This will be the first of many conversations that I will be having with others regarding the films that currently sit on IMDB’s Top 250 list. I know these movies are probably in no way the best of the best, but some if not most on this list are. Starting this off will be the current #1 film, The Shawshank Redemption. This is a film that is littered with great performances that is occupied by a great story. Continue on below to find out what @mcelroyben13 and I think of this film and if it does deserve to be in the #1 spot.
Plot
Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison for the murders of his wife and her lover and is sentenced to a tough prison. However, only Andy knows he didn’t commit the crimes. While there, he forms a friendship with Red (Morgan Freeman), experiences brutality of prison life, adapts, helps the warden, etc., all in 19 years. (Source: Google)
Cast
- Tim Robbins Andy Dufresne
- Morgan Freeman Red
- Bob Gunton Warden Norton
- Clancy Brown Captain Hadley
- Gil Bellows Tommy
- James Whitmore Brooks
Trailer
The Conversation
@BeckyMiller83 – So Question Number one is. Knowing what all plays out through the entire film, would you rather be Capt Hadley or Andy? Why?
@mcelroyben13 – Hmmm, years as the boss to only spend your final days in prison, or the prime years of your life only to end it in paradise?
I gotta go Andy. I know his life ain’t a bowl full of cherries, and lord knows no one would wish the horrors he went through upon themselves, but he’s smart, driven and in the end he turns that tragedy into triumph, while getting his comeuppance on almost everyone who has wronged him.
@BeckyMiller83 – But do you think it’s worth spending 20 years in hell to end up somewhere good, as a fugitive?
@mcelroyben13 – Ugh. That’s a tough one. I get it, it’s not an easy choice. But he held on to hope, he was determined and found ways to find his own peace and happiness. On the flip side, I’m sure Hadley will spend plenty of time in jail, maybe more than 20. And can you imagine the hell an ex prison guard must go through? I’d be willing to bet he’ll get it worse
@BeckyMiller83 – Ya I agree, but I think he can hold his own once in prison seeing that he was a violent person.
@BeckyMiller83 – I’m on the fense with both. One hand you are innocent, have to be 20 years in prison, beaten and rapped the first couple years. Then you have it where you have power over everyone. Ya Hadley was a pos to the prisoners, but if you think of it’s, most were murderers or something equal to that. Do they not deserve to get the treatment he was handing out?
@mcelroyben13 – I don’t know, I still gotta go with ending up in paradise.
@BeckyMiller83 – But, you always have to look over your shoulder. With that public of s breakout, you know his face had been plastered everywhere. The news probably even got down to where he ended up at.
@BeckyMiller83 – Do you feel like the two are the polar opposite of each other?
@mcelroyben13 – As for the news, who knows. It’s the 60’s, probably easier to disappear. Good point on the opposites. Brawn, brains, power, how they got people to follow them. All opposites.
@BeckyMiller83 – I’m thinking more of their story lines. Innocent person in prison vs corrupt person who should be in prison. At the end, they essentially switch roles.
@mcelroyben13 – Very true
Which death hit you the hardest?
@BeckyMiller83 – For me, it’s the warden’s death. The poor man just all his stolen money stolen and Andy had out him in a really tough situation that he had no way of getting out of. Only the the taste of a pistole was his escape.
@mcelroyben13 – I was not expecting that answer. The warden did put himself in that situation, though. If he had been honest he wouldn’t be in that situation.
@BeckyMiller83 – I’m totally not serious. Screw that guy. If the question was who deserved death the most, it would have been him.
@mcelroyben13 – Alright. You got me good there
@BeckyMiller83 – Lol. So the person who died that effected me the most was Brookes. I hate watching the scene where he’s narrating about his life outside of the prison. But I also love that part. It really bring up the question of should there be an age limit of when you are paroled. When you go to prison in you 20s and come out in your 80s, the world is a very different place. Just think about how different things were 60 years ago.
@mcelroyben13 – Tommy hit me the hardest. A life long f-up who finally wanted to turn his life around, only to have it snuffed out cause he wanted to do the right thing.
