FIRST TIME WATCHING: The Shawshank Redemption (1994) REACTION (Movie Commentary) 

One of the greatest things about this film is that even after watching it 10, 15, 20 times or more, you still feel those emotional punches - Brooks, Tommy, the big twist, the reunion. Those things still get me every time.

The other great non-horror movie adapted from a Stephen King story is Stand By Me, which features an incredible cast of future stars.

Still praised to this day as being one of the greatest motion pictures of all time.

One of the most accomplished actors in this movie is the man who played Brooks Hatlen; James Whitmore. His acting career spanned from 1946 until 2007.

I remember watching this with an old girlfriend and when Red said "Honestly how often do you look at a man's shoes"? She said "women do" and even though she was right I gave her a couple of seconds to realise it was kind of irrelevant in a man's prison

"To Andy Dufresne, who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side" I've always loved that line.

Tim Robbins is in a lot of great movies. You should see him in mystic river with Sean Penn and Kevin bacon. That movie is amazing

I like how Andy gets him that harmonica, and it's a reminder of the life Red used to have, of hope. more than that I like how harmonica starts creeping into the score as Red looks for Andy's gift to him, like he's finally daring to hope again

This is a great reaction channel because C.I. watches and waits for proper times to add his input. He never misses important dialogue.

This is 1 of the most surprising, emotional, educational + inspirational films. This film really showed the reality of prison life. And Andy despite his situation never gave up hope!

"what were those two Italian ladies singing about? The song, a short duet (known as a “duettino”) occurs in act three of The Marriage of Figaro. The words to the song (known at the “libretto”) were written by Lorenzo Da Ponte, an Italian poet and opera librettist who collaborated with Mozart on two other operas (Don Giovanni, and Cosi fan tutti). In this duet, the Countess Almaviva dictates an invitation to Susanna, her maid. The invite, addressed to Almaviva’s womanizing husband, Count Almaviva, is for a romantic rendezvous in order to expose his infidelity. Almaviva speaks a line and Susanna repeats it while she writes it down. Here are the translated lyrics without the repetition: On the breeze… What a gentle little Zephyr This evening will sign Under the pines in the little grove And the rest he’ll understand. It is only when you understand the context and meaning of the operatic song that you can appreciate the irony of its selection, whether intended or not, by Dufresne: the opera singers are writing a letter to expose an infidelity, while it is the discovered infidelity that indirectly leads to Dufresne being framed for the murder of his wife and her lover and being convicted and sentenced to prison." That money Andy took from the warden is worth about $3,283,224.69 in 2022 Some online article

I always like to think that the camera pans away as Andy and Red meet out of respect, like they deserve a private moment. Fits in with a film just oozing class.

The image illustrator Drew Struzman created for this movie of Andy being cleansed in the rain is one of my favorite illustrations of all time because of all of the movement and freedom it captures, and just how dynamic it is. If you've seen the illustrated posters for this movie, you've more than likely seen that image. It's beautiful.

Another great reaction, bro. This one and The Green Mile hit me the hardest. Thanks for keeping it real and thanks for being vulnerable along with us. Movies like these will teach the world to be a better place. Stephen King is a very talented story teller.

I know I would not survive in prison because every time I watch a movie/show/documentary about one I'm just like "Why do y'all gotta be so mean. Just spend the time getting fit and catching up on books." 😂😭

I still argue that this is the greatest movie of all time. Story, cast, dialogue, perfect twist, genuinely hopeful/happy ending.

My favorite movie ever. The location used for this film was perfect, and the cinematography is incredible.

the “reelin’ em’ in” inmate was played by Morgan Freeman’s son Alphonso . he also is the photo model used on Red’s mugshot at his parole hearings.

one of the best movies ever made... such a great feel good movie.. i actually prefer a good BEST FRIEND style BROMANCE movie than any kind of romance movie...

