Home>> Literature>> 现实百态>> Stephen King   United States   现代美国   (September 21, 1947 AD)
The Shawshank Redemption
  The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont. It is an adaptation of the Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The film stars Tim Robbins as Andrew "Andy" Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding.
  
  The film portrays Andy, who spends nearly two decades in Shawshank State Prison, a fictional penitentiary in Maine, and his friendship with Red, a fellow inmate. Despite a lukewarm box office reception that was barely enough to cover its budget, the film received favorable reviews from critics, multiple award nominations, and has since enjoyed a remarkable life on cable television, VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray. This revival is reflected in its high placement on various lists of great movies.
  
  Plot
  
  In 1947, a banker named Andrew "Andy" Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, based on strong circumstantial evidence. He is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences at Shawshank State Penitentiary in Maine, run by Warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton). Andy is quickly befriended by Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman), a fellow inmate serving a life sentence who has recently failed to gain parole. Andy finds Red has connections on the outside who can acquire contraband for the inmates. He first asks Red for a rock hammer, explaining that he wants to use it to maintain his rock collection hobby, which he uses to fashion a home-made chess set. He later asks Red for a full-size poster of Rita Hayworth for his wall, replacing the poster over the years with ones of Marilyn Monroe and Raquel Welch.
  
  While doing manual labor, Andy overhears Captain of the Guards Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown) complain about having to pay taxes on a forthcoming inheritance. Andy risks punishment by explaining to Hadley how to circumvent the taxes legally; Hadley accepts Andy's advice and rewards his friends with a brief respite and beer. Andy's financial advice is soon sought by other guards at Shawshank and nearby prisons, and Andy is given a space to work on their financial matters under the pretense of maintaining the prison library alongside elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore). Hadley delivers a brutal beating to inmate Bogs (Mark Rolston), leader of "The Sisters," after his gang's sexual assault puts Andy in the infirmary; Bogs is paralyzed, and the remaining Sisters leave Andy alone. Andy uses his goodwill with the guards to expand the library; when one donation to the library provides him with the opera The Marriage of Figaro, he plays it over the public address system for all the inmates to hear, well-aware of the punishment of solitary confinement he will receive for the brief moment of bliss.
  
  Warden Norton eventually creates a scheme to use prison labor for public works, undercutting the cost of skilled labor and receiving kickbacks for it. Norton has Andy launder the money under a false identity, in exchange for allowing Andy to keep his private cell and to continue maintaining the library. Brooks, freed on parole, is unable to adjust to the outside world, and hangs himself; Andy dedicates the expanded library to him. In 1965, Tommy Williams (Gil Bellows) is incarcerated on robbery charges. He is brought into Andy and Red's circle of friends, and Andy assists him in getting his GED. Upon learning of the crime of which Andy was convicted, Tommy reveals that one of his old prison-mates, Elmo Blatch (Bill Bolender) had claimed to have committed a nearly identical murder. Norton, fearing what Andy might do if released, puts him into solitary confinement and has Tommy killed by Hadley, claiming he was an escapee. When Andy is finally released from solitary, Norton threatens to destroy the library if Andy does not continue to launder the money for him.
  
  Shortly after, Andy tells Red of his dream of living in Zihuatanejo, a Mexican-Pacific coastal town, and instructs Red, should he ever be freed, to visit a specific hayfield near Buxton to find something Andy had left there. The next day at roll call, Andy's cell is found empty. Norton, in anger, throws one of Andy's rocks at the poster of Welch; the rock tears through the poster, revealing a tunnel that Andy had dug with the rock hammer over the last two decades. A flashback shows that Andy, the night before, had taken a set of civilian clothes, his chess set, and the ledger book he had kept for Norton, swapping it for his Bible, and made his escape through the tunnel and a narrow sewage drain during a thunderstorm. At the same time that Norton discovers Andy's escape, Andy uses his false identity to withdraw most of Norton's money from several banks, sending the evidence to a local newspaper. On the day the story runs, the police converge on the prison; Hadley is arrested while Norton commits suicide.
  
