Originally a book from Stephen King, this film is a pure classic. Stephen King wrote 6 books back in 1996 all about the lifes of people on the so called death row. They were as follows:
1. The Two Dead Girls 2. The Mouse On the Mile 3. Coffeys Hands 4. The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix 5. Night Journey 6. Coffey on the Mile
I was quite young in 1996 and never actually read the books but one day I think I'm going to get round to reading them all.
The film 'The Green Mile' was then released 3yrs later and was a film about all the six books put together, supposedly called the 'Green Mile' because the floor of the death row was Green. The film was quite long as you can probably imagine, the six books put into one film came to a running time of just over 3hrs. I wonder how they did it in 3hrs to be honest, nowadays we have the 'Lord Of The Rings' taking up to 3hrs and thats the just one book from a set!
The film itself is set in the year 1935 and revolves around a young prison guard named Paul Edgecombe who is acted by Tom Hanks.
There is an inmate in the prison named John Coffey who develops a close companionship with the prison Guard. Coffey is no normal inmate though, he is a substantial size, giant like and has been sentenced to death for raping and then brutally murdering two little girls.
The 2 young girls were found by a search party with Coffey cradling them in his arms weeping over them, quite blatantly he was innocent but was named guilty straight away, therefore he has to have his life taken from him. Throughout the movie it becomes more and more obvious that Coffey is an innocent man but his death sentence still hangs over him and he will eventually have to walk the 'Green Mile'
The movie then becomes very interesting when we learn that Coffey has some kind of very special powers, unbelievable powers that no human being could ever consider having, he can heal and we start to realise this when Paul, the prison guard (Tom Hanks) is having problems, he has a urinary infection which as you can imagine is causing him extreme agony and pain! Coffey reaches out to Paul in one scene on the mile and grabs (Literally!) Pauls crotch! This is what I would say is a very touching moment to the movie or at least a touching scene, lots of little 'flies' appear and it seems that Paul Edgecombe’s pain is no longer!
Another main character is the evil prison guard, Percy Wetmore acted by Doug Hutchison, he is pretty evil and seems to of managed to get everyone against him! He likes to take the 'michael' out of an inmate named William, otherwise known as 'Wild Bill' in the film. He is played by Sam Rockwell. There is also another inmate with quite a big role, a french man named Eduard "Del" Delacroix who manages to suceed in making friends with a mouse! He teaches the mouse, plays with it 24/7 and the mouse learns tricks! As you can imagine there isn't much to do in a prison cell!
Percy Wetmore, the evil guard decides it will be funny to crush the poor little rodent and does so. Here is where Coffey comes into the film again, 'Del' is devastated at the loss of his mouse friend and as soon as it happens, Coffey notices and decides to help, he takes the mouse declaring there might still be time and sure enough the squashed mouse is breathed into by Coffey and he comes back to life!?
With all the prisoners and gaurds watching with amazement, we see coffeys 2nd spectacular event! However, Percy being the evil man he is, manages to squirm his way into being in charge of 'Dels' execution and he decides NOT to wet the sponge for the execution, no more needs to be said here.
However, the movie moves on and the man in charge of the whole prison has a very mentally ill wife, she has a tumour. It seems nothing can be done to save the woman unless Paul (Hanks) can pursuade his boss to let coffey try to save his wife like he did to himself and the little mouse. Of course Coffey is being charged with murder and rape so it is a big decision to make but the film goes on from there... I say no more.
This movie is everything, touching, magical and amazing. I was fixed to it and this has to be one of my favourite films ever. It is rated 18 but only because of the sometimes, 'brutal' executions. You will find yourself laughing but you will also cry, I can almost guarantee it! This film, although is just over 3hrs long, it really does not seem it, you will be amazed with the plot, the overall acting and scenes, I promise you will NOT be dissapointed. To proove how greater film this is I will just mention that it has had 4 academy nominations! If you haven't seen this film yet, I suggest you take a look into watching it, thanks for reading, cheers emmaxXx :0)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: K.C. Bascombe - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jesse James, Rachel Skarsten, Charles Powell, Linda Purl, Kevin Zegars
Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
"The book was better" has been the complaint of many a reader since the invention of ... more
films.The Green Mileis Frank Darabont's second adaptation of a Stephen King prison dramaThe Shawshank Redemptionwas the first) and is a very faithful adaptation of Kin...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
"The book was better" has been the complaint of many a reader since the invention of ... more
films.The Green Mileis Frank Darabont's second adaptation of a Stephen King prison dramaThe Shawshank Redemptionwas the first) and is a very faithful adaptation of Kin...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is a slightly cynical veteran prison guard on death row in the ... more
1930's. Hi faith, and sanity, deteriorated by watching men live and die, Edgecomb is about to have a complete turn around in attitude. Enter John Coffey (Oscar nom...