After killing a prison guard, convict Robert Stroud faces life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Driven nearly mad by loneliness and despair, Stroud's life gains new meaning when he happens upon a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard and nurses it back to health. Despite having only a third grade education, Stroud goes on to become a renowned ornithologist and achieves a greater sense of freedom and purpose behind bars than most people find in the outside world.

Burt Lancaster
as Robert Stroud

Karl Malden
as Harvey Shoemaker

Thelma Ritter
as Elizabeth Stroud

Neville Brand
as Bull Ransom

Betty Field
as Stella Johnson

Telly Savalas
as Feto Gomez

Edmond O'Brien
as Tom Gaddis

Hugh Marlowe
as Roy Comstock

Whit Bissell
as Dr. Ellis

Crahan Denton
as Kramer
CinemaSerf
It's barely the start of the twentieth century when Stroud (Burt Lancaster) starts his long career in jail. He is already guilty of murder before he loses the plot with a malevolent guard and adds to his crimes. Sentenced to swing, it's only the direct intervention by his mother with the President h...