One of the greatest movies i've ever seen

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2014)

The thing is this film is similar to Forrest Gump in that it is narrated by someone and it takes place over 30 years. There are also historical events that are mentioned in both films. The difference was that Gump opened like gangbusters and was packed weeks into its run while Shawshank did not. Roger is right, it needed to be left in theaters and build on word of mouth and then it would've played a year. Columbia, a big studio, wasn't interested, which is a shame. Seeing this film again recently I couldn't stop watching because you see what prison life is like and how it operates and takes lives from people like Brooks and Red, who become institutionalized. It is sad when films can't seem to build word of mouth and even in today's climate, they don't play many weeks.