Genre Grandeur – The Shawshank Redemption (1994) – Encore Review 2 – MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Prison Films, here’s a review of The Shawshank Redemption (1994) – by me

Thanks again to Jay of Life Vs. Film for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by Ryan of Ten Stars or Less.  We will be reviewing our favorite Boston Film(s).

According to Ryan’s research, this is probably the best list of movies set in Boston

https://www.boston.com/culture/entertainment/2015/07/13/the-20-most-boston-movies-ever

Here is what appears to be the official/unofficial list of everything related to Boston movies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_set_in_Boston

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Apr by sending them to BostonRyan@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice Ryan!

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:

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“Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. ” – Red

Number of Times Seen – Too many to count (Theater, DVD, 20 May 2013, 14 Oct 2015 and 29 Mar 2017)

Link to original review – Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – Story about the friendship of two prisoners in a Maine Prison over the period of 20 years.

My Take on it – This is one of my favorite movies and I also truly believe that it is one of the best films ever conceived.

This was written as a novella by Stephen King and I have always loved it even years before the film was made.

King has a way to create and develop characters so well that we can truly believe that they are real people.

Here, he does just that and the screenplay by Director Frank Darabont is able to translate those characters and the story so well to the screen.

The bond that grows between these two men is constantly growing as they continue to spend time together over the twenty year period of the film and we get a clear understanding of what freedom is to these men locked behind bars.

The story is quite compelling to watch as we see things progress over the years shown.

Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman are both perfectly cast in the lead roles and I wonder whether anyone else would have succeeded in making these characters come to life as well as they do.

The friendship between these two characters has become quite iconic over the years and is usually listed among some of the best relationships between characters that are not ‘in love’.

We are given such a great view of prison life and how people must think and act in order to hope that eventually they will be granted their freedom.

There’s a reason this film has been listed at #1 on IMDB for so long…

If for some reason, you’ve never seen this film, I strongly urge you to drop whatever you are doing and go watch it right this very minute!!!

Bottom Line – One of the best movies ever made. The characters development is superb and we can really feel the bond between these two men growing over time. The story itself is compelling to watch unfold.  King knows how to create an amazingly gripping story with well formed and interesting characters. Robbins and Freeman are perfectly cast here and I wonder if anyone else could have helped create such an iconic movie friendship. Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia –  Andy and Red’s opening chat in the prison yard, in which Red is pitching a baseball, took nine hours to shoot. Morgan Freeman pitched that baseball for the entire nine hours without a word of complaint. He showed up for work the next day with his arm in a sling. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (no change from original review)

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