Day 124: The Green Mile (1999)

Movie #80 – The Green Mile (1999) - 189 min, cert 18.

Set on the Death Row of an American prison. Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is the chief warden and likes to maintain a peaceful environment for his inmates to pass their final days in quiet contemplation. He treats them well, and expects the same in return. One day, a simple-minded giant of a man named John Coffey is brought in, convicted of the brutal rape and murder of two young girls. It turns out that Coffey has a wonderful gift of healing, and he can cure pretty much anything by literally drawing it into himself, then expelling it into the air where it dissipates harmlessly. He cures Edgecomb of a painful urinary infection, and cures another inmates pet mouse after it has been cruelly stamped on by a particularly unpleasant warden. As the film goes on, Edgecomb becomes more and more convinced of Coffey’s innocence, and deeply troubled by the execution he knows he will have to perform.

I have this film on DVD, but hadn’t watched it for a long time. When I put this film on, the hour was late and I was quite tired. But all that disappeared within five minutes of the film started. Despite the film’s three hour running time, I remained rapt and fully alert all the way through it, and that has to be the sign of a good film. Yesterday’s Rashomon was less than half this length, but still took two days to watch as it didn’t grab my interest at all.

It’s difficult to review this film without comparing it to Shawshank Redemption. Both were directed by Frank Darabont, both were based on original material by Stephen King, and both are set in prisons in the first half of the twentieth century. The acting in this film is no less powerful than in Shawshank, Hanks gives as great a performance as ever. This may not be the sort of role he played in Forrest Gump, but it is quite similar to the character he portrayed in Saving Private Ryan. He’s an ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation, something that Hanks seems to specialise in. This film is probably more typical of what most people associate with Stephen King, in that it has a strong supernatural undercurrent, something that was absent from Shawshank.

As I’ve said before, I’m a big fan of King’s work, and this is one of the few really good film adaptations of his work. Is it as good as Shawshank? Clearly most people think not, but I disagree. The acting is as good, the story is engaging, and the movie keeps the interest well, despite its length. I may be in the minority, but I think this is the better film.


Score – 10/10. One of the best so far. So 80 films in now, and L.A. Confidential and WALL-E have both dropped out of my top ten since the last check-in, having been replaced by The Green Mile at number 4 and Monty Python and the Holy Grail sneaking in at 10.

1.       The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

2.       Pulp Fiction (1994)

3.       Forrest Gump (1994)

4.       The Green Mile (1999)

5.       Amelie (2001)

6.       Fight Club (1999)

7.       The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

8.      Toy Story 3 (2010)

9.       The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

10.   Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Next up is a little light relief with Some Like it Hot. I’m not sure if I’ve watched it in its entirety before, but I’ve certainly seen most of it.