@BeckyMiller83 – That would be my number 2. The worse part for him is that he didn’t chose to die, Brookes did. He had a choice. I just feel like an elderly person getting thrown out into a world he didn’t understand is somehow worse.
@mcelroyben13 – Don’t get me wrong they’re both heartbreaking. Brooks is made rougher by the reminder near the end with Red etching his name next to his.
@BeckyMiller83 – Would you consider that the prison basically gave Brookes a death sentence by kicking him out?
@mcelroyben13 – Oh most definitely. But, is it their responsibility to keep feeding and housing him after he stayed there for a crime he committed?
@BeckyMiller83 – That is true, but they could have at least volunteer or even work his job there.
@mcelroyben13 – The movie and story telling does a good job of making the viewer give sympathy for the devils in it.
@BeckyMiller83 – I just have a soft spot for the elderly
@mcelroyben13 – Lol. No I get it. He’s the sweet old man that makes us think of a grandparent.
@BeckyMiller83 – Exactly, and his hands hurt!
@mcelroyben13 – Why did he have to kill a guy to stay in? Could he have just assaulted someone?
@BeckyMiller83 – Hit a guard, that would give you some years…but the guards there would have just killed him.
@mcelroyben13 – Very true
@BeckyMiller83 – So who would you say had the lead role? Robbins or Freeman?
@mcelroyben13 – Oooo … that’s a good question. The story is about Robbins character, but told through Freeman. …. hmmm
@BeckyMiller83 – But is the story about Andy or is it a Story about Red’s time with Andy?
@mcelroyben13 – Aside from the bookend scenes of the movie, it’s definitely Red’s time with Andy. Gotta say Red is the lead, even though for whatever reason it is not seen that way. For me, when I think of the movie, I always think of Freeman first
@BeckyMiller83 – I always think Tim Robbins, but when thinking about it, I feel the same, Freeman is the leading role. If Robbins was the lead, we would know what he was up to the whole time.
So next question. If the movie was made for the first time this year, who would you cast and who would direct?
@mcelroyben13 –
Okay so I’m going with:
- Andy – Jake Gyllenhal
- Red – Laurence Fishburne
- Warden – JK Simmons
- Tommy – John Boyega
- Brooks – Morgan Freeman
- Hadley – William Fichter
As for the director … I’ll go Paul Thomas Anderson. I love his movies, and it’s a character rich film and he’s great with those types of narratives.
@BeckyMiller83 –
- Warden – Tom Hanks
- Hadley – Tom Hardy
- Brookes – Bruce Dern
- Tommy – Michael B. Jordan
- Andy – Ryan Goslin
- Red – Leonardo DiCaprio
- Directed by Martin Scorsese.
Scratch that. Red should be played by Denzel Washington. Needs to have a greater age difference I feel
@mcelroyben13 – Plus he’s the narrator. Tough to top Freeman as a great narrator voice, which is why I went with Fishburne, but Denzel was a close second for me.
@BeckyMiller83 – In that case, why don’t we go Liam Neeson then?
Imagine if it was Denzel though, “this here, is my man, Andy”
So why do you feel like Fishburn would be the best choice? I feel like his only good roles comes from action movies like the matrix. Do you think he has what it takes to do a drama like this?
@mcelroyben13 – First I think he’s got a great voice, so he’d be perfect as a narrator. And yes, he’s in a lot of action movies, but he’s not exactly an action hero guy, more like the seasoned vet with sage advice.
Liam would work if you’re going closer to the King story (where he’s Irish) but I just like Fishburne better
@BeckyMiller83 – Ok let’s talk about Andy, why Jake? I think Goslin would be a great pick bc he does drama well and early does the quiet observing the world type.
@mcelroyben13 – Goslin was my second choice, I’m just a big Gyllenhall fan, he’s got great range and could play the aloof arrogance part very well.
