Nineteen Years And 500 Yards

“I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can’t be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it.” ~ Red

“The funny thing is, on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.” ~ Andy

“I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you’ll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord. Your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.” ~ Warden Norton

“Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.” ~ Red

“Couldn’t play somethin’ good, huh? Hank Williams?” ~ Heywood 

“They broke the door down before I could take requests.” ~ Andy

“You’re that smart banker who killed his wife, aren’t you? Why should I believe a smart banker like you? So I can end up in here with you?” ~ Captain Hadley

“There’s not a day goes by I don’t feel regret. Not because I’m in here, because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can’t. That kid’s long gone, and this old man is all that’s left.” ~ Red

“Remember, Red, hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” ~ Andy

In 1994, director Frank Darabont released The Shawshank Redemption, a prison drama based on a novella by horror master novelist Stephen King. It is a character study featuring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, and deals with themes like hope, the meaning of freedom, the depth of despair, and the power of friendship. The story, which for once was not a horror tale by King, nonetheless follows the writer’s tendency to set his narratives in Maine. The film opened to great acclaim, getting numerous Oscar nominations, but was a box office disappointment. However, in the years that followed, home video and cable viewings fuelled a second life for the film, which has become a beloved film among audiences, regardless of its dark subject matter.

In 1947, Maine banker Andy Dufresne (Robbins) is convicted of the murders of his wife and her lover and sent to Shawshank State Penitentiary for life. He seems certain to break- some of the convicts place bets on which of the newcomers will be the first to fall apart on their first night behind bars- and yet he doesn’t. Andy makes friends with other convicts, chiefly Ellis “Red” Redding (Freeman), who knows how to get just about anything smuggled into the prison. Heywood (William Sadler) and Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore) are two more convicts that Andy befriends. Life in prison is hard, and the brutality is not glossed over- Andy is initially the target of a gang, while the warden (Bob Gunton) and the chief of the guards (Clancy Brown) are both corrupt and ruthless. And yet in his own way, Andy’s spirit and integrity aren’t imprisoned, and he comes into his own.

Hope is a strong theme throughout the film- in a status where one is surrounded by the hopelessness of spending life in prison, particularly wrongfully, the story strongly plays off the concept of maintaining a person’s sense of self worth. Where Red is cynical about the idea of hope, Andy believes that hope is something that can’t be caged up, that can’t be taken away, and that theme strongly underlies the entire film. Even in moments of seeming despair- Andy being at a low point nineteen years into his sentence and speaking of a dream of a Mexican coastal town- that sense of hope prevails. As harsh as a film about life in prison is, the story is uplifting, with an ending that just brings out a smile every time.

 Darabont secured the film rights from King for the story, and wrote the screenplay, investing the themes of the story into the screenplay. It turns out that Rob Reiner, who had adapted a King story into Stand By Me, had wanted to helm the tale, with Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford in the leading roles. I could see Ford as Red, but Cruise as Andy Dufresne would have been a disaster. Darabont filmed a good part of the movie in an Ohio reformatory, which does a good job of conveying the bleakness of prison life. Other sequences were done on soundstages, but the locations and staging all come across as authentic in detail, evoking a twenty year period in the mid-twentieth century, as well as the harshness of life in prison. This extends to things like props, clothing, and vehicles, all of which are of the time, and particularly to the movie pin-up girl posters which end up providing such a vital plot element as the story unfolds. Darabont also chose the ideal composer for the score; Thomas Newman’s music for the film has taken on a life of its own, infused with themes that are strongly character based, filled with humour, and celebrating freedom.

The cast is one of the best you can think of assembled for any film. James Whitmore, the late character actor, gets the part of the elderly convict Brooks, a prison librarian who’s spent most of his life behind bars. There’s wisdom and frankness in the character, a friendly sort of man who’s become institutionalized behind bars and doesn’t know what to do with himself on the outside. Gil Bellows appears as a young convict, Tommy Williams, a brash talker who joins Andy and Red’s circle of friends and as it turns out has prior prison time and information that proves vital to a great turning point in the story. As cocky as the character comes across, there’s an underlying sense of principle in him too. William Sadler has a terrific role as Heywood, a convict who tends to be rougher around the edges than Brooks, but also an inherently decent man.

Clancy Brown, who’s spent a good part of his life as an actor playing villains, gets a good role as the nasty Captain Byron Hadley, the chief of the guards at Shawshank. He’s brutal, sadistic, corrupt, and sees nothing wrong with administering beatings (or worse) to convicts to keep them in line. The character’s a bully and a thug, a thoroughly unpleasant person. While he’s entirely unsympathetic, Hadley’s a memorable character for the actor to play. Bob Gunton is another character actor who’s spent his career playing various roles, including strict and authoritarian people, which certainly factors into his role as Warden Samuel Norton. The character presents himself as a pious, devout Christian, but the man is deeply corrupt, ruthless and vindictive. He’s a sanctimonious, self righteous hypocrite, and one of the great joys of the film is watching things go completely upside down for him.

