Product Description

Widescreen/Blu-Ray. The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 drama film, written and directed by Frank Darabont, based on the Stephen King novella, 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.' The film stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding. When an innocent man is sentenced to life in prison for murder, he thinks his life is over. He is befriended by a convict who knows the ropes and helps him to cope with the frightning realities of prison life. In 2008 Shawshank heads the Internet Movie Database's poll of top 250 films, leading such pictures as The Godfather and The Dark Knight.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30588 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Published on: 2008-12-01
• Released on: 2008-12-02
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Portuguese
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 142 minutes

Features

• Condition: New
• Format: Blu-ray
• AC-3; Color; Dolby; Widescreen

Amazon.com essential video
When this popular prison drama was released in 1994, some critics complained that the movie was too long (142 minutes) to sustain its story. Those complaints miss the point, because the passage of time is crucial to this story about patience, the squeaky wheels of justice, and the growth of a life-long friendship. Only when the film reaches its final, emotionally satisfying scene do you fully understand why writer-director Frank Darabont (adapting a novella by Stephen King) allows the story to unfold at its necessary pace, and the effect is dramatically rewarding. Tim Robbins plays a banker named Andy who's sent to Shawshank Prison on a murder charge, but as he gets to know a life-term prisoner named Red (Morgan Freeman), we realize there's reason to believe the banker's crime was justifiable. We also realize that Andy's calm, quiet exterior hides a great reserve of patience and fortitude, and Red comes to admire this mild-mannered man who first struck him as weak and unfit for prison life. So it is that The Shawshank Redemption builds considerable impact as a prison drama that defies the conventions of the genre (violence, brutality, riots) to illustrate its theme of faith, friendship, and survival. Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor, and Screenplay, it's a remarkable film that signaled the arrival of a promising new filmmaker--a film that many movie lovers count among their all-time favorites. --Jeff Shannon

Amazon.com
When this popular prison drama was released in 1994, somecritics complained that the movie was too long (142 minutes) to sustain its story. Those complaints miss the point, because the passage of time is crucial to this story about patience, the squeaky wheels of justice, and the growth of a life-long friendship. Only when the film reaches its final, emotionally satisfying scene do you fully understand why writer-director Frank Darabont (adapting a novella by Stephen King) allows the story to unfold at its necessary pace, and the effect is dramatically rewarding. Tim Robbins plays a banker named Andy who's sent to Shawshank Prison on a murder charge, where he gets to know a life-term prisoner named Red (Morgan Freeman). Andy's calm, quiet exterior hides a great reserve of patience and fortitude, and Red comes to admire this mild-mannered man who first struck him as weak and unfit for prison life. So it is that The Shawshank Redemption builds considerable impact as a prison drama that defies the conventions of the genre (violence, brutality, riots) to illustrate its theme of faith, friendship, and survival. Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor, and Screenplay, it's a remarkable film that signaled the arrival of a promising new filmmaker--a film that many movie lovers count among their all-time favorites. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
Tim Robbins returns to his best form with his haunted, cunning portrayal of Andy Dufresne, a young banker sentenced to life imprisonment. It's the nineteen-forties, and he is sent to Shawshank, a dark and doomy jail where the inmates protest their innocence and the satanic warden (Bob Gunton) brandishes a Bible. Frank Darabont's movie never grabs at you, preferring to work patiently on your sympathies and nerves while finding time for casual jokes. What at first seems like a plotless tale of companionship-principally between Andy and a fixer named Red (Morgan Freeman)-tightens into excitement. There are moments of hokey togetherness, and way too much voice-over, but the picture stays on track and leaves you, appropriately enough, with a surging sense of release. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker