The Green Mile
Aug. 2nd, 2006 03:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wee_mangoI might be biased in my review since this is my all-time favourite movie, but seriously it's brilliant - I can't understand why it did not receive any Oscars! If you haven't seen this film, GO AND SEE IT NOW!!!
Paul Edgecomb is in a nursing home in Georgia and goes for long walks everyday with cold pieces of toast. After becoming upset by a movie on TV, he tells friend Elaine Connelly about the summer of 1935 when he was a prison guard in charge of death row inmates. His domain was called "The Green Mile" because the linoleum floor was green. The star of the cellblock was "Old Sparky," the electric chair, sitting peacefully, waiting for its next victim....
One day, a new inmate arrives. He is seven-foot-tall John Coffey, a black man convicted of raping and killing two young white girls and is brought into E Block by Harry Terwilliger, Dean Stanton, Percy Wetmore & Brutus 'Brutal' Howell. Paul Edgecomb wants to get the 'introduction' over and done with & sends Percy (who has been shouting "Dead man walking!" the entire way to Coffey's cell) away to help out at another part of the Cold Mountain State prison. Percy's arrogant attitude starts here as he leaves reluctantly, breaking Eduard Delacroix's (another prisoner) fingers through his cell bars with his truncheon....
Coffey settles into his cell after asking Paul whether the prison lights are kept on during the night since he is afraid of the dark. After being warned by Brutal that Percy may complain about being removed from the Mile, Paul shrugs it off and eats his lunch outside whilst reading the court transcript of Coffey's trial - it shocks him. Hal Moores, the prison warden, informs Paul that he has received a call about Percy and says that he is thinking of transferring to Briar Ridge Mental Institute for better wages. Paul agrees to put up with him until that day arrives and asks Hal about his wife Melinda, who is due to go for an X-ray to determine why she has bad headaches.
The following night, Paul and Dean are polishing the electric chair when Brutal calls them into the main corridor to meet a tiny mouse who comes up the Mile towards them. It seems very tame as it allows Brutal to throw scraps of food to it. Percy meets it the following day, causing such a commotion when he chases it that Brutal and Paul hurry into E Block only to find him moving all the furniture out of the restraint room out into the Mile. They allow him to do this despite the fact that they did it the night before, looking for the mouse's nest.
Paul informs Percy that in future he handle things calmly instead of yelling, that he'd "do better to think of this place like an intensive care ward in a hospital", to which Percy answers back "I think of it as a bucket of piss to drown rats in....Anybody don't like it? Hmm? You can kiss my ass." Brutal steps forward to put the governor’s nephew in his place as Percy threatens to get him sacked but is stopped by Paul who tells Percy that they will all have a go next time he threatens anyone else.
Later on in the day, the group rehearse an execution due to take place the following evening whilst Arlen Bitterbuck, Old Sparky's next victim, spends some time with his daughter and her family. The next evening he recalls his happiest time (with his first wife) to Paul before being led to the execution chamber. Afterwards, Percy states that he'll be out of Paul's way once he is put in charge of the next execution.
The next day Harry, Dean, Paul & Brutal find that Delacroix (or Del for short) has been able to tame the mouse, whom he's named Mr Jingles, and watch as he fetches a spool Del throws across his cell. Paul is called to Hal's office where he discovers he is to have a new prisoner brought in the following day who killed 3 people (including a pregnant woman) in a holdup. Hal appears to have been crying; Melinda has an inoperable brain tumour the size of a lemon. He bursts into sobs in the office. That night Paul is awoken from sleep by his bladder infection which has gotten so bad that he can't even make it to the outside toilet and is forced to go by the woodpile. He vows to visit the doctor's the next morning.
