Saturday, November 11, 2006
The Shawshank Redemption
- Who's watched: M & G
- Mentions: *1*
- Commentary: Although I don't normally 'force' my mother to watch movies I know she'll find unpleasant, even though most of this movie takes place in a prison and doesn't spare the detail, I 'forced' her to watch this movie, even the very difficult scenes. I told her, before I sat her down to watch it, that the movie was one of the most uplifting movies she is likely to watch, but in order to reap the full benefit, she must watch the entire movie, even the parts that are hard to watch.
My insistence was worth it. The movie has become one of my mother's favorites, and she delights, now, every time she hears Morgan Freeman's voice, even in another movie, because she associates it with the surprises and pleasures of this movie.
Roger Ebert reviewed this movie twice. His initial review is linked to the title in this post in which the movie garnered three-and-a-half stars. Five years later it became one of his Great Movies and was racheted up to four stars. In his "Great Movie" review Ebert explains the disparity: that, in fact, he reacted much like the public did to this movie: finding the word "redemption" in the title off-putting from the point of view of theater watching, but, later, made the movie a phenomenon in the home video market. Read the article. It's interesting how he comes to this conclusion.
I, frankly, don't remember whether I first saw it in the theater or on home video. The dating of this post tells me that I acquired it sometime in 2006. I may have seen it before that, or maybe not. All I remember, now, is that I have loved this movie ever since I first saw it, whenever that was. It is juicy with, well, forgive me, Roger, redemption, not something that one finds very often, in life or in the movies.
Turns out, I own two copies of this movie, this stand-alone and another copy in the "Warner Brothers 20 Film Collection Thrillers". Which is good. I can either give one of the copies away or consider that I have a back-up if one of my copies decides to misbehave.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Tim Robbins Andy Dufresne Morgan Freeman Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding Bob Gunton Samuel Norton William Sadler Heywood Clancy Brown Byron Hadley Gil Bellows Tommy Williams James Whitmore Brooks Hatlen Mark Rolston Bogs Diamond
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1994
Directed by Frank Darabont.
Labels: bob-gunton, clancy-brown, drama8, morgan-freeman, revenge1, shared-favorite, tim-robbins
