The Shawshank Redemption DVD
Warner Home Video
Rated: R
Genre: Drama
Length: 142 minutes
Director: Frank Darabont
Year: (1994)
Britt Gillette's The Shawshank Redemption DVD Review
Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, The Shawshank Redemption is one of the best dramas ever filmed. With masterful performances by Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, audience members will find themselves engrossed in a tragic story wrought with suspense. Based on a short story by Stephen King, this Frank Darabont film transcends the typical Hollywood rotgut entertainment with an onscreen artistry that is the closest we'll ever see to poetry in moving pictures…
The story focuses on the life of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a successful banker convicted of murdering his wife and her illicit lover. And although Andy admits to driving to his house with the intent of killing them, he left the scene instead and threw the his gun in the river - where despite attempts to retrieve it, the authorities are unsuccessful.
Sent to Shawshank prison in the summer of 1947, the inmates take bets on which new prisoner will be the first to break. Ellis "Red" Redding, an institution fixture and the man who can provide anything for a price, puts his money on Andy. But much to his surprise, Andy doesn't make a sound.
Over time, Andy and Red develop a close friendship, and Red procures a small rock hammer for Andy. Andy claims he only wants to use the hammer to polish rocks, but Red is afraid he will use the hammer to try to tunnel out of Shawshank. But Red's fear are assuaged when he sees the tiny hammer and thinks to himself "it would take a man one hundred to dig a tunnel with this thing".
As the years go by, Red procures other items for Andy - the most interesting request being Rita Hayworth. Red gets Andy a poster of the screen siren, and business continues as usual in Shawshank. Along the way, Andy ingratiates himself with the notorious prison guard Capt. Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown) and Warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton). Putting his outside skills to good use, Andy provides tax advice and tax preparation services to the all guards not just at Shawshank, but at other prisons as well.
Eventually, in exchange for a comprehensive prison library, he ends up running a massive money laundering operation for the Norton that uses prison labor to bring in lucrative kickbacks. But the well-oiled system comes to halt when a new prisoner reveals that his old cellmate admitted to committing the murders of Andy's wife and lover. Andy's friends are distraught to learn that he is innocent. When the new prisoner is mysteriously "shot while trying to escape," Andy makes the mistake of calling the Norton "obtuse" which lands him in a dark hole for a month. Norton threatens to tear down the library and burn all its books unless Andy continues to run his money laundering operation.
Upon Andy's release from the hole, things go according to plan for sometime, but following Andy's request of Red to provide him with a rope, Andy is missing at roll call the next morning. Baffled, Norton and his henchmen inspect every square inch of the cell to no avail. That is, until the frustrated Norton hurls one Andy's intricately carved chess pieces at his latest girl - a poster of Raquel Welch. Tearing down the poster, Norton finds a tunnel that leads straight out of Shawshank.
Meanwhile, while Shawshank goes on high alert for its escaped prisoner, a man walks into several banks in the area and closes his numerous accounts. With a signature that's a dead on match, Andy withdraws all the prison labor money he helped launder for Norton. As his last act of business, he mails a file filled with evidence on Norton and the corrupt prison guards at Shawshank to a local newsman. As the sirens approach, Norton commits suicide while Byron Hadley cries like a baby.
Red, sad at the loss of his friend, receives an unmarked postcard circling the location of a border crossing that leads to tropical destination they both discussed. When Red is let out on parole, he fears he may go the same route as his friend Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore) who committed suicide because he had become institutionalized to life inside prison. But Red bucks the trend and follows the advice Andy gave him long ago. Following instructions, he travels to Buxton where he digs up a box under a strange rock underneath a towering oak tree. Inside, he finds cash and a map to a particular destination. Violating his parole, Red takes a bus trip into Mexico where he is once again reunited with his friend Andy on the sandy shores of the Pacific ocean…
A film of absolutely breathtaking perfection, The Shawshank Redemption ranks as one of the best films ever produced. The musical score blends together with brilliant acting performances and fine direction to create a memorable and timeless epic. If you haven't seen The Shawshank Redemption, you aren't just missing out on a great film, but a great life experience. A definite must-see, don't waste anymore time, and go see this movie…
Britt Gillette
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Read more Shawshank Redemption DVD Reviews (MRQE)
Read more Shawshank
Redemption DVD Reviews (MRI)
Posted on 17 December 2004