The Shawshank Redemption
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| Director(s) | Frank Darabont |
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| Distributor | Turner Home Ent |
| Honors | |
| When this popular prison drama was released in 1994, some critics complained that the movie was too long (142 minutes) to sustain its story. Those complaints miss the point, because the passage of time is crucial to this story about patience, the squeaky wheels of justice, and the growth of a life-long friendship. Only when the film reaches its final, emotionally satisfying scene do you fully understand why writer-director Frank Darabont (adapting a novella by Stephen King) allows the story to unfold at its necessary pace, and the effect is dramatically… | |
Honors
Reviews
Amazon.com
When this popular prison drama was released in 1994, some critics complained that the movie was too long (142 minutes) to sustain its story. Those complaints miss the point, because the passage of time is crucial to this story about patience, the squeaky wheels of justice, and the growth of a life-long friendship. Only when the film reaches its final, emotionally satisfying scene do you fully understand why writer-director Frank Darabont (adapting a novella by Stephen King) allows the story to unfold at its necessary pace, and the effect is dramatically rewarding. Tim Robbins plays a banker named Andy who’s sent to Shawshank Prison on a murder charge, but as he gets to know a life-term prisoner named Red (Morgan Freeman), we realize there’s reason to believe the banker’s crime was justifiable. We also realize that Andy’s calm, quiet exterior hides a great reserve of patience and fortitude, and Red comes to admire this mild-mannered man who first struck him as weak and unfit for prison life. So it is that The Shawshank Redemption builds considerable impact as a prison drama that defies the conventions of the genre (violence, brutality, riots) to illustrate its theme of faith, friendship, and survival. Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor, and Screenplay, it’s a remarkable film that signaled the arrival of a promising new filmmaker—a film that many movie lovers count among their all-time favorites. —Jeff Shannon
Barnes and Noble
Released in 1994 to mixed reviews, this engrossing adaptation of a Stephen King novella impressed moviegoers with its painstaking exactitude, stylish direction, and memorable performances. It went on to earn seven Academy Award nominations and become a giant hit on home video, finding a huge and appreciative audience. It begins in 1947, when bank vice president Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is convicted on circumstantial evidence for the murder of his wife and her lover. Sentenced to life imprisonment in Shawshank Prison, he endures with a quiet tenacity that wins him the respect of both hardened prisoners—like “Red” (Morgan Freeman)—and the duplicitous warden (Bob Gunton), who puts the new fish to work on his personal financial matters. Director Frank Darabont allows audiences to experience the tedium of prison. Life in Shawshank is not just tedious, though; it’s also grueling and painful, punctuated by bursts of brutality and horror that wear down prisoners sentenced to long terms. And it unfolds, according to Darabont, in a manner in which seemingly oblique words or incidents prove later on to have special resonance. Despite the grim subject matter and two-and-a-half-hour length, The Shawshank Redemption is both engaging and ultimately uplifting. Much credit for this goes to Robbins and Freeman, each of whom displays qualities that make his character especially vivid and memorable. It’s a rewarding motion picture that’s guaranteed to linger in one’s memory. Ed Hulse
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Related works
Different Seasons: Four Novellas
A collection of four novellas by the bestselling master, three of which became the basis for the hit films Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and Apt Pupil. So varied in tone that “you have to compare King to Twain, Poe-with a generous dash of Philip Roth and Will Rogers thrown in.” —Los Angeles Times