@BeckyMiller83 – True, he does have great range. Really liked him in Nightcrawler. Maybe it’s is dark hair that’s throwing me off imagining him in the role haha
@mcelroyben13 – My only issue with Goslin is that he’s so little
@BeckyMiller83 – It would make it more believable his difficulty fending off the other prisoners who are trying to rape him. Andy uses his mind more than anything else. A smaller person would have to rely on that
@mcelroyben13 – True. I think Robbins being a bigger dude just throws that off for me. Not being a size-ist, being a little dude myself I get it.
@BeckyMiller83 – I get it. I think Jake has the wrong look lol. I was going to say that Gyllenhal looks to young, but both are the same age!
@mcelroyben13 – Yeah, I did some looking at the ages of the actors and could you age them through the movie, especially Andy and Red
@BeckyMiller83 – Let’s talk warden and Hadley. What made you pick those two?
@mcelroyben13 – Warden I went with JK cause you need someone who can be sanctimonious and authoritative, he definitely has that. Hadley, again I’m a big fan of Fichter, and I know it makes the character a little more weasely, but he’s a guy who can play a good side character dick head
@BeckyMiller83 – Fichter is deffintly a weasle type. Not very intimidating. Would be thinking of the longest yard the whole time. Btw I really want him to be in a movie with Ben Mendelsohn where they play brothers
Simmons would be great, I’d almost pick him to be Hadley though. Have you seen him in Oz?
@mcelroyben13 – The HBO show? No, I missed that train.
@BeckyMiller83 – Very good prison show. Kinda awkward that Simmons has prison wives in it lol
@mcelroyben13 – If anyone is gonna have prison wives, it’s JK
@BeckyMiller83 – Yeah… Maybe JK should be cast as one of the guy’s who goes after Andy. Just imagine JK trying to get Goslin or Gyllenhals ass haha
@mcelroyben13 – How about Chris Meloni. He was in Oz, plus I liked him in SVU, so I’m good with getting him some work.
@BeckyMiller83 – Haha. Btw he started dating JK Simmons prison wife on the show
So for my pick. I really want Tom Hanks to be in more villianist roles. He needs to break away from the good guy father figure type he always ends up playing. I think the role of the warden would be the perfect role to help get his feet wet. I know he is or I believe he is suppose to be the bad guy in the circle, but I’m figuring this movie would have came out before that haha.
For Tom Hardy, I feel like he can play a great dirt bag, and would do great as the warden’s “guard dog”. I can see him being very violent as the prison guard. Have you seen him in Bronson?
@mcelroyben13 – It would be interesting to see Hanks as a villain, its just hard for me to picture him that way. But, I get it I haven’t seen Bronson, and in fact had not even heard of it until Movie Fights when they fought “Who would you want with you for the Purge?” I’ll definitely need to check it out.
@BeckyMiller83 – I liked it from what I remember
@mcelroyben13 – A ringing endorsement 
@BeckyMiller83 – How much effect does karma play into the overall story?
@mcelroyben13 – I had a quick answer, but now that I think about it isn’t an absolute. Yes, the bad guys get their comeuppance, but there’s a lot of good people or people trying to turn their life around that get screwed. Yes, the main characters get theirs, but plenty of side characters that get hosed
@BeckyMiller83 – Do you think the reason why Andy ended up in prison because of his thoughts to murder his wife?
@mcelroyben13 – We going with the Catholic principal that thoughts are as bad as the act? Personally I think he just got screwed, and like most of us he was searching for an answer to the question why. Unfortunately sometimes bad shit just happens to good people.
@BeckyMiller83 – I know that first hand lol. But still his wife was cheating on him, still shouldn’t have thought about killing her. Especially to go as far to get a gun. As you know, my ex cheated on me and I’ve never had thought about doing him in.
@mcelroyben13 – But was he in his right mind? Even the best of us think unspeakable things in the heat of the moment. But his cooler head prevailed.
@BeckyMiller83 – That’s true. Just trying to find why the comic universe decided to punish him.
@mcelroyben13 – I thought some pretty dark stuff when my ex left me, same type of situation, but I also sunk into a pretty deep depression. Luckily I had people around me that recognized it and helped pull me out of it.
@BeckyMiller83 – He should have just went on the run, and this movie could have been a prequel to the Fugitive.