Before he can do this, William 'Wild Bill' Wharton is brought in from a mental institution, seemingly in a world of his own and pumped full of drugs. Before the guards can get him to his cell, he suddenly attempts to strangle Dean, injuring both Harry and Percy as he does so. He is finally stopped by Brutal using a stunned Percy's truncheon to Bill's head, knocking him out. Paul sends Percy off to fill out a report and tells Brutal to see Dean and Harry off to the infirmary. When they all go, he gives into the pain of the bladder infection (not helped by Bill kneeing him in the groin!) & sprawls out across the Mile floor. Coffey claims he needs to see Paul but instead grabs him, placing his hand on Edgecomb's groin & is able to heal the infection, later coughing up 'insects' and releases them into the atmosphere....Paul then goes home to his wife Jan....and in the morning tells her he never went to the doctor's. He calls in 'sick' to work and visits Coffey's lawyer Burt Hammersmith to find out if Coffey has committed any other crimes before the rape/murder of the Detterick girls. Hammersmith states that Coffey is guilty.
Wild Bill, true to his name, causes trouble for the rest of the prison guards; spitting in Paul's face when told to be civil, urinating on Harry, and spitting out a mouthful of moonpie into Brutal's face, all earning him some time in the restraint room. He also (being extremely vulgar) threatens Percy when he gets too close to the bars of his cell, causing Percy to wet himself (also living up to his name, Wetmore) & Del to cackle with delight. The next day, Paul & Brutal come up with a story about a place called 'Mouseville' where Mr Jingles the mouse will go after Del is gone. In unfortunate circumstances, Percy manages to stamp on Mr Jingles. Paul, remembering how John healed his infection, hands the near-dead mouse to Coffey who heals the animal and once again, coughs up those 'insects'.
Brutal & Paul find Percy cleaning Old Sparky, telling him that the mouse is still alive, knowing between them what really happened. Wetmore is shocked when he sees the mouse & once more, becomes rude and is convinced that Brutal & Paul somehow swapped mice, playing a joke on him. On stating "Just who the hell do you think you are?!", Brutal & Paul slam him into the electric chair, telling him that he will be put in charge of Del's execution, only if he promises to transfer to Briar Ridge straightaway. Word of how Percy just watched Wild Bill almost kill Dean will make its way to his uncle, should Wetmore try & claim that the guards are 'bullying' him. Percy finally agrees, Paul telling him that after making a promise he should shake Edgecomb's hand. As Wetmore reaches forward, Paul yanks him out of the chair forcefully shaking his hand, throws it out of his own and leaves.
That night witnesses start to arrive just before 10pm. The guards come to Del's cell to lead him down the Mile to the execution chamber. Del tells Paul that he can look after Mr Jingles when he's gone. Coffey however offers to care for the little mouse instead & Del tearfully bids Mr Jingles adieu then claims that the guards are good men & how he wishes he could have come to know them under different circumstances. They then begin Del's last mile.
When Del is brought into the room he panics on noticing Percy standing in the centre, but Paul reassures him. Percy runs through the basic speech, Del apologises for his crime and starts to pray in French while the guards strap him into Old Sparky. Del reminds Paul & Brutal about their promise that Mr Jingles will go to Mouseville and they nod. Percy, just to spite Del, tells him that Mouseville doesn't exist and Del is devastated. Wetmore goes to the bucket of water/brine lying nearby with the sponge and instead of soaking the sponge in the stuff, only pretends to and puts it on Del's head with the cap placed on top. Seconds before Percy is to give the order for the electricity to be switched on, Paul suddenly notices that there are no splashes of water on the floor but is too late to do anything. Del is fried alive, causing a stench in the chamber, the witnesses try to get out because of the smell and Percy to get punched (YAY!!) by Brutal in the tunnel afterwards on claiming that he "didn't know the sponge was supposed to be wet".
The following day Paul & Jan visit Hal and Melinda. According to Hal, Melinda is having a good day; on a 'bad' day she would be usually be swearing. Paul invites Harry, Brutal & Dean over for lunch where they come up with a plan to help Melinda after Paul confesses he doesn't think John committed the crime he is on death row for.
The guys drug Bill's cup of cola to knock him out and then put Percy into the restraint jacket and into the restraint room. Dean has the most to lose should the plan go wrong so he stays behind, ordered to tell anyone who passes by that the guards are all away doing the laundry for a few hours.
