The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

This is a film base on Stephen King's novel-- Shawshank Redemption. Stephen King means great stories! As a result, I decided to watch the film. Firstly, I assumed that this movie would be an action film because it consist of escaping from a prison. However, It is not such a superficial story. In 1947, banker Andrew “Andy” (Tim Robbins) was caught for murdering his own wife with a strong evidence. However, he was not the true murderer. He became Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman)'s friend gradually.

Left: Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding
Right: Tim Robbins as Andrew "Andy" Dufresne

I enjoy to watch this movie. Andy is different from other people in the prison as he didn't do something wrong. Andy is gentle compare with other people. He never use the violence language . Red is a robber and so he can leave the prison until the expiration of the term sentence. However, Andy cannot leave. So, Red gave a big hand on Andy for breaking the prison. Actually, Andy knew everything about the corruption of officers, so he was “put” into prison by Captain of the Guards Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown).

The scene of Andy welcomed by the freedom!

My favorite scene is the scene of Andy breaking out of the prison. He leaved the prison under thunderstorm because the sound of the thunder can cover the sound of breaking the water pipe. And he made use of over 10 years to design this way to escape from the prison, which shown his clearness and the perseverance of revenge.

The Searchers(1956)

Plot of film The Searchers(1956)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Searchers_%28film%29

          The Western film like The Searchers had impressed me so much because I have never saw The Western film before. Actually, The Western (genre) film was extremely popular in US at middle 1900s. The Western film was defined as film back-grounded in American Civil War. It was similar to “Three Kingdoms”(三國時代) popularity in China. It is a popular subject matter in making films or TV programs. 

Jeffrey Hunter as Martin Pawley (Left)
John Wayne as Ethan Edwards (Right)

          The whole film's outline was very simple-- the main character Ethan Edwards returned from the American Civil War and searched for his brother's daughter called Debbie. Debbie was kidnapped by the Texas Rangers. Because of the conflict between American and Texas Rangers, Edwards's brother's most children were killed expect Debbie. Although the storyline was simple, still, this film was concentrate on actions and its' great scene. The shooting techniques was fresh at that time. Actually, this film was not such “strict” and consist of some American style's love story joke. Also, the fighting scene gave out the tension atmosphere.

"great scene" at that time was trying to show the whole place by the camera.

          The Searchers had a great success in commercial, leading to lots of studio at that time followed such style. However, this also leaded to decline in The Western film as it become a kitsch subject matter. By the way, I am goint to buy the HD blue-ray version of this film already!

Casablanca (1942)

Plot of film Casablanca(1942)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_%28film%29

          Casablanca was a big casting film distributed by Warner Bros. from Classical Hollywood cinema period, which is called “Golden Hollywood”. This is a classic romantic film base on the background of WWII, Casablanca in Morocco. (At that time, Morocco is held by France)

          This film was classic with unique story line. As at the beginning, the main character, Rick Blaine was described as a cold-blooded person. He was a bar owner who only concern about money. However, it was just for his appearance. This film made use of another main character, Ilsa Lund (Rick's ex-girl friend) to take out the past and real personality of Rick. My most favorite style in this film is making use of a orginial song to link the whole film together. The song was called “As Time Goes By”, which really made a great impression for me. This is really a great technique to link up several scenarios. Also, the film's story was on the stretch as the background was based on WWII. Another attractive point was that the standpoint of different characters were unclear until the end of the movie.

Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine

          It's a pity that I cannot understand Major Heinrich Strasser's standpoint at the end of the movie. But still, this film was worth watching for such a big casting like Humphrey Bogart,Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid. Moreover, this film was also released during WWII in US, which actually show that political statement at that time and represent the Realism film.