One of my all-time favorite movies. And the musical score from Thomas Newman is just a classic. On a related note, I highly recommend watching Road to Perdition. It also has music from Thomas Newman that is absolutely fantastic. The acting from Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Daniel Craig, Jude Law, and others is top notch. And the cinematography is a masterclass.

I used to recommend this film to patrons in my library and they were never disappointed. I’ve seen the ending about 50 times and still get teary-eyed.

You actually don’t want to know why Red is in prison.. but, it’s covered in the book, so I’m gonna tell you. :) Red was sent to Shawshank after planning the murder of his wife. He attempted to stage an accident by cutting the brake cables on her car, but the change on the vehicle led it to hit their neighbor and the neighbor's child, killing all 3 of them. Red goes on to spend 38 years in prison.

My favorite movie Will watch it everytime it comes on. 😇

The Happy ending is so deserved. You want nothing but to see Red and Andy reunite. I wouldn't have accepted any other ending.

Is this a repost? I could've sworn you did this one already...

WARNING! SPOILERS FOR RITA HAYWORTH AND THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION: Normally I hate doing this but since my favorite reactor asked: It's actually pretty horrible. Red was trying to kill his wife (I forget why exactly) . He cut the brakes on her car not realizing that was the day her neighbor and the neighbor's eight year old son were carpooling with her. It's been awhile since I read it, but I think all three of them died.

It always amazes me how Brooks dying makes everybody cry and immediately they make you laugh with the library funds scene.

My favourite film of ALL time!! 😍 It's just beautiful looking, acted & paced incredibly. Always has been viewed as one of the top ten/twenty movies of all time

Such a great one here. Also, this reminds me that you REALLY need to watch ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ with Jim Caviezel, Guy Pierce and Henry Cavill. It’s one of those that I’ve seen a hundred times and can’t pass it up if it’s on. 🔥

The actors said the star was the script. Darabont adapted brilliantly.

Dude, you're definitely one of the goats of reactions to 80's and 90's classics!!! This is a top 10 film for me! Also, keep up with the JCVD movies!! My older brother and I grew up on them. Double Impact was a great one!! You were right though, Van Damme definitely extended that boat fantasy for his own benefit!! Hahahaha

I love this movie ❤ And the first DVD I ever bought way back when I bought my first DVD player. Morgan and Tim are great - as was the whole cast! And one underrated actor IMO is William Sadler who played Heywood. He was an excellent villain in Die Hard II, it really shows his range comparing his characters in this movie to Die Hard II. I know you've reacted to the first Die Hard, but I think you'd like Die Hard II as well.

Emotions, inspiration and an amazing display of friendship. This movie has one of the top tier ending ever.

Still hard to believe one of the best feel-good endings in cinema almost didn't happen. The movie originally ended with Red sitting on the bus wondering if he could make it across the border. Test audiences were so disappointed that Red and Andy didn't meet again that the director decided to change the ending and the rest is history.

Can't wait to see how much you're going to love this movie!!! Definitely one of my top 5 favorite films! ❤

The tree was taken down a couple of years ago but someone I know made a deal for most of the wood. He sold it to woodworkers mainly to make ink pens. Now he is saving parts of the wall. Iconic things saved from the trash pile.

The brilliant part of Shawshank is that it brings out emotion in you no matter how many times you watch it, imo it's just a perfect movie and I love everything about it

Here to watch this movie sneak it's way to the top of your all-time classics list.

It's so happy to see you enjoying this.... It's a reminder that a good story and great acting trumps CGI and action, at least imo....

8:30 the joke is he really was Irish in the actual story 😂 Stand by Me is another awesome stephen king adaptation and a great summer movie . No prisons , almost the whole story is 4 kids outside in the sun . Not a horror movie but still very much a stephen king story .

Great reaction! By the way, all the posters in this movie are available on Amazon!🤩 If you like this movie, try Cool Hand Luke (1967). Gets 100%on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s like $4M today. It’s more than enough for an ex con.

Set in my home state of Maine. I saw Stephen King and his wife once at a restaurant. He’s from here too.