  When Red finally receives parole after serving 40 years, he finds himself living in the same apartment in which Brooks committed suicide, and working at the same grocery store. Red decides to follow Andy's advice and visits Buxton. In the hayfield specified by Andy, he finds a cache of money and a note left by Andy, reminding him of Zihuatanejo. Red violates his parole and travels to Mexico, where he happily reunites with Andy on the beach.
  Cast
   * Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), the main character of the film. Tom Hanks, Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, and Charlie Sheen were each considered for the role when the script was circulated in Hollywood. Hanks turned it down because he was committed to Forrest Gump, but he later worked with Darabont in The Green Mile.
   * Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman), Andy's best friend and the film's narrator. Before Freeman was cast, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Paul Newman, and Robert Redford were each considered for the role. Although written as a middle-aged Irishman with greying red hair (as in the novella), Darabont cast Freeman for his authoritative presence and demeanor, because he could not see anyone else as Red.
   * Warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton), the warden of Shawshank and the primary antagonist. He has an obsession with the Bible and appears to be a devout Christian and reform-minded administrator.
   * Heywood (William Sadler) a member of Red's gang of long-sentence convicts.
   * Capt. Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown), chief of the guards and the other main antagonist. Hadley is an intemperate guard who thinks nothing of delivering beatings to the inmates to keep them in line. When cast for the role, Brown declined the offer to study real-life prison guards as preparation for his role, because he did not want to base it on any one person.
   * Tommy Williams (Gil Bellows), a young convict whose experiences in prison hold the truth about Andy's innocence.
   * Bogs Diamond (Mark Rolston), the head of "The Sisters" gang and a prison rapist. He assaults Andy a number of times, but Hadley puts a stop to it by beating Bogs seriously enough to permanently paralyze him.
   * Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore), prison librarian/trustee and one of the oldest convicts at Shawshank. Upon his release, he finds himself unable to cope with life on the outside, and commits suicide. Darabont cast Whitmore because he was one of his favorite character actors.
  
  Themes
  
  Chicago Sun-Times film reviewer Roger Ebert suggests that the integrity of Andy Dufresne is an important theme in the story line, especially in prison, where integrity is lacking.
  
  The Shawshank Redemption is an allegory for maintaining one's feeling of self worth when placed in a hopeless position.
  
  Angus C. Larcombe suggests that the film provides a great illustration of how characters can be free, even in prison, or unfree, even in freedom, based on one's outlook in life.
  Production
  
  Darabont secured the film adaptation rights from author Stephen King after impressing the author with his short film adaptation of "The Woman in the Room" in 1983. Although the two had become friends and maintained a pen-pal relationship, Darabont did not work with him until four years later in 1987, when he optioned to adapt Shawshank. This is one of the more famous Dollar Deals made by King with aspiring filmmakers. Darabont later directed The Green Mile (1999), which was based on another work about a prison by Stephen King, and then followed that up with an adaptation of King's novella The Mist.
  
  Rob Reiner, who had previously adapted another King novella, The Body, into the movie Stand by Me (1986), offered $2.5 million in an attempt to write and direct Shawshank. He planned to cast Tom Cruise in the part of Andy and Harrison Ford as Red. Darabont seriously considered and liked Reiner's vision, but he ultimately decided it was his "chance to do something really great" by directing the film himself.
  
  Though the story is set in Maine, the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio was used as a stand-in for the fictional Shawshank Prison.
  Reception
  
  Earning only $18 million on a $35 million budget, The Shawshank Redemption was a box office bomb.
  
  The movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1994 (Best Picture, Best Actor – Morgan Freeman, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Mixing) but, in the shadow of 1994's big winner Forrest Gump, did not win a single one. The film's Academy Award nominations enabled it to fare well in the video sales and cable TV viewings. In June 1997, TNT, an American cable network, showed the film for the first time. The film was the first feature in TNT's Saturday Night New Classics. Since 1997, TNT has shown the film about once every two months.
  
  Entertainment Weekly reviewer Owen Gleiberman praised the choice of scenery, writing that the "moss-dark, saturated images have a redolent sensuality" that makes the film very realistic. While praising Morgan Freeman's acting and oratory skills as making Red feel real, Gleiberman opined that with the "laconic-good-guy, neo-Gary Cooper role", Tim Robbins is unable to make Andy bond connect with the audience. Gleiberman gave the film a B minus.
  
  In 1998, Shawshank was not listed in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies, but nine years later (2007), it was #72 on the revised list, outranking both Forrest Gump (#76) and Pulp Fiction (#94), the two most critically acclaimed movies from the year of Shawshank's release. In 1999, film critic Roger Ebert listed Shawshank on his "Great Movies" list, and in reader polls by the film magazine Empire, the film ranked fifth in 2004, first in 2006, and fourth in 2008 on the lists for greatest movie of all time.
  
