What does it take to be the greatest film of all time? A 9.2 out of 10 rating from half a million voters, obviously. IMDB is a more populist arbiter than the Academy or the secret cult of robe-wearing Illuminati who make up AFI, and The Shawshank Redemption has all the right elements of a populist film. Emotion. Friendship. Triumph. Morgan Freeman. But does that make it the best movie ever, or merely the least-offensive movie ever? With Edward Norton up for parole in Stone this week, we thought it was time for the PopWatch Parole Board to rewatch Shawshank (for the 35th time in our lives) to see if it really holds up. Get busy readin’, or get busy, um, not readin’.
DARREN FRANICH: When we started watching Shawshank via Netflix instant viewing, I was initially really perturbed by the fact that it was old-school VHS Pan-and-Scan, not letterboxed. But visually, it really didn’t seem to matter, which makes me wonder if Shawshank is just better in so many ways in TNT form. Even the way the film moves seems to demand commercial breaks. Long scenes that fade to black, mini-episodes with their own story arc — like “The Trial,” “The New Fish,” “The Attack of the Bull-Queers,” “The Library,” “The Greaser Who Doesn’t Read Good,” and “The Escape.”
KEITH STASKIEWICZ: It’s a movie made for cable TV and DVD chapter titles. I don’t know if I’ve ever watched it not on cable. This may have been the first time. And yet, according to IMDB, Shawshank is the greatest film of all time, beating out The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and every single other film ever made.
DF: What, even The Dark Knight? Even 12 Angry Men?
KS: Even Ghost Dad. Honestly, it’s not that surprising to me. While any of those others can be divisive, or just aren’t popular enough to get the votes needed to work the weighted system they have, Shawshank has the benefit of being seen by every human being with cable TV and being hated by none of them. Honestly, I think it’s the lack of dislike, more than an abundance of like, that puts it up there. It’s a straightforward, easy, well-made movie. Plus, feel-good. Everybody loves to feel good.
"All prisoners are to report for mandatory triumphing over adversity at 1300 hours."
DF: I would quibble a little bit with calling it “feel-good.” The movie is just draped in sadness and a kind of stultifying anger and sense of repression. Especially when you compare it to Frank Darabont’s later movies — like The Majestic, which is just happy people bumbling around small-town America for two hours, before Darth McCarthy pops in — this movie is surprisingly no-BS about a lot of awful things. The whole prison-rape imbroglio is kept at arms’ length, but you’re very aware that it’s happening.
KS: But the Sisters are practically the only violent, not-humanistic prisoners in the entire maximum security prison. All the other convicted murderers are so nice. Whenever someone made fun of William Sadler’s character, he’d just roll his eyes and say, “Come on, you guys!” instead of shivving them in the throat with a filed toothbrush. I have a feeling that even in the 1940s-60s, if you got a bunch of killers together in a prison under harsh conditions, there’s going to be a bit more than off-screen rape and poster smuggling.
That comical buffoon on the left did naked karate in 'Die Hard 2'
DF: That’s totally fair, but I also think that no matter how much the movie skimps on the actual reality of prison life in the ’40s, it captures a relentless feeling of oppression, which makes the fact that it’s incredibly easy and fun to watch all the more impressive. I think a lot of what I’m saying comes down to Morgan Freeman’s narration.
KS: That man could read me my Miranda rights and I’d feel it was an honor.
DF: When I started watching Shawshank and Freeman started narrating, I sort of winced, because by now, “Morgan Freeman’s Narrating Voice” is such a go-to parody format. But about ten minutes in to Shawshank, you’re hooked, and you realize that, unlike all his other narration jobs, this narration is actually kind of dark and funny.
A legend is born. The presidency and godhood would follow.
KS: Is it just me, or does half of the movie’s narration start with the phrase, “Sometimes it gets so that a man….” Let me say that I actually do think it’s a good movie. It’s well-made, well-acted, and has a story that makes me want to watch all two-and-a-half hours of it. But my question is, how do we get from there to “greatest movie of all time”? My theory is that it’s all due to TNT.
DF: It’s “the greatest movie of all time,” but only because of television. So actually, it’s just the greatest TV movie ever made.
KS: Here’s my dime-store analysis: I feel like it’s a natural psychological reaction to like a movie more the second time you watch it. Films are like music in that way: The more you listen to it, the more you know what’s coming, the more you can appreciate its rhythms and the small things, and the more you feel like you can sing along. Half the people our age can mouth along with nearly the entirety of this movie’s dialogue. The more we watch it, the more we love it, until, bam! it’s not so crazy to call it the best movie ever.
