The Shawshank Redemption Frank Darabont

Critical response

The Shawshank Redemption opened to generally positive reviews.[90][91][92] Some reviewers compared the film to other well-received prison dramas, including Birdman of Alcatraz, Cool Hand Luke, and Riot in Cell Block 11.[93][94] Gene Siskel said that, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shawshank Redemption is an inspirational drama about overcoming overbearing authority.[94] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[95]

Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman said that Freeman makes the Red character feel genuine and "lived-in".[5] Janet Maslin of The New York Times said that Freeman was quietly impressive, but lamented that Red's role in the film had limited range, restricted to observing Andy. She considered Freeman's commanding performance made him a much stronger figure than simply an observer. Maslin said that Freeman's performance was especially moving when describing how dependent Red had become on living within the prison walls.[96] Variety's Leonard Klady suggested that Freeman had the "showier" role, allowing him "a grace and dignity that came naturally", without ever becoming banal,[87] and The Washington Post's Desson Howe called Freeman a "master" of comedic and poignant cadence.[97] Even Kenneth Turan's Los Angeles Times review, which Glotzer credited with derailing the film's box-office success, praised Freeman, saying his "effortless screen presence lends Shawshank the closest thing to credibility it can manage".[98]

Of Robbins' performance, Gleiberman said that in his "laconic-good-guy, neo-Gary Cooper role, [Robbins] is unable to make Andy connect with the audience".[5] Conversely, Maslin said that Andy has the more subdued role, but that Robbins portrays him intensely, and effectively depicts the character as he transitions from new prisoner to aged father figure,[96] and Klady stated that his "riveting, unfussy ... precise, honest, and seamless" performance anchors the film.[87] Howe said that while the character is "cheesily messianic" for easily charming everyone to his side, comparing him to "Forrest Gump goes to jail", Robbins exudes the perfect kind of innocence to sell the story.[97] The Hollywood Reporter stated that both Freeman and Robbins gave outstanding, layered performances that imbued their characters with individuality,[88] and Rolling Stone's Peter Travers said that the pair created something "undeniably powerful and moving".[93] Gunton and Brown were deemed by Klady as "extremely credible in their villainy",[87] while Howe countered that Gunton's warden was a clichéd character who extols religious virtues while having people murdered.[97]

Maslin called the film an impressive directorial debut that tells a gentle tale with a surprising amount of loving care,[96] while Klady said the only failings came when Darabont focused for too long on supporting characters, or embellished a secondary story.[87] The Hollywood Reporter said that both the directing and writing were crisp, while criticizing the film's long running time.[88] Klady said that the length and tone, while tempered by humor and unexpected events, would dampen the film's mainstream appeal, but the story offered a fascinating portrait of the innate humanity of the inmates.[87] Gleiberman disliked that the prisoners' crimes were overlooked to portray them more as good guys.[5] Turan similarly objected to what he perceived as extreme violence and rape scenes, and making most of the prisoners seem like a "bunch of swell and softhearted guys" to cast the prison experience in a "rosy glow".[98] Klady summarized the film as "estimable and haunting entertainment", comparing it to a rough diamond with small flaws,[87] but Howe criticized it for deviating with multiple subplots, and pandering by choosing to resolve the story with Andy and Red's reunion, rather than leaving the mystery.[97] Ebert noted that the story works because it is not about Andy as the hero, but how Red perceives him.[79]

Deakins' cinematography was roundly praised,[87] with The Hollywood Reporter calling it "foreboding" and "well-crafted",[88] and Travers saying "the everyday agonies of prison life are meticulously laid out ... you can almost feel the frustration and rage seeping into the skin of the inmates".[93] Gleiberman praised the choice of scenery, writing "the moss-dark, saturated images have a redolent sensuality; you feel as if you could reach out and touch the prison walls".[5] The Hollywood Reporter said of Newman's score, "at its best moments, alights with radiant textures and sprightly grace notes, nicely emblematic of the film's central theme",[88] and Klady described it as "the right balance between the somber and the absurd".[87]

Accolades

The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1995, the most for a Stephen King film adaptation:[99] Best Picture (Marvin), Best Actor (Freeman), Best Adapted Screenplay (Darabont), Best Cinematography (Deakins), Best Film Editing (Richard Francis-Bruce), Best Sound (Robert J. Litt, Elliot Tyson, Michael Herbick, and Willie D. Burton),[100] and Best Original Score (Newman, his first Academy Award nomination).[76] It did not win in any category.[99] It received two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture for Freeman, and Best Screenplay for Darabont.[101]

Robbins and Freeman were both nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards in 1995.[102] Darabont was nominated for a Directors Guild of America award in 1994 for Best Director of a feature film,[103] and a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.[104] Deakins won the American Society of Cinematographers award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography,[89] while producer Niki Marvin was nominated for a 1994 Golden Laurel Award by the Producers Guild of America.[104]