Current Events > Watching the green mile, remember this movie?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Gonna see if it still holds up. I seem to remember it being the most egregious example of "magic black man" in Hollywood.

3 hours though damn

Mr. Jingles

10/10 movie.

Remember when he cured Tom Hanks' broken dinker donger

---

Been ages since I read the book/seen the film but isn't Coffey basically mean to be black Jesus?

---

It's a great movie

---

Do all movies need a sniveling weasel who the audience hates

Noumas posted...

Do all movies need a sniveling weasel who the audience hates

Yes.

I can't get over how barbaric electrocution is, even without "that" scene. Ugh its gonna be difficult to watch this. How can there be an audience that's a special type of barbarism...

Literally the only thing I remember about that movie is Michael Clark Duncan grabbing Tom Hanks' wedding tackle and barfing moths.

---

Heartomaton posted...

Literally the only thing I remember about that movie is Michael Clark Duncan grabbing Tom Hanks' wedding tackle and baeking moths.

That is definitely not the only thing you remember about the movie.

---

I hate that they cut out the end scene from the book with his wife on the bus

---

UnholyMudcrab posted...

That is definitely not the only thing you remember about the movie.

You're right, I remember it's set in a prison.

---

Heartomaton posted...

You're right, I remember it's set in a prison.

Death Row, to be precise. AKA "The Green Mile"

Oh. I dont remember literal magic with cgi, thought it was just implied.

Fixed his pee thing, or you know next time maybe just take antibiotics? Not to be all western medicine about it.

The Green Mile is Stephen King's magnum opus

---

FL81 posted...

The Green Mile is Stephen King's magnum opus

the more I think about it, I'm not sure how I feel about Stephen King as an author

yeah, his stories can be captivating... but they're also really, really cheesy
from demonic clowns to undead cats to groovy Anti-Christs, it's kinda hard to take his work seriously

and then there are the adaptations like this one which really only reinforces the cheesiness

Noumas posted...

Oh. I dont remember literal magic with cgi, thought it was just implied.

Fixed his pee thing, or you know next time maybe just take antibiotics? Not to be all western medicine about it.

It's explained in the book, but the treatment back then was sulfur which was really unpleasant. So he kept putting it off.
---

I can quote the movie word for word

---

I just realized the black guy in the dark knight during the prisoner boat remote bomb scene was supposed to be a reference to green mile

Crossover with Shawshank

---

I remember Percy. The actor that played him married like a 15 year old or something.

RIPVyseCity posted...

I remember Percy. The actor that played him married like a 15 year old or something.

She was 16 and he was 50 or something like that. More than three times her age.

---

Holy crap not only was it the same director as shawshank redemption, but they're both books by Stephen King? That's neat.

Noumas posted...

Holy crap not only was it the same director as shawshank redemption, but they're both books by Stephen King? That's neat.

Darabont also did the adaptation of The Mist
---

It is impossible to not remember it because my mom played that one scene at max volume on the speakers. Toasty!

---

pegusus123456 posted...

It's explained in the book, but the treatment back then was sulfur which was really unpleasant. So he kept putting it off.

Fun fact, in the movie he mentions that he didn't want to go to the doctor because he would get prescribed a sulfa tablet (sulfamethoxazole) that would make him nauseous. Sulfamethoxazole wasn't introduced in the US until 1961, way after the 1930's the prison setting is in.

Noumas posted...

I just realized the black guy in the dark knight during the prisoner boat remote bomb scene was supposed to be a reference to green mile

I really dont think theres supposed to be any reference. Theyre just two big prisoners.

---

refmon posted...

I hate that they cut out the end scene from the book with his wife on the bus

Ooo do tell. Spoil me because ive never heard about this.

In any case, great movie. One of the very few three hour movies that doesnt feel like three hours because its easy to get lost in it IMO.

---

Funkydog posted...

Been ages since I read the book/seen the film but isn't Coffey basically mean to be black Jesus?

Oh I get. John Coffey. Jesus Christ.

Wow Stephen King, much clever, very symbolism

Ryven posted...

Ooo do tell. Spoil me because ive never heard about this.

He and his wife are in a bus crash. He begs John to come back and heal his wife as he holds her body. He sees John watching him from an overpass, but his wife dies in his arms. He's the only survivor of the crash.

---

Noumas posted...

Wow Stephen King, much clever, very symbolism

There's much more than that. Always seemed very obvious symbolism to me >.>

The whole killed for crimes despite being innocent
Healing the sick
A friend letting/cause him to die

Probably others I don't remember

---

Great movie, well worth the praise. It's over 3 hours and I enjoyed every bit of it, characters are amazing. To be expected of such a strong cast

Star_FAQs posted...

the more I think about it, I'm not sure how I feel about Stephen King as an author

yeah, his stories can be captivating... but they're also really, really cheesy
from demonic clowns to undead cats to groovy Anti-Christs, it's kinda hard to take his work seriously

and then there are the adaptations like this one which really only reinforces the cheesiness

What I hear is that he's a commercial author who writes to sell, which is why he has so many books he keeps publishing and churning out, while someone else like say George rr Martin writes as more of a hobby that unexpectedly took off, which is why he's been so slow to write and complete a work.

