The Shawshank Redemption

Plot

In 1947 Portland, Maine, banker Andy Dufresne is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences at the fictional Shawshank State Penitentiary in rural Maine. Andy befriends prison contraband smuggler, Ellis "Red" Redding, an inmate serving a life sentence. Red procures a rock hammer and later a large poster of Rita Hayworth for Andy. Working in the prison laundry, Andy is regularly assaulted by the "bull queer" gang "the Sisters" and their leader, Bogs.

In 1949, Andy overhears the brutal captain of the guards, Byron Hadley, complaining about being taxed on an inheritance and offers to help him legally shelter the money. After a vicious assault by the Sisters nearly kills Andy, Hadley beats Bogs severely. Bogs is sent to another prison and Andy is never attacked again. Warden Samuel Norton meets Andy and reassigns him to the prison library to assist elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen. Andys new job is a pretext for him to begin managing financial matters for the prison employees. As time passes, the Warden begins using Andy to handle matters for a variety of people including guards from other prisons and the warden himself. Andy begins writing weekly letters to the state government for funds to improve the decaying library.

In 1954, Brooks is paroled, but cannot adjust to the outside world after fifty years in prison and hangs himself. Andy receives a library donation that includes a recording of The Marriage of Figaro. He plays an excerpt over the public address system, resulting in him receiving solitary confinement. After his release from solitary Andy explains that hope is what gets him through his time, a concept that Red dismisses. In 1963, Norton begins exploiting prison labor for public works, profiting by undercutting skilled labor costs and receiving kickbacks. He has Andy launder the money using the alias Randall Stephens.

In 1965, Tommy Williams is incarcerated for burglary. He joins Andys and Reds circle of friends, and Andy helps him pass his G.E.D. exam. In 1966, Tommy reveals to Red and Andy that an inmate at another prison claimed responsibility for the murders Andy was convicted of, implying Andys innocence. Andy approaches Warden Norton with this information, but the warden refuses to listen and sends Andy back to solitary when he mentions the money laundering. Norton then has Captain Hadley murder Tommy under the guise of an escape attempt. Andy refuses to continue the money laundering, but relents after Norton threatens to burn the library, remove Andys protection from the guards, and move him out of his cell into worse conditions. Andy is released from solitary confinement after two months and tells Red of his dream of living in Zihuatanejo, a Mexican coastal town. Red feels Andy is being unrealistic, but promises Andy that if he is ever released he will visit a specific hayfield near Buxton, Maine and retrieve a package Andy buried there. Red becomes worried about Andys state of mind, especially when he learns Andy asked another inmate to supply him with six feet of rope.

The next day at roll call the guards find Andys cell empty. An irate Warden Norton throws a rock at the poster of Raquel Welch hanging on the wall, and the rock tears through the poster. Removing the poster, the warden discovers a tunnel that Andy dug with his rock hammer over the last seventeen years. The previous night, Andy escaped through the tunnel and used the prisons sewage pipe to reach freedom. Andy escapes with Nortons suit, shoes, and the ledger containing details of the money laundering. While guards search for him the following morning, Andy poses as Randall Stephens and visits several banks to withdraw the laundered money. Finally, he mails the ledger and evidence of the corruption and murders at Shawshank to a local newspaper. The police arrive at Shawshank and take Hadley into custody, while Norton commits suicide to avoid arrest.

After serving forty years, Red is finally paroled. He struggles to adapt to life outside prison and fears he never will. Remembering his promise to Andy, he visits Buxton and finds a cache containing money and a letter asking him to come to Zihuatanejo. Red violates his parole and travels to Fort Hancock, Texas to cross the border to Mexico, admitting he finally feels hope. On a beach in Zihuatanejo he finds Andy, and the two friends are happily reunited.

Cast

Themes

Chicago Sun-Times film reviewer Roger Ebert suggested that The Shawshank Redemption is an allegory for maintaining ones feeling of self-worth when placed in a hopeless position. Andy Dufresnes integrity is an important theme in the story line, especially in prison, where integrity is lacking.

Isaac M. Morehouse suggests that the film provides a great illustration of how characters can be free, even in prison, or unfree, even in freedom, based on ones outlook on life.

