The name Stephen King is synonymous as this generation’s undisputed master of terror. King’s 40+ year career has produced hundreds of writings and terrifying horror masterpieces, several of which have been turned into films. King’s 1982 effort “Different Seasons” included a collection of 4 novellas, 3 of which have been made into movies; “The Body” (1986 – renamed as “Stand by Me”), “Apt Pupil” (1998), and “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption,” whose 1994 cinematic counterpart, shortened to simply “The Shawshank Redemption,” would go on to be one of the best movies ever made.
Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, the film features breakout performances by actors Tim Robbins and Hollywood deity Morgan Freeman. It was written and directed by Frank Darabont, who would go on to direct two other King works turned to film: “The Green Mile” (1999) and “The Mist” (2007).
King’s tales always feature deep, well developed characters engrossed in enigmatic horror.What could possibly be worse than finding out your wife is having an affair with a hotshot lover?
How about going to prison for murdering them when you didn’t even have the pleasure of actually doing the job (like any man in the same situation would fantasize about doing). Thus the premise for “The Shawshank Redemption.” I would rather be hacked to death in an instant by a madman in a hockey mask then spend a lifetime in a dungeon slowly dying each and every day.
The film begins in 1947 with the trial of Andy Dufresne (Robbins) accused of murdering his cheating wife and her lover in a drunken rage. Though protesting his innocence, the evidence to convict is overwhelming against him. Dufresne admitted to taking a gun to the house the night of the murder to scare them, but claims he sobered up and left, tossing the gun in the river.
The prosecutor rebuffs this notion as being awfully convenient since the police dragged the river and could not find the gun. “Since I am innocent of this crime sir, I find it decidedly inconvenient that the gun was never found,” Andy answers him in a slow and emotionless fashion. Dufresne is convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms at the harsh Shawshank Prison.
Inside Shawshank, we meet Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding (Freeman), an inmate who has just been denied parole after 20 years inside. Red then acts as narrator for the remainder of the film. A busload of new prisoners including Andy arrives at the prison and Red and his friends place bets on who will be the first to break, with Red placing his wages (in the form of cigarettes) on Andy.
The new fish are led inside where they are introduced to the scowling guard captain, Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown) and the warden of Shawshank, Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton). The pious Norton advises the new inmates of the only written rule at the prison – no blasphemy. “Put your trust in the lord,” Norton lectures the men. “Your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.”
That night the new inmates are treated to a display of how tough things will be when Hadley beats an inmate to a bloody pulp for making noise. As Red narrates, “His first night in the joint, Andy Dufresne cost me two packs of cigarettes. He never made a sound.”
Andy goes about the prison routine for the first two months before finally approaching Red (having identified him as a “man who knows how to get things”) to smuggle him his first order of contraband. “I have no enemies in here,” Andy tells Red. “Wait a while,” Red replies, then offers Andy stern advice in the form of a warning – an inmate named Bogs (Mark Rolston) and his gang have taken a liking to Andy.
Red tells him to grow eyes in the back of his head. “I don’t suppose it would help if I told them that I’m not homosexual?” Andy opines. “Neither are they. You have to be human first.”
The movie follows Andy and Red as they develop a close friendship over the course of two decades inside the stone walls of the impenetrable fortress. Andy uses his advanced education to assist guards and staff with taxes and financial queries, eventually going to work in the prison library and ultimately assisting Warden Norton in laundering illicit funds.
“The Shawshank Redemption” contains superb acting from all parties involved – the obvious being Robbins and Freeman but also surprisingly strong performances from the three antagonists; Gunton, Brown and Rolston. You’ll feel like a part of Andy as you watch him struggle to survive.
Through the years, Andy experiences many forms of redemption courtesy of Shawshank; his troubles with Bogs, his hobby of polishing rocks, the library – even redemption from his own failed marriage (in a roundabout way).
The Shawshank Redemption needs to be watched. It needs to be owned. And it needs to be recognized as a truly remarkable film.
– by Matt Christopher
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I agree – this is probably the best and most emotional prison movie of all time.
The Green Mile would like a word, sir.
The Green Mike is amazing, but I don’t think it’s a “prison” movie so much as it’s a death row movie with a supernatural element. King’s book is amazing; but I think Shawshank is the crème de la crème of movies detailing the horrors of prison experience.