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The Shawshank Redemption
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Plot
US Lawyer is sent to Shawshank prison for life, charts his experiences, friendships and influences on the prison whilst maintaining his innocence.
Review
This movie is based on a novella by Stephen King, but don't let that put you off. It's not a horror film, rather a thumpingly good ode to friendship, hope, wit, wiles and wisdom, brimming with crackling characters and topped with the most twisteroo of twists since The Crying Game. Found guilty of killing his unfaithful wife and her lover in a fit of passion, sullen accountant Andy Dufresne (Robbins, casting off his goofball image to display more layers than the proverbial onion) is shipped to the gothic wind-swept corridors of the Shawshank State Prison for life. It is here the movie gracefully unfolds. With a beautifully rounded script, writer/director Darabont conjures up a spellbinding personal odyssey stretching through the years from 1946 to 1967.
Dufresne, all the while protesting his innocence, slowly overcomes the hellfire tortures of the prison system - an unblinking range of beatings, rapings and abject humiliations - while managing to inspire his fellow inmates to lift their degraded horizons. Among them is Red (Freeman, in a matchless supporting role), the lifer who can, given time, provide virtually anything. And for reasons best known to himself, Dufresne requires 40s starlet Rita Hayworth, provisioned in poster form.
The mood swings rigorously through every emotion as the cranky, wiseguy and downright crazed array of criminals bare the brunt of the turbulent life within the doomy Shawshank catacomb. Then it gets really mean, gearing up for its injury-time shockers. Dufresne, a whiz with figures, is bullied into running the warden's (Gunton) petty accounting scams, giving him the chance to execute his and the film's final, greatest miracle.
If you're miserable enough to look for gripes then, yes, it does drift on too long and who needs prison buggery again? Yet the ending has such poetic completeness you're too busy contentedly chuckling to worry about sore behinds. This may have confounded American audiences - it flopped big-time on planet Yank - but a more divine movie experience you will not find this side of Oscardom. Spread the word.
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Shawshank Redemption, The Released: 18 May 1998 Peppered with the usual notes on production and actor profiles, all eloquent if brief, this does boast excellent filmed interviews with cast and makers, adding real insight to the processes at work. |
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| Your Reviews |
Average user rating for The Shawshank Redemption |
| THE BEST PRISON MOVIE EVER | |
| A BRILLIANT FILM. IT'S CRIMINAL THAT TIM ROBBINS WASNT NOMINATED FOR AN OSCAR. A LONG FILM, BUT NEVER BORING. BY THE WAY IAN NATHAN, IM PRETTY SURE ANDY DUFRESNE WAS A BANKER, NOT A LAWYER. ... More | |
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Posted by WiseGuy101 at 03:59, 05 February 2009 | Report This Post | |
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| Shawshank the redeeming movie | |
| BEST MOVIE EVER ... More | |
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Posted by Hamsterwalt at 11:31, 27 September 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| Great movie! ... More | |
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Posted by ARmy2510 at 08:46, 26 September 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| Doubt I can add anything that hasn't been said before ...so I'll just leave my 5 stars and be off! ... More | |
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Posted by SkullKassidy at 12:32, 11 August 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| Doubt I can add anything that hasn't been said before ...so I'll just leave my 5 stars and be off! ... More | |
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Posted by SkullKassidy at 12:32, 11 August 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| The greatest film ever made ... More | |
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Posted by willchadwick at 12:28, 13 July 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: RE: | |
| I watched this movie when I was felling quite sad and wanted to get myself even more bored by watching a prison movie. It was not what I expected Shawkshank may start out a little weak, but picks up from there and makes use of every second of film. My brother's seen this movie twice, unfortunatly I've only seen it once, but tend to revisit Andy Dufrene in prison soon. All in all a great movie that will lift your spirits. Fear can keep you prisoner Hope Can set you fr... More | |
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Posted by Paap28 at 20:31, 28 April 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: | |
| Shawshank's a brilliant film. It can restore hope in any one, and does it beautifully. Definately one of my top favourite films of all time. ... More | |
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Posted by CocoIndiana at 22:29, 04 April 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| Truely the greatest human story ever | |
| If you cant like this film chances are you only watch porn! ... More | |
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Posted by bryancarr at 14:13, 05 February 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| Greatest Movie Ever Made | |
| And I do not take that phrase likely. For some, its a good film about a guy escaping from prison. To others, It's a film riddled with symbols, where to many Dufresne can be seen as Jesus. Awsome ... More | |
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Posted by Pobster at 18:54, 16 January 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: The Shawshank Redemption | |
| Great Movie, Great Great Movie 8.5/10 ... More | |
