Legendary horror author Stephen King has been quite outspoken about theatrical versions of his best novels, and more often than not his criticism has been strongly negative. So it’s a testament to filmmaker Frank Darabont’s creative genius that his 1999 movie “The Green Mile,” an adaptation of King’s 1996 novel of the same name, has been lauded by the cantankerous author as his favorite work to go to the big screen.
The film adaptation mirrors the novel in its content, and the casting choices win on each and every front, with the talent filling roles with an effortless synergy unlike any other movie I have watched; roles they were simply born to play.
The story takes place in the depression era of the United States, limited mostly to the Cold Mountain Penitentiary in the swampland of Louisiana. Paul Edgecomb is living in a senior home, and narrates the events to a fellow retiree, taking the viewer back to “the year of John Coffey and the two dead girls.”
The death row ward in which young Paul (Tom Hanks) supervises is nicknamed ‘The Green Mile’ due to its lime colored floor that serves as a final pathway for inmates en route to the electric chair.
Tom Hanks was recruited for the role of head guard Paul Edgecomb, and with good reason. The Academy Award winner has the perfect reserved but sturdy demeanor in playing the part. Edgecomb is a married father, and one who obviously doesn’t enjoy exterminating the life of convicts, but does his job with professionalism and in a humane nature. Paul Edgecomb is anything but physically imposing, yet there’s no question at all who is in charge of The Mile.
Cold Mountain receives its newest inmate; a behemoth of a man named John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan). The giant John Coffey has mental limitations, advising everyone he meets that his name is “like the drink only not spelled the same” and crying on his first night at The Mile due to a fear of the dark. Michael Clarke Duncan had his breakout role with the character of John Coffey, and I struggle to imagine anyone else being able to master the role as well as he did from both an internal and external way.
While John Coffey’s innocent demeanor and quickly revealed supernatural powers are the focal point of the story, the deep character development on all fronts is what makes you salivate as you watch. Great character actors like David Morse and Barry Pepper are perfect as Paul Edgecomb’s guards. We see James Cromwell as a strong choice for the prison warden, a family man like Edgecomb but with the deeper anxiety of a terminally ill wife.
“The Green Mile” is quite similar to another of King’s film adaptations, “The Shawshank Redemption,” which was also created by Frank Darabont. Like “Shawshank,” “The Green Mile” isn’t standard in-your-face horror, rather offering subtle terror that can work its way deep into your conscious. If given the choice of life in a cold cage with the shadow of death looming over you from down the hall versus a quick slashing at the claw’s of a monster, i’ll take the monster each and every time.
But not there horror isn’t included. One of my favorite scenes is a scheduled execution that goes horribly afoul. Human dignity and morale scruples are put into play, with the backdrop of a dark and stormy night and the physical brutality of the electric chair. Darabont does a flawless job of capturing the horrific moment, from the explosions of light bulbs in the prison to the wild and inhuman antics of a purely evil fellow inmate (played perfectly by Sam Rockwell).
Despite being surrounded by death-row killers, the primary antagonist comes from guard Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison) who relishes in the sadistic treatment of the inmates with a delicious fervor. Percy Wetmore is the polar opposite of Paul Edgecomb in each and every way, from his spineless nature to his thorough enjoyment of mistreating his fellow man. Doug Hutchison is so great in the role, he manages to turn a short and scrawny man into a perfectly monstrous demon, and one of the best and most evil characters created in literature.
“The Green Mile” was nominated for 4 Academy Awards (shockingly not winning any) on its outstanding story and overall creative process. I loved the movie, and I loved all of the characters involved, good and evil.
Don’t be turned away by the 3 hour run time. The movie flows from start to finish with captivating scenes and drama. The extended length offers the perfect depth for its characters, and the result is an all time great movie.
by – Matt Christopher
