When I was little, I saw this movie a few times. As a kid, I really didn’t know what was going on and I was always a little weirded out by the part where he crawls through the shit-pipe. I rediscovered this movie a couple of years ago after having brushed it off through my high school years.
Blown away. I looked back at my child years and said, “Damn you!” for planting the idea in my adult brain that this movie was just weird and not worth watching again. Why must everything be ruined by a quarter of a mile of poop? Here are the reasons why this film is a must watch for everyone:
1. Morgan Freeman.
Morgan Freeman plays a character who, in the book, is an Irishman. Nothing about his character in the movie appears to be changed. When asked why they call him “Red” he says to Tim Robbins character, “I suppose it’s because I’m Irish.” BAM! He’s not Irish! He’s black! It still works though. Also, the movie is narrated by Freeman. Everyone knows there is no better narrator than Morgan Freeman. When I’m rich someday, I will hire Morgan Freeman to read Goodnight Moon to me every night.
Bedtime Story
Grandpa? I wish.
2. Tim Robbins
He’s just a great actor. Subtle. Quiet. Calm. And really.. have you seen The Hudsucker Proxy? It’s also hilarious and stars Robbins as a mailroom employee who steals the idea for/invents both the hula hoop and the bendy straw. It’s hilarious and dark and directed by the Coen Brothers. You really can’t beat Tim Robbins. I mean look at him:
"You know.. For the kids."
3. Thomas Newman
There’s a scene in the film where one of the old guys gets out of prison after 50 years and there’s a voice over of a letter that he wrote to his friends who are still in the prison. It’s super sad and gets me every time. Throughout the whole thing, Thomas Newman (Film Music Composer) has the sort of recurring theme to the movie playing under it all. It’s a simple, repeated piano phrase that sits there underneath it all and gives your eyes a bath. Probably one of my favorite soundtracks. Pick it up.
You're my boy, blue.
4. Frank Darabont
He also directed The Green Mile, The Mist (Both of these are Stephen King novels), Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (one of the more honest adaptations to the book (he didn’t direct this, he wrote it)) Tales from the Crypt, and currently the AMC zombie hit The Walking Dead (so awesome).
This guy knows what’s up. He knows what he’s doing. He does it well. When Robbin’s character (spoiler alert) breaks free from the prison and crawls through the shit-pipe and crawls out into the river where it’s raining and then strips off his clothes to be washed free from the muck, mire (allegory for his imprisonment) with the music building to a huge peak, I lose my mind.
Oh yeah, he was born in refugee camp in France for Hungarian immigrants who left during the Hungarian Revolution. No big deal.
Let's get misty ya'll.
5. A happy ending
Who doesn’t love a happy ending?
Friendly happy endings..
Not like that! Get your minds out of the gutter. That’s the OTHER version of Shawshank Redemption. I’m talking about the ending of the movie where nobody’s really left out in the cold. I mean okay, so there are a few people who die in the movie but the main characters end up doing alright. The greatest thing is that it’s not forced either. It’s no less believable than anything else in the movie.
So anyway.. rent this movie. It’s on netflix right now. Re-familiarize yourself with it or something. Don’t be turned off by the shit-pipe.
Tim Robbins' character: "I'm covered in poop!"
The Bearded Troubadour 
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