The shawshank Redemption; Moderate spoilers.

[the_undrtaker89]

Wow, can't believe there isn't any threads on this movie, and if there is the search feature really sucks on the forum.

I thought the acting in this movie was excellent, Tim Robbins stood out more for me than Morgan freeman did, but they both did an outstanding job. I felt really sorry brooks and Jack or jacke whatever. The best part of the movie was it's dedicated attention to the story and the way it was told. And I'm really happy that the movie ended with both the main characters surviving.

This is probably one of my top ten movies I've seen now.

Funny thing, I heard that they had Peta or something on set when they were using the crow, and when it came to the seen where the baby crow was suppose to eat a maggot, they wouldn't let it eat the maggot because that would be cruelty to maggots......

Good thing these people don't watch fear factor.....

 

[Young_Warrior]

Can anyone say it doesnt matter to drop the soap thanks to the sisters.

 

[Delphic Reason]

Definitely an excellent film... All the characters had a unique personality all there own... However, it is Morgan Freeman's role that I believe stole the show... Some of his lines are just classic... Trully a masterpiece, as far as Hollywood productions go...

 

[FastEddie12]

Definitely an excellent film... All the characters had a unique personality all there own... However, it is Morgan Freeman's role that I believe stole the show... Some of his lines are just classic... Trully a masterpiece, as far as Hollywood productions go...

Guess I'd better watch it again before you start throwing quotes into the film quote thread...

PS Maggots get eaten. That's their job...

 

[Delphic Reason]

Guess I'd better watch it again before you start throwing quotes into the film quote thread...

PS Maggots get eaten. That's their job...

I will be using far more obscure quotes than than anything from The Shawshank Redemption...

 

[Zardoz]

After hearing a lot of hype about it, I was disappointed when I finally got around to seeing it. I'm sorry, but the whole story seemed to be full of way too many contrivances, and the evil warden, his guards, and the gay rape gang were like cardboard cutouts, not real people. (By the way, did it seemed odd to you that the entire prison population, knowing exactly who the rape perpetrators were and what their hobby was, allowed them to live and continue their reign of terror with impunity? Yeah, right...)

The feel-good ending iced it. It just seemed like a series of unlikely events strung together.

 

[Delphic Reason]

After hearing a lot of hype about it, I was disappointed when I finally got around to seeing it. I'm sorry, but the whole story seemed to be full of way too many contrivances, and the evil warden, his guards, and the gay rape gang were like cardboard cutouts, not real people. (By the way, did it seemed odd to you that the entire prison population, knowing exactly who the rape perpetrators were and what their hobby was, allowed them to live and continue their reign of terror with impunity? Yeah, right...)

The feel-good ending iced it. It just seemed like a series of unlikely events strung together.

You don't know much about prison... The director studied the actual events (the movie is based on a true story), as well as studying (and interviewing) many different prisoners to get the most realistic feel to the prison dynamics... I'll agree that some of it seemed a bit contrived, and it did have a slightly Hollywood feel in some places (something I absolutely abhor), but all in all, it was pretty realistic, and contained some powerful acting...

 

[the_undrtaker89]

PS Maggots get eaten. That's their job...

They do turn into flies....I hope you know that

 

[a6m5]

Isn't this movie like the ultimate sleeper? I discovered this movie on my own, rented it on tape or VHS. By now, many people has seen this movie and everybody has loved it(Zardoz is the first person I heard who didn't like it). I just checked rottentomatoes.com and it has a approval rating of 87%, but I seriously thought it would be like 98%. I'm glad you liked it, undertaker.

 

[FastEddie12]

They do turn into flies....I hope you know that

Ah yes, but when they're flies they also get eaten. Take the Crane fly - slow, easy to catch, nutritious; they're the airborne equivalent to plankton. Cannon fodder, the world's fuel.

 

[Der Alta]

You don't know much about prison... The director studied the actual events (the movie is based on a true story), as well as studying (and interviewing) many different prisoners to get the most realistic feel to the prison dynamics...

I have to correct you on this one DR. The movie is based on a story by Steven King. There is no true story.

While the director may have done his research on prison life, it follows the book very closely.

Excellent movie, and a faithful adaptation of a book.

AO

 

[Ev0]

Definitley one of my favourite movies. Brilliant story telling, excellent acting, and for once, a Hollywood ending where I'm not pissed off that the main characters made it out alive.

 

[Zardoz]

...the movie is based on a true story...

I doubt very much that in the real-life story things were wrapped up so neatly and cleanly, right down to the head guard being dragged off and the warden blowing his brains out while the hero ends up on a beautiful beach.

It just didn't ring true to me, in spite of the bravura acting and fine direction.

 

[Dave A]

The novel was baed on a real event, in the sense that many ideas, character profiles ect came from that. The storyline itself also has some similairities but it's not an actual re-telling of a real event.

