LeadingWilliam Sadler

“The Shawshank Redemption” – Happy Anniversary

On the movies website Ropeofsilicon.com the article “Still Finding Love in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ 15 Years Later” with the subline “Overlooked at the Oscars but not by audiences” was published on September 23rd.

The article is about the prison movie from 1994 in which William Sadler played the character Heywood. It features quotes, a five-minute retrospective the author put together especially for this article as well as movie stills.

It’s odd to say, but when I think about The Shawshank Redemption I think about love. It’s a dark tale to be sure; of wrongly convicted men (according to the inmates, the prison is chockfull of them), some nasty prison guards, an even nastier warden, institutionalization, prison rape and most robustly, hope. At its core, however, is this story of friendship. And the one between Red and Andy is one of the great friendships in movie history.

It begins formally and specifically and you think you know where it’s all going, but it surprises you along the way and before long a saga unfolds. The film spans many years, characters come and go but there is always Red and Andy. Darkness looms over all the characters in Shawshank and much of the movie is about Andy and Red fighting that darkness. Humor and light-heartedness exist, but around corners in rooms you’re best not found alone, there is something else eating everyone alive. You can’t see it, but you can feel it as the film progresses. Yes, there are a lot of bad men in Shawshank prison, but within those grim walls and the corroding corridors there is no more evil a villain than that of despair. […]

[…] William Sadler, Mark Rolston, Gil Bellows, James Whitmore and Clancy Brown provide strong support for the two leads: Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.

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Please follow this link to read the article in full:
Still Finding Love in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ 15 Years Later