Liked it
From Flop to Phenomenon
The now much loved and acclaimed Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King, released as part of a 1982 novella and titled Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption was, at release, considered to be a box office flop.
An endearing yet worrying and disturbing tale of a man wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of his wife in the 1940’s (though surely no description is needed – does anyone not know the story) started life as part of a novella collection; it became a film and was generally considered a waste of tape.
So what made this flop into a phenomenon? Did it simply not hit the right audience at the right time and take time to generate a following? Was it because it’s arch rival at the time of release was the story of Forest Gump and that a happier wealth without recognition tale was simply easier to or more readily accepted? Did Kevin Costner really refuse the role and would his name have given the film a little boost? For me the sound of Morgan Freeman’s narration is spell binding enough without the impact of the story.
What ever originally caused it to have a rocky start something along the way gave it momentum resulting in a now all time classic.
