1. The Final 'Beach Scene' Never Appeared In Stephen King's Original Novella
Film adaptations of books rarely - if ever - follow the source material word by word. Examples can range from films only vaguely following source material, borrowing certain elements or just flat out ignoring any content a filmmaker so pleases. In this case, Frank Darabont was extremely reluctant to include the final scene of Shawshank (where Red finds Andy on the sandy beaches of Zihuatanejo) due to it not appearing in the book. King's short story ends with Red breaking his parole to try and keep his promise to Andy that he would come and find him, but the novel leaves the question of whether Red actually meets his friend again up in the air. However, after screening the film in advance to focus groups in an effort to gain feedback, Darabont decided to include the scene after responses to the final scene were positive. The ancient argument about the integrity of an original work will no doubt come in to play as it always does on examples such as this, but the film gains closure because of it. The Shawshank Redemption isn't a story that relies on what ifs and would have suffered without the final scene reuniting two friends that have suffered for their entire lives. But what does everyone else think? Are there other small details in The Shawshank Redemption that you think we've missed or are these all news to you? Let us know in the comments below.
Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.
