Original Episode: #89 The Shawshank Redemption (1994) ft. Chris Hood (released November 3rd, 2021)
New Episode: #228 The Shawshank Redemption (1994) Revisit ft. Kieran B (released November 18, 2024)
Guest:
Kieran B
Host and Creator of the Best Picture Cast; @bestpicturecast on X, IG, Letterboxd
Previous Episodes: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1957), Lost in Translation (2003), Gran Torino (2008), Stalag 17 (1953), Shane (1953), A Fistful of Dollars (1964), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) Revisit, and 12 Angry Men (1957) Revisit.
Cast:
Frank Darabont, Writer/Director
Thomas Newman, Music
Roger Deakins, Cinematography
Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne
Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding
Bob Gunton as Samuel Norton
William Sadler as Heywood
Clancy Brown as Byron Hadley
Gil Bellows as Tommy Williams
James Whitmore as Brooks Hatlen
Mark Rolston as Bogs Diamond
Jeffrey DeMunn as the Prosecuting Attorney
Recognition:
The Shawshank Redemption was released on September 23, 1994 making next week its 30th anniversary.
On a budget of $25 million, the film only grossed $16 million in its initial run in the U.S. However, when the film was nominated for Best Picture, Actor (Morgan Freeman), Adapted Screenplay (Frank Darabont), Cinematography (Roger Deakins), Film Editing, Sound, and Score (Thomas Newman), it was rereleased receiving an additional $12 million in the U.S. and would finish internationally with $73.3 million.
Despite its disappointing box-office returns, in what was then considered a risky move, Warner Home Video shipped 320,000 rental video copies throughout the United States in 1995. It went on to become one of the top rented films of the year. It was the seventh top video rental of 1995 in the United States.
Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System had acquired Castle Rock in 1993, which enabled his television channel, TNT, to obtain the cable-broadcast rights to the film. According to Glotzer, because of the low box-office numbers, TNT could air the film at a very low cost, but still charge premium advertising rates. The film began airing regularly on the network in June 1997. Television airings of the film accrued record-breaking numbers, and its repeated broadcast was considered essential to turning the film into a cultural phenomenon after its poor box-office performance.
By 2013, The Shawshank Redemption had aired on 15 basic cable networks, and in that year occupied 151 hours of airtime, rivaling Scarface (1983), and behind only Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). It was in the top 15% of movies among adults between the ages of 18 and 49 on the Spike, Up, Sundance TV, and Lifetime channels. Despite its mainly male cast, it was the most-watched movie on the female-targeted OWN network.
While finances for licensing the film for television are unknown, in 2014, current and former Warner Bros. executives confirmed that it was one of the highest-valued assets in the studio's $1.5 billion library.
That same year, Gunton said that by its tenth anniversary in 2004, he was still earning six-figure residual payments, and was still earning a "substantial income" from it, which was considered unusual so many years after its release.
The film has been nominated for, or appeared on, the American Film Institute's lists celebrating the top 100 film or film-related topics. In 1998, it was nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list, and was number 72 on the 2007 revised list, outranking Forrest Gump (76) and Pulp Fiction (94).
It was also number 23 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers (2006) list charting inspiring films. The characters of Andy and Warden Norton received nominations for AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains list; AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes list for "Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'"; AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list for "Sull'aria ... che soave zeffiretto" (from The Marriage of Figaro); and AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores for Newman's work.
In 2005, the Writers Guild of America listed Darabont's screenplay at number 22 on its list of the 101 greatest screenplays, and in 2006, Film4 listed it number 13 on its list of 50 Films to See Before You Die.
In 2014, The Shawshank Redemption was named Hollywood's fourth-favorite film, based on a survey of 2,120 Hollywood-based entertainment industry members; entertainment lawyers skewed the most towards the film.
In 2017, The Daily Telegraph named it the 17th-best prison film ever made, and USA Today listed it as one of the 50 best films of all time.
In 2019, GamesRadar+ listed its ending as one of the best of all time.
It has been the number-one film on IMDb's user-generated Top 250 since 2008, when it surpassed The Godfather, having remained at or near the top since the late 1990s. In the United Kingdom, readers of Empire voted the film as the best of the 1990s, the greatest film of all time in 2006, and it placed number four on Empire's 2008 list of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time" and their 2017 list of "The 100 Greatest Movies". In March 2011, the film was voted by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra listeners as their favorite film of all time. It regularly appears on Empire's top 100 films, was named the greatest film to not win the Academy Award for Best Picture in a 2013 poll by Sky UK (it lost to Forrest Gump), and ranked as Britain's favorite film in a 2015 YouGov poll. When the British Film Institute analyzed the demographic breakdown of the YouGov poll, it noted that The Shawshank Redemption was not the top-ranked film in any group, but was the only film to appear in the top 15 of every age group, suggesting it is able to connect with every polled age group, unlike Pulp Fiction which fared better with younger voters, and Gone with the Wind (1939) with older voters.
