Cast: Tom Hanks, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt, Michael Clarke Duncan, James Cromwell, Michael Jeter, Graham Greene, Doug Hutchison, Sam Rockwell, Barry Pepper, Jeffrey DeMunn, Patricia Clarkson
Director: Frank Darabont
Producers: Frank Darabont, David Valdes
Screenplay: Frank Darabont based on the novel by Stephen King
Cinematography: David Tattersall
Music: Thomas Newman
U.S. Distributor: Warner Brothers
For his second movie behind the camera, director Frank Darabont has returned to familiar territory. As was the case with The Shawshank Redemption, his previous outing, Darabont has found the basis of his latest in a product of the prolific pen of Stephen King. However, while The Green Mile also takes place in a prison environment, this story introduces an element that was absent from The Shawshank Redemption: the supernatural. And, unlike most King-inspired motion pictures, this is not a horror film. Instead, it's a story of redemption and an affirmation that miracles can be found in the most improbable of places. That makes The Green Mile a dour movie with an uplifting message.
"The Green Mile" is the nickname given to the Coal Mountain Louisiana State Penitentiary's death row. This story, which unfolds primarily within those walls, is told almost entirely in flashback, with a pair of short, modern-day sequences bookending the epic-length account of events from 1935. By approaching things in this manner, Darabont remains true to the novel's structure, but this proves to be a weakness. In addition to recalling another Tom Hanks movie, Saving Private Ryan, the bookends have a tacked-on feel and the "payoff" is neither surprising nor rewarding.
The narrator and main character is Paul Edgecomb (Hanks), the head guard of The Green Mile. Four others work with him - his best friend, Brutus Howell (David Morse); the handsome and somewhat impetuous Dean Stanton (Barry Pepper); the veteran Harry Terwilleger (Jeffrey DeMunn); and the newcomer, a sadist and coward named Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison). Percy has a promotion to a desk job at a mental institution waiting for him - he's only on the Mile so he can see an execution. Paul would dearly like to get rid of him, but Percy has highly placed connections and cannot be transferred until he submits a request.
A new inmate, John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), has come to The Green Mile, joining the two who are already awaiting signed death warrants. They are a Cajun named Eduard Delacroix (Michael Jeter) and a Native American, Arlen Bitterbuck (Graham Greene). John is a giant of a man, but he is quiet, simpleminded, and surprisingly docile - surprising considering the shocking crime he was arrested for - the brutal murder of two little girls. While Percy delights in tormenting the prisoners, both new and old, Paul and the other guards form tentative bonds with them. And, because of that, Paul makes a remarkable discovery about John, and realizes that something extremely unusual may be at work on The Green Mile.
With three hours to work with, it's no surprise that Darabont does an excellent job of character development. Realistically, however, the film probably would have been as effective at about two-thirds of its current length. The material doesn't warrant this kind of lengthy treatment, and the movie's bloated running time hurts its overall effectiveness. Some movies need 180 minutes to reach their full power; The Green Mile is not one of them. The film's ending has a considerable emotional impact - that much is impossible to deny - but it takes an inordinate amount of time to arrive at a conclusion that was the obvious destination. By focusing more on the characters than the plot, Darabont generally keeps his audience engrossed, but there are times when the transparency of the narrative becomes a liability. Admittedly, many dramas are predictable to a certain degree, but it would have been nice not to recognize one hour into the movie almost everything that was going to happen during the remaining two.
Problems aside, The Green Mile is at times a powerful motion picture. The characters are well-drawn and ably portrayed, with Tom Hanks filling the shoes of the likable protagonist as only he can, and Doug Hutchison doing a good job making us hate him. There were hisses in the audience when he tried to stomp on The Green Mile's unofficial mascot, a small brown mouse named Mr. Jingles. Sam Rockwell gets an opportunity to chew on the scenery as an out-of-control, bad-to-the-bone nutcase who is shut up in a cell. Bonnie Hunt, who gets better with every movie, is Paul's wife. James Cromwell plays Paul's boss, Hal, and Patricia Clarkson is Hal's terminally ill wife. But the real standout is Michael Clarke Duncan, who easily acts circles around Hanks - his portrayal of John is often touching and occasionally wrenching. If there's an acting Oscar nomination in The Green Mile's future, it belongs to Dunan, not Hanks. Meanwhile, there's a nice sense of believable camaraderie amongst the guards (excepting Percy), and it's refreshing to see them treat their prisoners like human beings instead of garbage (although, admittedly, we are not privy to any details about their crimes, so it's easier for us to like them).
The Green Mile's most shocking and potentially upsetting scene occurs about midway through, and is disturbing enough to change almost anyone's opinion about the humanity of using the electric chair. (Strangely enough, this makes The Green Mile the perfect companion piece to Errol Morris' Mr. Death, a documentary about a man who "perfected" the electric chair.) It is precisely because of horrors like the one depicted here that only a few states still use "Old Sparky". Although events in The Green Mile are fictitious, what happens during this execution is based on real eyewitness accounts.
Stephen King stories generally come in two flavors - the kind that top level directors fashion into powerful motion pictures (Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption, Dolores Claiborne, etc.) and those that result in schlocky, exploitative fare. And, while The Green Mile falls into the former category, Darabont apparently believes that the material is more profound than it actually is. The film includes a high level of Judeo-Christian spiritual content, and some of the symbolism is spread on a little thickly. Those who can't see similarities between The Green Mile's J.C. and an historical figure with the same initials are wearing blinders.
Darabont's manipulation is skillful, but it's also apparent. The Green Mile is one of those "not a dry eye" in the theater motion pictures. To a degree, the film earns its tears by not taking the easy way out, but almost any other ending would have undermined the many fine things that the director accomplishes during the course of the film. Although it is a solid effort, The Green Mile does not attain the level achieved by The Shawshank Redemption. Some will argue that it's unfair to liken one film to the other, but, by his choice of source material, Darabont has invited such comparisons. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to point out that, taken on its own terms, The Green Mile works; it is an affecting motion picture. Its failing is that it does not meet the expectations of those who were waiting to crown it the Best Film of 1999.
© 1999 James Berardinelli