Is it just me or is The Shawshank Redemption one of the most perfect movies around... (1 Viewer)

[KevinW]

Gerard, I'd be willing to bet that those of us who LOVE Shawshank probably have similiar taste in most movies.
So, just out of curiosity, what's you favorite?

 

[David Oliver]

While I certainly think Shawshank is an excellent movie, I also think it is not perfect. I do agree that some of the characters are a bit thin and "cartoonish" as one person mentioned esp. the warden. Other plot issues I have issue with but will not get into here. But I certainly did enjoy the movie.
Now if it's a perfect movie you are looking for may I suggest Casablanca (I don't want to debate this in this thread though, just my opinion, of course). Hmm, that would be an interesting thread in it's own right....What movies, if any, do you consider "perfect"?...
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Go Packers!!!

 

[Matt Schiller]

Todd,
Although SR is a pleasant watch, I wouldn't call it perfect (btw, perfect is an absolute--something can't be most perfect). I found the movie emotionally contrived. I always had trouble relating to the characters on any level, because the director has given us only one-dimensional personalities. We are meant to 'feel their pain', but I find nothing there but cheap sentimentality. It is like Speilberg without the special effects--forgettable characters with a neatly tied together ending.
In my opinion, the reason people love the movie (obviously, it has become a favorite according to IMDB.com) is because Americans love the idea that the virtuous will always endure (I am curious about how viewers in other countries like the movie). I do think the movie would have been a blockbuster when it was released in the theaters, if there were a more marketable lead actor.
Bottom line: If you like the movie, that's great. That is what it is all about. I just don't care for it much.
Matt

 

[Marshall Alsup]

SR rules. I feel this movie is as close to perfect as any movie has come.
marshall

 

[EugeneR]

Count me in with Girard and Jane. Hated it when I first saw it. Don't have quite the same distate for it anymore, but still don't like it. The sticky-sweet happy ending makes me ill. The whole film is about as subtle an experience as getting hit over the head with a Louisville Slugger.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Well I can't let this thread end on a negative note!

Shawshank is not the best movie technically, artistically, or whatever yardstick one uses to measure the merits of a movie.
What it does do is pump you up. It makes you feel good about yourself and your fellow man.
Some call it trite, some call it sentimental sap. I call it a breath of fresh air!
Lord knows we need movies like this and Iron Giant, October Sky, and Rocky more than ever these days.
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Every man is my superior, in that I may learn from him.
MyHTSetup

 

[Scott-C]

I remember being blown away when I saw this movie for the first time. It's one of my favorites! What a fantastic cast with so many really good performances.
I never tire of watching this movie!
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Scott

 

[EricW]

while i liked The Shawshank Redemption, it's far from perfect (but it has perfect moments).
the main thing i have a problem with is: what is the story about? is it about the life of Andy? it certainly starts out that way as the story begins from his perspective. but then it gets muddy as we're seeing stuff from other people's perspectives, like Morgan Freeman. it ends with both of them, so is this movie about 2 people and how they met? if so, i'd have liked to have seen a sequence with the young Freeman character commiting a crime and getting sentenced, just like Robbins' character. that way everything would be complete. otherwise, if it was about Andy, just seeing him drive off into the sunset while Freeman was still inside would have been great. is this movie about the prison system? is that why they showed the old guy who got out and hung himself?
maybe this movie is about all these things or just one, but it tries to encompass all the themes, and i don't think it's that kind of movie. SR was trying to be a very personal movie, and many times it succeeded, but i just had a problem with the stuff mentioned above. i only saw the movie once, years ago, but that's what remember thinking about it.
i think the movie starts out being about Robbins' character, then turns into a mish mash of Morgan's character, his motiviations, etc, then about the two of them, then about the prison system... it doesn't arc very well. if the movie was just about Robbins there's alot of things that could have been left out.