  The film has a rating of 80 out of 100 on film-review collating website Metacritic, and an approval rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes by film critics.
  Music
  Main article: The Shawshank Redemption (soundtrack)
  
  The score was composed by Thomas Newman, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1994, which was his first Oscar nomination. The majority of the score consists of dark piano music, which plays along the main character's role at Shawshank. The main theme ("End Titles" on the soundtrack album) is perhaps best known to modern audiences as the inspirational sounding music from many movie trailers dealing with inspirational, dramatic, or romantic films in much the same way that James Horner's driving music from the end of Aliens is used in many movie trailers for action films. A central scene in the film features the "Letter Duet" ("Canzonetta sull'aria") from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.
  Popular culture
  
  The film was parodied in the Family Guy episode "Three Kings". Andy Dufresne is played by Peter Griffin, Red is played by Cleveland, the warden is played by Carter. In the spoof, Peter plays Hollaback Girl on the prison loudspeaker, and Cleveland does not remember the Mexican village where he is supposed to meet with Peter.
《肖申克的救赎》第一章(1)
  《肖申克的救赎》第一章(1)
   斯蒂芬·金著
   施寄青、赵永芬、齐若兰译
   春天的希望
   肖申克的救赎
   献给拉斯和弗洛伦斯·多尔
   我猜美国每个州立监狱和联邦监狱里,都有像我这样的一号人物,不论什么东西,我都能为你弄到手。无论是高级香烟或大麻(如果你偏好此道的话),或弄瓶白兰地来庆祝儿子或女儿高中毕业,总之差不多任何东西……我的意思是说,只要在合理范围内,我是有求必应;可是很多情况不一定都合情合理的。
   我刚满二十岁就来到肖申克监狱。在这个快乐小家庭中,我是少数肯痛痛快快承认自己干了什么的人。我犯了谋杀罪。我为大我三岁的太太投保了一笔数目庞大的寿险,然后在她父亲送我们的结婚礼物——一辆雪佛兰轿车的刹车上动了手脚。一切都正如我的计划,只是没料到她在半路上停下来载了邻居太太和她的小儿子,他们正一起下城堡山进城去。结果刹车失灵,车速越来越快,冲过路边树丛,撞上了一座内战纪念雕像的底座而轰然起火。旁观者说,当时的车速一定超过每小时五十英里。
