himself buried six feet under in a coffin with no hope of escape. |
| bank robbery | minor | John had been sentenced to ten years in prison for a series of bank robberies netting half a million dollar. |
| betrayal | minor | Captain leaned on Doc to set John up and betray him. Doc decided to remain true knowing it would cost him dearly in retribution from the vengeful Captain. |
| coping with aging | minor | The old man Doc was too old for even light work. |