If you want to see a different side to Tim Robbins, check out Nothing to Lose with Tim and Martin Lawrence, it's hilarious.... And Clancy Brown in Pet Semetery Two is a great watch with lots of cheese LOL He's such a good villain!

Great Reaction....... Great Performances all around..... Couple Weeks ago in the $5 DVD bin at Walmart, I Found/Bought a Double Feature that had Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile is the same Case...... Score!!

Originally the movie wasn’t going to end with Red reuniting with Andy on the beach but I’m so glad they decided to film the reunion

This movie is so damn good!

You did it again, CI!!! An excellent reaction and edited perfectly to capture all of the plot twists and turns. An outstanding job on an outstanding movie. You have a first name? Mine's Jim. Proud to be a subscriber.

Now do 'The Last Castle' - another very different prison drama with Robert Redford - but still superb in its own right 👍 Also do 'The Frighteners' in honour of Michael J Fox (directed by Peter Jackson).

What a great movie. Everyone needs to see this one. Loved your reaction. Had to look it up: $370,000 in 1966 is worth $3,283,224.69 today.

Tim Robbins has prob been in a lot of movies you’ve seen. Bull Durham, top gun, mystic river to name a few. He and Morgan freeman were also in 2005 war of the worlds, tho not directly. He’s physically in the movie while Morgan narrates of course

$370,000 then would be worth well over $3 million today. If that ain't enough to build a little bar in Mexico...y'all are just cavalier with your finances.

New subscriber. Please consider ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ (1979) starring Clint Eastwood

Brooks came in in 1906, out in the late 1950s; he returned to an alien world. Not just cars everywhere, but culture change. He missed 2 world wars, the entry of women into traditional male roles, women getting the vote. When he went in, women were wives, nurses, and/or teachers. Women teachers didn't date; it was very like a nunnery situation. The only women in business were women helping their husbands. Brooks even missed the Roaring Twenties. He entered prison 40 years after the end of the Civil War. 2 years before the Wright Brothers had performed a controlled flight 180ft in 12 seconds. There were no airports or passenger flights. Overseas travel was by ship and took 6 weeks or more. Atomic bombs. Television. An alien environment. And he doesn't know the rules and has no real help. Did you notice the envelope of bribery money in the pie box the contractor handed the warden?

Fun fact: The dude who plays the captain of the guards is the same man who plays Hank in Detroit: Become Human. His name is Clancy Brown.

You can also find Tim Robins in a movie titled Mission to Mars ( 2000 ) in which he co-started with Gary Sinise. Good movie. A bit cerebral, meaning that they don't spoon feed you all the nuances ( or that's how I perceived it ) so pay some attention.

Watch Morgan freeman denzal Washington in the movie GLORY incredible film

"Norton, no, just do your time . . . That damn coward . . ." Don't worry, the whole him ending himself, Norton will be doing a lot of time . . .

This is one of those rare movies that at the end you feel the need to stand up and applauded.

Easily top ten best films ever made. Glad u finally got to watch it. Welcome to the club.

Not many movies can claim to be perfect.... Shawshank doesn't even have to make a claim, it's accepted

370000 Dollars in 1966 is the equivalent of 3.2 million today!

I was hoping they were going to say, "2 things never happened again. The sisters never bothered Andy again and Bogs never had solid food again."

i feel stephen king is at his best when he's not trying to be horror. the details of everyday, he excels at. it's when there's....a clown, or a haunted car, i'm not as interested. i wanna see two guys in prison, i wanna see kids hanging out, or a broken family from a childs death.

New to your channel but i am a huge movie fan and (i dont say this lightly) im loving your perspective on some of these timeless classics.

The ending is so absurdly beautiful it's tough not to cry... you did a respectable job holding it in ;-)

The part where they talk about the book “The Count of Monte Cristo (by Alexandre Dumbass-actually Dumas). This story mimics that classic. The themes: wait and hope…

Thanks 4 doin dis bro wen i watch green mile wt u i recommended dis 2 u loved watchin dis wt u 2

This movie, The Green Mile and Field of Dreams are 100% timeless masterpieces and will always be great movies to watch.