Morgan Freeman plays the pivotal role of the convict Red, who narrates the film and gives the audience their point of view character. It’s the perfect casting for the role (aside from Ford, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, and Robert Redford were also considered for the character’s casting). Freeman gives the character authority, warmth, and authenticity. Red has a richly developed voice, a bit of cynicism in his outlook on life, and a whole lot of depth. Because he serves as our point of view, his worry at a critical point in the film- he believes Andy to be suicidal- becomes our worry as well, and Freeman plays into that, bringing the character so strongly to life.

Tim Robbins is perfect as Andy, a laconic man through much of the film. He doesn’t know if he’s a murderer- the night of the murders he got himself so drunk he doesn’t remember- but he comes across as what he is- an inherently decent person who doesn’t lose hope or his own integrity as he faces life behind bars. His defiance is expressed more in a subdued way. There are moments that he seems to be drifting into despair, and it’s a wise thing as it turns out to not really see Andy’s inner thoughts- the payoff late in the film is all the better this way. He expresses his thoughts in his behaviour and his words, and so we get to know him more at a distance than we do with Red. When we see that payoff play out, in an ingeniously crafted way, it becomes all the more satisfying. Convict or not, Andy is a man whose spirit can’t be caged, and Robbins brings that throughout his performance.

While The Shawshank Redemption brings across life in prison in its brutality, with the language and violence one would expect of that, it is ultimately an uplifting, tremendously satisfying film about the power of the human spirit, the strength of friendship, and hope in humanity. It’s become a favourite of viewers after the fact, and has taken on a reputation as one of the best films ever made.

Which would have never happened had Tom Cruise been cast as Andy Dufresne, so we really dodged a bullet.

A Very Dangerous Adversary

Some links before I get started today. Parsnip posted about her birthday and about epiphany. Krisztina had a recipe for brownies. Maria wrote about bad habits of certain well known writers. And Ivy featured one of her dogs.

Now then, today I have a film review.

"I've never seen a grizzly just turn and run like that." ~ Jonathan Knox

"Everybody else up here acts like they've never seen a black man before. Why should the bear be different?" ~ Warren Stantin

"Tell me something. What else would you miss, besides telephones?" ~ Knox

"Everything!" Stantin

The acclaimed actor, director, and activist Sidney Poitier had been off the big screen for a decade when director Roger Spottiswoode cast him in the lead for the 1988 thriller Shoot To Kill. It was a film in which he played an FBI agent hunting for a ruthless killer, and reluctantly partnered with a man very much unlike him, played by Tom Berenger. The film has been critically acclaimed and a box office success, and remains a tense, taut thriller set in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. It’s a chase film, but also a character study of two strong protagonists working together despite initial friction, with an antagonist that still stands as one of the most malevolent villains in movie history- all the more so because the antagonist is so very human.

The story opens with a late night break in at a high end jeweller’s shop in Seattle, but all is not as it seems. The police discover that the owner of the shop is the one who’s broken in, and he breaks down and confesses to an FBI agent, Warren Stantin (Poitier) that a criminal has broken into his house, and holds his wife and maid hostage unless he brings the diamonds from his store. Stantin quickly discovers that the criminal (Clancy Brown) is a clever, dangerous sociopath who has no qualms about killing, and the attempt to rescue the hostages and make the exchange and arrest goes wrong. The criminal escapes into the night, while Stantin is left with two bodies and lots of unanswered questions.

The killer, who we don’t see at first, finds himself cornered during his escape along the backroads, certain that the police are after him- though he mistakes a roadblock as something meant for him. He comes across a rendezvous site for a fishing party soon to meet up, with one of the party already present, and seizes the opportunity. Stantin is alerted to the scene, where the body of a man bearing the signature tell-tales of his killer’s modus operandi has been found, and learns about the fishing party, being led by Sarah Renell (Kirstie Alley) deep into the mountains. He realizes his killer has infiltrated the party by passing himself off as the man he killed, and must be looking for a way to get through to the border. Stantin also discovers that Sarah’s partner and lover Jonathan Knox (Berenger) is the only person in the area that can lead him into those mountains to intercept the killer... but Knox believes Stantin will just slow him down and is determined to go after the party himself.

