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The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

tomatometer

90

Average Rating: 8.1/10
Reviews Counted: 61
Fresh: 55 | Rotten: 6

No consensus yet.

92

Average Rating: 7.9/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

98

liked it
Average Rating: 4.4/5
User Ratings: 769,577

My Rating

Movie Info

In 1946, a banker named Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is convicted of a double murder, even though he stubbornly proclaims his innocence. He's sentenced to a life term at the Shawshank State Prison in Maine, where another lifer, Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman), picks him as the new recruit most likely to crack under the pressure. The ugly realities of prison life are quickly introduced to Andy: a corrupt warden (Bob Gunton), sadistic guards led by Capt. Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown), and

R, 2 hr. 22 min.

Drama

Frank Darabont

Jan 27, 1998

Columbia Pictures

Cast

All Critics (61) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (61) | Rotten (6) | DVD (36)

Freeman, who is simply a great actor, a man who has never struck a false note in his career, both narrates this tale and anchors it with his authoritative playing.

June 15, 2011 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A testament to the human spirit...

June 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment (1)
Variety
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A passing reference to 'The Count of Monte Cristo' offers a partial clue to what makes this movie compelling.

June 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment (1)
Chicago Reader
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It's a simple story elegantly, cleverly told, not to mention expertly acted.

September 24, 2004 Full Review Source: Boston Globe | Comment
Boston Globe
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Without a single riot scene or horrific effect, it tells a slow, gentle story of camaraderie and growth, with an ending that abruptly finds poetic justice in what has come before.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's the no-bull performances that hold back the flood of banalities.

May 12, 2001 Comment
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Powerful, poignant, thought-provoking and finally irresistibly uplifting.

June 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

If you don't love Shawshank, chances are you're beyond redemption.

June 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

Spiritually moving old-fashioned prison pic.

March 16, 2011 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Gritty but comforting story of friendship.

December 18, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

I love this film. It's a story about hope and dreams and one whose emotional impact is as great as the Pacific Ocean is blue.

February 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment (1)
Urban Cinefile

Darabont explores the range of human kindness and cruelty as he lovingly and patiently sculpts his large cast of characters against magnificent scenery.

November 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | Comment (1)
Hollywood.com

If you give it a chance, it can become one of your favorite films, and the Blu-ray edition with its improved picture and sound makes that all the easier. (Blu-ray Edition)

November 19, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comments (2)
Movie Metropolis

...itself a testament to overcoming odds. It is sentimental and stereotyped, yet we are able not only to suspend our disbelief but to root for it all the way.

November 19, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment (1)
Movie Metropolis

...has certainly earned its reputation as one of the most effective prison movies in cinematic history...

July 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | Comment (1)
Reel Film Reviews

It's an old-school melodrama at heart, sturdy and forthright and upstanding, but without a whisper of complexity or wit.

September 23, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment (1)
eFilmCritic.com

A 'life-affirming' tale about life imprisonment, The Shawshank Redemption is the kind of old-fashioned entertainment that is easily overvalued in an era of diminishing expectations.

June 28, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

I have not read Stephen King's novella (his first non-horror), but some of the movie's deficiencies, such as the old-fashioned morality tale and portentous messge about camarderie and redemption--must have been in the source material.

January 13, 2007 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comments (3)

An amazing movie. Easily one of the best movies made during the 90s and definitely one of the top 'prison' movies of all-time. Pretty much everything about this movie works and works extremely well!

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: JoBlo's Movie Emporium | Comments (2)
JoBlo's Movie Emporium

...a throwback to the kind of serious, literate drama Hollywood used to make.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comments (2)

An unhurried, engulfing prison drama.

March 10, 2006 Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | Comments (3)
Arizona Daily Star

Why are these men in jail?

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: F5 (Wichita, KS) | Comments (121)

The Shawshank Redemption works not only as an excellent prison drama, but as a metaphor for overcoming our own private prisons.

January 25, 2006 Comments (2)
Fantastica Daily
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Shawshank Redemption

Get busy living or get busy dying.Saw it again! What can I say? Perfect film as they come. Tremendous performances by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. This movie even though did not win a single Oscar was nominated for 7 and probably would have been the favorite one to win Best Picture if Forrest Gump didn't come out

July 31, 2008
xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
Manu Gino

Super Reviewer

The Shawshank Redemption is one of the most deep, incredible, inspiring, and beautiful films ever made, I cannot watch this movie without a pure smile on my face from the greatness and genius of this film. After being convicted of murdering his wife, something he denies, smart and banker Andy Duffrain (Tim Robbins) is

March 1, 2011
DreamExtractor
Brad Wright

Super Reviewer

    1. Ellis Boy "Red" Redding: What're you in for?
    2. Andy Dufresne: Killed my wife and her lover.
    3. Ellis Boy "Red" Redding: Why'd you do it?
    4. Andy Dufresne: I didn't.
    5. Ellis Boy "Red" Redding: [chuckles] You're gonna fit right in.
    – Submitted by Michael C (37 days ago)
    1. Ellis Boy "Red" Redding: [narrating] 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. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.
    – Submitted by Jacalyn R (49 days ago)
    1. Ellis Boy "Red" Redding: I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. But, still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they are gone. I guess I just miss my friend.
    – Submitted by Greg G (50 days ago)
    1. Ellis Boy "Red" Redding: Andy... you can't just make a person up!
    – Submitted by Daniel W (2 months ago)
    1. Ellis Boy "Red" Redding: Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes really, pressure, and time. That, and a big goddamn poster.
    – Submitted by Peter M (2 months ago)

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