The film is totally brilliant imo, especially the acting you don't ge much better than the acting in this.

 

[Zardoz]

I guess my problem is that I'm just really sick of the Hollywood movie machine and its damned feel-good endings. Sure, if its sci-fi, action-adventure or comedy or something, its certainly the way to end the film, but when they do it to "serious drama" it gets to me, big time.

There's no doubt that Clint Eastwood feels the same way. His last two movies ("Mystic River" and "Million Dollar Baby") stand among the greatest ever made, and he deftly avoids the pat, clean, standing-on-the-beach ending, doesn't he? Life does not wrap things up neatly, and neither does Eastwood. His movies are completely fictional, but they have such an authentic feel you buy into every second of them.

Sure, it's really tough to do it his way, but it can be done. I wish they had made the effort to somehow do it in the otherwise-great "Shawshank".

 

[Der Alta]

The novel was baed on a real event, in the sense that many ideas, character profiles ect came from that. The storyline itself also has some similairities but it's not an actual re-telling of a real event.

The film is totally brilliant imo, especially the acting you don't ge much better than the acting in this.

http://www.vzavenue.net/~speedtech/faq.htm (Question #4)

This next link is to a religious website, and it looks for links tween the bible, christianity and Shawshank redemption. The important part is near the end where it states "One of the most compelling aspects of The Shawshank Redemption is, as the end-credits confidently assure us that the film is pure fiction and any similarity to any name or incident, or the character or biography of any person, is purely coincidental and unintentional."

http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/shawshank.htm

And perhaps this one will help: http://www.tnt.tv/title/0,,20338-484,00.html

Again, it is a work of fiction. Yes, these are links to internet sites, most of which are at best, works of opinion. I found these by googling "shawshank redemption based on true story"

I challenge someone to find where it states the short story was based upon a real life event.

All that aside, I have to say, the movie is a great movie and one I love to watch. Mrs. DA doesn't enjoy it as much as I do since she's not one to watch depressing movies.

 

[amp88]

"Stephen King has said that his original novella, which the film very faithfully adapts, was a culmination of all the memories he had from watching prison movies when he was a child."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111161/trivia

 

[Delphic Reason]

The novel was baed on a real event, in the sense that many ideas, character profiles ect came from that. The storyline itself also has some similairities but it's not an actual re-telling of a real event.

The film is totally brilliant imo, especially the acting you don't ge much better than the acting in this.

Exactly... This was my point... No it's not a word for word telling on an actual event... However, the story was taken from actual events from Prison history... Head over to Steven Kings website to learn more...

I guess my problem is that I'm just really sick of the Hollywood movie machine and its damned feel-good endings. Sure, if its sci-fi, action-adventure or comedy or something, its certainly the way to end the film, but when they do it to "serious drama" it gets to me, big time.

I actually completely agree... I'm GTP's resident anti-Hollywood film fan.... Most all Hollywood productions are over the top, contrived, poorly written, poorly acted, hokey, pieces of garbage, in my opinion... However, I didn't really find "The Shawshank Redemption" to be all that over the top... The acting was sublime, the directing was sublime, and the characters were well fleshed out... Prison life is not far from what you saw on screen... Right down to "The Sisters", and Red's role in aquisitions... I was in Jail for 3 months (don't ask), and while it wasn't prison, the same dynamics were there... I do agree, however, that in some places, thius movie gets a bit too much of that Hollywood feel... So, I can understand some of your distaste...

There's no doubt that Clint Eastwood feels the same way. His last two movies ("Mystic River" and "Million Dollar Baby") stand among the greatest ever made, and he deftly avoids the pat, clean, standing-on-the-beach ending, doesn't he?

While I enjoyed both films, calling them some of "the greatest ever made", is a long stretch... They're good, but there is far better, more artistic works out there, in my opinion...

"One of the most compelling aspects of The Shawshank Redemption is, as the end-credits confidently assure us that the film is pure fiction and any similarity to any name or incident, or the character or biography of any person, is purely coincidental and unintentional."

I'm not disagreeing with you, DA, but that same sentence is at the end of a lot of films that ARE based off real events, especially the ones where they are trying to distance their film from the actual events, or protect the real people... A moot point, but I thought I would bring it up...

Good film, that's for sure...

 

[Dave A]

I challenge someone to find where it states the short story was based upon a real life event.

It's not based on a real event anymore than Man on Fire was, thats based on an event that happened in Italy in the 60's I think, there was no "the face" and no La Hermandad, there was a bodygaurd, a little girl, corrupt police and plenty of killing, but it was more to do with the mafia than the police. The original book was based on that event, however none of the characters in the book were real (Creasey was used in other books before this one and was used in this book to continue his story) and it's unlikely that anything that happened in the real even was put in the book as well barring a girl gets kidnapped and the bodygaurd goes nuts and then you have the film. Still based on the real event, girl gets kidnapped and the bodygaurd goes nuts but now it's La Hermandad and it's in Mexico and the bodygaurd dies at the end. But it's still based on a real event. The Shawhank redemption is similar only based on parts from a few real events, or so I've heared.

 

[Delphic Reason]

It's not based on a real event anymore than Man on Fire was, thats based on an event that happened in Italy in the 60's I think, there was no "the face" and no La Hermandad, there was a bodygaurd, a little girl, corrupt police and plenty of killing, but it was more to do with the mafia than the police. The original book was based on that event, however none of the characters in the book were real (Creasey was used in other books before this one and was used in this book to continue his story) and it's unlikely that anything that happened in the real even was put in the book as well barring a girl gets kidnapped and the bodygaurd goes nuts and then you have the film. Still based on the real event, girl gets kidnapped and the bodygaurd goes nuts but now it's La Hermandad and it's in Mexico and the bodygaurd dies at the end. But it's still based on a real event. The Shawhank redemption is similar only based on parts from a few real events, or so I've heared.

I'll agree with that... 👍

 

[Gil]

I have worked in a prison, and some of it is contrived for "modern" prisons. But I think it was pretty accurate for prisons in the 50's and 60's. The only exception was the fact that there was so "little" racial tension inside the prison.

 

[Sprite]

Well it isnt voted the best film of all time for nothing I love the film, i have the triple DVD boxset and a TV recording too but yeh i love the feel good factor at the end of the film, its a good late night film help ya sleep easy.

 

[the_undrtaker89]

I couldn't have been happier with the ending. You watch the movie and you get the feeling one of them might die, but it never happens.And that just makes the movie a whole lot better. And I'm kinda happy they didn't show one slice of racism in the film, it kinda makes me uneasy when the bad guy is a super duper black hater or something.


It was just suppose to be about friendship. And when people complain about no body dying in the movie, it kinda makes you wonder where society really is nowadays.

 

[FoolKiller]

I doubt very much that in the real-life story things were wrapped up so neatly and cleanly, right down to the head guard being dragged off and the warden blowing his brains out while the hero ends up on a beautiful beach.

It just didn't ring true to me, in spite of the bravura acting and fine direction.

You are aware that alternate title of the Stephen King story is Hope Springs Eternal aren't you? In Four Seasons it was the story about hope and never giving up. If you want a Stephen King story where things don't end up so nicely watch Secret Window or read almost any of his other short stories. He prefers to end things in a very foreboding sense making you wonder if the main characters will ever survive(assuming they are alive by that point), and sometimes the world.

The nicely wrapped package was Hollywood making the movie easier to follow and not so stomach churning. The original story had many moments of prison life that make you cringe. There were multiple wardens and the sisters were eventually taken care of by Andy himself, in a round about way.

The ending was basically the same, but that was because it was a story about hope. The happy ending was the point of the movie. That by never giving up hope you can achieve your goals no matter how hard they appear. You act like it was Capra or something. If I don't get the warm fuzzy kitten feeling but just a thank God kind of feeling then I think they performed a proper happy ending.

 

[TwinTurboJay]

You know its an amazing piece of film when it takes you through an array of emotions liek Shawshank does. From absolute desparation to rejoicing, from evil back stabbing to pure reciprocity...what a movie.

 

[the_undrtaker89]

I've gotta say the first three quarters of the movie were more realistic than the last third tho. When I saw that look in the leader of the sisters eye, I knew, he was going to get a piece of Andy's a**.

 

[Slick Rick]

I was it on Saturday, Brilliant movie 9/10 👍
When i first heard about it, i wasnt too bothered about watching it because it didnt seem like my thing but the movie started off quite quickly and seemed like a good movie

I just am wondering why Brooks pulled a knife on the other guy??
I really liked the characters i thought they were all excellent. I was bit upset when that new guy who passed his test got killed because i liked him too. Also the ending seemed a bit like a dream because Red was going on about 'i hope i get over the border' etc... and when he got to the beach it looked unusual so i wasnt sure if the end was what Red was dreaming probally on the coach. I hope not because i like the ending where they actually meet up.

The main character reminded me of Harrison Fords character in The Fugative for some reason when he was ecaping prison near the end.

 

[Minnesota01R6]

I just am wondering why Brooks pulled a knife on the other guy??

He pulled the knife because he had spent his whole life in prison and was being released. He thought he couldn't handle the outside world, so he wanted to commit a crime inorder to be kept in prison. Eventually, this reality catches up with brooks on the outside, and he decides to take his own life rather than live in a world so different from anything he has ever experienced.

 

[Pupik]

Anyone else worried about spoilers on movie that's more than 10 years old?

Great movie though; it's on TBS/TNT all the time, and it hooks me right in, forcing me to watch it until it's over...(in case Andy might not get out of Shawshank...Hey! You found this!)...

I didn't think so.