Coffey is sneaked out under cover of darkness and into the woods where Harry has hidden the truck under tree branches. They arrive at the Moores' house and after slight doubts, they head upstairs where John is able to heal Melinda by sucking out the tumour through her mouth and into his.
Melinda thanks John and as a present, gives him her silver pendant of St Christopher. Coffey looks ill so the rest of the group get him back to E Block. They release Percy from the restraint room and as he goes to walk up the Mile, Coffey grabs him from his cell, transferring the 'insects'/the bad energy from Melinda's tumour into him. Percy seems to be in a daze as he passes Wild Bill's cell and after Bill wakes up from a drugged sleep, Percy shoots 6 rounds into him, killing him where he stands. The 'energy' is released into the atmosphere & afterwards, John asks Paul to take his hand so he can see for himself why he punished Wild Bill - in a flashback, Edgecomb sees that the real killer of the Detterick twins was in fact Wharton, confirming his doubts about John being capable of murder. Hal says to Paul that he'll cover for them as much as possible. Ironically Percy is sent to Briar Ridge Mental Institution (since he seems to be spaced out), the place where he been intending to transfer to....
Paul goes home to Jan and tells her that he feels he's in danger of going to hell because he's about to execute an innocent man with no way of being able to free him. On talking to Coffey, John tells him that he is fed up with the world and "people being ugly to each other" and just wants it over and done with, and for Paul to tell God on his judgement day that he did it out of kindness. As a last request on the night before his execution, John asks to see a movie and watches the Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers flick Top Hat (the same film that upsets old Paul Edgecomb at the start of this film).
The guys walk John down the green mile for the final time and into the execution chamber, where John becomes nervous on seeing the number of witnesses present, including the dead girls' parents, and being able to feel the hatred in the room. As they strap him into the chair, Dean sobs quietly and Paul reminds him to wipe his face before standing up. Edgecomb moves to the centre of the platform where he gives the routine speech of the condemned man being sentenced by a jury and by a judge. When asked if he has anything to say, Coffey replies "I'm sorry for what I am" and asks that the black hood not be put over his face since he is afraid of the dark. The wet sponge is placed on his head & John starts to sing lines from Top Hat and Paul tells him that the electricity will now be passed through his body. Edgecomb, unable to give the order, can only look at Coffey. Brutal whispers to Paul that he has to do it and Paul steps up to the platform, taking Coffey's hand. As he does so, John's last thought goes through his mind: "He kill 'em with they love. That's the way it is ev'rday, all over the world." Edgecomb steps back with tears in his eyes, forcing himself to say "Roll on two" and the current is switched on.
After the execution, Paul replaces the silver pendant on Coffey's body and Brutal takes it away on the gurney down the tunnel. As an old man now, Paul tells Elaine that Coffey's execution was the last one he ever did and transferred with Brutal to another prison - "I just couldn't do it anymore after that." Him and Elaine go for a walk to a little shed out in the woods behind the nursing home where Paul introduces her to a familiar face; a very old Mr Jingles the mouse, still alive 60 years later who has been receiving the cold slices of toast. Edgecomb reveals that he's 108 years old (44 in 1935) and that his 'curse' for not stopping Coffey's execution was that he would outlive all his relatives and friends; as he puts it, he would have to walk his own "green mile."
The movie ends with Elaine dying and of course Paul is there at her funeral. As he lies in bed that night (as does Mr Jingles) he tells us "We each owe a death. There are no exceptions but...sometimes, the green mile seems so long."
Pics from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120689/ & http://www.davidmorse.org/
Plot by me :)
I first came across this movie in February last year and loved it but it kind of stayed with me for a week after viewing it, probably because it's so sad!! And I'll bet that things like that happened in the past; people wrongly convicted of stuff like that and then sent to their deaths. :( I still sob whenever I watch it, I can't not cry; Thomas Newman's beautiful score throughout Coffey's execution scene doesn't help!!
But the music makes it my favourite scene - go figure, my fave scene is the saddest in the whole film!