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Posted by scarface666brooksy!! at 08:31, 06 January 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: The Shawshank Redemption | |
| Saw this one at the movies in 1995. Bought the video then the DVD. Have watched it various times and used it as a class text in lessons with senior pupils. Young people especially seem to love it. A truly lovely film, warts and all. Flawless performances from everyone, recognising that some (Bob Gunton) are playing 'types' who aren't meant to have anything but stereotypical qualities. Boggs was a bastard but I still felt pity when he was dragged screaming back to his cell. Sure there are innume... More | |
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Posted by BooRadley at 12:17, 04 January 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: The Shawshank Redemption | |
| L: Mason Verger A sequel, k 2: This Time Noking Around, He Gets The Chair/quote] uite an amusing review but wrong on all counts. I watched this again only last week (first time for Mrs Jonson who thought it was wonderful) and I enjoyed it as much as I did some 10 years ago when I first saw it. Fabulous film and worthy of it's regular Top 10 mentions. I think the warden and guards are far more scary in the book though especially the scene when he asks him if he trusts his wife. ... More | |
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Posted by jonson at 07:25, 03 January 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: The Shawshank Redemption | |
| From /i]magazine: Sacred Cows Reputations reassessed: The Reaper reads his charge sheet on everyone's favourite prison buddy movie Based on Stephen King's novella, yworth And The Shawshankemptionappallingly entitled movie was initially faintly praised by critics. Roger Ebert gave it a polite three-and-a-half stars, others lazily regurgitated the production notes about the triumph of the human spirit. At 142 minutes, it did mediocre business at the box office. It stars Tim&n... More | |
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Posted by Mason Verger at 16:32, 29 December 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: The Greatest Prison Movie Ever | |
| One of my favourite movies. I love the scene on the roof: "Do you trust your wife?". Morgan Freeman has never been better than he is in this movie. ... More | |
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Posted by Diggler at 12:05, 10 December 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: The Greatest Prison Movie Ever | |
| A classic. A lesson in near flawless movie making. ... More | |
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Posted by shool at 11:31, 10 December 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| The Greatest Prison Movie Ever | |
| The greatest film of all the Stephen King adaptations and possibly the greatest of all time next to Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas, this film defies belief ... More | |
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Posted by scarface666brooksy!! at 07:29, 12 November 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: RE: | |
| L: mdbrownlee Its a happy ending, and yet i cry every time. whats wrong with me!? sp; exactly! nothing wrong with happy ending when done well. (like when there's a twist in a film). Shawshank is wonderful. I picked up a copy in hmv for €5. A bargain! Think i might watch it tonight. ... More | |
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Posted by eoin81 at 11:57, 15 October 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: The Shawshank Redemption | |
| THIS MOVIE!! g Prison break fan and for some reason i never saw this film before and just loved it straight away. ... More | |
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Posted by Topher182 at 10:25, 15 October 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| its on TV all the time, and so it should be. Its fantastic. Espcially the ending, where Morgan Freeman finds that letter under the tree and then goes to Mexico to meet Andy on the beach. Its a happy ending, and yet i cry every time. whats wrong with me!? but seriously, everyone should see this film ... More | |
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Posted by mdbrownlee at 18:30, 14 October 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| One of the greats | |
| Plot: Andy Dufresne is wrongfully imprisoned for life in Shawshank prison, where he befriends inmate Red, and soon becomes popular with everyone in the prison, including the warden and his accomplices. Most people who love this film know the story. It was unpopular at cinemas but soon found love as a DVD, as word of mouth got round that this really was something special. But what made this modern classic gain the popularity and respect that it now receives at every turn? No film poll... More | |
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Posted by swordsandsandals at 14:19, 05 October 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| Just watched it again last night, one of the best. Superb. ... More | |
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Posted by FortWilliamLoyal at 08:21, 16 August 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| AMAZING | |
| THE BEST FILM EVER ... More | |
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Posted by michael at 22:19, 02 July 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| AWSOME! | |
| SEE ABOVE! THAT IS ALL I NEED TO SAY! ... More | |
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Posted by JokerJr at 18:25, 31 May 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| An Undiputed Classic | |
| Those who do not like Shawshank are the ones who do not have respect for this very upliftiting dream, it is one of or even the best Stephen King adaptations ever put on film and just very robbed, mugged and sincerely raped by that of of Forrest Gump at the Oscars. ... More | |
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Posted by willchadwick at 16:46, 09 May 2007 | Report This Post | |
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