The Shawshank
Redemption is a 1984 film written and directed by Frank Drabont and based upon
the Steven King Novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, which was
first published in Stephen Kings’ 1982 collection, Different Seasons.
The film of
Steven Kings Shawshank Redemption, stars Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman and it
was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture in 1994.
Unlike most
of Stephen Kings’ novels, Shawshank Redemption, comes nowhere close to being a
horror story and we suspect the many people who have watched the film would not
even have been aware that it was originally written by Stephen King. There are
no ghosts, demons, vampires or werewolves anywhere in sight; instead it is an
inspiring tale of the perseverance of a man, Andy Dufresne, played by Tim
Robbins, and his 19 year internment in Shawshank State Prison for a murder,
which he strongly denies.
As the plot unfolds,
Banker, Dufresne, who is obviously new to prison life, forges an unlikely friendship
with long term inmate and prison ‘fixer’, Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding,
who is played by Morgan Freeman. Initially, Dufresne has to endure the horrors
of prison life, including frequent sexual assaults by a gang known as the
Sisters, but eventually, his experience as a banker, comes to his rescue, as he
begins to give tax advice to the prison guards who, in return, provide him with
protection.
Throughout
his time in prison, Dufresne retains his dignity and appears aloof from the
other prisoners, his only pastime seeming to be only the carving of chess pieces
from rocks, with a tiny ‘rock hammer’ that Red has procured for him and his apparent
love of beautiful film stars of the period including Rita Hayworth of the title
of the original novella, whose poster he has on his cell wall. His financial expertise
also comes to the attention of the prison Warden, Samuel Norton, played by Bob
Gunton, who recruits him to help with the prisons finances and launder money
for him.
Shawshank
Redemption received only a lukewarm reception at the box office, but received many
nominations for awards and was highly praised by critics and Shawshank Redemption
has since become something of a classic. Despite its prison setting, the film
is an uplifting tale of friendship and, ultimately, right over wrong. If you
were a Stephen King fan and you saw the film before you knew that King was the
author, you would quickly recognise the signs of the master as you watched Shawshank
Redemption. The characterisation, the battle between good and evil and just the
way that the story unfolds gives that away.
If you like
films that make you want to cheer at the end and leave with a warm, glowing
feeling, then Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King will not disappoint and it
is a film that both those that are not yet Stephen King fans will love as much
as the ardent followers of the author.
"Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane."
"Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane."
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