Spoiler commetns on "The Shawshank Redemption."

Quote: AZDuffman

Prisons are just for people who need to pass time because they can't handle life.

A lot of them are dumb guys who
failed the cop tests. So they do this
because they get a uniform and
authority, which is what they really
want. Some of them even get to carry
guns.

Quote: Evenbob

A lot of them are dumb guys who
failed the cop tests. So they do this
because they get a uniform and
authority, which is what they really
want. Some of them even get to carry
guns.

Once one really talked like a total jerk to me. I wrote a letter to the warden. I know nothing came of it, but boy was I po'ed he acted like he did. Dude talked to me like I was a guest of New York. He might be a captain by now. In free society dealing with the public based on his people skills I would not have given him a mop job.

Quote: Evenbob

The director said he got the narration idea from Goodfellas.

Narration is not always intended by the director, and in some cases they are forced to add a narrator because some executives feel it isn't comprehensible. Blade Runner is probably the best known film where the narration was added by request of executives (and against the wishes of the director).

One of my favorite narrations begins as follows. Can you identify the movie?

• People were always asking me, did I know Tyler Durden.
• With a gun barrel between your teeth, you only speak in vowels. Jack tongues the barrel to the side of his mouth.
• With my tongue, I can feel the rifling in the barrel. For a second, I totally forgot about Tyler's whole controlled demolition thing and I wondered how clean this gun is.
• That old saying, how you always hurt the one you love, well, it works both way.
• We have front row seats for this Theater of Mass Destruction. The Demolitions Committee of Project Mayhem wrapped the foundation columns of ten buildings with blasting gelatin. In two minutes, primary charges will blow base charges, and those buildings will be reduced to smoldering rubble. I know this because Tyler knows this.
• Somehow, I realize all of this -- the gun, the bombs, the revolution -- is really about Marla Singer.

Fight Club, which I found to be very
disappointing. Not what I expected
at all. I don't like movies where they
lead you to believe one thing is going
on, when in reality the main character
is just a whack job.

Quote: Pacomartin

Narration is not always intended by the director, and in some cases they are forced to add a narrator because some executives feel it isn't comprehensible. Blade Runner is probably the best known film where the narration was added by request of executives (and against the wishes of the director).

Overvalued movie...

You know what could have used narration, or even plain dialogue? 2001. What the hell happens after Bowman steps off the ship the last time is pure gibberish. Yes, I've read the book (overvalued novel) and the sequels (one decent one). Clarke was at his best with short stories anyway.

Books have a density of information that's hard to translate to the screen intact, or in some cases even in a comprehensible form. One notable exception is the Italian movie "Noi Vivi." They had no real script, so they pretty much shot the entire book scene by scene as far as the budget allowed.

Of course some movies don't even care what the book is about. That's how you get an abortion like "The Bicentennial Man," which bears only a very slight, very distant resemblance to Asimov's masterpiece.

That said, I would love to do a movie adaptation of "The End of Eternity." It would require narration, additional characters (there are four real characters in the entire novel: Andrew, Noys, Twisell and Finge) for exposition, and date headings for each scene (ie "Date: 11,509 AD. Physiotime 625." and near the end "Date 1925 AD Physiotime 626"). It would be quite a chore.