 

[Perry Jonkheer]

As good as TSR is... I'd much rather be watching Cool Hand Luke. Much better film IMO.
Thanks.
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PJ

 

[ace peterson]

Eric,
The whole movie is told from Red's point of view. The beginning shows Andy in court, but it's not told from his point of view. It's simply a flashback-type thing to show the audience why he went to prison. So I would say the movie is actually about Red, not Andy. Andy is just an extraordinary person that came into Red's life while he was in Shawshank.

 

[James Q Jenkins]

To elaborate on ace's observation, remember in the beginning we are shown Andy's backstory in a very vague way that deliberately does not show whether he's guilty or innocent. Very interesting. I like this movie but don't love it.
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-JQJ

 

[Scott-C]

I think Ace nailed it in terms of the narration of this movie. To answer the question "what is this movie really about", to me it was about hope. Here you have a guy whose life was almost destroyed, but he never really gave up hope that someday he'd get what he wanted (that hotel and boat in Mexico). For me, that was very inspiring, which is part of why I like this movie so much.
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Scott

 

[Rob P S]

My all-time favorite movie. I never pass up a chance to tell people that. Perfection from the first frame to the last.

 

[Karl_Luph]

Great movie except for the fact I can't stand Tim Robbins. Morgan Freeman makes this movie what it is. He should have won an oscar for his performance.

 

[Steve_Tk]

It's pretty good. Not as good as Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, but definately up there.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Yeah, we wouldn't want to get too carried away with adulation.
I keep The Shawshank Redemption among a very short list of perfect films.

 

[John^Lal]

I do believe i have Shawshank in my top 8 films, i think it is an absolute gem of a movie. i don't know why people want to knock something just because of it's simplicity. each of the characters represent something specific. i love all kind of films but the ones i like the most have real messages, and not open ended ones that answer no questions. simplicity answers questions.

i thought the green mile was a great film too. though not quite as good as shawshank. i don't know how many people have noticed the theme in the green mile about the way it plays itself out a lot like the crucifixion of jesus christ. with today being easter, i thought it was funny that i see a thread about shawshank redemtion and the green mile (Frank Darabont).

 

[Brian W.]

Hmm... I've only seen it once, in the theater when it was first released. I did like it a lot, but... perfect. I guess that was my problem with it. A little too perfect.

I guess what pushed it over the edge for me was the end, when he meets up with Morgan Freeman. That was a bit too much of a crowd-pleaser, for a drama, anyway. It would have been better, in my opinion, to be left with the hope that he would find him, rather than this fairy tale ending.

I'm not a Frank Darabont fan. There is a certain slick, polished, too-perfect, by-the-numbers quality to his work that in my opinion puts him in the league of people like James Cameron, Ron Howard, Robert Zemeckis, and Michael Bay -- brilliant technical directors, but, one, their technique shows, and two, I think they tell their stories WITH technique rather than with genuine emotion, and three, they cannot seem resist in-your-face sentimentality.

But, like I said, I did enjoy it, and I'd like to see it again.

 

[Seth Paxton]

While I quite enjoy Shawshank, it probably wouldn't make my top 100 or anything.
Words like "perfect" seem a bit extravagant to me when describing this "feel-good" film. Frankly, if we want to discuss perfect Capra-esque films then we would be better off starting with It's a Wonderful Life as a "perfect" film in that genre. We might even mention another film made from a King source, Stand By Me.
SR does go pretty high on my list of 90's films, but even there I would have Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction or Schindler's List on a different level than SR.
As for perfection, that idea makes ME think of films like Citizen Kane, Casablanca or Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Sorry I spoiled your Black Panther party, resume the love.

 

[Christopher P]

Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" synopsis
This is one of my favorite movie as well. Maybe not perfect, but there is very little that to me seems out of place. I would have liked to see the movie end as we see Red on the bus with his arm out the window, confident (as we are) that he will make it down to Mexico to see his friend. A nice counterpoint to how he (and Brooks earlier) sit on the bus after their release, afraid, unknowing.
I remember listening to an interview with a prison warden somewhere, and she thought this movie was a great portayal of prison life (barring - pun intended - the corrupt administration), especially the way the inmates form their little cliques, and their relationships with each other.
Chris