The Shawshank Redemption

Rating: 10/10 (4 March 2005)

Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free. A good tagline for a great prison drama from writer/director Frank Darabont (The Green Mile), based on the book by Stephen King. Basically Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is the lawyer convicted for the murder of his wife, sent to Shawshank prison, headed by the nasty Warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton). While he is there he is quiet for a while, but eventually he forms a friendship with black Irish marketeer Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding (Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Morgan Freeman, and the character was originally a white red haired Irishman), retains hope and gains respect of fellow inmates. After a while, he gets to do a lot of personal work for the Warden sorting documents, founding a new library and improving a lot of other things, with his law and mathematical skills. One day though, he seems strange towards Red when he asks him to find a specific tree somewhere he knows, and the next morning, he has escaped (scraping through the soft wall with a chisel). Andy and Red do eventually find each other again in the happy emotional ending, well, many moments in the film are emotional. It was a flop in the cinemas, and since release to video and DVD it has become a favourite with many film goers. Also starring William Sadler as Heywood, Clancy Brown as Captain Byron T. Hadley, Gil Bellows as Tommy and James Whitmore as Brooks Hatlen. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Music for Thomas Newman, Best Sound, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium and Best Picture, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. Morgan Freeman was number 27 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, the film was number 7 on The 100 Greatest Tearjerkers for the scene where classical operatic music plays in the prison, it was number 23 on 100 Years, 100 Cheers, it was number 13 on Film 4's 50 Films To See Before You Die, and it was number 3 on The 100 Greatest Films. Outstanding!