The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont. The film was based upon a novella called Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption written by author Stephen King. It tells the story of a man named Andy Dufresne, a successful banker during the 1940s who was accused and subsequently found guilty of the murder of his wife and her lover before being sent to prison.
Starring Tim Robbins and Dufresne, Morgan Freeman as Red, along with Samuel Norton, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, James Whitmore, and William Sadler, Shawshank Redemption features of some of the greatest stars of the early 1990s.
As such, the film is often considered by many to be the best film of all time, with some citing it as better than Citizen Cane. It had such a positive affect on the film industry and pop culture that the film was selected by the United States Library of Congress to be preserved in the National Film Registry, finding it historically, culturally, or aesthetically significant.
The film was also nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1995, the most for any adaption of Stephen King’s. The nominations included Best Picture, Best Actor (Freeman), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Editing, and Best Original Score. Although it didn’t win in any of the categories, the film has had an undeniable impact on modern pop culture, with endless quotes and parodies over twenty years later, and represents for film what online blackjack Canada does for gaming.
The Story
In 1947, Andy Dufresne, a well-known banker, is convicted of the murdering of his wife and her lover and is handed down two life sentences, both of which he would need to serve at Shawshank State Penitentiary. Upon arriving at the prison, he quickly finds himself a victim to the gangs, being beaten and raped for two years. In that time, he befriends the local fence, Ellis “Red” Redding, who provides the inmates with items that are otherwise hard to get hold of.
Dufresne’s previous life as a banker sees him gaining favour with the guards and the warden, who make use of his financial services in return for safety from the gangs that harass him. He slowly becomes part of a group of friends, becoming especially close with Red. The Warden begins dealing in illegal activities, and forces Dufresne to help him launder the money he receives from undercutting local business by using his cheap prison labour.
After years working for the warden, who kills the only man that could potentially see Dufresne be set free, he one day disappears out of his cell. A thorough search reveals nothing until the warden throws a rock through his poster, revealing that for decades, Dufresne had been tunnelling through the prison, ending up in the sewer system before running to freedom, and cashing in all of the laundered money from the warden’s account. Some years later, Red and Dufresne meet up on a beach in Mexico.