Shawshank Redemption (1994) Watch-Along

I have a suggestion for you. Sometime when you want a love story with intrigue against the backdrop of WWII, and released during it, Casablanca is one of the best of all time, and it influenced so many other movies over the years. It feels a bit like this in the relationships between characters and the uncertainty of how it will actually end.

this movie was about the triumph of the human soul and it is one of the best movies that show it

Pointless anecdote: I first saw this movie six years after it came out; my friend Bill bought me the DVD for Christmas one year, said it was one of the best movies he'd ever seen. And it sat on my shelf for a couple years, because it was a prison movie and I've never been a fan of prison movies. But I finally watched it, and I enjoyed it more than I was expecting, and could see why he thought it was so good. And then I never watched it again, because it still had a lot of the stressful prison elements that usually keeps me from watch such movies. [I have a weird empathy thing going on where it stresses me out to see someone unable to go anywhere or do what they want, especially if it's an innocent person found guilty.] But here I am, 26 years later, watching it for a second time, because the first time I only had my own reactions, and want to see what someone else thinks of it.

Mega happy that I chose to watch this reaction! I love this one, I have ever since I first watched this as a kid. I think that I was only 10 or so when I first watched this. Obviously then many things went over my head and I just watched this at it's base value - guy wrongfully imprisoned for murdering his wife then he develops friendships inside and eventually escapes. I've always felt this was a pretty cool movie because of that - but as an adult and coming to recognize the value within this movie - it's amazing! :) Thank you so much for reacting to this! I had an incredible time watching along with you. Looking forward to more reactions.

I watched your reaction on YouTube first and just watched this on Patreon. I’d recommend you consider adding more of your after the movie thoughts into your YouTube videos. I thought it was more raw and insightful IMO. 😊

“Where’s my oak tree?” That cracked me up. I’m glad you enjoyed it, I believe this movie has been voted the best movie of all time in IMDB.

Life doesn't always give -us- what we deserve. But we can do what it takes to give -others- what they deserve. Here, that means justice for the warden and his cronies, high school equivalencies for those on their way out, a library filled with the outside world for those who will never leave, and the continuity of friendship for Red when he's forced to face a world that passed him by. The best 'happy' endings are the ones that directly rectify earlier misfortune. What we can't control wiped clean by what we can. It's what we are put here to do, and why I think this movie hits so hard.

It was great watching your reaction! This has been one of my favorites ever since I figured out what a good movie is.

Wow, loved your reaction to this modern classic. BTW: It’s my illusion that this movie is loosely based on Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago”. So if you really want to know more, maybe try and give it a read; or maybe the shorter story “A Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich”.

Getting the guy was never the point, and there's literally no way to convict him of this crime. I've been an attorney for 31 years. The first 15 of that was spent as a prosecutor in Seattle, handling everything, including multiple murder cases. There's no evidence at this point of his crime there's only one person we know of that ever heard him confess. Even that, without some evidence to connect him would never be enough to convict. Add in the fact that someone else has already been convicted, gone to prison, and escaped (which would be used as evidence proving and he's guilty conscience)... Bottom line is there's absolutely no way for a jury to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

watching this after you've played detroit become human and thought how aren't you recognising the captain/ main guard as hank, but then i saw that this was before you played! haha. was so cool to experience this movie for the first time with you, even if it is over a month later!