Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is given a life stretch for killing his wife and her lover, a crime he didn’t commit obviously as everyone in prison is innocent. Initially the banker is disliked by the other prisoners as he’s quiet and aloof. But after a while he opens up to a man who can get things, Red (Morgan Freeman) and becomes well liked, setting out to expand the library and survive on the inside.
Okay so that’s not the whole plot. And it contains one joke directly ripping off the film. But you probably know what The Shawshank Redemption is about by now.
I certainly did. Or at least the last reel. This meant that I watched the film expecting something completely different to what I actually got, and that the last half hour wasn’t as twisty for me as it should be. That’s a bit of a shame really and it probably took a little from the movie but it didn’t ruin it. Its VERY hard to ruin.
What you’ve got is a slow burning life in prison film. A big character piece set over a couple of decades letting us get to know the prisoners and their lives. There’s not really any over the top prison set pieces, apart from anything else I think time was probably a bit easier back then as society was different. And the characters are extremely well drawn and performed.
Looking at the trivia on IMDB there’s a lot of alternative casting possibilities and I don’t think any of them would really have worked as well. Tim Robbins is perfect as the quiet and understated Andy. It could have been Hanks, but I think he LOOKS wrong for the part apart from anything else. He would have done a good job no doubt, but Tim fits better than Tom to my mind. And Hanks was making Forrest Gump so I’m sure he can live without being in this.
The joke line “maybe its because I’m Irish” delivered by Red is because the character originally was a white ginger Irish guy. Aside from that there’s little to hint in that direction. Now I will admit that Red probably could have been played by any number of people, though none mentioned in the trivia really excite me that much. I think things would have come out pretty much as good with Brian Cox but that’s the Cox of NOW, maybe not 15 years ago. Freeman’s deep authoritative voice and friendly demeanour really lend themselves to the character of Red. And when your film has a voice over who else would you like reading it? Damn straight you hire God!
Or me. I’m a good VO. Please hire me. I need the money.
You’ve probably already seen this. If you haven’t, you probably should go and do that. Btw I’m with the studio. As much as I like ambiguity in endings sometimes this one needed the resolution for that last little punch. It wasn’t THAT ambiguous…
Next up: Diminished Capacity
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