The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 drama movie directed by Frank Darabont, with a running time of 2h 22m. It stars Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman and Bob Gunton.
Andy Dufresne, a reserved banker, arrives at Shawshank State Penitentiary in 1947 carrying two life sentences for a murder he says he never committed. Inside the walls he builds a slow friendship with Red, a lifer who can get a man almost anything, and quietly makes himself useful to a corrupt warden. Frank Darabont adapts Stephen King's novella into a patient study of routine, dignity, and the long arithmetic of hope. Tim Robbins plays Andy with wary calm, while Morgan Freeman's Red narrates in a voice that carries decades measured out in small mercies.
Quick answers
What is The Shawshank Redemption about?
Andy Dufresne, a reserved banker, arrives at Shawshank State Penitentiary in 1947 carrying two life sentences for a murder he says he never committed. Inside the walls he builds a slow friendship with Red, a lifer who can get a man almost anything, and quietly makes himself useful to a corrupt warden. Frank Darabont adapts Stephen King's novella into a patient study of routine, dignity, and the long arithmetic of hope. Tim Robbins plays Andy with wary calm, while Morgan Freeman's Red narrates in a voice that carries decades measured out in small mercies.
When was The Shawshank Redemption released?
The Shawshank Redemption was released on 23 September 1994.
How long is The Shawshank Redemption?
The Shawshank Redemption runs 2h 22m.
Who made The Shawshank Redemption?
The Shawshank Redemption was directed by Frank Darabont.
Where can I watch The Shawshank Redemption?
The Shawshank Redemption is available on Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home and Spectrum On Demand.
Where to watch The Shawshank Redemption
Rent: Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home, Spectrum On Demand
Official site
Cast
- Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne
- Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding
- Bob Gunton as Warden Norton
- William Sadler as Heywood
- Clancy Brown as Captain Byron T. Hadley
- Gil Bellows as Tommy
- James Whitmore as Brooks Hatlen
- Mark Rolston as Bogs Diamond
- Jeffrey DeMunn as 1946 D.A.
- Larry Brandenburg as Skeet
- Neil Giuntoli as Jigger
- Brian Libby as Floyd
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A few thoughts on The Shawshank Redemption
Readers should go to the source, Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, collected in Different Seasons beside the tale that became Stand By Me. Frank Darabont and King reunited for The Green Mile, another unhurried prison story weighing decency against cruelty. The Count of Monte Cristo offers the same reckoning with unjust imprisonment across a much longer game of patience.
Prison dramas about the friendships that make time survivable
The Shawshank Redemption finds its warmth in the decades-long friendship between Andy and Red inside a broken system. The Green Mile returns to Stephen King's death row for that same patient humanity, while Cool Hand Luke, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Brubaker each build their story around what two men owe each other when the institution around them offers nothing.
Real-life inmates whose ordeals became must-see films
The Shawshank Redemption imagines a wrongly convicted man's decades inside a system built to grind him down. These films go further into what confinement actually does to a real person. Papillon follows a real escape from Devil's Island, Bronson chronicles Britain's most notorious prisoner, Siberian Education tracks a boy raised inside Russian prison codes, and The Mustang follows a real program pairing inmates with wild horses.
Trial dramas where the official story isn't the whole truth
The Shawshank Redemption turns on a conviction Andy has always insisted was wrong, and these dramas sit in that same uncertainty. Monster follows a teenager on trial for a crime the evidence never fully settles, The Letter and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile both stage courtrooms where the accused's own account keeps shifting, and The Informer traps its lead between two versions of loyalty.
Crime sagas that measure their story in decades, not scenes
The Shawshank Redemption stretches its story across nearly two decades inside prison walls, tracking how the place changes a man slowly rather than all at once. GoodFellas, Once Upon a Time in America, Sleepers and South Central take that same long view of crime, following characters from youth into middle age as the streets and the consequences both harden around them.