Posted on 09/12/2009 9:47:56 PM PDT by Saije
Frank Darabont, the director of The Shawshank Redemption, has words for the millions of people who believe his 1994 prison drama is the greatest film of all time. I think thats a little crackers, to be honest, especially when you think of the other films on the list. He means films such as The Godfather, Citizen Kane, Lolita, Vertigo and foreign-language contenders like Bernardo Bertoluccis The Conformist, Jean-Luc Godards Contempt, Luis Buñuels Belle de jour or Rainer Werner Fassbinders The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.
But, hey, pointy-headed film critics can have their highfalutin crushes. Theres no getting round the fact that The Shawshank Redemption, which stars Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, is consistently being voted the best film ever in all sorts of readers polls. It currently sits atop the 250 best movies of all time on the worlds most popular cinema website, imdb.com, as it has done for most of the past decade...Empires readers have also voted Shawshank their favourite film of all time.
What gives? How has a film set mainly in a bleak prison, in which women are barely glimpsed, by an unknown first-time director, adapted from a little-known Stephen King novella, become such an enduring crowd-pleaser? Shawshank tells the story of the friendship of two prison inmates, Andy, played by Robbins, and Red, played by Freeman. Its a film that can make strong men including the rugby star Jonny Wilkinson, who loves it blub like babies and insist that they will change their lives pronto. Devotees quote its life-affirming mantras: You can get busy living or get busy dying; Fear can keep you a prisoner. Hope can set you free.
(Excerpt) Read more at entertainment.timesonline.co.uk ...
Groundhog Day.
contrary to American History X and Shawshank Redemption, homosexual rape as intimidation is overwhelmingly a black on black or anyone else event.
serious white boys simply do not do it
it is a hanging offense for any Hispanic gang like La Eme or Nuestra Familia and especially for the Aryan Brotherhood.
Hollywood cannot help but infect everything with politically correct social engineering designed to purvey an image they want the rest of us to believe is fact because it suits their worldview. They are doing it right now already with Sons of Anarchy, they did it with Sopranos when they let chicks write episodes..it was nauseating. They tinker with Clancy movies all the time.
Most kids today think Deliverance was a documentary...like hillbillies like man butt...that such BS...queerness is not tolerated at all in rural mountain areas of the SE..no way.
And the Swamp Thing was awesome because of Adrienne Barbeau.
Sharon Stone WHINED her way through the film. Also, Casino suffers from the same problem as Goodfellas in that it starts with DeNiro playing a guy in his thirties (although he ages in both).
Jon Voight is cool. He made me laugh in Midnight Cowboy. I know it was a serious movie, but he was such a bonehead.
It’s either Shawshank or The Money Pit.
Pulp Fiction numero uno.
The tricky thing about Shawkshank is how they digitally removed susan sarandon, who is joined at the hip with robbins, from all the scenes.
I like Ronin! Wouldn’t put it on any best of lists but thought it was good. But then I like DeNiro and I like Jean Reno, especially in The Professional. No Women. No Children. That’s the rule.
"Are you telling me that John Wayne was a fag!?!"
It was fun seeing Voight, who hails from the Bronx, playing a naive Texas panhandle hayseed. The book by James Leo Herlihy is also great, and is a bit more explicit in telling Joe's backstory (told confusingly in "dream sequences" in the film).
I’m partial to North By Northwest...the classic case of mistaken identity.
Best film ever? Hmmmmm......
“Slapshot”
“Airplane!”
“This is Spinal Tap”
“Blazing Saddles”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111161/ratings
Shawshank benefits from more votes than any other title, for example 79,502 more than The Godfather which is ranked #2. The Godfather however suffered from Dark Knight fans intentionally ranking it low in order to move it down and move The Dark Knight into the top position. Many who voted had never even seen The Godfather. The demos show a bias toward people aged 18-29 (249,013) and Non-US users (236,153).
Shawshank is a good mainstream commercial movie which benefits from cable TV re-runs and a young and international demo who have no historical context and limited knowledge of movies.
No tellin’ what the Brand-man had stuffed in his mug—anything from chicken salad to peanuts. Liked the old 50s version of “The Thing” in black-and-white. Always go with the original; a remake is usually nothing more than an inferior knock-off.
Sure any time. I don’t think I’ve seen it as much as you, but I’m definitely a fan (see my homepage).
My brother and I watched Lawrence so many times, I know he could recite it. I was pretty good too, I guess.
One of my favorite parts of Zhivago is the ending where Yuri’s half-brother is talking with Zhivago’s daughter. Love how Alec Guinness says, “Ah, then it’s a gift.” Wish someone would post that scene on YouTube. One of the best actor voices ever.
Speaking of Lawrence, funny enough I was watching some Peter O’Toole clips on You Tube earlier tonight.
O’Toole was such a class act when he got his honorary Oscar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxg5geT4jrA
I’m not particularly a Shawshank fan, but it’s a lot better than anything Clint Eastwood ever directed. Not a bad film.
I couldn’t pick a “best film”. There are too many worthy candidates for the honor:
“Gold Rush” (1925)
“City Lights”(1931)
“The 39 Steps” (1935)
“My Man Godfrey” (1936)
“Dodsworth” (1936)
“The Awful Truth” (1937)
“Mr Smith Goes To Washington”(1939)
“Ninotchka” (1939)
“Casablanca” (1942)
“Now, Voyager” (1942)
“The Palm Beach Story” (1942)
“I Remember Mama” (1948)
“Kind Hearts and Coronets” (1949)
“Sunset Blvd” (1950)
“Ikiru” (1952)
“Singin In The Rain” (1952)
“Seven Samurai” (1954)
“Paths of Glory” (1957)
“The Seventh Seal” (1957)
“Charade” (1963)
“Jaws” (1975)
“Goodfellas” (1990)
“Schindler’s List” (1993)
I’m sure I’ve neglected many other memorable films.
I am absolutely compelled by that movie; but I have a hard time explaining "why" in polite company. Love it. I usually avoid the cocaine overdose scene, though, oh, and the pawn-shop basement homo torture -- too dehumanizing. I watch the movie just to catch the parts in the Ed Sullivan night spot, the Denny's-esque restaurant philosophical discussion interrupted by Hunny=Bunny's holdup, and the "Dead N***er Storage" episode. Never was soundtrack music done more elegantly than in the scene where Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" and the "Son of a Preacher Man" clips were featured.
“Best ever” is a hilarious description to apply to any work of art. That said, ‘Shawshank Redemption’ is definitely up there. The first ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie and ‘Titanic’ are certainly up there, as well. Heck, now there’s a list of other great movies pouring through my brain...
Most important film ever made is “Cool Hand Luke”, the finest film ever made in history, is “The Lives of Others”.
Jaws and Schindler’s are on my list too.
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