In 2015, the film was selected by the United States Library of Congress to be preserved in the National Film Registry.
The Shawshank Redemption currently holds an 89% among critics on RT, an 82 score on Metacritic, and a 4.6/5 on Letterboxd.
Plot Summary: In the somber corridors of Shawshank Prison, where hope is a rare commodity and despair is a constant companion, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a quiet and introspective banker, finds himself wrongfully convicted of the brutal murder of his wife and her lover. Sentenced to life in the unforgiving confines of Shawshank, he is thrust into a world where the human spirit is tested daily.
Andy’s journey is one of quiet resilience and unyielding hope. He befriends Ellis “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman), a seasoned inmate known for his ability to procure contraband. Through Red’s eyes, we witness Andy’s transformation from a man broken by circumstance to a beacon of hope for his fellow prisoners. Andy’s ingenuity and determination lead him to uncover the corrupt practices of the prison warden, using his financial acumen to expose the rot within Shawshank’s walls.
In the end, Andy’s journey is not just a tale of escape, but a testament to the enduring power of hope and friendship. His story delves into the depths of human suffering and emerges with a profound sense of resilience and triumph.
Did You Know?:
Andy and Red's opening chat in the prison yard, in which Red is throwing a baseball, took nine hours to shoot. Morgan Freeman threw the baseball for the entire nine hours without a word of complaint. He showed up for work the next day with his left arm in a sling.
Stephen King never cashed his $5,000 check for rights to the film. Several years after the movie came out, King got the check framed, and mailed it back to Frank Darabont with a note inscribed, "In case you ever need bail money. Love, Steve."
When Andy goes to the library to begin work as Brooks' assistant, Tim Robbins had to time his line, "Hey, Jake. Where's Brooks?" so that the crow wouldn't squawk over him, since the bird could not be trained to squawk on cue. Robbins was able to time his line perfectly by learning the bird's squawking patterns, for which writer/director Frank Darabont praised him.
Frank Darabont watched Goodfellas (1990) every Sunday while shooting this film, and drew inspiration from it, on using voice-over narration and showing the passage of time.
The mugshots of a young-looking Red that are attached to his parole papers are actually pictures of Morgan Freeman's younger son, Alfonso Freeman. Alfonso also had a cameo in the movie as a con shouting, "Fresh fish! Fresh fish today! We're reeling 'em in!" (bottom left). A year after "The Shawshank Redemption", he appeared as a fingerprint technician in another Morgan Freeman movie, Se7en (1995).
Ask Dana Anything:
Kieran B - Best Picture Cast
How is Wisconsin football?
The Stanley Rubric:
Original Legacy Score: 9
New Legacy Score: 9.75
Original Impact/Significance Score: 7.83
New Impact/Significance Score: 9.5
Original Novelty Score: 7.33
New Novelty Score: 8.75
Original Classicness Score: 9.33
New Classicness Score: 9.33
Original Rewatchability Score: 9.58
New Rewatchability Score: 8.83
Original Audience Score: 9.7 (96% Google, 98% RT)
New Audience Score: 9.65 (95% Google, 98% RT)
Original Total Score: 52.77 (was #15 on our master list)
New Total Score: 55.81
In Memorium:
Scott Simon, 75, American musician (member of Sha Na Na, wrote 'Sandy' for Grease (1978))
Eric Gilliland, 62, American TV producer and writer (Roseanne, The Conners, That 70's Show, The Wonder Years), won a daytime Emmy in 2019.
James Darren, 88, American actor (Gidget movies, The Time Tunnel, T.J. Hooker, The Guns of Navaronne)
Will Jennings, 80, American Hall of Fame lyricist ("My Heart Will Go On", "Tears in Heaven", "Up Where We Belong"), Oscar winner (1983, 1998), Grammy winner (1993, 1999).
James Earl Jones, 93, American actor (Star Wars, The Sandlot, The Lion King, Field of Dreams), EGOT winner, first person to win two Emmys in the same year.
Remaining Questions:
How did Andy get the poster back up?
How did Andy have access to weather reports?
How did Andy crawl through that tiny hole?
What is the currency of dollars to cigarettes?
Did Andy crawl through the sewer in his bare feet?
How did no one hear Andy digging for 19 years?
How did it switch from day to night when Tommy was killed? Is the prison that long of a walk to get around in?
Where does Warden Norton rank on the all-time cinema villains list?
Commenti