Reviews by Joe, Steve, Derek, Brad, Dan, Chris

Rating: 10/10 (28 November 2002)

CONTAINS SPOILERS Review by Joe: `Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption' the original short novel by legendary author Stephen King, sparked the start of a superb movie and ongoing legend. Andrew Dufresne, a fairly young man committed murder and was sentenced to life in Shawshank prison. There are some elements of this film that differ from elements of this novel. And yet many things are the same.
In the novel, Andy was a short, partially bald man, who was quiet and shy, and in the movie he was a tall intimidating stocky figure. I think this difference is important in one particular scene: the prisoners are tarring the roof, and Andy overhears Hadley, a man who is angry at the world, talking about his inheritance from his deceased brother. Andy speaks up about the taxes of the inheritance and Hadley gets furious. I think that if in the movie he was the man described in the book, it would have made this seem weak, and Hadley probably wouldn't have thought him worthy to even speak to him. I think this movie was put together well, but to be honest, I like Stephen King's short novel better.
Review by Steve: The movie was very good. Andy's life in prison was real. Andy really got cheated out of 20 years of his life. Andy's in jail for something he didn't do. I especially like the scene when the warden was talking to the media. When the warden was in front of the building talking it looked like the warden had a crown on. Showing that he was a king he had all the power. I didn't like the ending of the movie. It was good for them because it was what they both wanted. They both wanted freedom and that's what that scene showed. But they should have had some sort of action, like gone sailing, fishing, showed them both out to sea doing something. Being free. Not just on the beach hugging each other.
Review by Derek: I think that the directors should have filmed the movie in Charleston, Maine because I've spent a lot of time there. I wish I would have had a chance to see the whole movie but from what I saw it was a great movie. I liked the movie cause it seemed so real. But what I didn't like was how the guards and the warden thought that any one who got in the way or their business they could kill them or put them in solitary confinement. Plus I didn't like how guards treated inmates like slaves. They couldn't just face reality and treat them like equals. But it happens in prisons all over the world so that's why I liked Shawshank Redemption.
Review by Brad: I liked the movie compared to the book. I think that the movie was way better. The movie seemed to be way more interesting. It was complimentary to Stephen King's ways of writing an intricate portrayal of an actual event that took place in Maine. One of the things I liked about the movie is the way camera angles portray power.
Review by Dan: A Review of Shawshank Redemption from an Inmate's View I found the movie not nearly as enjoyable as Stephen King's `Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption'. The points I found I did not agree with are they have Red's character as a black man in the movie when in the short story he was a white Irish man but it kinda adds a little laughter to a serious theme. Second they have Andy Dufresne as a tall skinny man when in `Rita Hayworth.' he's a small and a heavy man with not much of an aura. Thirdly they have one warden Mr. Norton when there is three in the short story because it seems to the viewer that 19 years did not go by, but in a way its good so the viewer can focus his hate towards one figure. That's what I didn't like but there are more pros than cons. The film makers did an excellent job with the lighting, the angle of the camera and the music. With these three combined it gives the feelings of dread and despair as black as death. Freedom as high as a bird and sadness as deep as an ocean. With all these in mind it makes a great movie on a scale from 1 to 10 I'd give it 8 Â½.
Review by Chris: This movie was madcool. Some specific parts about this movie that I thought were pretty phat was like when the music was played by the Italian lady's singing and they all looked free. When later on in the movie the music is really fast and strong after he's finished climbing out of the pipe and really is free. I also like how Andy never gave up against the sisters and then finally Hadley beat the p*** out of Boggs,the guards helped him because he helped them that's pretty killer.
Madcool-really good, very interesting Phat-cool interesting, awesome, madcool Pretty Killer-same