The usual drill then; fave/memorable moments/quotes/scenes ahead:
- I loved Mr Jingles the mouse!! Too cute, but felt sorry for him at the end when he's still alive 60 years after the movie's events have taken place. ♥
- Paul Edgecomb: John, tell me what you want me to do. You want me to take you out of here? Just let you run away? See how far you can get?
John Coffey: Why would you do such a foolish thing?
Paul Edgecomb: On the day of my judgement, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I going to say? That it was my job? My job?
- [during Bitterbuck's rehearsal execution]
Brutus "Brutal" Howell: Arlen Bitterbuck, you have been condemned to die by a jury of your peers, sentence imposed by a judge in good standing in this state. Do you have anything to say before the sentence is carried out?
Toot-Toot: [gleefully] Yeah! I want a fried chicken dinner with gravy on the taters, I want to shit in your hat, and I got to have Mae West sit on my face, because I am one horny motherfucker!
[everyone but Paul laughs hysterically]
Paul Edgecomb: Toot, one more remark like that and I'll have Van Hay roll on two for real.
- The look on Paul's face when he stops Brutal talking to Percy about how they already searched the restraint room for the mouse, and the return look on Brutal's face when he catches on. ;)
- Wild Bill spitting out the moonpie onto Brutal's face - I wonder how many times poor David Morse had to have Sam Rockwell spit that onto him!!
- Paul Edgecomb: [about Coffey] I don't think he did it at all. I do not see God putting a gift like that in the hands of a man who would kill a child.
- I cannot put into words how pleased I was when Percy finally got hit (so hard he fell into the wall behind him); seriously, the first time I saw this movie I thought if someone didn't punch him I'd put my fist through the TV screen LMAO!!
- John Coffey - I wanted to hug him so much and prayed during the first viewing that the gang (Harry, Dean, Brutal & Paul) would find some way of being able to free him/prove his innocence.
- Paul's face when going to the toilet after Coffey heals his bladder infection; finally able to pee without pain!! ;) :D
- [Edgecomb gives Coffey some cornbread]
John Coffey: I'm smelling me some cornbread.
Paul Edgecomb: It's from my missus. She wanted to thank you.
John Coffey: Thank me for what?
Paul Edgecomb: You know. For helpin' me.
John Coffey: Helpin' you with what?
Paul Edgecomb: You know....[points to his groin]
John Coffey: [smiles] Oooooh....Was your missus pleased?
Paul Edgecomb: Several times.
- I wanted to hit Percy so much when he told Del that there was no such place as Mouseville; he had to go & spoil it for Del who was minutes away from death. Little assh*le....grrrr....
- Liked how Brutal (my fave character ♥) stood up for himself when he punched Percy after Del's botched execution as Paul pulled him off: "Whaddya mean no?! How can you say no?! You saw what he did!! So he just gets away with it, is that how it works?!!"
- The scene when we see Mr Jingles for the first time:
[looking for the mouse in the restraint room]
Paul Edgecomb: [to Dean Stanton who is standing in the doorway with a broom] You let him get past you.
Dean Stanton: No I did not. I've been here all the time.
Brutus "Brutal" Howell: So where the hell is he?
Dean Stanton: I dunno.
Brutus "Brutal" Howell: Three grown men....outsmarted by a mouse.
- Harry Terwilliger: Piss on ME?
[he sprays Wild Bill with a fire hose]
- Paul Edgecomb: We all know who your connections are Percy. You ever threaten a man on this block again we're all gonna have a go. The job be damned.
Percy Wetmore: You done?
Paul Edgecomb: Get all this shit back in the restraint room, you are cluttering up my mile.
- The irony of Percy Wetmore ending up (for life) in the very place he wanted to transfer to, due to 'insanity' - what goes around comes around. ;)
- [Eduard has just been executed, and Paul comes up to the Mile to find Wild Bill sitting on his bed, ripping out chunks of his pillow and throwing the feathers around, singing loudly]
William 'Wild Bill' Wharton: Barbecue, me and you! Stinky pinky, pew, pew, peeeew! Weren't Billy, Hilly, Jilly or Bob! It was a french-fried Cajun named Delacroix!
