Episode 43-Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Stephen Kingcast

Constant Reader

Books, Arts:books, Arts, Tv & Film

4.7 • 680 Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week's edition examine's Frank Darabont's classic film, The Shawshank Redemption. Since it's release, it has become a beloved movie for the audience, and it is often used as a counterargument for anyone who dismisses King as "just a horror author." Be honest: you've probably seen this movie a dozen times at this point. You know it. You can quote it. But does that mean it's as good as you remember? Find out this week on the Stephen Kingcast! As always, write in at stephenkingcast@yahoo.com Follow me on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook and Bluesky. Stay organized and up to date with all things Stephen King at stephenkingcast.com Check out bonus material, early episodes and reviews of all things pop culture over at patreon.com/stephenkingcast

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to the Stephen King cast, one man's musings on the works of Stephen King.
0:06.6	Each week I will review one entry in the bibliography of Stephen King in the chronological order of publication.
0:12.5	But this week I'm not reviewing one of Stephen King's published works, but instead an adaptation of one of his works, an adaptation that is considered to be among his fans, one of
0:23.3	his best adaptations, and among the general movie-going audience, a beloved movie.
0:29.1	It's a feel-good movie, in fact, considered to be one of the greatest films ever made,
0:33.9	and certainly TNT thinks so.
0:36.1	It's a movie that a lot of people point out to non-Steven King fans when they say that they don't like Stephen King because of all the blood and the guts and the scares and this and that. They say, well, what about this movie? Do you like this movie? And people say, yes. And they say, well, that is a Stephen King story. And people go, what? No, that's not possible.
0:56.4	Of course, the movie that I'm referring to comes from the novella different seasons.
1:03.1	The title of the novella was changed slightly to make it a little bit more streamlined.
1:09.4	It's a movie about hope.
1:12.6	It's a powerful movie.
1:14.6	I think that it's one that basically everyone has seen on multiple occasions.
1:20.6	It's a powerful film about holding onto hope in the worst of circumstances, never giving up on yourself,
1:29.9	finding the best in any possible situation, and doing what you can to control what seems
1:36.1	to be an uncontrollable situation. And of course, I'm speaking of Frank Deribant's classic
1:42.0	the Shawshank Redemption.
1:50.3	So I'm going to read some facts about Shawshank from Wikipedia.
1:57.6	In 1998, Shawshank was not listed in AFI's 100 Years 100 movies, but nine years later in 2007,
2:02.3	it was number 72 on the revised list, outranking both Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction the two most critically acclaimed movies from the year of Shawshank's release.
2:06.5	In 1999, film critic Roger Ebert listed Shawshank on his great movies list.
2:11.9	It has been number one on IMDB's user-generated top 50 since 2008 when it surpassed The Godfather.
2:18.8	Readers of Empire Magazine voted the film as Best Film of the 1990s,
	...

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