Production

Frank Darabont secured the film adaptation rights from author Stephen King after impressing the author with his short film adaptation of The Woman in the Room in 1983. Although the two had become friends and maintained a pen-pal relationship, Darabont did not work with him until four years later in 1987, when he optioned to adapt Shawshank. This is one of the more famous Dollar Deals made by King with aspiring filmmakers. Darabont later directed The Green Mile (1999), which was based on another work about a prison by Stephen King, and then followed that up with an adaptation of Kings novella The Mist.

Rob Reiner, who had previously adapted another King novella, The Body, into the film Stand by Me (1986), offered $2.5 million in an attempt to write and direct Shawshank. He planned to cast Tom Cruise in the part of Andy and Harrison Ford as Red. Darabont seriously considered and liked Reiners vision, but he ultimately decided it was his "chance to do something really great" by directing the film himself.

Though the film is set in Maine, the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, served as the fictional Shawshank Prison. Though a large portion of the prison was torn down after filming, the main administration building and two cell blocks remained; the site was revisited for filming parts of the film Air Force One. Several of the interior shots of the specialized prison facilities, such as the admittance rooms and the wardens office, were shot in the reformatory. The interior of the boarding room used by Brooks and Red was located in the administration building, though exterior shots were made elsewhere. The prison site is a tourist attraction. Internal scenes in the prison cellblocks were actually filmed on a soundstage built inside the nearby shuttered Westinghouse factory. Downtown scenes were also filmed in Mansfield, as well as neighboring Ashland, Ohio. The oak tree under which Andy buries his letter to Red is located at 40°39?14?N 82°23?31?W, near Malabar Farm State Park, in Lucas, Ohio. The tree was heavily damaged by straight-line winds in a thunderstorm on July 29, 2011; officials were unsure if the tree would survive. However, thanks to rally groups and inspections by forestry organizations, the tree was found to be alive and well and still stands to this day.

Just as a prison in Ohio stood in for a fictional one in Maine, the beach scenes shown in the final minutes of the film that were meant to portray Zihuatanejo, Mexico were actually shot in the Caribbean on the island of St. Croix, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The beach at ‘Zihuatanejo’ is Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, a two-mile crescent of sand just south of Frederiksted on the southwestern tip of the island. The refuge is a hatching ground for leatherback sea turtles, and open only at limited times (10am to 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays), and not at all during the breeding season.

The beach at Zihuatanejo made famous by the film has recently been closed to the public due to a health warning as a result of high levels of pollution in the water.

The film was dedicated to Allen Greene, an agent and a close personal friend of the films director, Frank Darabont. Greene died shortly before the film was released due to complications of HIV/AIDS.

Release

The Shawshank Redemption received a limited release on September 23, 1994 in North America. During its opening weekend, the film earned $727,000 from 33 theaters—an average of $22,040 per theater. It received a wide release on October 14, 1994, expanding to a total of 944 theaters to earn $2.4 million—an average of $2,545 per theater—finishing as the number 9 film of the weekend. The film left theaters in late November 1994, after 10 weeks with an approximate total gross of $16 million.

It was later re-released in February 1995, during the Oscar season, and made an additional $9 million. In total the film made approximately $28.3 million in North American theaters, making it the number 51 highest grossing film of 1994 and the number 21 highest grossing R-rated film of 1994.

After grossing $28 million at the box office in North America and another $30 million overseas, it went on to the video rental market and by the end had made about $80 million in sales, Warner Bros said. Television licensing fees to date likely have surpassed U.S. box-office receipts, according to a person familiar with the studios finances. As a general rule, studios pocket about half of box-office revenue (less than that overseas), two-thirds of home entertainment sales, and almost all of TV licensing revenue. Based on those margins, "Shawshank" has brought in more than $100 million.

Critical response

The Shawshank Redemption garnered widespread critical acclaim from critics and has a "certified fresh" score of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 64 reviews with an average rating of 8.2 out of 10. The critical consensus states "The Shawshank Redemption is an uplifting, deeply satisfying prison drama with sensitive direction and fine performances." The film also has a score of 80 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 19 critics indicating "generally favorable reviews. It is currently rated an average of 9.3 out of 10 on IMDB by almost 1.4 million voters making it the highest rated movie on the website. The film has been critically acclaimed for depicting Jean-Paul Sartres ideas about existentialism more fully than any other contemporary movie.