Paul Edgecomb: [Paul roughly hits his baton against Wild Bill's bars] You are about ten seconds away from spending the rest of your life in the padded room!
[Wild Bill, who never takes an order or refuses to give out mayhem, stops immediately]
- Thomas Newman's score throughout the film, particularly during Coffey's execution, when the guys take him to Hal's house and during the end credits.
- John's tearful reminder that he doesn't want to be put in the dark as Harry goes to put the black hood over his head.
- Brutal having to remind Paul to give the order ("You have to say it. You have to give the order.") to execute Coffey because he can't say the words.
- Tom Hanks'/Paul's teary-eyed face as he steps back from John, saying "Roll on two". :(
A Special Edition of this movie is coming out later in the year - YEEEEAAAAAHH!!!
OMGLOOKITSHINYARTWORKCOVER!! (http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/the-green-mile.html)
♥
Paul Edgecomb is in a nursing home in Georgia and goes for long walks everyday with cold pieces of toast. After becoming upset by a movie on TV, he tells friend Elaine Connelly about the summer of 1935 when he was a prison guard in charge of death row inmates. His domain was called "The Green Mile" because the linoleum floor was green. The star of the cellblock was "Old Sparky," the electric chair, sitting peacefully, waiting for its next victim....
One day, a new inmate arrives. He is seven-foot-tall John Coffey, a black man convicted of raping and killing two young white girls and is brought into E Block by Harry Terwilliger, Dean Stanton, Percy Wetmore & Brutus 'Brutal' Howell. Paul Edgecomb wants to get the 'introduction' over and done with & sends Percy (who has been shouting "Dead man walking!" the entire way to Coffey's cell) away to help out at another part of the Cold Mountain State prison. Percy's arrogant attitude starts here as he leaves reluctantly, breaking Eduard Delacroix's (another prisoner) fingers through his cell bars with his truncheon....
Coffey settles into his cell after asking Paul whether the prison lights are kept on during the night since he is afraid of the dark. After being warned by Brutal that Percy may complain about being removed from the Mile, Paul shrugs it off and eats his lunch outside whilst reading the court transcript of Coffey's trial - it shocks him. Hal Moores, the prison warden, informs Paul that he has received a call about Percy and says that he is thinking of transferring to Briar Ridge Mental Institute for better wages. Paul agrees to put up with him until that day arrives and asks Hal about his wife Melinda, who is due to go for an X-ray to determine why she has bad headaches.
The following night, Paul and Dean are polishing the electric chair when Brutal calls them into the main corridor to meet a tiny mouse who comes up the Mile towards them. It seems very tame as it allows Brutal to throw scraps of food to it. Percy meets it the following day, causing such a commotion when he chases it that Brutal and Paul hurry into E Block only to find him moving all the furniture out of the restraint room out into the Mile. They allow him to do this despite the fact that they did it the night before, looking for the mouse's nest.
Paul informs Percy that in future he handle things calmly instead of yelling, that he'd "do better to think of this place like an intensive care ward in a hospital", to which Percy answers back "I think of it as a bucket of piss to drown rats in....Anybody don't like it? Hmm? You can kiss my ass." Brutal steps forward to put the governor’s nephew in his place as Percy threatens to get him sacked but is stopped by Paul who tells Percy that they will all have a go next time he threatens anyone else.
Later on in the day, the group rehearse an execution due to take place the following evening whilst Arlen Bitterbuck, Old Sparky's next victim, spends some time with his daughter and her family. The next evening he recalls his happiest time (with his first wife) to Paul before being led to the execution chamber. Afterwards, Percy states that he'll be out of Paul's way once he is put in charge of the next execution.
