« Movies  Sunday Classics Matinee: The Shawshank Redemption  by
Robb Reel  And so we begin with the best picture to not win Best
Picture:  What's that you say?  You've seen The Shawshank
Redemption?  Oh, but it was sliced and diced for basic cable or
regular TV?  Then you haven't seen The Shawshank Redemption.  To
avoid any spoilers for the six of you who have never seen any
part of the film, Tim Robbins plays Andy Dufresne, a banker in
the 1940s.  The story opens with Andy on the stand, accused of
murdering his wife and her lover.  Despite protests of his
innocence, he is sentenced to life in a Maine prison.  That's
where he meets Ellis Boyd Redding, played by the unparalleled
Morgan Freeman.  He's "a man who knows how to get things."  Why
do they call him "Red"?  "Maybe it's because I'm Irish," said as
only the Morgan Freeman voice can.  The rest, well... is a
cinematic masterpiece.  Much as Stand by Me was before it, the
film is based on a short story by Stephen King.  In fact, Rob
Reiner made a pitch to a