I love the movie, in fact it’s one of my favorites, but I never hear anyone talk about this movie. I’m one of the only people I know that has even seen it so maybe you guys can help me here.
Like I said, I like the movie, it’s good. But why is it considered to be so good? What exactly is it about Shawshank that gives it a 9.0 rating and the #2 spot on the top 250 movies of all time at imdb?
Life, which tells a similar story, and is executed almost, if not equally as well, has a lowly rating of 5.7, but almost everyone I know has seen that movie and loved it. Several of my friends consider it the greatest movie of all time. I wouldn’t go that far but I do think it is a really good movie and I can’t imagine why anyone would rate it that low.
To say nothing of how good or bad the Godfather, or Citizen Kane, or Star Wars are (and please don’t), it’s easy to understand why they’re in the top 10. Shawshank, however, is a complete mystery to me.
This guy gets RAPED by other MEN in prison, yet gets stronger, and it doesn’t seem to have any effect on him? No, it DOES NOT work that way. Men raped and brutalized in prison suffer horrible psychological effects. They don’t do other people’s taxes for them.
A black convict accepted as a sort of leader accepted by white convicts. NEVER. Especially during the 1950’s when this was supposed to have occured. (Even though the costumes looked more like the 30’s)
There was a movie with Kevin Bacon out at about the same time where his character is brutalized in prison. And he turns into a pathetic figure. That is what really happens to brutalized human beings. They don’t tunnel out of prison and then wear the warden’s suit that magically fits them perfectly even though the warden is 8 inches shorter.
But…everyone I know LOVED that nonsense too, so I’m sure I will be the only one here who feels this strongly about that movie.
Never saw Life - I didn’t think it was ssupposed to be taken seriously.
Shawshank, however, I love.
It is because it is extremely simple and immensly deep at the same time.
It is the story of people dealing with the consequences of their actions and trying to make the best of a bad situation, and later to try to move on with their lives despite not knowing how to.
The protagonists, while criminals, are actually good people who want to get back to the basics they should have followed in the first place, while the antagonist (the warden) is supposed to uphold the law and be the real good guy but is actually a sleazebag who just takes advantage of everyone around him for personal gain.
In the end, the poeple who “win” are the ones who have come to terms with what it means to be a good person and live a happy, simple life and the one who loses is only interested in material gain and manipulation and power over others.
I find this movie very touching, and I think people can learn a lot from it - about being people.
djf750, while it is doubtlessly true that most people brutalized in a prison situation find their spirits crushed beyond all recognition, it is certainly possible – even probable – that there will be exceptions to that general rule.
Consider tales of POWs like John McCain, who were subjected to brutality far in excess of that depicted in Shawshank, but who nonetheless have managed to get on with their lives.
I don’t really like it all that much. It’s an enjoyable enough, I guess, but it’s not great. IMHO, of course. I found it rather maudlin. It’s one of the myriad movies I liked watching the first time, but have no particular interest in ever watching again. To have it ranked as #2 all time movie on the IMDB is absolutely ridiculous.
I don’t think he really was a leader, more like a figurehead who was the best scrounger in the joint. He bought his way into the position by being able to scrounge up nearly anything desired, things that the other scroungers wouldn’t be able to get. Anyone who messed with him would have been cut off at best or, at worst, treated to a blanket party by the other cons.
Besides, that was 1950’s Maine, not some state pen down in Dixieland. He was probably just tolerated by the majority of the cons, again because of his scrounging ability.
Regarding the OP, Shawshank is a story of revenge. I think the reason it’s liked so much is that Andy is able to pull it off simply because the screw doesn’t pay attention to Andy’s shoes.
Actually, the movie was set in the late forties, but progressed through the 50’s and into the 60’s. This was shown by the changing posters: Rita Hayworth to Twiggy.