The next day Harry, Dean, Paul & Brutal find that Delacroix (or Del for short) has been able to tame the mouse, whom he's named Mr Jingles, and watch as he fetches a spool Del throws across his cell. Paul is called to Hal's office where he discovers he is to have a new prisoner brought in the following day who killed 3 people (including a pregnant woman) in a holdup. Hal appears to have been crying; Melinda has an inoperable brain tumour the size of a lemon. He bursts into sobs in the office. That night Paul is awoken from sleep by his bladder infection which has gotten so bad that he can't even make it to the outside toilet and is forced to go by the woodpile. He vows to visit the doctor's the next morning.
Before he can do this, William 'Wild Bill' Wharton is brought in from a mental institution, seemingly in a world of his own and pumped full of drugs. Before the guards can get him to his cell, he suddenly attempts to strangle Dean, injuring both Harry and Percy as he does so. He is finally stopped by Brutal using a stunned Percy's truncheon to Bill's head, knocking him out. Paul sends Percy off to fill out a report and tells Brutal to see Dean and Harry off to the infirmary. When they all go, he gives into the pain of the bladder infection (not helped by Bill kneeing him in the groin!) & sprawls out across the Mile floor. Coffey claims he needs to see Paul but instead grabs him, placing his hand on Edgecomb's groin & is able to heal the infection, later coughing up 'insects' and releases them into the atmosphere....Paul then goes home to his wife Jan....and in the morning tells her he never went to the doctor's. He calls in 'sick' to work and visits Coffey's lawyer Burt Hammersmith to find out if Coffey has committed any other crimes before the rape/murder of the Detterick girls. Hammersmith states that Coffey is guilty.
Wild Bill, true to his name, causes trouble for the rest of the prison guards; spitting in Paul's face when told to be civil, urinating on Harry, and spitting out a mouthful of moonpie into Brutal's face, all earning him some time in the restraint room. He also (being extremely vulgar) threatens Percy when he gets too close to the bars of his cell, causing Percy to wet himself (also living up to his name, Wetmore) & Del to cackle with delight. The next day, Paul & Brutal come up with a story about a place called 'Mouseville' where Mr Jingles the mouse will go after Del is gone. In unfortunate circumstances, Percy manages to stamp on Mr Jingles. Paul, remembering how John healed his infection, hands the near-dead mouse to Coffey who heals the animal and once again, coughs up those 'insects'.
Brutal & Paul find Percy cleaning Old Sparky, telling him that the mouse is still alive, knowing between them what really happened. Wetmore is shocked when he sees the mouse & once more, becomes rude and is convinced that Brutal & Paul somehow swapped mice, playing a joke on him. On stating "Just who the hell do you think you are?!", Brutal & Paul slam him into the electric chair, telling him that he will be put in charge of Del's execution, only if he promises to transfer to Briar Ridge straightaway. Word of how Percy just watched Wild Bill almost kill Dean will make its way to his uncle, should Wetmore try & claim that the guards are 'bullying' him. Percy finally agrees, Paul telling him that after making a promise he should shake Edgecomb's hand. As Wetmore reaches forward, Paul yanks him out of the chair forcefully shaking his hand, throws it out of his own and leaves.
That night witnesses start to arrive just before 10pm. The guards come to Del's cell to lead him down the Mile to the execution chamber. Del tells Paul that he can look after Mr Jingles when he's gone. Coffey however offers to care for the little mouse instead & Del tearfully bids Mr Jingles adieu then claims that the guards are good men & how he wishes he could have come to know them under different circumstances. They then begin Del's last mile.
When Del is brought into the room he panics on noticing Percy standing in the centre, but Paul reassures him. Percy runs through the basic speech, Del apologises for his crime and starts to pray in French while the guards strap him into Old Sparky. Del reminds Paul & Brutal about their promise that Mr Jingles will go to Mouseville and they nod. Percy, just to spite Del, tells him that Mouseville doesn't exist and Del is devastated. Wetmore goes to the bucket of water/brine lying nearby with the sponge and instead of soaking the sponge in the stuff, only pretends to and puts it on Del's head with the cap placed on top. Seconds before Percy is to give the order for the electricity to be switched on, Paul suddenly notices that there are no splashes of water on the floor but is too late to do anything. Del is fried alive, causing a stench in the chamber, the witnesses try to get out because of the smell and Percy to get punched (YAY!!) by Brutal in the tunnel afterwards on claiming that he "didn't know the sponge was supposed to be wet".
The following day Paul & Jan visit Hal and Melinda. According to Hal, Melinda is having a good day; on a 'bad' day she would be usually be swearing. Paul invites Harry, Brutal & Dean over for lunch where they come up with a plan to help Melinda after Paul confesses he doesn't think John committed the crime he is on death row for.
The guys drug Bill's cup of cola to knock him out and then put Percy into the restraint jacket and into the restraint room. Dean has the most to lose should the plan go wrong so he stays behind, ordered to tell anyone who passes by that the guards are all away doing the laundry for a few hours.
Coffey is sneaked out under cover of darkness and into the woods where Harry has hidden the truck under tree branches. They arrive at the Moores' house and after slight doubts, they head upstairs where John is able to heal Melinda by sucking out the tumour through her mouth and into his.
Melinda thanks John and as a present, gives him her silver pendant of St Christopher. Coffey looks ill so the rest of the group get him back to E Block. They release Percy from the restraint room and as he goes to walk up the Mile, Coffey grabs him from his cell, transferring the 'insects'/the bad energy from Melinda's tumour into him. Percy seems to be in a daze as he passes Wild Bill's cell and after Bill wakes up from a drugged sleep, Percy shoots 6 rounds into him, killing him where he stands. The 'energy' is released into the atmosphere & afterwards, John asks Paul to take his hand so he can see for himself why he punished Wild Bill - in a flashback, Edgecomb sees that the real killer of the Detterick twins was in fact Wharton, confirming his doubts about John being capable of murder. Hal says to Paul that he'll cover for them as much as possible. Ironically Percy is sent to Briar Ridge Mental Institution (since he seems to be spaced out), the place where he been intending to transfer to....
Paul goes home to Jan and tells her that he feels he's in danger of going to hell because he's about to execute an innocent man with no way of being able to free him. On talking to Coffey, John tells him that he is fed up with the world and "people being ugly to each other" and just wants it over and done with, and for Paul to tell God on his judgement day that he did it out of kindness. As a last request on the night before his execution, John asks to see a movie and watches the Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers flick Top Hat (the same film that upsets old Paul Edgecomb at the start of this film).
The guys walk John down the green mile for the final time and into the execution chamber, where John becomes nervous on seeing the number of witnesses present, including the dead girls' parents, and being able to feel the hatred in the room. As they strap him into the chair, Dean sobs quietly and Paul reminds him to wipe his face before standing up. Edgecomb moves to the centre of the platform where he gives the routine speech of the condemned man being sentenced by a jury and by a judge. When asked if he has anything to say, Coffey replies "I'm sorry for what I am" and asks that the black hood not be put over his face since he is afraid of the dark. The wet sponge is placed on his head & John starts to sing lines from Top Hat and Paul tells him that the electricity will now be passed through his body. Edgecomb, unable to give the order, can only look at Coffey. Brutal whispers to Paul that he has to do it and Paul steps up to the platform, taking Coffey's hand. As he does so, John's last thought goes through his mind: "He kill 'em with they love. That's the way it is ev'rday, all over the world." Edgecomb steps back with tears in his eyes, forcing himself to say "Roll on two" and the current is switched on.
After the execution, Paul replaces the silver pendant on Coffey's body and Brutal takes it away on the gurney down the tunnel. As an old man now, Paul tells Elaine that Coffey's execution was the last one he ever did and transferred with Brutal to another prison - "I just couldn't do it anymore after that." Him and Elaine go for a walk to a little shed out in the woods behind the nursing home where Paul introduces her to a familiar face; a very old Mr Jingles the mouse, still alive 60 years later who has been receiving the cold slices of toast. Edgecomb reveals that he's 108 years old (44 in 1935) and that his 'curse' for not stopping Coffey's execution was that he would outlive all his relatives and friends; as he puts it, he would have to walk his own "green mile."