DF: That’s so interesting! And wrong! I actually feel the exact opposite about movies. With very rare exceptions, I tend to like movies the best the first time I watch them, when the experience of it is so immediate and visceral. Later viewings tend to crystallize flaws. To me, that’s what makes Shawshank special: The fact that it really doesn’t get old. The one major change from the book — besides lopping “Rita Hayworth” off the title — is that ending. Darabont had planned on ending the movie with the bus driving away. Leaving it open-ended and ambiguous, although not really that ambiguous.
Almost the last shot of the movie. Cherish the ambiguity!
KS: You can tell that. Freeman says, “I hope I make it across the border.” Five seconds later: “Oh, I guess you did.” I think it’s interesting to compare this ending to the ending of Darabont’s other other Stephen King movie, The Mist. Have you seen it?
DF: No.
KS: SPOILER ALERT!!
DF: You don’t have to yell, I’m sitting right here.
KS: Sorry. *Spoiler Alert*: It’s one of the most depressing twists ever. Thomas Jane kills his son, thinking he’s saving him, and then finds out that it was unnecessary. It’s hard to believe the same person made these two movies, since The Mist is essentially the opposite in tone. If anything, it’s a failure-of-the-human-spirit movie. It kind of gives me hope for The Walking Dead.
DF: Shawshank doesn’t play on TNT anymore, right?
KS: Not really. I feel like someone pointed out to TNT the fact that they kept showing it so much, and it was like someone pointing out that you keep telling the same joke, or keep saying “You know what I mean.” Because suddenly, it was as if they were actively trying to keep it off the air. I don’t think I’ve seen it on television for a long time.
The actual last shot of the movie. Ambiguity removed!
DF: And I don’t think this is the kind of movie you purposefully seek out to watch on Netflix or in a video store. Which leads me to wonder if, IMDB ranking aside, Shawshank‘s long tail is running out.
KS: I feel like it’s perceived quality is on a bell curve. Not all that great reviews when it first came out. Then suddenly it’s the Best. Movie. Evah! And now, maybe, it’s on its way down to a more understandable appraisal level.
DF: Huzzah, tempered expectations!
Next Week: Hilary Swank stars in Conviction about a man wrongly accused of murder. It’s quietly powerful. So we’ll be watching the very loudly powerful wrongful accusation film My Cousin Vinny, and discussing it entirely in Joe Pesci impressions.
My mom had never seen it before and when I was trying to tell her it was a good movie, she kept saying, “I don’t want to watch a prison movie. Too gruesome.” I finally forced her to watch it maybe a year ago, and she cried so hard at the end. She still recommends this movie to strangers on the street as if its in theatres.
If it can have that much emotional effect on people, you better believe its so popular.
screenday.wordpress.com
I hate to say it, because I know it’s a beloved movie, but this movie is so overrated. I remember seeing it in a theater when it first came out and thinking it was so full of prison movie cliches. I couldn’t understand what the fuss was about. As the years have gone on and the love for this movie increased, I just thought it was me. I just didn’t get it. And, I’m okay with that. But it’s good to see (finally) someone question its classic status.
I saw it when it came out, thought it was OK and promptly forgot about it. None of it stayed with me emotionally. Mini-series don’t count, but Lonesome Dove outshines it completely. Shawshank a classic? Not in my book.
The greatest film of all time? Well it isn’t Shawshank . And it isn’t Citizen Kane or Casablanca, either. I’m going with “It’s a Wonderful Life” for a G rating, or “Gone With The Wind”.
I thought “It’s a Wonderful Life” was boring and I’ve never lasted more than 5 minutes with “Gone With the Wind.” I think Shawshank is better than both of those although I’m not sure it’s the best of all time. I’m also not sure where “inoffensive” and “feel-good” came from. Yeah it had a happy ending but it was hard work getting there.
“It’s a Wonderful Life” should be number one.
“It’s a Wonderful Life” is one of the most depressing, horrible, overrated films I have ever seen. Does anyone who praise actually pay attention to what’s happening in the film?
I was one of the few who saw it in the theatre and it was amazing. Every single person who walked out, about 30 people, we’re just awe struck. We were just kinda walking out looking at each other without a word, but a glaze in our eyes knowing we just witnessed one of the best movies ever. Not “THE” best, but definitley one of…and it’s not fair to say the best tv movie because it’s not a tv movie. I bet neither one of the guys saw it in the theatre.
Glad SOMEBODY still thinks this movie is great! Whew! I was reading earlier comments and wondering when it became fashionable to rag on Shawshank??