Entertainment Weekly reviewer Owen Gleiberman praised the choice of scenery, writing that the "moss-dark, saturated images have a redolent sensuality" that makes the film very realistic. While praising Morgan Freemans acting and oratory skills as making Red appear real, Gleiberman felt that with the "laconic-good-guy, neo-Gary Cooper role, Tim Robbins is unable to make Andy connect with the audience."

Stephen King has considered The Shawshank Redemption to be one of his favorite film adaptations based on his own work. However, King faulted the film only for its screenplay which he found "too talky."

Accolades

The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1994 without winning in any category: Best Picture, Best Actor for Freeman, Best Adapted Screenplay for Frank Darabont, Best Cinematography for Roger Deakins, Best Editing for Richard Francis-Bruce, Best Original Score for Thomas Newman, and Best Sound Mixing for Robert J. Litt, Elliot Tyson, Michael Herbick and Willie D. Burton. It received two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture for Freeman, and Best Screenplay for Darabont. Robbins and Freeman were both nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards in 1995. Darabont was nominated for a Directors Guild of America award in 1994 for Best Director for a feature film, while cinematographer Roger Deakins won the American Society of Cinematographers award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography.

Home media

Despite its disappointing box office return, Warner Bros. shipped 320,000 rental video copies throughout the United States, and it became one of the top rented films of 1995. The films home viewing success was considered to be based on positive recommendations and repeat customers. The films Academy Award nominations enabled it to fare well in the video sales and cable TV viewings. In June 1997, TNT, an American cable network, showed the film for the first time. The film was the first feature in TNTs Saturday Night New Classics. A 2004 Sunday Times article suggested that TNT aired the film frequently from then on, about once every two months. TV airings of the film accrued record breaking numbers.

Music

The score was composed by Thomas Newman and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1994, which was his first Oscar nomination. Much of the score consists of faint piano music, and tremolo strings during the more active or humorous moments. The scores two main themes only occur two or three times. The prison theme, first heard in the beginning, is a four note ascending line in the bass, which is developed and reaches its climax when Andy is standing in the river in the rain. The second theme represents freedom, and is first heard when the inmates are sharing beer, feeling like free men. This theme doesnt reoccur until the final credits, this time grander, with fuller orchestration. Like Hans Zimmers score to the "Thin Red Line", the track is often played in trailers during their most dramatic moments. Zimmer himself has credited the score as the one "that has influenced everything the most" and that Newman opened up the harmonic palette of film scores. A central scene in the film features the "Letter Duet" ("Canzonetta sullaria") from Mozarts The Marriage of Figaro Act 3 , K. 492, also known in Italian as "Sullaria...che soave zeffiretto," meaning a duettino, or a short duet. In the duettino, Countess Almaviva (a soprano) dictates to Susanna (also a soprano) the invitation to a tryst addressed to the countess husband in a plot to expose his infidelity.

Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman) remarks in his voice-over narration: "I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. [...] Id like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it cant be expressed in words, and it makes your heart ache because of it." The music highlights the irony in the movie as the opera characters are singing about a duplicitous love letter to expose infidelity.

Legacy

In 1998, Shawshank was not listed in AFIs 100 Years...100 Movies, but nine years later (2007), it was #72 on the revised list, outranking both Forrest Gump (#76) and Pulp Fiction (#94), the two most critically acclaimed movies from the year of Shawshanks release. In 1999, film critic Roger Ebert listed Shawshank on his list of The Great Movies. It has been #1 on IMDbs user-generated Top 250 since 2008, when it surpassed The Godfather.

Readers of Empire magazine voted the film as the best film of the 1990s, and it placed number 4 on Empire???s list of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time" in 2008. In March 2011, the film was voted by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra listeners as their favorite film of all time. Additionally, the Writers Guild of America included Frank Darabonts screenplay on its 101 Greatest Screenplays list, at number twenty-two. In an interview the films supporting actor Morgan Freeman quotes “About everywhere you go, people say, ‘The Shawshank Redemption—greatest movie I ever saw’?” and that these words “Just comes out of them”. Lead actor Tim Robbins states “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’?”.