10 Famous Movie Moments Made Possible By Totally Ignoring History

8. John Coffey Would Have Actually Been Executed By Hanging And Not Electrocution In 1935 Louisiana - The Green Mile

Frank Darabont's film adaptation of The Green Mile, based on the novel by prolific horror maestro Stephen King, is one of the best and most beloved movies of the past two decades - oddly, however, the story's entire premise (set on death row, where Tom Hanks' sympathetic prisoner officer watches over the accused) is based around something that could have never actually happened: that's to say, the prisoners are put to death using the electric chair. What King - and subsequently Darabont - seemed to have failed to notice, however, is that their movie is set in 1935 Louisiana, at a time when the execution method was hanging, not electrocution. Which is another way of saying: John Coffey's now infamous and heartbreaking death scene would never have taken place in the way that it does on screen until the year 1940, when the legislation was changed. Coffey would have, quite simply, have been hanged to death.