I bet you’re right – maybe neither of them saw it in the theater because they weren’t old enough to get in?
Guilty as charged. We are indeed a pair of snot-nosed whippersnappers who never got the chance to see it in the theater. I can’t speak for Darren, but I will anyway and say that I think much of our opinions has been formed by the format we watched it in — as you can probably tell by all our talk about TNT — and I do wonder whether I would have a different take if I’d initially seen it on the big-screen without any expectations. I’d hop in my pop culture time machine to find out, but it’s already set to 1997 to stop George Lucas from creating Jar Jar Binks.
D – I laughed out loud @ ‘That’s so interesting! And wrong!’ I find that I take both sides of those arguments. Sometimes re-watching crystalizes the flaws – but then I can smash them and pay attention to the movie all over again.
I am definitely the sort of person to rewatch and rewatch – but there are some notable exception. Like ‘Brick’ – I think it is a nearly perfect movie, I own it, but I have only seen it once. I don’t want to shatter the image I have of it. I remember more the way I felt when I finished watching rather than the details of the film.
I was also reading ‘The 13 Dumbest Movie Reviews’ earlier which said, and I quote “And leave it to pandering, first-time director Frank Darabont to ensure no audience member leaves this film unsure of the ending. Heaven forbid a movie should end with a smidgen of mystery!”- Desson Howe, Washington Post, September 23, 1994
Which, I realize hours later, is totally true. But doesn’t make the movie any worse. Plus, then there would never be that amazing moment from HIMYM After Marshall shaves his head he says, “I’m going to find the money under the rock by the tree and meet those guys on the beach in Zihuatanejo.” Ted replies, “Dude those guys are criminals.” Marshall says, “Only Red, Andy was falsly accused.”
Put me in the camp of those who LOVED the ending of The Mist. Everything leading up to that last scene (meaning everything before the lead character kills his son and the three others) was so over the top and fantastical that when the final act happens it seems that much more based in reality. The deaths and then what FINALLY happens were both emotional gut punches for me and I loved them both.
That ending was great. Made a mediocre movie really stand out.
I thought “The Mist” was pretty good. Besides the ending, I thought Marcia Gay Harden was terrific in it.
I saw it also when it came out at the theatre. I thought it was great, but had no idea it would become a classic. I thought it would become a buried treasure that years from now, not a lot of people would know about it, but it would be known as a solid movie. Maybe not one of the greatest movies of all-time – it does have it’s flaws – but certainly one of the best of the 90′s.
I saw this movie in 1994 when I was 11 years old with my dad. I have to say it was an extraordinary moviegoing experience. I didn’t feel like I was watching a movie. Every year since I’ve made an effort to watch it again. Everytime I learn something new about myself from it. Being a prison movie, it allows us to observe its characters through the eyes of Red. We basically become him. In the end, the redemption that is had is Red’s therefore ours as every person hungers for hope. I think its rewatchability comes from a familiarity with our own lives. 3 years ago when I was still dating my wife, she mentioned she had never seen this movie. After watching it, she had the similar experience as I and still enjoys its staying power.
I saw this movie at an early age, and just like with Schindlers List it left an imprint on me. Still to this day I watch it at least once a year and it is in my top 5 movies of all time!
Maybe ‘most accessible movie of all time’?
Ironic because it’s a prison movie …
Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, I’d take any one of those for GOAT over Shawshank. Having said that, it’s probably in my top 20
And you can’t take the IMDB rating seriously. On that list, Inception is the #4 movie of all-time. But I can see Shawshank in the top 20 for sure.
So, in order for a movie to be considered great it has to be violent and have a depressing ending?
Morgan Freeman’s narrating voice wouldn’t BE such a go-to parody format without Shawshank. This is the movie that facilitated America’s love affair with Morgan Freeman narration. For that alone, it deserves classic status at least. I also don’t think a lack of dislike alone is going to propel a movie to the top of IMDB. That will get a movie a solid 7 or 8 rating from a lot of people, but this is a movie that’s a 9 to crapload of IMBD goers. I think when you say “Shawshank Redemption” to somebody, the typical response is, “Oh, I loved that movie! Whenever it’s on cable I have to watch it again.” I think this movie is the embodiment of hope and resiliency for a lot of people, and that’s something everyone, deep down, wants to believe in. Is it a perfect movie? No. Would I totally sit down and watch it for the bazillionth time tonight if nothing else was on TV? Hell yeah.
I will always have a huge soft spot for Shawshank just because it was filmed in my hometown… I know people who were extras in it. That screencap of the bus pulling away, I know that spot. It’s instant nostalgia.
What town was that, Rebecca?