   我也没料到自己居然会被逮住,但我却锒铛入狱,在这里长期服刑。缅因州没有死刑,但检察官让我因三桩谋杀罪而逐一受审,最后法官判了我三个无期徒刑,数罪并罚。这样一来,我在很长、很长一段时间内,都不可能有机会假释了。法官还在判决书上说我罪行重大,死有余辜。的确如此,不过现在这些事都已成过去。你可以去查查城堡岩的旧报纸档案,有关我的判决当时是地方报纸的头条新闻,与希特勒、墨索里尼以及罗斯福手下那些字母开头的特工人员的新闻并列,如今看来,实在有点可笑,也早已成为老掉牙的旧闻了。
   你问我,我改过自新了吗?我甚至不知道什么叫改过自新,至少我不晓得那在监狱里代表了什么意思,我认为那只是政客爱用的字眼,这个词也许有一些其他的含意,也许有那么一天,我会明白它的含意,但那是未来的事了……而监狱里的囚犯早就学会不要去多想未来。
   当年的我出身贫穷,但年轻英俊。我让一个富家女珠胎暗结,她出身卡宾街的豪华宅邸,漂亮娇纵、但老是闷闷不乐。她父亲同意让我们结婚,条件是我得在他的眼镜公司工作,“靠自己的实力往上爬。”后来我发现,他真正的用意是要让我随时都在他的监控下,就像管着家里豢养的不太听话、还会咬人的猫狗一样。我的怨恨经年累月,越积越深,终于出手造成了这种后果。如果再给我一次机会,我绝对不会重蹈覆辙,但我不确定这样是否表示我已经痛改前非了。
   不过,我真正想说的不是我自己的事,而是安迪·杜佛尼的故事。但在我开始说安迪的故事之前,还得先说几件关于我的事情,反正不会花太多工夫。
   正如我刚才所说,差不多四十年来,在肖申克监狱里,我有办法帮你弄到任何东西。除了永远名列前茅的香烟和酒等违禁品之外,我还有办法弄到上千种其他东西,给这儿的人消磨时间。有些东西绝对合法,只是在这种地方不易取得,因为坐牢本该是一种惩罚。例如,有个家伙了一个小女孩,还涉及几十件暴露的案子。我给他找了三块粉红色的佛蒙特大理石,他雕了三座可爱的雕像,一个婴儿、一个十二岁的男孩,还有一个蓄胡子的年轻人,他称这些雕像为“耶稣的三个不同时期”,现在这些雕像已经成为前任州长客厅中的摆设了。
   又或者,如果你是在马萨诸塞州北边长大的人,一定还记得这个人的名字——罗伯特·艾伦·科特。他在一九五一年,企图抢劫莫堪尼克弗市第一商业银行,结果那次抢劫演变成血腥事件,死了六个人,包括两个强盗、三名人质,还有一个年轻因为挑错时间抬起头来,而让子弹穿过眼睛。科特有收集钱币的嗜好。监狱自然不会准他将收藏品带进来,但靠着他母亲和洗衣房卡车司机的帮忙,我还是替他弄到了他想要的东西。我告诉他:你一定是疯了,才会想在这个满是盗贼的石头旅馆中收藏钱币。他看着我微笑说:“我知道该把钱币藏在哪里,绝对安全,你别担心。”他说得没错。直到一九六七年他死于脑瘤时,他所收藏的钱币始终没有现身过。
   我试过在情人节设法为狱友弄到巧克力;在圣帕迪日为一个叫欧迈利的疯狂爱尔兰人弄到三杯麦当劳卖的那种绿色奶昔;我甚至还为二十个人放映过午夜场电影,片名分别是《深喉》和《琼斯小姐体内的魔鬼》(这些都是色情片,他们一起凑钱租片子)……虽然我因为这些越轨行动被关了一周禁闭,但要维持“神通广大”的英名,就必须冒这样的风险。
   我还能弄到参考书和黄色书刊、会让人发痒的粉末之类的恶作剧新奇玩意儿,甚至替被判长期徒刑的家伙弄到太太或女朋友的……我猜你也知道这些人究竟如何度过如刀割似的漫漫长夜了。这些东西并非免费的,有些东西代价不菲。但我绝不是光为钱来干这些事。金钱对我又有何用呢?我既无法拥有一辆凯迪拉克,更不能在二月天飞到牙买加去度两个星期假。我这么做的理由和市场一流肉贩非新鲜肉品不卖的理由是一样的,只是为了维持英名不坠罢了。只有两种东西,我绝对不碰,一是枪械,一是毒品。我不愿帮助任何人把自己或其他人杀掉。我心头上的杀戮已够多了,终我一生,我不想再干任何杀人的勾当。
《肖申克的救赎》第一章(2)
  《肖申克的救赎》第一章(2)
   啊,我的商品目录可说是无所不包,因此当安迪·杜佛尼在一九四九年来找我,问我能否把丽塔·海华丝丽塔·海华丝(Rita Hayworth, 1918—1987),二十世纪四五十年代好莱坞著名性感女星。弄进监狱时,我说没问题。确实没有任何问题。
   安迪在一九四八年到肖申克时是三十岁,他属于五短身材,长得白白净净,一头棕发,双手小而灵巧。他戴了一副金边眼镜,指甲永远剪得整整齐齐、干干净净,我最记得的也是
