140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW
Overshadowed by Pulp Fiction upon release, Shawshank is an absolute masterpiece. Career highlight for Darabont, Freeman, Robbins, Deakins…
Spoiler-free Movie Review of The Shawshank Redemption:
Where do you start with a movie this good?
The Shawshank Redemption was viewed favorably by critics upon its limited release on September 23, 1994, but was all but ignored when it went into wide release on 10/14/1994. I was an enormous Stephen King fan in high school and the first few years of college, so I was familiar with Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, the novella on which this film is based. I loved the story, but even I couldn’t get anyone to go see the movie with me. The reason? A little movie called Pulp Fiction came out the same day.
I wonder if anyone today would make the same choice. Pulp Fiction was a landmark film and arguably changed filmmaking (although I’m not sure if for the better), but I don’t think I’ll get much argument when I suggest that Shawshank is a much better film.
With a movie this classic, it’s hard to know to where to attribute the success. The story, the characters, the acting, the direction, the music, the cinematography, the art direction – these are all top shelf.
Some people still haven’t seen the film; I know I’ve had more than one discussion with someone who just doesn’t want to watch a prison movie. I get that. But please try – it’s just so much more than that.
For those few, The Shawshank Redemption finds banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) sent to Shawshank State Penitentiary in Maine in 1947 for murdering his wife and her lover. Shawshank is a brutal prison with merciless guards, headed by Captain Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown) whose methods are approved of by Warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton), not to mention the frequent assaults by other prisoners such as Bogs Diamond (Mark Rolston). Andy would likely not survive in prison were it not for his financial acumen, which makes him useful to the warden.
The real reason Andy is able to get along in prison, however, is his friendship with fellow convict Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman). The camaraderie of these two is the linchpin of the film. Both men are serving life sentences, but while Red has allowed the bars to cage him in, Andy seems to retain some piece of spirit that can’t be contained. Andy’s unshakable determination to hold on to hope touches even the hardened cellmates but even his spirit can’t last forever in such a place, can it?
Frank Darabont had been a successful screenwriter for years before getting his first chance to direct here, due partly to his friendship with author Steven King. Rob Reiner, who with Stand By Me had so successfully directed the adaptation of another of King’s novellas from the same source book (Different Seasons), wanted to film off of Darabont’s screenplay, and probably would have done a fantastic job, but Darabont wisely held on tight.
There is a humanity to the screenplay that is ably served by the pacing and direction of Darabont. Cinematographer Roger Deakins captures the bleak interiors of the prison without ever suggesting an ugly picture. I’ve never seen dull colors appear so vivid – it’s the recurring humanity at work again. Thomas Newman also contributes an uplifting score.
But this is truly an acting tour de force. Robbins conveys a depth of emotion behind Andy’s aloof exterior, and displays the suggestion that there is still a piece of hope stirring in him beneath all of the hurt. And Freeman displays his usual amazing gravitas. He’s arguably no more or less brilliant here than he was in Glory or any other of his pictures, but I find this the most rewarding of his roles. He was completely robbed of the Academy Award for Best Actor when Forrest Gumped up the works that year, although I still think Robbins was equally deserving of a nomination.
It’s a shame that The Shawshank Redemption didn’t get the respect it deserved twenty years ago, with a lackluster box office and a complete shut-out come awards season, but thankfully it was not long before the public realized just how amazing of a film it is. An absolute classic that plays at least as well as it did twenty years ago. “Remember, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
Poster:
Trailer:
Bechdel Test:
Fail
The Representation Test Score: D (3 pts)
This is kind of unfair – it’s a movie set in the 1940’s in a men’s prison – there aren’t a lot of opportunities to be inclusive or representative.
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
| Main Cast | Tim Robbins Andy Dufresne, Morgan Freeman Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding, Bob Gunton Warden Norton, William Sadler Heywood |
| Rating | R |
| Release Date | Fri 14 Oct 1994 UTC |
| Director | Frank Darabont |
| Genres | Crime, Drama |
| Plot | Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency. |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 142 |
| Tagline | Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free. |
| Writers | Stephen King (short story “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”), Frank Darabont (screenplay) |
| Year | 1994 |
