Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1994: Bob Gunton in The Shawshank Redemption

Bob Gunton did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Warden Samuel Norton in The Shawshank Redemption.

The Shawshank Redemption has a terrific ensemble from its two great lead performances by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, to the small supporting turns by the other prisoners in Shawshank particularly of course James Whitmore's heartbreaking turn, and as well the two central antagonists of the film. The head of the prison guards Captain Byron Hadley who is brutally played by Clancy Brown, and the man he acts as the brawn for the Warden of the prison Samuel Norton played by Bob Gunton.

The first time we meet the warden he welcomes the prisoners might actually be one of Gunton's most disturbing scenes. He opens up the scene as one would expect a warden from the period. Gunton is dignified and dominant with a certain amount of piety. He is the strict and firm administrator, but we see more to him when after he asks if the men have any questions. One man does ask a question causing just the slightest of indication in Norton that makes Captain Hadley violently discipline the man. Norton doesn't change his expression and in that Gunton shows the true evil of the man in this unchanging expression. The expression shows that such cruelty is something maintained as a commonplace institution by Warden Norton.

In the first hour of the film there is not a great deal of Gunton, but from what we do see of him he is very effective in his creation of Norton as a character. What is important about his performance is avoiding stereotype as the man who claims to believe in the teachings of Jesus yet seems to follow none of them is ripe for cliche. Gunton never gives a cliched characterization to Norton, and one of the ways he does this is that he never lays on the piety of Norton too thickly. Gunton instead lets the hypocrisy speak for itself really and never hammers the idea in. Gunton by playing it this way is able to be far more convincing in his character. He is able to make this piousness in Norton something very realistic, and as something that Norton uses almost to hide the true nature of the man.

Gunton does just hammer on just the evil nature of his character, but instead does well to mediate the character in other scenes. There are the moments where he is just handling the day to day operations and reacts appropriately as a man doing his job his way such as in the scenes of his at first reluctance and later frustrations over some of Andy Dufresne's (Tim Robbins) methods to try to bring humanity back to the prison. Gunton also is incredibly good in his scenes of bring the good Warden to the public even though he is only using the public to make himself rich through bribes which are hidden through Andy's abilities from being a former banker. Gunton smile as he is doing this is just perfect in showing the good public servant hiding the truly devious criminal beneath it.

Gunton's variety he brings to Norton allows the moments when the vile monster to finally come out to be especially effective. His best scene in the film is after Andy has been disobeying him and he comes personally to tell Andy what will happen if he continues on this path. Gunton is rather terrifying as he tells Andy his threat with that soft gentle southern accent. It is a brilliantly handled scene because although Gunton keeps the Warden's fairly restrained style in tact the sheer viciousness and hatred in the Warden as he vows to destroy everything that Andy has worked for is chilling. Gunton's delivery of the threat makes one of the best scenes of the film as he presents us with the absolute worst in selfish and uncaring Warden.

Where James Whitmore's performance expresses the sad truth to what happens to man full engulfed in the institution of Shawshank, Gunton's performance expresses the worst that a man can do through the power given to him through the institution. He does this incredibly well never letting the warden just being a one note antagonist as he very easily could have been, and he realistically represents the dehumanizing element in the story. Gunton's portrayal of the Warden here is a terrific example of being the man you absolutely hate in the film. The degree in which Gunton makes you hate Norton serves the film wonderfully as it makes both Andy's fate as well as the Warden's fate an extremely satisfying ending to this great film.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1994: James Whitmore in The Shawshank Redemption

James Whitmore did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Brooks Hatlen in The Shawshank Redemption.

After having two large delicious servings of ham it is time for a serious change of style as I look at the performance of James Whitmore in The Shawshank Redemption. Whitmore plays an elderly inmate who has clearly been in the jail for a long long time, and runs the prison library. We see his Brooks in the prison where he seems perfectly at home actually. In Whitmore's performance there is no sense of pain or fear rather he seems entirely comfortable in his confined surroundings. Not only does he seem comfortable Whitmore suggests that Brooks all together like being there which enables Brooks to be just a likable old man who seems to barely even think about his incarceration.

Brooks just seems to be one of the characters in the prison, a particularly endearing one, that is until Brooks suddenly has an emotional fit in which he puts a knife up to another man's throat. Whitmore doesn't suggest that Brooks has suddenly become psychotic, but rather this is an intense emotional breakdown from this man as something seriously gone wrong. This of course is understandable as the prison certainly has many things to make a man troubled over, but what causes Brooks to be so upset is that his parole actually has come up. It might seem strange for a man to have such a reaction to being released from jail, but Whitmore is absolutely convincing in portraying the anguish of Brooks.