   那双手,一个男人给人这种印象还满滑稽的,但这似乎正好总结了安迪这个人的特色,他的样子老让你觉得他似乎应该穿着西装、打着领带的。他没进来前,是波特兰一家大银行的信托部副总裁。在保守的银行界,年纪轻轻就坐上这个位子,可说是前程似锦。尤其在新英格兰这一带,保守的风气更是十倍于其他地方;除非你是个精神委靡的秃头中年人,不时整整西装裤上的线条,惟恐不够笔挺,否则很难得到当地人的信任,让他们把钱存在你那里。安迪是因为谋杀了老婆和她的情夫而被关进来的。
   我相信我说过,监狱里每个犯人都声称自己无辜。他们只是碰上了铁石心肠的法官、无能的律师、的诬告,而成为受害者,再不然就是运气实在太坏了。尽管他们手按《圣经》宣誓,但却口是心非,像电视布道家那样信口开河而已。大多数囚犯都不是什么好人,无论对自己或对别人,都没什么好处,他们最大的不幸,就是被生到这世上来。我在肖申克的那些年中,尽管许多人告诉我他们是无辜的,但我相信其中真正无辜的人不超过十个,安迪·杜佛尼就是其中之一。不过我是经过了很多年才相信他的无辜,如果一九四七到四八年间,波特兰高等法院审判他的案子时我也是陪审团的一员,我想我也会投票赞成将他定罪。
   那是个轰动一时的案子,具备了所有耸动刺激的案子必备的要素。三位主角,一位是交游广泛的美丽名媛(已死),一位是当地的运动健将(也死了),被告则是著名的青年企业家,再加上报纸的渲染、对丑闻的暗示。检察当局认为这个案子几乎是铁证如山,而案子之所以还审了那么长的一段时日,是因为侦办此案的检察官当时正要出马竞选众议员,有意留给大家深刻的印象。这是一场出色的法庭秀,旁观的群众清晨四点钟就冒着零度以下的低温到法院排队,免得抢不到位子。
   在这个案子里,安迪始终不曾过由检察官提出的指控,包括安迪的太太琳达在一九四七年六月表示有意去学高尔夫球,她选了佛茂丘乡村俱乐部的课程学了四个月,教练叫格林·昆丁,是一名职业高尔夫球手。结果没有多久,琳达便和高尔夫球教练好起来了,到了八月底,安迪听说了这件事。于是安迪和琳达在一九四七年九月十日下午大吵一架,争论的导火线便是琳达的外遇。
   安迪供称琳达当时表示她很高兴安迪知道这件事,并说偷偷摸摸瞒着他约会,实在很不舒服,她要去雷诺城办离婚。安迪回答,要他一起去雷诺,门儿都没有,他们会先去地狱。琳达当晚即离家出走,到昆丁住处过夜,昆丁家就在高尔夫球场附近。第二天早上,为昆丁清扫洗衣的佣人发现他们两人死在床上,每人各中四枪。
   最后一项事实对安迪最不利。怀抱着热情的检察官做了慷慨激昂的开场白和结论。他说安迪·杜佛尼不只是个因为妻子不贞而热血沸腾、急于报复的丈夫,如果是出于这样的动机,我们虽然无法原谅,却可以理解,但是他的报复手段实在太冷血了。想象一下!他连珠炮般对着陪审团说:每人各射了四枪,不是射完手枪里的六发子弹就算了,而是总共射了八枪。把原先枪膛里的子弹射完后,停下来,重新装子弹,然后再一人补一枪!第二天《波特兰太阳报》以斗大标题怒吼着:给他四枪,她也四枪!
   路易斯登镇一家当铺的伙计作证说,他在案发两天前卖了一支点三八口径、有六发子弹的警用手枪给安迪·杜佛尼。乡村俱乐部的酒保作证说九月十日晚上七点左右,安迪到酒吧来喝酒,在二十分钟内喝了三杯烈威士忌酒,当他从椅子上站起来时,他告诉酒保要去昆丁家,并说欲知后事如何,明天看报纸就知道了。还有一个距离昆丁家一英里远的便利商店店员告诉法庭,安迪·杜佛尼在当晚八点四十五分左右去过他的店。他买了香烟、三夸脱啤酒,还有一些擦碗布。法医证明昆丁和琳达是大约在晚上十一点到凌晨两点之间遇害的。检察官派出的探员作证时表示,昆丁家七十码外的地方有个岔道,九月十一日下午,他们在岔道附近找到三样物证:两个空啤酒瓶(上面有被告的指纹)、十二根烟蒂(是被告抽的牌子)以及轮胎痕迹(正是被告一九四七年出厂的普利茅斯牌车子的车胎印子)。
   在昆丁住处的客厅中,有四条擦碗布扔在沙发上,上面有弹孔和火药灼伤的痕迹。警探的推论是,凶手把擦碗布包在枪口上来消音(安迪的律师对探员擅自推论提出强烈)。
   安迪·杜佛尼也走上证人席为自己辩护,他很冷静、镇定、不带感情地述说自己的故事。他说早在七月底就听到太太和昆丁密切来往的事。八月底他悲苦到受不了了,开始调查。一天傍晚,琳达上完高尔夫球课以后,原本说要到波特兰购物,但他尾随琳达和昆丁却到了昆丁住的地方(媒体不可免俗地把这里冠上“爱巢”二字)。他把车子停在附近,一直等昆丁驾车送琳达回俱乐部取车才离开,那是三小时以后的事了。
Home>> Literature>> 现实百态>> Stephen King   United States   现代美国   (September 21, 1947 AD)