I dedicated a lot of time to this comment, but I still hate summaries.

Rating: 10/10 (5 January 2000)

I saw this movie a long while ago, and I've seen it about 5 times, but if I catch it on TV, I sit back, relax, and watch it again, like if I have never seen it before.
Tim Robbins has become one of my favorite actors. After this movie and Arlington Road, I think he deserves as much as credit as an actor can get. Morgan Freeman is also known for making good movies, even when he has made some bad films, like every good actor alive, of course.
The idea of putting this two men together was simply brilliant. I also think the Director made a great job.
Now lets talk about the movie a little bit... I think this is the kind of movie that people wants, the kind of movie that makes you feel happy after you see it, the kind of movie that you cannot get out of your head for a few days after you've seen it. You also think, of course, that is so not fair that a person can lose 20 years of his life that way, being innocent, that the only witness, that can also save you, is murdered because the director of the Prison does not wants you to leave, since you are doing a very good job for him.
The way that Andy (Robbins) got rid of the three homosexuals that were abusing him, is excellent, and it also shows how Andy was not afraid of talking to the guards, and he was not nervous or anything like that, and most of all, that he was very smart. That was probably what I liked the most about the film, Andy's intelligence.
The way he escaped is just fantastic, specially because it could have been true, after all, he did not even kill anyone.
Maybe, when a person watches me talking like that, thinks that I only give credit to Robbins for the movie, but that is not true, I think Morgan Freeman did a very good performance too. After all, the movie would not be the same without the way he narrates it.
I'll rate this movie with a 10 out of 10, I think it really deserves it, and it's definitely one of the best movies ever.