Posted: 12/13/1999

The Green Mile

(1999)

by Hank Yuloff

Tom Hanks gives another classic performance in a very human drama from the author and director of The Shawshank Redemption.

Just in time for the holidays …A new movie about miracles we can watch every Christmas. Sure to become a classic. Except that it’s written by the ‘Chancellor of the Creepy,’ Stephen King, and is set on the Death Row of a Louisiana Prison in 1935. Joy to the world. The Green Mile is the type of movie the Academy likes to make best picture. It is epic in length (188 minutes) like Braveheart (177), Dances with Wolves (224), Titanic (194), Schindler’s List (197), and stars some of the best acting talent in Hollywood. But just because a movie makes you cry, is it necessarily a great movie?
I hate to give away too much of a movie’s story in a review because when I REALLY look forward to seeing it, the last thing I want is for the reviewer or the trailer (don’t get me started on trailers) to give me the whole thing. I’ll warn you before I let go of some of the key points so I can give you what I feel would have been the better way out. I will give King and director Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) credit: They don’t give us a formula Happy Hollywood ending… but they could have. And in this case, I really would have preferred it.

The Green Mile stars Academy Award winner Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecomb, the captain of the guard for Cell Block E, death row. He sees himself as a man who is doing the nasty job of killing prisoners while still allowing them their dignity. It keeps the prisoners easier to control. Hanks once again shows us an average man who is making his way through the world attempting to follow the golden rule. In a television interview, he said that he felt he could play an evil person… but I think I prefer he take us inside and feel for the positive men he has played. Like many of his movies, Hanks is once again the best reason to see the film.

Hanks’ life changes when a new prisoner, John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) arrives on his beat. He immediately can tell that this man is different than the others he has seen in his many years at “E.” And through the first half of this movie he is proven correct: Coffey is different. He has a true and wonderful magical gift.

The men of his detail are shown to take their job of guarding and killing the Death Row inmates with the utmost professionalism, Hanks would have it no other way. These men, tough when they need to be, appear to have worked together for many years and enjoy the rhythm they have achieved in their work.

This movie does not have the epic proportions of many classics, it prefers to play “little ball,” with much conversation to develop the story and characters. Very unusual for a movie where all of the key characters are men. Let alone cops.

A couple of noteworthy performances are given by Doug Hutchison as Percy Whetmore, a smarmy nephew of the governor’s wife. As with all movie villains, you really want this bastard to have something bad happen to him—and you’re glad each time.

Michael Jeter (TV’s Evening Shade) is well cast as Eduard Delacroix, one of the death row inmates who you wonder what he ever did to get there.

David Morse (The Negotiator) plays Hanks’ number two, Brutus “Brutal” Howell: and gives the perfect performance to support Hanks in the tough things he must do. And Duncan (Armageddon), plays John Coffey as gentle as he could. I wish they had told us how he came to be in the position he was when accused of the crime. It would help us understand what had been happening to him in his life so we could understand his feelings and decisions later in the movie.

I enjoyed the movie. The question that always is asked about long movies: did it seem like three hours? A couple of times, but the story is well told by director Frank Darabont and when so many movies come out that are disappointing, The Green Mile is worth the time.

WARNING!——-OK, now if you haven’t seen the movie yet (and I think you should), and don’t want to learn too much about the plot, hit the”Back” button on your browser, and comeback after you’ve seen it and see if you agree…Here’s the thing:

At one point in the movie, using his magic, John Coffey will save the life of the prison warden’s (James Cromwell as Hal Moores) wife (Patricia Clarkson as Melinda Moores). He then uses the sickness he takes from her to hurt Percy and an inmate, Wild Bill Wharton, who “are evil and should betaught a lesson.” Then Whetmore kills Wharton and ends up in the same mental facility he was looking forward to working in when he was done enjoying the pleasures that being a jail guard could give him. Ties everything up in a nice package. As it happens, Wild Bill is the man that committed the murders for which Coffey is in prison. WHAT ARE THE ODDS?!!! Through more of Coffey’s magic, Tom Hanks is let in on the truth. He tells his wife the whole story and she asks:” There’s no way out of this, is there?”

YES! YES THERE IS!

Hanks should go back to the parents of the little girls that Coffey was convicted of killing and help everyone put two and two together that Wild Bill is the real killer.

Hank Yuloff lives in Los Angeles, where he can be close to the heart of all that Hollywood madness.

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