The Shawshank Redemption

Released: September 23, 1994

Studio: Columbia

Genre: drama

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 28.34 Worldwide: ?

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: ? Worldwide: 58.95

Directing: Frank Darabont

Screenwriting: Frank Darabont

Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman. Bob Gunton

Review:

The Shawshank Redemption is “an uplifting, engrossing, life-affirming drama/prison tale about the relationship between two jailed prisoners.” ^FS Vanity Fair said, “At heart, the film is that rare beast: a relationship movie for men.” ^VF Robbins said it was “a movie about the friendship of two men without a car chase in it.” ^VF

The film was the directorial debut for Frank Darabont, who previously wrote scripts for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), The Blob (1988), and The Fly II (1989). He wanted to adapt Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption from a Stephen King novella after turning King’s The Woman in the Room into a short film in 1983. He paid King $1.00 for the rights – a common practice for King with fledging directors. ^VF

Morgan Freeman called it one of the top scripts he’s seen and Tim Robbins said, “It was the best script I’ve ever read. Ever.” ^VF Producer Liz Glotzer, who loved prison movies, threatened to quit her job at Castle Rock Entertainment if they didn’t make the movie. ^VF Rob Reiner, who had previously adapted King’s The Body into the movie Stand by Me (1986) offered Darabont $3 million for the script, but Darabont wanted to direct it himself. It turned out okay; “few directorial debuts are so deftly constructed.” ^E18

Robbins is Andy Dufresne, a banker wrongly imprisoned for the murder of his adulterous wife and her lover. He is sentenced to life at Maine’s Shawshank State Prison in the mid-1940s. He gains the respect of fellow inmates because of his intelligence and inspirational effect on them. He particularly connects with “Red” (Freeman), a dignified and entrepreneurial inmate known for procuring contraband. Red acquires various items for Andy such as a geological rock hammer for carving chess pieces and a Rita Hayworth poster for his cell wall. “The passage of time over two decades is conveyed by the pin-ups on Andy’s cell wall, which change from Hayworth to Marilyn Monroe, and then to Raquel Welch.” ^FS

Andy never abandons hope despite the life-sucking nature of the prison and “the evil, Bible-pounding Warden Norton (Gunton) [who] uses Andy’s financial background to cover his nefarious activities.” ^FS Andy secretly plots his escape and a plan for revenge.

The movie tested through the roof and received wide-spread critical acclaim. Critic Gene Siskel called it “one of the year’s best films” and compared it to One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Unfortunately, it opened poorly – thanks to the hard-to-pronounce title and 142-minute length – “a life sentence for most audiences.” ^VF

However, it followed a path similar to box-office disappointments/turned beloved movies It’s a Wonderful Life and The Wizard of Oz, which the Library of Congress says is the most-viewed movie of all-time. Thanks to 7 Oscar nominations, the movie became the top-rented title of 1995. ^VF Then Ted Turner’s basic cable station, TNT, got rights to it before networks. It first aired in June 1997 and has been shown over and over since.

It has become “a feel-good perennial,” ^E18 thanks to “the warm, leathery embrace of Morgan Freeman’s narration… [and] the reassuringly Gary Cooper-ish rumple of Tim Robbins’ face.” ^E18 Darabont says Steven Spielberg called it his “chewing-gum movie…in other words, you’ve stepped in it and can’t get it off your foot. You have to watch the rest of the movie.” ^VF Freeman said, “About everywhere you go, people say, ‘The Shawshank Redemption – greatest movie I ever saw.’” ^VF Robbins says, “I swear to God, all over the world – all over the world – wherever I go, there are people who say, ‘That movie changed my life.’” When Robbins met Nelson Mandela, “he talked about loving Shawshank.” ^VF

Sources:

^DB TheDailyBeast.com (2017). “20 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘The Shawshank Redemption’”
^E18 Empire (3/20/2018). “The 100 Greatest Movies”
^FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films”
^IFC IFC.com (2014). “ 9 Things You Never Knew About The Shawshank Redemption”
^IW IndieWire.com (2014). “ Shawshank Secrets Revealed…”
^VF Vanity Fair (2014). “The Little-Known Story of How The Shawshank Redemption Became One of the Most Beloved Films of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists:

Dave’s Movie Database Lists:

Oscars:

Wins: 0

Nominations: 7 – Best Picture, Best Actor (Freeman), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing