The Green Mile

Paul Edgecomb didn't believe in miracles... until the day he met one

THE GREEN MILE (18)

D: Frank Darabont

Warner Bros./Castle Rock (Frank Darabont & David Valdes)

USA 🇺🇸 1999

187 mins

Drama/Fantasy

W: Frank Darabont [based on the novel by Stephen King]

DP: David Tattersall

Ed: Richard Francis-Bruce

Mus: Thomas Newman

PD: Terence Marsh

Tom Hanks (Paul Edgecomb), David Morse (Brutus 'Brutal' Howell), Bonnie Hunt (Jan Edgecomb), Michael Clarke Duncan (John Coffey), James Cromwell (Warden Hal Moores), Michael Jeter (Edouard Delacroix), Graham Greene (Arlen Bitterbuck), Doug Hutchinson (Percy Wetmore), Sam Rockwell ('Wild Bill' Wharton), Barry Pepper (Dean Stanton), Gary Sinise (Burt Hammersmith), Harry Dean Stanton (Toot-Toot)

Although he's mostly known for his horror novels, Stephen King has also written a few prison dramas, two of which have been adapted for the screen and directed by Frank Darabont, 1994's The Shawshank Redemption & this, The Green Mile, which has much more of a fantasy element flowing through it.

Set mostly in a death row prison ward during the depression, the guards have their day-to-day activities distrupted when gentle giant John Coffey arrives on the block, sentenced to the electric chair for the murder of two little blonde girls.

Though massive in stature, head guard has doubts over the man's guilt when it emerges that the simple giant has the miraculous gift of healing powers, but his doubts aren't enough to stop Coffey from walking the mile (prison slang for the walk to the execution chamber).

The entire work is a Christlike allegory, very well done and though it has much sentimentality and whimsical fantasy, it's a powerful, emotional piece of work. Not quite as magnificent as Darabont's previous Stephen King prison adaptation, but it's a faithfully-made, endearing piece of work with a great ensemble cast.

10/10

Tom Hanks & Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mike