@mcelroyben13 – But he naively believed in the justice system
@BeckyMiller83 – But you didn’t go out and buy a gun. At least I’m assuming. Lol I know, just making a bad joke
@mcelroyben13 – You’re good. No, I never bought a gun, but … I did think about ending my own life a few times.
@BeckyMiller83 – Sorry to hear that hun. I know it’s the worst thing ever when your partner decides to though everything you built together away.
@mcelroyben13 – No sympathy needed. If it wasn’t for my kids, my dad and movies, who knows. In the end I realized I am pretty lucky despite it all. For Andy it was the same. He made the most out of an impossible situation. And in the process probably touched a lot of lives for the better.
@BeckyMiller83 – That’s true, and also effected a lot of lives too haha
So final two questions, do you feel like this movie deserves it’s spot on the top 250? And what’s your rating?
@mcelroyben13 – There has to be a movie that takes the top spot, so why not? Is it my #1? It’s a movie with almost no fatal flaws, great acting all across the board, the story has no real holes,
@BeckyMiller83 – The movie does have one pretty big hole..
@mcelroyben13 – The one behind the poster?
@BeckyMiller83 – Bingo!
@mcelroyben13 – Ha ha ha. Guess I did a poor job answering the question. Is it my #1? No, When Harry Met Sally will always hold that spot for me. Does it deserve its IMDb ranking as #1? Yes, yes it does.For me, it’s a top ten movie for sure. Do you want me to give it an actual personal ranking number?
@BeckyMiller83 – I believe that personal favorite and actual best movies can be two different films. Ya, where is the movie at on your top ten? But when you say the movie does deserve to be number 1, you also gotta think that the movie is better than the godfather, and the rest on the list
For me, it is number one. But I’m not sure if it’s clouded by the fact that it’s also my number one. I just can’t really find anything to nit pick from the movie. The rest on the films on the top 250 list, I for sure can. Like Godfather as an example. Brilliant film, except it does drag on in a few places. There are several scenes that could be cut from it. With speaking about Shawshank, it flows good throughout the who film and I never find myself wanting a scene to be over bc it isn’t needed. So at the end if the day, I believe that it’s the best made movie so far. I give it a 10/10.
@mcelroyben13 – I’m with you on deserving the spot objectively speaking. It doesn’t drag, it’s technically proficient, the dialogue is phenomenal, the shots are beautiful, the casting is spot on (especially changing Red from a white Irish dude to Morgan Freeman was perfect), the plot is wire tight. It’s easily a five star movie.
Subjectively, it’s hard to say where it goes in my pantheon of movies. After my top five (which is also fluid) I find it really hard to definitively rank anything. It would be in my top twenty for sure, and I would never argue someone who says it’s their top movie of all time. It makes sense.
@BeckyMiller83 – The movie does go back and forth from being number 1 to number 2 for me. Some days I like Goodfellas the best and some days I like Shawshank the best. I feel like it’s number 1 for me at the moment bc I can relate to it. I’ve talked you you before how I felt like with all the bad things that have been happening to be latley that I’ve felt like I an a prison in my currently situation trying to dig my way out. Like andy, it all started with a cheating spouse. I just hope it doesn’t take 20 years to dig my way out.
@mcelroyben13 – It won’t. You’re young, smart and driven. You’ll get through. But yes, the story that teaches that you have to hold on to hope a persevere is something to hold on to. Maybe that’s why this movie is so loved. It’s a hopeful story that isn’t to cheesy, gritty without being too harsh, and so well written and acted you start to pull for hardened criminals in the end.
@BeckyMiller83 – Not that young! I’m like 2 years younger than you
@mcelroyben13 – Whoa whoa whoa, you calling me old? That’s messed up 
@BeckyMiller83 – Any grey hairs yet?
@mcelroyben13 – Damnit
@BeckyMiller83 – Haha
@mcelroyben13 – Got me good there. Just a little. In the beard. And maybe a bit at the temples when I let my hair grow out …. at all … ugh
Be sure to follow @mcelroyben13 on twitter!
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