The reason I love this movie: It makes me homesick. Even though the story is set in Maine, most of the filming took place in Mansfield Ohio – my home town! Except for the beach scene at the end, all else was filmed in Mansfield. And yes, downtown Mansfield does indeed still look like that, mostly. A town that is stuck in the 50’s, in more ways than aesthetic. The prison was known back in the day as the Ohio State Reformatory and later – just before Shawshank was filmed, the old stone buildings were closed down and new high-tech buildings erected. So the old stuff is used in movies and tours. The new buildings are now referred to as the Mansfield Correctional Institution, or MANCI.
Umm, if you’re talking about the movie Sleepers, you got it wrong – Kevin Bacon wasn’t a brutalized prisoner, but a prison guard who did the brutalizing. True, he turned into a pathetic figure, but the children he raped turned out even more pathetic. Well, the two that killed him, in any case.
As for Shawshank, I found the movie to be more of a parable. It’s not very realistic (Andy never has a cellmate for the two decades spent in prison? Come on!) but it does convey a message of…well, redemption. It shows how a person stuck in the most horrific situation imaginable can succeed in making things right, just by holding on to hope. And it does it in a convincing and non-sentimental way that even a hardened cynic like myself can appreciate.
It’s also a very “brainy” movie. Like when Andy called the warden “obtuse” – I only have the vaguest concept of what the word means (apart from geometry), but apparently it’s bad enough to get thrown into solitary for a month!!
I adore this movie - it is indeed my favorite. I like the friendship that develops between Andy & Red. I also like how everyone’s “karma” rights things in the end; e.g. the Warden, Andy, Red etc.
There is a lot of heart to this movie. Some people like a lot of action & explosions. Me, I like a well-written story that takes you by surprise and has a bit of humanity to it. For me, Shawshank was all of those things.
I missed the movie when it was in the theater, I vaguely remember the commercial. I thought it looked rather boring - then I rented it after someone told me it was good. My Mom also loves the movie, as does one of my closest friends.
Another Shawshank-lover here. I don’t really understand why I love it so much, I just find it incredibly uplifting. Like no other movie I’ve seen.
It’s a great story about the triumph of the human spirit. It makes problems in my own life seem smaller, and also gives me extra strength and resolve to deal with them.
Favourite scene: When that duet from the Marriage of Figaro plays. Words fail me. Must go and listen to that now…
Huh? In my experience, almost everyone I’ve known has seen it, and it’s a movie everyone seems to know ABOUT. It’s one of the most popularly hyped movies of recent years.
Personally, I thought it was good, but I don’t get why people rate it so highly. Like “The Green Mile,” it seemed cloying and cheap at times. The ending was a very bad reinterpretation of the short story’s ending, too. It was a good movie, but rating it as the second best movie of all time is crazy.
RickJay - most people I know have heard of it but no one has really seen it. In fact, I remember when it came out, the most publicity it got was reports of no one going to see it because the name was so ‘weird’. It was a box office bomb IIRC.
That’s, like, the point. He refuses to fall into the fatalism expected of someone treated so badly and instead gets his revenge and remakes his life. It’s supposed to be inspirational. No one ever said it was a documentary.
Cute. First they suffer from brutalization, now they suffer from generalization. You know, even victims are individuals, and they don’t have to act the way you expect them to.
Maybe I should let you meet some of my wife’s elderly uncles. They managed to live long, healthy, sane lives despite the blue numbers tattooed on their arms.
It’s a story about hope. That’s what kept Andy going…he knew he was innocent, and he was not going to let this get him down. He fought the “sisters” every time they tried to attack him. Sometimes he won, sometimes he didn’t.
He made himself useful to the warden, and had a hobby to hack at his cell wall at night.
I loved the scene with the opera music…anyone know what that’s from? That’s not in the novella, BTW.
It shows how a person stuck in the most horrific situation imaginable can succeed in making things right, just by holding on to hope. And it does it in a convincing and non-sentimental way that even a hardened cynic like myself can appreciate.