After Brooks is released Whitmore becomes basically the star of his own short film within the film about Brooks's attempt to try to become part of society again outside of the jail. The scene is done mostly in Whitmore's narration over his physical portrayal of Brooks as he tries to deal with a world that isn't surrounded by concrete. Whitemore is excellent as Brooks just leaves the prison and he suggests just a glimmer of hope in an uneasy smile which conveys more of an attempt at happiness rather than the actual happiness that one would expect from a man finally being release from confinement after having been in there for so many years.

As Brooks attempts to reenter society Whitmore is absolutely heartbreaking in his portrayal of this failure. What perhaps is so haunting about his performance is how well he internalizes Brooks's sadness as he tries to go day by day, but finds nothing worthwhile in his performance. He is incredibly moving in the way he suggests to pain in Brooks in such a subtle yet very affecting. Whitemore never tries to pile on the emotions, he lets them flow gently in and effectively so. He allows us to feel every moment of Brooks's gloomy life as he suffers at his job, is lost in the modern world, and is left entirely alone without another soul to help him with his fears.

This has to be one of the most haunting depictions of a man's suicide in a fictional film. The reason being that Brooks's short time outside of jail isn't that of these big emotional moments that force him into depression then suicide. No it feels all the more tragic as Whitmore portrays his journey as just a man reaching for something yet only finding the void until the point that the only way he can end his suffering is to end his life. The brief moments of trying to be happy, like when he wishes he could see his old bird, honestly bring the tragedy of the man as Whitmore does leave that possibility that if Brooks had something out in the real world he could have lived out his days in contentment.

There is no rush in Brooks to end his life, there is nothing loud in his end, this is the end of a man who has lost what was the only thing that he had in his life which was the prison routine. Whitmore's performance is essential for the film as he stands as the worst example of what can happen to a man who has fallen so deeply into the system set by the prison that he forgets and loses any idea of what there is to the outside world which is the central theme of the film and that which Andy Dufresne tries to fight against throughout the film. Whitmore's personal "short film" alone is one of the most powerful scenes in this very powerful film, and just is a beautiful piece of acting by the character actor. His portrayal of Brooks though serves the whole of the film perfectly always leaving that memory of what could be the fate of any of the incarcerated men who slowly grow to find comfort in the confined and controlled world of the prison.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1994: Gary Oldman in Leon: The Professional

Gary Oldman did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Norman Stansfield in Leon: The Professional.

Leon: The Professional is an entertaining thriller about an assassin Leon (Jean Reno) who saves a young girl Mathilda (Natalie Portman) after her family is massacred by a corrupt DEA agent. 

Having just reviewed Raul Julia in Street Fighter we are staying on actually a similar wavelength with Gary Oldman in this film. Although there is a major difference in that Leon is actually a good movie, but this is a case of strategic overacting just like Julia's performance. Oldman fits the qualifications to be allowed to overact as he has given his fair share of downplayed performances like in JFK, The Dark Knight, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Also just like Raul Julia had a good reason to overact when playing a dictator who flaunted around in a gaudy get up, Oldman as well has a reason to overplay with the nature of his character, the extreme nature of the film, and act as the right sort of counter point to Jean Reno's very restrained performance.

Oldman makes no excuses here how he is going to play this part, and I suppose that might turn some off but not me as Oldman knows how to handle a performance like this. Oldman makes Norman Stansfield a very strange combination of tics and mannerisms, although he never feels like the bad kind of mannered either as he brings this into into the whole mess that is Stansfield. If you really think about everything that there really makes Stansfield an interesting character is found in these eccentricities and without them he very well could have been just a pretty standard cop villain. Oldman definitely will not have that as shown by his very first scene, which Oldman takes a rather unorthodox approach to.

In his first scene Stansfield just has to be a bit intimidating and tell his idiotic stooge that Stansfield is gonna come and kill em if he does not come up with the 100 percent pure drugs. Simple enough I suppose, but Oldman sets out on making Stansfield's threat as memorable as he possibly can. Oldman gets right in the man's face coming uncomfortably close, and proceeds to sniff the man even. This is all very odd, but with this sets up a different sort of intimidation from Stansfield. Many times the psychotic killer is silent and detached, Oldman forgets about that entirely and bases his performance around a guy who constantly talks and doesn't mind getting into the face of a person he is about to kill. Oldman brings the menace to the film through the sheer unpredictability of Stansfield.