The story comes from Harv Zimmel, who collaborated on the screenplay with Daniel Petrie and Michael Burton. It’s a tense man versus nature tale that also weaves man versus man into it. It plays as a crime thriller, certainly, but also a survival tale, and the story weaves through these elements as it goes along. The landscape itself certainly becomes a character as the story goes along, as both the protagonists and the villain must deal with the challenges of the terrain. And the writers work moments of levity and humour into the story, a good way to contrast against the tension of the overall narrative.

Spottiswoode has been known for a variety of genres during his career as a director; some of his other credits include Tomorrow Never Dies, Air America, and Shake Hands With The Devil. He has a stylish feel as a director and knows how to handle action but also the interaction of actors, and that certainly plays out here. Much of the filming was done in British Columbia, doubling for both the BC and Washington sides of the border. Many Canadians will recognize elements of the end of the film, when our protagonists are back in civilization; Spottiswoode filmed key sequences late in the film in Vancouver and on the passenger ferry travelling to the island. Spottiswoode also has a skill for conveying the grandeur and the danger of the wilds, and the challenges they present. He features sequences of mountaineering that will unsettle anyone with a fear of heights, and one of the best- and most tense- sequences of the film involves a perilous attempt by the protagonists to reach a stranded cable car above a wild gorge, an attempt that goes dreadfully wrong. The sequence leaves the audience feeling overwrought, to say the least.

It was a wise thing of Spottiswoode to have kept the audience guessing about the killer. At first we don’t see him at all- he’s hidden behind a hostage, or under a blanket, or in a dark car or boat. We don’t see his face, and Spottiswoode even gives us his point of view while driving, still dangling that identity before us. He casts several other actors, all of them character actors known to have played villains, for the other members of the fishing party, including Richard Masur, Andrew Robinson, and Frederick Coffin. 

In the end though, it’s Clancy Brown, known for many a character role, but perhaps best for The Shawshank Redemption. I wondered about revealing that... but it’s been twenty six years since the film came out, and it’s hard to comment on his performance without speaking about what the actor does with the role. We know him as Steve, but his real name remains a question. Brown gives the character a malicious, sociopathic streak; he knows the difference between right and wrong, but just doesn’t care. He’s greedy, but very smart, driven and motivated. He’ll do whatever it takes to achieve his goals, and doesn’t mind at all if that involves taking lives. It’s a ruthless, vicious character, all the more dangerous when you factor in the fact that he’s not unhinged. Brown makes him a formidable adversary, and such a good villainous role.

Kirstie Alley gives Sarah an interesting take in her performance. She’s not the damsel in distress, though she spends much of the film as a hostage. She’s calm under pressure, defiant when she needs to be, and brings an inner strength to the situation she finds herself in. We learn quickly that Sarah is a good match for Jonathan; neither of them want much to do with the hectic world outside the land they love. They’re suited for each other and for a life of guiding people on backpacking hikes into the mountains. Though the two don’t really interact until the end of the film, we believe Sarah and Knox as a couple, because she’s his driving, motivating factor throughout.

Berenger plays Knox in just the right way. He’s a man who in an earlier time would be a complete recluse, not fit for modern life. He makes a living guiding people roughing it for a couple of weeks, but he’s happiest leaving civilization behind. Knox is a man who understands how to live off the land, is in his element in the wild, and is driven by his love for the woman he shares his life with. He’s also frustrated and angry, partly by the federal agent from the city he feels is slowing him down, but also by the situation that has come into his life and is threatening to tear that life apart. Berenger incorporates all of this into his performance, and his performance is just as strong as his fellow protagonist. How Knox and Stantin relate to each other is a relationship that evolves from mutual dislike to gradually getting to know each other, and that becomes the bedrock of the film.

Poitier is ideally cast as Stantin. He brings the gravity and strength to the performance that you would expect of the actor. He comes across as entirely believable and forceful as a fed, at the point in his career where he’s a leader, but not so far ahead in the ranks that he’s doomed to be the office director never to actually work a case again. Stantin is a man of justice confronting a man of chaos and darkness, and Poitier gives him a fierce determination that carries him into the wilderness... where a man who’s accustomed to city life is very much out of his element. Some of the humour of the film comes from that- Stantin’s reaction to an icy stream or a moose, for instance, or the way he drives off a charging bear, and even Knox describing what Stantin looks like after they’ve survived taking shelter in a hastily dug snow cave during a blizzard. Through it all, though, Poitier plays the agent with great strength and fortitude, and it’s a performance that stands up so well for an actor who’s become well known for great performances.

Shoot To Kill is many things. It is a buddy film, a chase caper, a wilderness adventure, and a contrast between the forces of good in its protagonists and the presence of evil in the form of a memorable villain. I’ve enjoyed the film every time I’ve seen it.