The ‘Shawshank Redemption’ scene Frank Darabont called “commercial” and “sappy”
Without a doubt one of the best movies to ever bomb at the box office, it remains an inexplicable quirk of cinema history that so little of the ticket-buying public was capable of being convinced The Shawshank Redemption was worth their patronage.
The generations to follow most definitely haven’t been of a similar mindset, with Frank Darabont’s moving and powerful drama now lauded as one of the all-time greats and a stone-cold classic that remains as moving and affecting as ever whether it’s being watched for the first, fifth, tenth, or fiftieth time.
Despite its status as such a beloved film, though, things weren’t always rosy behind the scenes. Morgan Freeman has alluded to several off-camera disagreements with Darabont, to the point he gets openly disenchanted whenever the conversation inevitably turns to The Shawshank Redemption.
The feature-length adaptation of Stephen King’s short story ended on a note that deviated from the source, which concludes on the more ambiguous note of Red hopping on a bus to Mexico in the hopes that he’ll see Andy Dufresne again.
On-screen, the call was made to offer a much more literal finale, with the incarcerated best friends being reunited on the sandy beaches of Zihuatanejo. If Darabont had gotten his way, that wouldn’t have been the case, with the filmmaker adamant that the happy ending was the “commercial, sappy version” designed to send audiences home with smiles on their faces.
However, producer Liz Glotzer wouldn’t be dissuaded and twisted the director’s arm. Speaking to Vanity Fair, Glotzer revealed she was “adamant” The Shawshank Redemption bowed out on a fittingly uplifting note. “If what you intend is that they’re going to get together, why not give the audience the pleasure of seeing them?” she said, which is a fair enough assessment considering all the signs were pointing in that exact direction.
It would have been a real bummer for viewers to become so invested in the ultimate fate befalling Andy and Red following their respective escape and parole, only for things to end without concrete confirmation. Admittedly, removing the final scene from the theatrical cut would offer the exact same implications, but there’s something much more satisfying about knowing beyond any reasonable doubt the BFFs got to live out their dreams of kicking back in paradise without a care in the world.
Darabont did get to deliver one of the bleakest endings to be found in any King adaptation ever when he ended The Mist with the cinematic equivalent of the punch to the gut 13 years later, but that sort of nihilism would have never flown in The Shawshank Redemption, regardless of how much the director tried to fight his corner.