 When the stooge does not make good Stansfield goes on his massacre. This scene is Oldman's flamboyance at its finest. He performs it as Stansfield describes like a Beethoven Symphony, who he incidentally portrayed in Immortal Beloved also in 1994, which he begins with pill popping. Never has the reaction to a drug been so absurd yet so brilliant. Oldman's face becomes that of ecstasy, as well his whole body contorts like a snake as he absorbs the drug. After that he begins the massacre which Oldman plays as a perverse dance. As he goes about killing everyone in the apartment of the stooge Oldman has such unending glee as he does it. He is so sadistic yet so light on his feet as he maneuvers through the scene that he not only manages to bring the brutality to the scene yet allows it to be darkly comic.

After most of the family is dead Stansfield takes time out to talk about Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms. This scene is no doubt self indulgence sure, but that doesn't really matter as Stansfield definitely is a self indulgent sort a guy, and more importantly Oldman's performance is one that just is a joy to watch. Oldman is definitely having fun as he dishes out Stansfield's psychotic rant giving maybe a little insight into his demented mind set that treats his games of murder as just music to his ears. It is just fine that Oldman is having so much fun since Oldman's energy actually lets us have the fun right along with him, even it can be rather uneasy fun so to speak considering the subject matter at hand, nevertheless it works completely.

With his Symphony finished Stansfield actually disappears for quite awhile, but Oldman already made his unforgettable impression making it so we never forget his existence even when the film stays away from the character for quite awhile. Stansfield does appear again and Oldman continues to be glorious. One particularly great scene is when Stansfield catches Mathilda trying to somehow kill. It is an amazing scene because Oldman keeps Stansfield so erratic. In the scene Stansfield even sort of apologizes for his crime, and the best part about that is that Oldman actually plays it that Stansfield isn't really even lying when he says something like that but he so out of control he could express a little regret even before he plans just to kill again.

Of course the films eventually leads to the point where Stansfield tries to kill Leon and Mathilda with everything at his disposal. After one group fails we get the penultimate line reading of the film, and just like Raul Julia's "For Me It Was Tuesday" it is immortal. This line is only one word, but what a word it is. Stansfield is asked to clarify who he wants and he does it with "Everrryyyonnneeeee!!!". Oldman rips it out like a primal scream, it very well could have caused a lesser actors head to explode as Oldman's expression certainly seems like his head comes close to do doing so. That line is pretty much a summation of Oldman's entire performance which is insanely entertaining well being wholly insane. It is a genius piece of acting by Oldman, and once again for 1994 I have found that rarest of ham that is oh so delicious.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1994: Raul Julia in Street Fighter

Raul Julia did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying General M. Bison in Street Fighter.

I will admit I have a bit of a nostalgic soft spot for the stupid very light weight action movies of the early nineties like Street Fighter which is based on the fighting game, and depicts the Homeric struggle between the evil dictator General M. Bison and as the head of the not NATO forces Colonel Guile (Jean Claude Van Damme). Having admitted to the soft spot though this film has plenty of elements that can't be enjoyed even in a stupid movie sort of way particularly Ming-Na's cringe worthy performance, but there is one performance though that rises far above the rest of the film, you might be able to guess who gives this performance.

You know ham is a food one can mess up. It is easy to over cook a ham if you leave it in for far too long. Some ham also can just taste a little poorly say if it contains a little too much fat making it far too chewy. There is that treasured ham though that one will search through an endless desert, or traverse an imposing mountain to find. This ham has all the seasonings just right, it is cooked just the right amount of time, and that honey glaze is to die for. With a ham like that it does not matter if it is next to a pile of mush which must have been never alive, or some sort of odd Belgian dish that was invented in Brussels that always tastes a little strangely unless of course it happens to be served on a plate that shares the same name.

Enough about bizarre metaphors this is about Raul Julia whose work allows him to sit in two exclusive clubs. One of the clubs is the allowance to overact, something not all actors can do, but one can usually do if they make compensation with a great realistic performance like the one he gave in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Julia also finds himself in the club of actors who are able to thrive in a terrible film. Now its true there are those bad films that are made just for a performance which sometimes result in a good performance, but that is not what I mean. Julia thrives in an environment that has no real desire for a great performance within itself evidenced by horrendous line readings found in other cast members as well as the general tone of the picture.

