Excellent movie, but very FAMILIAR....?

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2002)

Having read the King novella, i was very anxious to see this movie, and when i did, i was pleasantly surprised. It was pretty faithful to the novel, and the casting, score and direction were superb. Then i saw 'Escape from Alcatraz'. Now, i am one of Mr. King's biggest fans; i have all of his novels and would be the first to defend him as a brilliant author. But....well, i can't really go much farther without thinking of the word 'plagiarism'. Now, i know that may be a trifle strong, but when i actually started to think about all the similarities between these two movies, i'm sure you will agree it is suspicious to say the least. 1. In Shawshank, Andy hides his rock-hammer inside the Bible. In Alcatraz, Morris hides his nail file inside the Bible. 2. In Shawshank, Brooks rescues and feeds a blackbird which he feeds at the table. In Alcatraz, Litmus rescues and feeds a mouse which he feeds at the table. 3. In Shawshank, Andy escapes by tunneling through his wall with said tool. In Alcatraz, Morris escapes by the same method. 4. In Shawshank, Andy releases the dirt from his cell excavation by dropping it down his trouser legs. In Alcatraz, Morris does the same thing. 5. In Shawshank, the prison warden is a corrupt individual who takes a disliking to the central character. In Alcatraz, the warden also takes a disliking to Morris in much the same way. 6. Both in Shawshank and in Alcatraz, Morris and Andy both take jobs in the prison library, distributing books to the inmates. 7. The character of Red in Shawshank is almost an exact copy of the character of English in Alcatraz. 8. The character of Brooks in Shawshank is very much the same role fulfilled by Litmus in Alcatraz, and both die in the movie. 9. In both movies, the cenral character has to defend himself against the gay inmates, and has several altercations with them (Wolf in Alcatraz, and the 'Sisters' in Shawshank). The prison shower scene is an almost exact copy of the scene in Alcatraz. 10. Instead of painting (used as a metaphor for freedom and hope in Alcatraz), Shawshank uses music to symbolize Andy's undying hope. In fact, the speech given by Andy about "they can't take the music away from me" almost echoes that of Doc in Alcatraz, who says something very similar about his paintings.
I now find it hard not to think of Shawshank as a re-make of "Escape from Alcatraz". However, both movies are well worth watching in their own right, but i have never felt the same about Shawshank after seeing Alcatraz, and knowing that it was made almost 20 years before Shawshank was even written. Anyway, a very good movie none the less.