the shawshank redemption(1994)** an impressive,engrossing piece of film-making from director/screenwriter frank darabont who adapted horror master stephen king's 1982 novella rita hayworth and shawshank redemption(first publ**hed in different seasons)for h** first feature film.the inspirational,life-affirming and uplifting,old-fashioned style hollywood product(resembling the birdman of alcatraz(1962)and cool hand luke(1967))** a combination pr**on/dramatic film and character study.the popular film ** abetted by the golden cinematography of roger deakins,a touching score by thomas newman,and a third imposing character-maine's oppressive shawshank state pr**on(actually the transformed,condemned mansfield ohio correctional institution or state reformatory).
posters for the film illustrate the liberating,redemptive power of hope and the religious themes of freedom and resurrection,with the words:"fear can hold you pr**oner,hope can set you free."darabont's film ** a patiently-told,allegorical tale(unfolding like a long-played,sometimes painstaking,pers**tent chess game)of friendship,patience,hope,survival,emancipation,and ultimate redemption and salvation by the time of the film's finale.
it was nominated for seven academy awards,including best picture,best actor(morgan freeman),best adapted screenplay,best cinematography,best editing,best original score,and best sound-but it failed to win a single oscar.and the film's director failed to receive a nomination for himself!in the same year as forrest gump,pulp fiction,and speed,they received all of the attention.only through positive word-of-mouth(following cable tv and broadcast airings,and then video releases)did the film do well-although its original reception at the box-office was lukewarm.the film was the precursor for another inspirational and popular film(and a similar adaptation of a stephen king story by writer/director frank darabont)-the green mile(1999).
to economically compress events during the credits sequence,a scene outside a cabin ** intercut with a courtroom trial scene.[the year ** 1946.]a plymouth ** parked outside a cabin[belonging to a golf pro engaged in an affair with an adulterous wife].during a dark,quiet night in the wooded area near the cabin,the driver(the woman's hu**and)reaches for h** oily,rag-wrapped gun in the glove compartment where bullets are also concealed.to fortify himself,he takes a swig of rosewood bourbon from a glass bottle held in h** lap.in the courtroom,the driver ** identified as andy dufresne(tim robbins).he ** interrogated by the d.a.(jeffrey demunn)and charged with murder:"mr.dufresne,describe the confrontation you had with your wife the night that she was murdered."the well-dressed,mild-mannered defendant calmly speaks:"it was very bitter.she said she was glad i knew,that she hated all the sneaking around.she said she wanted a divorce in reno.i told her i would not grant one."the d.a.rephrases andy's response with h** actual words:
'i'll see you in hell before i see you in reno.' those were the words you used,mr.dufresne,according to the testimony of your nei**ors.
obviously,andy's wife(renee blaine)was h**ing an affair with glenn quentin(scott mann),the golf pro at the snowdon hills country club.according to andy,he felt confused and drunk,loaded h** gun with bullets and intended to commit the crime,but then after quickly"sobering up,"he had second thoughts.on h** way home,according to h** testimony,he d**carded h** gun:".i stopped and i threw my gun into the royal river.
the next morning,the bullet-riddled bodies of andy's wife and her lover-in bed-were d**covered.andy's"very convenient"(acc.to the da)testimony and unbelievable profession of innocence,coupled with the fact that"the police dragged that river for three days and nary a gun was found,"seem rather suspicious to the d.a.the water washed away all evidence of h** alleged innocence.
the d.a.'s closing summary to the jury,illustrated with a brief flashback-montage of the adulterous couple's passionate lovemaking(and obvious 'sin'),also points to andy's undeniable guilt[it looks quite likely that andy ** guilty of the crime,although he has trouble remembering]:
we h**e the accused at the scene of the crime.we h**e footprints,tire tracks.we h**e bullets strewn on the ground which bear h** fingerprints.a broken bourbon bottle,likew**e with fingerprints.and most of all,we h**e a beautiful young woman and her lover lying dead in each other's arms.they had sinned.but was their crime so great as to merit a death sentence?a revolver holds six bullets,not eight.i submit that th** was not a hot-blooded crime of passion.that,at least,could be understood if not condoned.no-th** was revenge of a much brutal and cold blooded nature.consider th**.four bullets per victim.not six shots fired but eight.that means that he fired the gun empty and then stopped to reload so that he could shoot each of them again.an extra bullet per lover,right in the head.