 Sometimes it is a bit of test of good actors in how they work in bad movies some like say Robert De Niro don't even try, but some take what they do have and make the absolute most out of it. That is the case of Raul Julia who finds no reason not to have a good time when playing a wannabe dictator with a giant cape, an over the top symbol on his hat, and armor made from red leather. From his opening scene Julia makes it clear that the scenery will be eaten whole by his absurdly wide eyes, and that grin of some sort of maniacal brilliance. In many reviews this might sound like I am getting ready to critique but there is no reason to do this because everything that Raul Julia does in this performance is absurdly entertaining.

You know though this is not a case of Julia just going over the top because he just does not care, no he pains over great detail in this performance, and never does he let M. Bison be just a standard over the top villain in a bad action movie. Oh he'll be the villain sure, but Julia seems hard bent on making sure we as the audience are going to enjoy every scene that he is in because he just does not stop with the energy he brings in this amazingly over the top performance. Of course I don't want to peg him as just over the top though, as just being one note wouldn't quite work, no there is such dedication here that Julia will even quiet his performance down for the need of the character, and yes Julia does bother with character here.

One of my favorite moments of Julia's performance has to be when Bison delivers his Pax Bisonica speech about how and why he wants to rule the world. Honestly I could listen to the speech all day. Julia's delivery of it is so brilliant in his conviction he gives every line of it no matter how insane every line may be. The intensity of it all is outstanding, and the passion he gives every phrase he could almost sell you on that Pax Bisonica. The part I love the most is why he slows down at the end almost like he is Kiss of the Spider Woman and says "And peace will reign and all humanity shall bow to me in humble gratitude." is as Zangief says beautiful.

This movie can be pretty bad at points, but whenever Raul Julia is on screen a smile runs across my face instantly. Now its true sometimes one can get a kick out of a bad performance because it is just so bad, but Raul Julia knows exactly what he is doing here. He knows exactly how to play every scene to just be incredibly enjoyable. If a line is as cheesy as proclaiming "GAME OVER!" when defeating his enemy, Julia doesn't care he'll make it awesome just because he can. Something else that is just spectacular is that he will steal scene, just for the fun of it. The best example of this being when Ming-Na has a long speech about her father being killed and Julia shuts her up completely through that so perfectly self indulgent delivery of the immortal line "For Me it was Tuesday".

To all the actors looking for a quick pay check in a stupid movie by playing the villain of the picture, they should all examine this performance to see how its done. They should know that when you have a line like "This is merely superconductor electromagnetism" you don't half-ass it, no you sell it to the back seats. Or if you have just plain fantastic lines like his last set of lines about Bison viewing himself as god, but will allow one to keep your own god since you should probably pray to him soon, you better give them all the epic qualities that they deserve as Julia does. He takes every line to eleven, and he never stops entertaining when doing so. 

Like the rest of the film Bison, even if had been played by an actor who usually is good, could have been dull or just kinda boring. Julia will not allow that and I don't have any hesitations in saying Raul Julia gives the greatest performance ever in a movie like this. I know this is a performance that is not mentioned often or at all when people mention the great swan song performances, but you know that's just being stuffy. Sure the film is no Kiss of the Spider Woman, or even The Addams Family, but so what Julia's performance shows he did not care that he was in Street Fighter the movie of the game. He was going to give a great performance no matter what the film was about. Now I could complain that Julia has no one to work with here as well as technically speaking he doesn't save the film. But why do that, although he does not make the film worth watching he does make an element within the film worth watching for all its glory. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1994

And The Nominees Were Not:

Raul Julia in Street Fighter

Gary Oldman in Leon: The Professional

James Whitmore in The Shawshank Redemption

Bob Gunton in The Shawshank Redemption

Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction

Alternate Best Actor 1994: Results

5. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai in Chungking Express- Tony Leung gives a nice charming performance even if it is fairly simplistic.

Best Scene The Cop reveals he has bought the snack shop.

4. Ralph Fiennes in Quiz Show- Fiennes gives a strong performance showing both the man performing to become a media sensation, but as well the very well real man whose fairly reasonable desires suck him into creating the false image of himself.

Best Scene: Charles Van Doren confesses to his father.

3. Johnny Depp in Ed Wood-Depp gives a very good performance by creating a genuine character who always stays optimistic no matter how bad he is at his true passion.

Best Scene: Ed talks Bela out of suicide. 

2. Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption- Robbins gives a great performance where he works with the film to create some truly beautiful scenes throughout.

Best Scene: Andy tells Red how he "killed" his wife.

1. Gary Oldman in Immortal Beloved- This one was difficult for me to choose this is one where I won't say this is necessarily final Robbins who is great in a great film, Oldman is a my winner who is great in a sometimes problematic film. Oldman overcomes his film's problems creating a fascinating portrait of Ludvig Van Beethoven, and he manages to be compelling even when the film itself falters.

Best Scene: Beethoven on his death bed. 

Overall Rank:

1. Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption
2. Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction  
3. Gary Oldman in Immortal Beloved
4. Ben Kingsley in Death and the Maiden
5. Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption
6. Nigel Hawthorne in The Madness of King George
7. Xia Yu in In The Heat of the Sun
   
8. Johnny Depp in Ed Wood
9. Ralph Fiennes in Quiz Show
10. Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber  
11. Temuera Morrison in Once Were Warriors
12. Gerard Depardieu in A Pure Formality
    
13. John Travolta in Pulp Fiction
14. Takeshi Kaneshiro in Chungking Express 
15. Tom Cruise in Interview With the Vampire 
16. Bruce Greenwood in Exotica
17. Paul Newman in Nobody's Fool 
18. Terence Stamp in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
19. Jean Reno in Leon: The Professional 
20. Roman Polanski in A Pure Formality 
21. Christopher Eccleston in Shallow Grave
    
22. Elias Koteas in Exotica
23. Albert Finney in The Browning Version
    
24. David Strathairn in The River Wild
    
25. Zbigniew Zamachoswki in Three Colours: White
    
26. Tony Leung Chiu Wai in Chungking Express
27. Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction 
28. Oleg Menshikov in Burnt by The Sun
    
29. Ge You in To Live
30. Jack Thompson in The Sum of Us
    
31. Guy Pearce in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert 
32. Stephen Dorff in Backbeat
    
33. Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber 
    
34. Hugo Weaving in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert 
35. Russell Crow in The Sum of Us
    
36. Wallace Shawn in Vanya on 42nd Street
    
37. Kevin Bacon in The River Wild 
38. Brandon Lee in The Crow
39. Sihung Lung in Eat Drink Man Woman 
40. Michael Keaton in The Paper
    
41. Shah Rukh Khan in Kabhi Ha Kabhi Na
42. Mel Gibson in Maverick 
43. Ewan McGregor in Shallow Grave
    
44. Sean Nelson in Fresh
45. John Turturro in Quiz Show 
46. Nikita Mikhalkov in Burnt by the Sun
    
47. Philippe Noiret in Il Postino 
48. Tim Roth in Little Odessa 
49. Vincent Perez in La Reine Margot
    
50. Woody Harrelson in Natural Born Killers 
51. Leslie Cheung in Ashes of Time
    
52. Jim Carrey in The Mask 
53. Robert De Niro in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
    
54. Tommy Lee Jones in Blue Sky
55. Jeremy Davies in Spanking the Monkey
    
56. Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump
57. Ian Hart in Backbeat
    
58. Andy Garcia in When a Man Loves a Woman
    
59. Edward Furlong in Little Odessa
    
60. Larry Pine in Vanya on 42nd Street 
61. Jackie Chan in Legend of the Drunken Master
62. Harrison Ford in Clear and Present Danger 
63. Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and A Funeral
64. Patrick Stewart in Star Trek Generations
65. Danny Dun in Confucian Confusion
    
66. Tony Leung Ka-Fai in Ashes in Time
    
67. Tim Allen in The Santa Clause   
    
68. Leslie Nielsen in Naked Gun 3 1/3
69. Keanu Reeves in Speed  
    
70. Brad Pitt in Interview with The Vampire
    
71. Stuart Wilson in Death and the Maiden
72. Kurt Russell in Stargate
73. Arnold Schwarzenegger in True Lies
74. Tim Robbins in The Hudsucker Proxy
75. Rob Morrow in Quiz Show
76. John Cusack in Bullets Over Broadway 
77. Tim Robbins in IQ 
78. Jason Scott Lee in The Jungle Book
79. Massimo Troisi in Il Postino 
80. Kevin Costner in Wyatt Earp
    
