Shawshank Redemption: The Movie That Improved On The Book
August 20th 2009 18:56
Courtesy of Wikipedia
I know that I'm going to get slated for this, hung, drawn, quartered, basted in the oven for an hour and a half then buried by Stephen King fans and by people who have an almost religious conviction that books are sacred cows that can only be bastardised and never bettered, but the movie version of The Shawshank Redemption is better than the novella.
I hear nails being sharpened... hmmm...
Anyway, back to Shawshank. The script by Frank Darabont cuts out the parade of different prison wardens in favour of casting Bob Gunton as the Nixon-like religious nut, who tries and fails to break the spirits of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins). To me this gave Robbins' character a real nemesis to tackle and gave Darabont carte blanche to fully realise the brilliant Count of Montechristo style revenge plot into the end of the film, that was brushed over in the novella in a way that I found unsatisfying.
Is that a cross being errected in my front garden? Sorry, I digress.
Casting Morgan Freeman as Red resulted in one of my favourite gags in a movie:
ANDY: Why do they call you Red?
RED: I don't know. Maybe it's 'cos I'm Irish.
Also, Freeman gave the role more soul than anyone else could have come close to.
Then there's the supporting characters like Heywood and Brookes Hatlen who enrich the story further...
I'm sensing hostility. So be it. Let the crucifixion begin.
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Marc 3
Comment by Elisabeth Fraser
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NOW! How about you reviewing "The Green Mile" Huh?
That is definitely better as a movie.
Especially the scenes in the ...Oops, that would be a 'spoiler'