Release Year: 1994

Genre: Crime, Drama

Director: Frank Darabont

Writer: Frank Darabont, Stephen King (short story)

Stars: Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins

Everyone loves a good redemption story: 

• Good Will Hunting
• Anything by Charles Dickens
• Les Miserables
• The Green Mile 
• Robert Downey's life

Whether it's the triumph of the good guys over the bad, or of an individual triumphing over agonizing personal circumstances, you can't go wrong. 

So add to that list The Shawshank Redemption...which has a little bit of both.

A period drama set in 1940s New England, The Shawshank Redemption puts us in the (sometimes shiny) shoes of one of our two protagonists, convicted of a murder he didn't commit and sentenced to life in prison at Shawshank. We suffer as he suffers; we struggle as he struggles; until at long last his efforts to right the wrongs committed against him bear some seriously satisfying fruit.

Spoiler alert: it's a happy ending.

Based on a 1982 novella by the insanely prolific novelist Stephen King (Carrie, Cujo, The Stand, Misery, Pet Sematary, The Shining, Christine, and about a zillion other novels and short stories), the film was released in 1994.

And it bombed.

At the box office, at least. It was a critical success, scooping up seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. (Forrest Gump won that year.) Shawshank lived on in VHS, DVD, and endless showings on cable (Thanks, Ted Turner!), so much so that, five years after its release, it was a phenomenon, eventually ending up as #1—yep, that's first place—on the IMDb charts of best-loved films of all time. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a "certified fresh" rating of 91%, calling it "an uplifting, deeply satisfying prison drama with sensitive direction and fine performances. 

By "deeply satisfying," we're guessing they mean that the bad guys get it in the end, big time. 

Big. Time.

The late legendary film critic Roger Ebert thought that part of the film's appeal was that it made the viewer feel like part of a family, that desperate community of the men in Shawshank Prison. Any film that can make you feel sympathy for a bunch of murderers is at least doing something interesting, right?

There may not be another movie that is, at the same time, as universally beloved and highly critically regarded as The Shawshank Redemption. Many consider The Godfather or Citizen Kane a better film; most would admit that something like Raiders of the Lost Ark or Star Wars takes the cake in the entertainment department. However, there's something pure, poetic, and beautiful about TSR that touches us deeply, and on a level that, for a great many viewers, is unmatched by any other flick. For a prison movie, it manages to be subtle, restrained, even spiritual. You hear the word "poetic" a lot when people talk about this movie.

Film critics may have their reservations or stubborn opinions, but ask someone off the street (preferably someone over the age of 30) for their Top 10 films and Shawshank will make the grade more often than not. It speaks to that part of us that wonders how a person maintains hope in a hopeless situation? The part that longs to break free from whatever is holding us back, as well as the part that wants to wreak vengeance on all the jerks who've gotten in our way over the years. Schmaltzy sentiments, maybe, but handled in the movie in a definitely non-schmaltzy way.

Like most films that have widespread appeal and stand the test of time, it's got a little sumpin' sumpin' for everybody. Drama? Oh, yeah. Comedy? Sure, plenty of lol moments. Friendship? Betrayal? Sentimentality? Brutality/violence? Unexpected plot twists? Baddies getting their just deserts? A happy ending? You can go ahead and check all those boxes. Not that the movie necessarily set out to please everyone…it just somehow did.

Many people have seen this film dozens, even scores of times. Sure, it's on TNT or AMC almost constantly, but a person can change the channel. Somehow, each time we watch it, we're still a little anxious to make sure Andy manages to (spoiler alert!) make his escape and get his revenge on the warden. Until the very end, we're still a little on edge.

That's the genius of the story, and it's worth figuring out how the screenwriter/director and cinematographer make this happen. Sure, they benefitted from a great story from Stephen King, but they created a film structure that translated the novella perfectly to the silver screen. 

Hope you're taking notes, Forrest Gump.