BBM Enterprises Online - Shawshank Redemption review

     I watched this film years ago and it is one of the very few films that after watching it
I thought, "that was an absolutely smart film." And so when Mr Kevin was purchasing
his five videos for Ł20 at Our Price I enthusiastically encouraged him to make it one of
his five. Despite this though I couldn't remember why I though it was so good and what
actually so happened in it so I looked forward to refreshing my memory.
     The Shawshank Redemption is based on a short novel by Stephen King and tells the
story of Andy Dufrane (Robbins) who is wrongly imprisoned for killing his wife and
her new lover who he has just realised is having an affair behind his back. The evidence
against him is so stong that he is sentenced to two life sentences to be served at
Shawshank Maximum Security Prison in New England. Whilst in Shawshank he forms a
friendship with the prison "fixer" Red (Freeman) and the story follows their friendship and
the relationship between Dufrane and his fellow inmates and with the Warden (Norton) and
the prison guards. During the years that he is imprisoned Dufrane gradually gains the
favour of the Warden and Captain by using his background as a Banker to help them with
their tax returns and balance the books and he uses is new position to better the inmates
life in the prison and to give them hope that a life sentence doesn't necessarilly mean that
you have to spend your time waiting to die. I won't finnish describing the story all the way
through because it will spoil a brilliant film.
     Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman give arguably the best performances of their careers
and Bob Gunton and Clancy Brown as the Warden and Head Guard Captain Byron Hadley
make you despise them. There is also the point to make about the novel that the film is
based on. "Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption," shows that Stephen King is
not only a brilliant horror writter but can also turn his hand to writting a truly brilliant story
like this, and in my opinion the reason this is such a good film is that it is a brilliant story
brilliantly told and definitely one of my favourites.