RIPVyseCity posted...

I remember Percy. The actor that played him married like a 15 year old or something.

... so he was a creep/monster in real life too?

Noumas posted...

What I hear is that he's a commercial author who writes to sell

I'd disagree with that quite heavily. I think he genuinely loves to write, so he does it every single day.

---

pegusus123456 posted...

He and his wife are in a bus crash. He begs John to come back and heal his wife as he holds her body. He sees John watching him from an overpass, but his wife dies in his arms. He's the only survivor of the crash.

That... sounds horribly depressing, even more so than the ending of the movie with him as an old man in a nursing home.

Are you saying that the protagonist Paul has to watch his wife die in his arms, like some sort of punishment? And live with that grief?

DavidZ2844 posted...

Fun fact, in the movie he mentions that he didn't want to go to the doctor because he would get prescribed a sulfa tablet (sulfamethoxazole) that would make him nauseous. Sulfamethoxazole wasn't introduced in the US until 1961, way after the 1930's the prison setting is in.

Crazy how much medicine has advanced though, compared to being prescribed that

Noumas posted...

What I hear is that he's a commercial author who writes to sell, which is why he has so many books he keeps publishing and churning out, while someone else like say George rr Martin writes as more of a hobby that unexpectedly took off, which is why he's been so slow to write and complete a work.

Nah, it's more GRR has either lost his passion long ago, or just at a point he has no idea how to finish what he has and after seeing the reception the show got is effectively stuck. Whereas King still enjoys writing.

---

Noumas posted...

That... sounds horribly depressing, even more so than the ending of the movie with him as an old man in a nursing home.

Are you saying that the protagonist Paul has to watch his wife die in his arms, like some sort of punishment? And live with that grief?

It's not the ending of the book, he just talks about it happening years ago. It's a pretty consistent theme for him in the books: he's so old that everyone he knew and loved is gone.

---

But that has nothing to do with outliving everyone, that's just a horrible tragedy that could happen to anyone. It would be another thing if maybe she died in bed peacefully in her sleep after being so old, with him by her bedside.

Also being a centenarian isn't that crazy and unheard of but again I guess this was before modern western medicine so its more impressive.

Noumas posted...

But that has nothing to do with outliving everyone, that's just a horrible tragedy that could happen to anyone. It would be another thing if maybe she died in bed peacefully in her sleep after being so old, with him by her bedside.

It's horrible, but that's life. She's not the only one to die like that. He mentions pretty much everyone's cause of death. One enlists in the army after Pearl Harbor, but dies in a truck accident. Another is stabbed by an inmate just a few months after Coffey's execution. Even the father of the murdered girls was said to have died of a stroke a year later.

And he's 108 at the end of the story with no indication he's dying anytime soon. His wife's death in a bus crash also helps illustrate the mark Coffey left on him. Not only has he had nothing but a cold once a decade, but a bus crash that killed pretty much everyone else left him with nothing but a cut on his hand.

---

pegusus123456 posted...

It's horrible, but that's life. She's not the only one to die like that. He mentions pretty much everyone's cause of death. One enlists in the army after Pearl Harbor, but dies in a truck accident. Another is stabbed by an inmate just a few months after Coffey's execution. Even the father of the murdered girls was said to have died of a stroke a year later.

And he's 108 at the end of the story with no indication he's dying anytime soon. His wife's death in a bus crash also helps illustrate the mark Coffey left on him. Not only has he had nothing but a cold once a decade, but a bus crash that killed pretty much everyone else left him with nothing but a cut on his hand.

Oh ok he was in the crash too missed that part.

Definitely seems like a curse, I can see what he meant at the end of the movie when he says this is his atonement.

Thing is he's still aging even if he's not dying, so that's also sucky. It'd be like that episode of JLU where the sorcerer lost his eternal youth so he only has eternal life now with some horror.

Noumas posted...

I can't get over how barbaric electrocution is, even without "that" scene. Ugh its gonna be difficult to watch this. How can there be an audience that's a special type of barbarism...

You ever watch Monster's Ball? That has one of the most raw and visceral execution scenes I've ever seen. It looks like it would be documentary footage.

---

What I don't understand, is why is he being punished so much when Coffey literally said he wanted to die? Wasn't there a whole scene where Paul's wife tells Paul to ask Coffey himself what he wants, then Coffey states that he doesn't want to live in this world because of all the evil in it or something along the lines of that?

Yet Paul is being punished eternally for following the man's wishes, I don't get it.

Star_FAQs posted...

the more I think about it, I'm not sure how I feel about Stephen King as an author

yeah, his stories can be captivating... but they're also really, really cheesy
from demonic clowns to undead cats to groovy Anti-Christs, it's kinda hard to take his work seriously

and then there are the adaptations like this one which really only reinforces the cheesiness

---

Noumas posted...

Thing is he's still aging even if he's not dying,

I don't think he is, at least not as much. Elaine was very shocked to hear how old he was and he hasn't suffered any of the typical old age maladies.


DavidZ2844 posted...

Yet Paul is being punished eternally for following the man's wishes, I don't get it.

Coffey's power did that for Mr. Jingles too, so it's not like it's personally punishing Paul. It's just how Paul feels and what he believes.

---