10 Movies SIGNIFICANTLY Better Than The Book
6. The Shawshank Redemption
Stephen King's novella appears in his anthology Different Seasons, first published in 1982. Containing Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, both the novella and the film follow the story of Andy Dufresyne, unjustly imprisoned for the murder of his wife and lover.
The film has several large differences from the novella. First, it streamlines the characters. It narrows the multitude of prison wardens down to just one, for example. Several come and go while Andy is serving his term in the book. Warden Norton is Andy's long-time benefactor and enemy in the film. The other fairly large difference between the book and film - Red. In the book, Red is a ginger Irishman. In the film, he's Morgan Freeman.
This was the film that cemented Freeman's status as the man who should be doing the narration on all films. His voice, gravelly yet calm, offers the perfect guide through Andy's years in prison. The closing lines of the film, where Freeman talks about hope, are among the most affecting in cinema. Few don't feel a swell when the two men reunite.
The film suffered bad timing at the box office. While it is now considered a classic, it went up against Forrest Gump at the Academy Awards that year. Gump took home all of the gongs and the Shawshank Redemption could have been forgotten. Thankfully, it found a new life in video rentals and, perhaps belatedly, it came to be known as one of the best films released in the '90s.