Fans Can't Help But Get Choked Up Over This Shawshank Redemption Quote
Throw a rock in any direction of Frank Darabont's prison drama masterpiece, "The Shawshank Redemption," and the likelihood of it landing in the middle of an iconic scene from the Stephen King adaptation is high. The same can be said for the flawless dialogue that's stitched into it. From Tim Robbins' reserved and wrongfully imprisoned Andy Dufresne to Clancy Brown's vitriolic monster with a nightstick, Captain Hadley, "Shawshank" has a host of characters on either side of the prison bars that make it the gem it still is today. But let's be clear: Without the enigmatic and pitch-perfect narration from Morgan Freeman as Andy's good friend Red, it would never have passed the fence.
Our guide through Andy's time in the titular prison before it's cut surprisingly short, Red still stands as one of Freeman's best performances and is blessed with dozens of heartbreaking lines for fans. It's one in particular, though, that now, even almost 30 years after its release, still strikes as hard as it ever did. It's an appropriate level of popularity for not just any iconic quote but one that has a lasting effect simply because it's the closing note of what is still at the top of IMDb's Top 250 Movies, and chances are it won't be budging anywhere. We hope.
Red's last lines in The Shawshank Redemption still pack a punch for fans
On a lovely little r/movies thread that should've come with compulsory boxes of tissues, u/JediTigger asked film fans for movie lines that still move them to tears. After everyone got emotional, it was settled that at the top of the table of tearjerking quotes sits Morgan Freeman's final lines as Red in the classic prison picture: "I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope."
Plenty of people chimed in with just how much of an impact the quote made on them, with u/NerdSupreme75Â saying, "I've watched this movie a dozen times and I know this line is coming and it still gets me every time." Others expressed how uplifting the moment is, with u/DJFreddie10 saying, "That one gives me happy tears. When the 'Brooks was here' scene happens, I always lose it." What's particularly interesting about the icing on this masterpiece-of-a-movie cake is that this standout sequence almost came close to not happening at all.
The Shawshank Redemption originally had an open ending
"Alone in the dark with nothing but your thoughts, time can draw out like a blade." If things had gone as initially planned, "The Shawshank Redemption" would've ended with audiences feeling just like that, left with an uncertain ending and wondering for years if two good friends would ever see each other again (via The Hollywood Reporter). Thankfully, as revealed by Frank Darabont, the relevant tweaks were made at the request of studio involvement to make sure the ending was a happy one.
At the 20th-anniversary celebration of the film at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Darabont looked back on some of the major elements that almost didn't come to pass. "The original script ended with Red on the bus, uncertain but hopeful about the future; that's the way the story ended," he said, referring to King's original short story "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption." But the greater powers intervened, telling Darabont, "After two-plus hours of hell, you might owe them that reunion." Thankfully, he gave them just that, and that rewarding trek toward an old friend became a beautiful ending to an ultimately perfect film.