Shawshank and Green Mile are 3 of the greatest King stories ever written.

the prison used in the film is the old Ohio State Reformatory in mansfield ohio

Andy and Red reuniting on the beach is one of the best scenes in all film that is never showed

The parole for Red was granted because he finally told the truth, rather than what he thought the parole board wanted to hear.

When they stamped rejection on morgans papers that pic was of morgans son.

Steven king threw this novel out his wife took it out and cashed him to send it to a praducer

Morgan Freeman, a voice, what a voice. All the great actors gotta have a voice, like Gregory Peck, Richard Burton, Michael Cain, what voices.

The best Bromance in cinematic history

Tim Robbins has a part in "War of the Worlds" (2005), a damn good scifi you would enjoy, CI. And Morgan Freeman does some narration in it, from the 1897 novel. ✌😎

I am binge watching your reaction videos to some of my fave movies! Love how deep into the stories you get ❤️

Please watch Mystic River. Tim Robbins is brilliant in it as is Sean Penn!

Check out Tim Robbins in Bull Durham.

Rita Hayworth was probably one of the most beautiful actresses of the day

Brooks was here.

I've heard this film called the man's version of a chick flick, the "Steel Magnolias" of male-focused cinema. I've never met a guy who hasn't been moved by this film. It's great. Thanks for watching. Your analysis on this film is spot on. Thanks.

Tim robins stars in my favourite film , Jacobs Ladder (1990). I don't use the word 'favourite' lightly.

Hope is a Good thing, Maybe the Best of things!

awesome but now its time for OLDBOY (2003) :D

The Ohio State Reformatory (where this was filmed) was expecting a demolition crew the same day the film crew showed up to scout the location. Probably the only reason it's still standing today. The architecture is both menacing and beautiful at the same time.....

Man this truly is still one of the greatest movies ever

Guard: Morgan... you're Freeman now

When I was a little fella, Morgan Freeman was on "The Electric Company" encouraging kids to read and learn. "Easy Reader" is the one character he played in that show I recall the most. The man's voice is a huge part of my childhood TV memories. 20 plus years later, this movie comes out and the ending leaves me in tears. Now, 50 years from my childhood...aw man, Red's "I Hope..." it just turns on the waterworks every time. Thanks Easy Reader.

Now you have to watch The Mist (2007) if you haven't seen it already! It's the third in the trio of Stephen King adapted films directed by Frank Darabont ( Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile being the first two). It's not as good as the others, but still a captivating emotional roller coaster nonetheless.

Fun fact: The line about Morgan’s character on why his name is Red: “maybe it’s because I’m Irish.” The character in the Stephen King novel is also called Red - because he is a red headed Irishman.

Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, Lion King and Forrest Gump. 1994 was one of the best years of cinema. Fun Fact : when Morgan Freeman says his name is "Red" because he's Irish. It was a joke in the movie but it's because the character was an Irish man in the book.

This movies is one of my all time favorites. I deliberately don't let myself watch it more than once a year so that I'm sure I never get bored with it.

Another great movie with Tim Robbins is Nothing To Lose. Every time I watch it I laugh my ass off.

This and The Green Mile are my two favorite Stephen King film adaptations; this wasn't a book, actually a story with the original title of Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption. All of the actors brought this to believable life, like the scene with Morgan Freeman in that field looking for a volcanic rock in a wall.

One of my absolute favourites. Been to the prison where it was shot(Ohio State Reformatory)which is a museum with tours today. And yes. it is a huge place, I think the only 6 tier prison in the US. So if you have business in Mansfield, OH sometime - a visit is a must. 90 min away from Cleveland, so go to Rock n' roll hall of fame while you're at it!

Tim Robbins is a great actor. Check out Mystic River with him, Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon. Great movie.

this comes from the novella “Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank redemption “ it’s in the stephen king book “different seasons “ which also includes the novella “The body” which is what the film “Stand By Me “ was based