As it turns 30, another look at 'The Shawshank Redemption'

It’s one beloved ‘90s movie I never loved all that much, but I gave it another try.

When I started paying close attention to film as a teenager in the mid-1990s, The Shawshank Redemption — which marked its 30th anniversary earlier this week — was one of the big, highly regarded movies that never meant much to me. 

I loved Pulp Fiction all along and defended Forrest Gump for the most part, but I remember not particularly liking Shawshank when I first saw it, probably on a VHS rental, towards the end of high school. 

After not seeing it since then, except for fragments viewed on TV, I watched Shawshank again this week and liked it quite a bit more. I especially admire Morgan Freeman's all-time great voice-over narration and how Tim Robbins’ character, Andy, establishes himself as a skilled political operator behind bars. 

It’s also worth noting that the plot isn’t exactly an easy sell, and beyond that, it was quite something in the cultural climate that produced the 1994 Crime Bill the same year for a movie to draw a sympathetic portrait of prisoners who weren’t necessarily innocent, while depicting the system and the warden (Bob Gunton) as especially evil. The following year, Robbins would direct another film, Dead Man Walking, which went even further in that regard. 

That said, calling it “one of the best movies of all time” overstates things.

The Shawshank Redemption is an adaptation of a Stephen King short story, “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption,” set between the 1940s and ‘60s, written and directed by Frank Darabont.

Robbins starred as Andy Dufresne, a banker convicted of the murder of his wife and the wife’s lover; while looking extremely guilty, he maintains his innocence. Robbins shows up to Shawshank handsome, skinny, and not the type of guy expected to thrive in prison.