the"icy and remorseless"man ** sentenced by the maine judge(john horton)to"serve two life sentences back to back-one for each of your victims."the g**el ma**ng the sentence pounds the screen to black.
the next scene,another scene of judgment,commences with no**y,iron bars sliding open,and another door opening into a room where five men sit at a table.an unexpected scene,th** ** the parole hearings room of maximum-security shawshank pr**on,where a black pr**oner/lifer(#30265)named ell** boyd"red"redding(morgan freeman)-the real hero of the story,after serving twenty years of h** sentence,receives h** cursory annual review[in the year 1947].[the entire film ** basically told from red's perspective,and much of the film ** centered around the theme of observation,perception and seeing-especially red's observation of the other main protagon**t,andy dufresne(tim robbins).]
red religiously vows h** rehabilitation has been accompl**hed-and swears-"that's the god's honest truth":
reviewer:you feel you've been rehabilitated?red:oh,yes sir.absolutely,sir.yeah,i've learned my lesson.i can honestly say that i'm a changed man.i'm no longer a danger to society.that's the god's honest truth.
a mechanical stamp marks"rejected"in red ink on h** parole records.[the picture in h** parole document ** that of morgan freeman's own son,alfonso.]in the pr**on's exerc**e yard following the"same ol' s-t"review,red begins h** ubiquitous voice-over narration(of h** recollections)-a world-weary,resonant voice-over that continues for the remainder of the film.he ** the pr**on's respected retriever-who sneakily passes contraband from hand to hand:
there must be a con like me in every pr**on in america.i'm the guy who can get it for you.cigarettes,a bag of reefer if that's your thing,a bottle of brandy to celebrate your kid's high school graduation,damn near anything within reason.yes sir,i'm a regular sears and roebuck.
pr**on sirens blast as a ritual**tic pr**on event ** heralded-the arrival of fresh,new pr**oners(termed"fresh f**h")in a drab-gray school bus.red recollects back:"so when andy dufresne came to me in 1949 and asked me to smuggle rita hayworth into the pr**on for him,i told him-'no problem.'"a well-orchestrated,helicopter/aerial shot,one of the most acclaimed shots in the film,moves up from the arriving bus,ascends the main tower of the gothic pr**on,and peers down into the pr**on courtyard where ant-like pr**oners scurry toward the fenced-in arrival area to gawk,size up,and jeer the new ar** during their d**embarkment:
andy came to shawshank pr**on in early 1947 for murdering h** wife and the fella she was bangin'.on the outside,he'd been vice-president of a large portland bank.good work for a man as young as he was.
andy,dressed conspicuously in h** banker's suit,** seated in the back of the bus.as the bus turns the corner into the pr**on,there are five blue-uniformed guards waiting there-the chief captain of the guard,byron hadley(clancy brown)motions the bus into position.chained together,the pr**oners exit from the bus,walk in single-file,and are lined up for inspection.andy appears tormented and terrified as he nervously walks into h** new surroundings while surrounded by shouting,taunting spectators who shake the fence.the old-timer inmates bet"smokes"on the new 'horses' and who will break first-floyd(brian libby)bets on"that little sack of s-t.eighth from the front,he'll be first."heywood(bill sadler)chooses"that chubby fat-ass there,the fifth one from the front."red votes for the fragile-looking andy("that tall drink of water with a silver spoon up h** ass"-a veiled reference to andy's upcoming rape)at the end of the line:
i must admit,i didn't think much of andy first time i laid eyes on him.looked like a stiff breeze would blow him over.that was my first impression of the man.
andy glances up at the imposing walls above him-walls that will close in on h** life during two consecutive life sentences-as he ** marched in.in an admitting area,the pr**oners meet mr.samuel norton(bob gunton),the self-righteous,bible-carrying warden:
you are convicted felons.that's why they sent you to me.rule number one:no blasphemy.i'll not h**e the lord's name taken in vain in my pr**on.the other rules you'll figure out as you go along.
hadley cusses right into the face of a d**respectful pr**oner who has asked:"when do we eat?the guard inhumanely jabs h** baton into the gut of the man("you maggot-dick motherf-ker!.the warden fin**hes h** short,pompous introduction-with another reference to anal rape!i believe in two things-d**cipline and the bible.here you'll receive both.put your trust in the lord.your ass belongs to me.welcome to shawshank.
to remove all vestiges of their identity(or contamination)from the outer world,the new cons are made to undress,then hosed down in a steel cage with high pressure water spray,and deloused with scoops of white delousing powder.as part of their degrading processing...