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The Shawshank Redemption is one of the most popular movies of all time. A powerful story of hope, friendship and strength. The Shawshank Redemption stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Red. The original story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption was written by Stephen King and appeared in the collection Different Seasons. Frank Darabont wrote the screenplay and directed the movie in 1994.

Brief plot

The caring and smart banker Andy Dufresne is accused and convicted of the murder of his wife. He is sent to Shawshank prison in the 1940’s, he meets many fellow prisoners, including Red, who becomes an important friend. During his time at Shawshank Andy’s way of life is changed, but he never looses his hope. Read the complete Shawshank Redemption plot.

Hope and redemption

Hope and redemption are a major part of the story, and something shown in many of the characters. Hope is the major force behind the lead character Andy, and Andy restores the hope in Red.

Brooks, a long time inmate of Shawshank had lost his hope. He had become institutionalized. Red says of Brooks:

"These prison walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them. That's institutionalized. They send you here for life, that's exactly what they take. The part that counts, anyways."

Red is heading for the same fate as Brooks, but Andy changes his way of thinking and brings him hope.

Characters

The Shawshank Redemption is a moving story of hope, friendship and perseverance. Even though most of the characters are prison inmates, this engrossing story has incredibly warming characters. The film concentrates on the core characters of Andy Dufresne and Red, but the other characters such as the Warden, Brooks and Hadley all play a very important part in setting the mood and moving the story forward. Read about The Shawshank Redemption characters.

At the movies

Despite becoming one of the most popular movies of all time, The Shawshank Redemption was not successful at the movie theatres. The major factors that prevented its success at theatres were the competition from other movies, such as Forest Gump, Pulp Fiction and Speed. Also the fact that is was a prison movie, a concept not popular with today’s theatre goers. Read about the awards and nominations.

Differences between the movie and book

Frank Darabont’s movie screenplay follows Stephen King’s original story very closely. However there are several differences in the stories, made to make the movie easier to follow and more gripping. Read about all of the differences.

Popularity

The Shawshank Redemption has become so popular that it is consistently voted as one of the most popular movies of all time. It has been listed as the second most popular movie in most of the IMDB database polls. Read about the various polls The Shawshank Redemption has topped.

Trivia

The original story called Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption was written by Stephen King. It appeared in a collection of four stories called Different Seasons, which also contained a story called The Body, which became the movie Stand By Me. Another story from the same collection, Apt Pupil, was also made into a movie of the same name. Read more Shawshank Redemption trivia.

The movie title

The movie title (The Shawshank Redemption) differs from that of the novella title (Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption). Frank Darabont on the movie DVD audio commentary explains that the title was changed as Rita Hayworth has little to do with the story, and he wanted audiences to not get the wrong idea about the movie.

Cast

• Tim Robbins - Andy Dufresne
• Morgan Freeman - Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding
• Bob Gunton - Warden Samuel Norton
• William Sadler - Heywood
• Clancy Brown - Captain Byron Hadley
• See the complete cast

Credits

• Directed by Frank Darabont
• Novella written by Stephen King, screenplay written by Frank Darabont
• See the complete credits

Movie details

• Distributed by Columbia Pictures and later by Warner Bros
• Released theatrically on September 10th 1994
• Running time is 142 minutes (2 hours and 22 minutes)
• Budget was $25,000,000 USD