In 1946 a young New England banker, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and sentenced to life at the Shawshank State Prison — twice over. Quiet and introspective, he gradually strikes up a friendship with the prison ’fixer’, Red (Morgan Freeman), and over the next two decades wins the trust of the governor and guards, but in his heart, he still yearns for freedom.
Even thirty years ago when it was released, Frank Darabont’s adaptation of a Stephen King novella was seen as a throwback to the kind of serious, literate drama Hollywood used to make back in the day. He himself considered it a “tall tale” in the spirit of one his favourite filmmakers, Frank Capra. Here is a first-time director with evident respect for the intelligence of his audience, brave enough to let character details accumulate without recourse to the fast-forward button. Darabont plays the long game and wins: this is an engrossing, superbly acted yarn, and while the movie wasn’t a blockbuster hit on release, its fan base grew and grew, to the point where it is now regarded as one of the finest films of the 90s and a firm favourite for many.
Staff Pick: Gemma & Jason D
When I first saw it, I realized he’d made not just one of the best movies ever done from my work, but a potential movie classic. That turned out to be the case.
Stephen King
Media Partner
Frank Darabont
Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, Clancy Brown
USA
1994
English
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Screenwriter
Frank Darabont
Cinematography
Roger Deakins
Editor
Richard Francis-Bruce
Original Music
Thomas Newman
Production Design
Terence Marsh
Art Director
Peter Landsdown Smith
90s, Baby!
Ten years. 11 weeks. 90 films from the 1990s. This summer, 90’s Baby! takes a deep dive into a defining decade of cinema.
The Big Lebowski
The Coens' whacky, warped slacker generation riff on Raymond Chandler, a shaggy dog story which delights in going sideways at every turn. Jeff Bridges is the Dude, and what he really wants is to get his rug back...
Out of Sight
Adapted from Elmore Leonard's novel about the mutual attraction between an escaped bank robber and the FBI agent on his tail, Out of Sight is sexy and romantic, cosmopolitan, and full of Soderbergh's sleight of hand, shuffling time like a card sharp.
Buffalo '66
Vincent Gallo's directorial debut is an eccentric, provocative comedy which laces a poignant love story with both a sombre, washed-out naturalism and surreal musical vignettes. This one is something different...
Run Lola Run
In the hyper intense world of pre-millennial Berlin, Lola has just 20 minutes to come up with a 100,000 Deutchmarks or her boyfriend cops it. He's asking the right woman: Lola won't stop til she's saved the day... It's Speed, in the multiverse...
Rushmore
Precocious Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) is befriended by depressed industrialist Harold Blume (Bill Murray) until they both fall in love with first grade teacher Miss Cross (Olivia Williams). Anderson's second feature is an old favourite.
Saving Private Ryan
Steven Spielberg's gripping war movie was hailed as an instant classic in 1998, and he won his second Academy Award in five years for Best Director. Matt Damon takes the title role, Tom Hanks is charged with bringing him home from the front.
The Blair Witch Project
The rushes of a student-made documentary investigating the legend of the Blair Witch in Burkittsville, Maryland, a quest that led the three filmmakers deep into the Appallachian woods. Easy to get lost in there...
The Thin Red Line
After a 20-year hiatus, Terrence Malick re-emerged with this earching adaptation of James Jones's autobiographical novel about the WWII battle of Guadalcanal. The Thin Red Line is a lyrical, meditative war movie, a philosophical discourse on war itself.
The Matrix
Can a computer hacker save the world? Maybe if you hack deep enough... One of the most influential movies of the past quarter-century. The Matrix didn't just change the way films looked and moved, it altered the way we perceived the world(s).
Lessons of Darkness
Werner Herzog's unforgettable documentary reveals the unfolding disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames in 1991 as a sweeping inferno of mesmerizing power.
Office Space
This razor sharp comedy from Mike Judge (King of the Hill) captures the indignities of life as a wage slave with rare acumen and caustic wit. Evidently the impending millennial bug weighed heavily on people's minds back in 1999.
The Sixth Sense
"I see dead people." Does 10-year-old Cole (Haley Joel Osment) have the sixth sense, as he claims — or is this sensitive, unusual child responding to stress, as his mother (Toni Collette) would like to believe? Psychologist Bruce Willis finds out.
Beau Travail
Inspired by Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Claire Denis' transfixing Beau Travail is set in East Africa. Sgt Galoup (Denis Lavant) reflects on his time in the French Foreign Legion, and the impact of the handsome Sentain (Gregoire Colin).
Three Kings
George Clooney headlines David O Russell's bold, brazen attempt to get to grips with the immediate aftermath of Operation Desert Storm, as 4 US soldiers try to liberate a missing shipment of gold amidst the chaos and carnage.
But I'm a Cheerleader
Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is the perfect All-American Girl, or so she thinks. That is until she’s shipped off to conversion therapy. This pitch black comedy is wrapped in a saccharine bow, featuring the icon herself, RuPaul, as a conversion counsellor.
Magnolia
This deeply personal 1999 California opus is ripe for rediscovery. Mapping the emotional traumas of half-a-dozen major characters as they crisscross the San Fernando Valley in search of either recognition or reconciliation, it's PTA's riskiest gamble.