81. Jeff Anderson in Clerks
    
82. James Spader in Stargate  
    
83. Lee Kang-sheng in Vive L'Amour
    
84. Chen Chao-jung in Vive L'Amour
    
85. Mackenzie Astin in Iron Will
86. Billy Crystal in City Slickers II
87. Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura Pet Detective
88. Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop III
89. Alec Baldwin in The Shadow  
90. Allen Payne in Jason's Lyric
    
91. Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Angels in The Outfield 
92. Rick Moranis in Little Giants 
93. Tommy Lee Jones in Cobb 
94. Brian O'Halloran in Clerks
    
95. John Goodman in The Flintstones 
96. Willem Dafoe in Tom & Viv
    
97. Macaulay Culkin in Richie Rich  
98. Peter Berg in The Last Seduction
    
99. Nicolas Cage in Guarding Tess
    
100. Kenneth Branagh in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein 
101. Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall
     
102. Liam Neeson in Nell 
     
103. Jean Claude Van Damme in Street Fighter 
104. Jeff Bridges in Blown Away
105. Macaulay Culkin in The Pagemaster
106. Dylan McDermott in Miracle on 34th Street
107. Luke Edwards in Little Big League
108. Brad Renfro in The Client
     
109. Michael Patrick Carter in Milk Money 
110. Robert Wuhl in Cobb

Next Year: 1994 Supporting

Alternate Best Actor 1994: Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption

Tim Robbins did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite being nominated for Sag, for portraying Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption.

Despite the Shawshank Redemption having been nominated for best picture and the secondary lead/narrator Morgan Freeman being nominated for best actor, Tim Robbins who plays the primary lead was not Oscar nominated. This in part may have been due to the nature of the character of Andy Dufresne and the way that Robbins plays him. Robbins plays a man who is convicted of the murder of his wife and her lover and is sentenced to life in prison even though he is in fact innocent. Even though that is the case Robbins does not actually go out of his way to make Dufresne likable and in fact shows why he would be unable to gain sympathy from the judge and jury as well why some prisoners would see him as stuck up. 

Tim Robbins does not make Andy the traditional hero of the institution in same way Paul Newman did Cool Hand Luke or Jack Nicholson in One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest, instead Robbins makes Andy a much colder hero who tries to find life in the prison not so much through a intense radical energy, but instead through far more deliberate and precise action. Robbins colder take is the right approach as it allows there to be a mystery in Andy as a character, and not just in regards to whether or not he committed the murder. Robbins as well allows a certain mystery in terms of the motivation of his action within the prison that only adds to his character without making him seem underdeveloped.

Andy Dufresne is not like the rest of the prisoners and Robbins is very effective in portraying this. It is not just because he is an actually innocent man, but Robbins gets across the way Defresne is never just another one of the men. This is not to say he is apart from them or anything close to being a snob as some of the men believe him to be. Instead Robbins brings about this resilience in Andy that is tremendous. It is something quite subtle in his performance, and not really something that stands right out. It is always there in his portrayal though of Andy as there is that extra element in the man that keeps his soul alive even while his body is imprisoned.

Robbins though does not make Dufrense some sort of immortal man, or some otherworldly creature who has a supernatural barrier around. Robbins makes him still a man in a horrible situation, even if he does have that resolve in him not to ever be destroyed by it. He physically captures the role though in the scenes of distress particularly when he is abused by the guards, other prisoners, and the evil warden. The strength in Andy is shown in Robbins's performance by the fact that Andy is never full defeated. There is something within him always that keeps his head above the water, something that always allows him to overcome any hardship that he faces in the prison.

The crux of his performance though is his chemistry with Morgan Freeman's Red the long time prisoner who is also the prison scrounger. Their relationship is interesting one because although the friendship is very understated yet so very poignant. There discussions about life in and outside of the prison are always quiet, but always just so absolutely genuine in the connection Robbins and Freeman portray between the two men. In these conversations Robbins also gets to reveal more to Andy as a character. There is not a lot about his past but in the parts he reveals he is very moving in showing the regrets in the man not due to the murder he was accused of, but due to the mistakes he had made in his past.

Robbins has a certain flow with the material here that brings to life the power of the story wonderfully. It is rather interesting in for the most par this is not one of those loud passionate performances that enforces the theme of the film. Robbins's performance is largely underplayed and his performance works in tandem with Frank Darabont's direction. There are so many beautiful moments in the film and most are a combination of visual, story, music, character, and the performances. Not a single one of these elements overwhelms the other making such an emotional impact. Where Robbins stands within them is in that face of satisfaction, a purely good satisfaction from the humanity Andy manages to bring back to the men within the institution.