I happened upon this film when it was on cable and was unintentionally captivated by it.
It starts out somewhat slowly; the premise of the movie is repeated several times within several contexts, within the first fifteen or twenty minutes. Then, the movie starts "getting going" - one finds out more and more, gradually, about the characters and their lives and interactions in prison. You learn about Andy Dufresne, a convicted murderer, and how he gets to conviction and to prison, but I just wish the makers of this film would have trimmed the number of ways they could have referred to his crime and how he was convicted. It would have been much better simply to have fellow prisoners comment on his arrival, or use a device used in THE FUGITIVE - start with the circumstances of the crime itself, then skip to the prison in which Dufresne serves out his sentence.
In prison, Dufresne meets, and eventually befriends, Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman), the man who can get you anything your heart desires, within reason. That's what this movie is really about - friendship. These characters are three-dimensional people who would never have met under ordinary circumstances; Dufresne was a banker on the outside, Redding a black fellow who made one stupid mistake, and paid for it for most of the rest of his life.
As the movie describes their friendship, one meets a variety of other prison characters. There is the by-now-standard abusive prison guard, who eventually gets his payback in a way I won't reveal. The warden, played by Bob Gunton, is a professing Christian who likes to throw Bible quotes around like so many softballs - and also happens to be on the take. (The warden, too, is eventually uncovered as a criminal - again, it wouldn't be any fun to reveal how that happens.) There is even a "rock and roll" aficionado who got nailed for breaking and entering, and whose fate proves to be the downfall of both the warden and the guard.
But the focus is always on the friends, Dufresne and Redding. Their bond runs deep - so deep that when Dufresne escapes Shawshank, he finds a creative way to help Redding. It is the sort of relationship that is absorbing to see unfold on the screen, even if you are normally an action aficionado.
The single other criticism I have of this movie is one I have of several prison movies - they all seem to be derived from a real-life Alcatraz escape attempt, where the prisoners do many of the things Dufresne (Tim Robbins) does (taking leftover prison wall out to the prison courtyard during exercise breaks, and so forth).
Morgan Freeman's performance, as usual, is a gem - understated, realistic under the circumstances, and entirely appropriate to the part. (I don't expect a prisoner to talk like a choirboy, for example.) Bob Gunton is also convincing as the hypocritical warden.
Although a bit long, this is one film I feel comfortable recommending for most adults, especially if you don't have a problem with the foul language used by many prisoners.
In writer-director Frank Darabont's THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION Andy Dufresne Tim Robbins is sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison for the mu...More at Family Video
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