LogFAQs > #968793040

The Green Mile (1999)
Directed by: Frank Darabont
Written by: Stephen King; adapted by Frank Darabont
Starring: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt
Previous status: Never seen

"John Coffey. Like the drink, only not spelled the same."
"What happens on the Mile, STAYS on the Mile."

This was a longie. A bit TOO long tbh. But the length is really the only knock I have toward this movie - there were some scenes that could've been trimmed out, and I'd think the overall product would be even stronger. Now, worth noting that I'm not ordinarily a horror fan, so the Stephen King things I like are those that are less gory or scary, such as this. The movie made me want to read the book.

It starts with a very retired Paul Edgecomb in a nursing home getting sentimental about an old movie, sentimental in ways that deeply affect him (certainly more than the hilarious Jerry Springer clip - that show is only enjoyable if you take it as parody of the talk show genre). He tells the story of working on death row, and how an inmate named John Coffey changed his life back in the Depression.

Now, it's immediately apparent that John Coffey is innocent. Like this guy is huge, and he's very much black so racists, particularly in places like Louisiana in the 30s, immediately think he's a thug. This is obviously one of the things Stephen King was commenting on, alongside the death penalty - which imho is only acceptable for extreme individuals proven guilty by DNA evidence (which did not exist back when this movie is set) and when carried out swiftly in a simple, painless manner (none of this "waiting 20 years" crap). The electric chair here is too elaborate and painful, and can certainly go wrong as... one idiot certainly proved.

That idiot, Percy, is a very different kind of villain. He doesn't fit the archetype of most villains. He's spoiled and sadistic, yet has connections so he thinks he can get away with whatever his impulses lead him to do; he's essentially an amalgamation of several villain archetypes. He murders the poor mascot Mr. Jingles, only for John to revive the little mouse. This is when it becomes apparent to everyone, as Paul already knew from having his bladder healed (which led to lots of fucking with his wife - zesty!), that Mr. Coffey was something special... and probably someone innocent. And it turns out he was: Billy did it. The same Billy who got hosed for pissing Harry off. John found the two girls and was sorry that he was too late to heal them. That was the only reason he was there! He was condemned for helping because he was black. And the public defender was certainly a racist too, as he compared Negroes (the term he used) to dogs. Like... wut?

Percy wants to watch someone fry, so poor Del, Mr. Jingles' master, has an agonizing death since he neglected to wet the sponge, then played dumb. The punishment was delayed; he got gagged and thrown in solitary, the same place Billy had been, while the guys smuggled the big man out to heal the warden's wife from a brain tumor. This entire sequence is wonderful. When they get back, John regurgitates the tumor into Percy's head, leading Percy to lose his mind and shoot Billy multiple times in the chest for making some homosexual remark. This is absolutely delicious. Both of them got theirs good, and John is relishing in it. After this, Percy's request to transfer to an insane asylum is granted... as a patient. OH HOW I LOVE THAT KIND OF IRONY!

The ending was just... brutal. Well, not the character Brutal (Paul's right hand enforcer), just... brutal. Coffey got to watch the movie that had made the elderly Paul lose it. And then he was taken to his execution, with the parents of the two girls who'd been killed wanting to take it out on him, not knowing the truth, NEVER knowing the truth. Paul shakes Coffey's hand... and unwittingly gets pseudo-immortality. Back in the present, Paul reveals that he's been caring for Mr. Jingles, who's somehow still alive after 60 years, and that's because John gave him a gift of eternal life too. Now, Paul has seen Highlander before, and probably knows the lyrics to "Who Wants to Live Forever?" and believes them. He thinks this is more a curse than anything, since he's 108 y/o and doesn't have any family left. He gets to see everyone he cares about die before him, just for working on death row and allowing John Coffey to die. That said, I don't know if there was a way out of it back then. Appeals were less sophisticated, and a pardon probably wasn't going to happen since the governor was married to Percy's aunt. This event caused Paul and Brutal to both put in their two weeks' notice. They couldn't do this anymore, not after they'd been touched by such a guy, a guy who never deserved to die.

Tom Hanks played Paul Edgecomb perfectly, just as Stephen King had thought he would (he was King's choice, apparently). Michael Clarke Duncan was fantastic as John Coffey, playing the emotions well and making him appear as a very intimidating guy simultaneous with the "gentle giant" he actually is. This is the kind of complexity I like in characters, and it's awesome when actors are able to pull it off (my previous familiarity with Duncan is limited to Benjamin Motherfucking King in Saints Row, as well as Brother Bear [he also was in Armageddon but I haven't seen any part of that in forever]). I also have to mention the direction of the scene where Coffey "coughs" the brain tumor into Percy - that entire thing was fantastic. And the ending was touching and meaningful. Really, the only people who deserve no mercy are those who showed no mercy to their own victims - and are proven innocent beyond ANY doubt. John Coffey was the antithesis of this, and it's sad that this was basically a very real story, with similar biases seen in To Kill a Mockingbird (which everyone over 18 y/o in the US has read).

Really, my only issue is the movie's length. They spent too much time on redundant executions and rehearsals for them, and could have easily truncated the first guy's execution significantly to speed up the reveal of John Coffey's powers, which happens an hour into the movie. That's a bit too late to get the plot really moving. Really, if this were 15-20 minutes shorter, with more scenes toward the front cut down, this would've potentially been a gold. It's still a 5/5, but it's not a movie I see myself watching often simply because of how long it is. @GavsEvans123, you get another nomination; @Johnbobb , I've reverted yours to Brokeback Mountain, so you're back at 5 finally!