The movie ends with Elaine dying and of course Paul is there at her funeral. As he lies in bed that night (as does Mr Jingles) he tells us "We each owe a death. There are no exceptions but...sometimes, the green mile seems so long."
Pics from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120689/ & http://www.davidmorse.org/
Plot by me :)
I first came across this movie in February last year and loved it but it kind of stayed with me for a week after viewing it, probably because it's so sad!! And I'll bet that things like that happened in the past; people wrongly convicted of stuff like that and then sent to their deaths. :( I still sob whenever I watch it, I can't not cry; Thomas Newman's beautiful score throughout Coffey's execution scene doesn't help!!
But the music makes it my favourite scene - go figure, my fave scene is the saddest in the whole film!The usual drill then; fave/memorable moments/quotes/scenes ahead:
- I loved Mr Jingles the mouse!! Too cute, but felt sorry for him at the end when he's still alive 60 years after the movie's events have taken place. ♥
- Paul Edgecomb: John, tell me what you want me to do. You want me to take you out of here? Just let you run away? See how far you can get?
John Coffey: Why would you do such a foolish thing?
Paul Edgecomb: On the day of my judgement, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I going to say? That it was my job? My job?
- [during Bitterbuck's rehearsal execution]
Brutus "Brutal" Howell: Arlen Bitterbuck, you have been condemned to die by a jury of your peers, sentence imposed by a judge in good standing in this state. Do you have anything to say before the sentence is carried out?
Toot-Toot: [gleefully] Yeah! I want a fried chicken dinner with gravy on the taters, I want to shit in your hat, and I got to have Mae West sit on my face, because I am one horny motherfucker!
[everyone but Paul laughs hysterically]
Paul Edgecomb: Toot, one more remark like that and I'll have Van Hay roll on two for real.
- The look on Paul's face when he stops Brutal talking to Percy about how they already searched the restraint room for the mouse, and the return look on Brutal's face when he catches on. ;)
- Wild Bill spitting out the moonpie onto Brutal's face - I wonder how many times poor David Morse had to have Sam Rockwell spit that onto him!!
- Paul Edgecomb: [about Coffey] I don't think he did it at all. I do not see God putting a gift like that in the hands of a man who would kill a child.
- I cannot put into words how pleased I was when Percy finally got hit (so hard he fell into the wall behind him); seriously, the first time I saw this movie I thought if someone didn't punch him I'd put my fist through the TV screen LMAO!!
- John Coffey - I wanted to hug him so much and prayed during the first viewing that the gang (Harry, Dean, Brutal & Paul) would find some way of being able to free him/prove his innocence.
- Paul's face when going to the toilet after Coffey heals his bladder infection; finally able to pee without pain!! ;) :D
- [Edgecomb gives Coffey some cornbread]
John Coffey: I'm smelling me some cornbread.
Paul Edgecomb: It's from my missus. She wanted to thank you.
John Coffey: Thank me for what?
Paul Edgecomb: You know. For helpin' me.
John Coffey: Helpin' you with what?
Paul Edgecomb: You know....[points to his groin]
John Coffey: [smiles] Oooooh....Was your missus pleased?
Paul Edgecomb: Several times.
- I wanted to hit Percy so much when he told Del that there was no such place as Mouseville; he had to go & spoil it for Del who was minutes away from death. Little assh*le....grrrr....
- Liked how Brutal (my fave character ♥) stood up for himself when he punched Percy after Del's botched execution as Paul pulled him off: "Whaddya mean no?! How can you say no?! You saw what he did!! So he just gets away with it, is that how it works?!!"
- The scene when we see Mr Jingles for the first time:
[looking for the mouse in the restraint room]
Paul Edgecomb: [to Dean Stanton who is standing in the doorway with a broom] You let him get past you.
Dean Stanton: No I did not. I've been here all the time.
Brutus "Brutal" Howell: So where the hell is he?
Dean Stanton: I dunno.
Brutus "Brutal" Howell: Three grown men....outsmarted by a mouse.
- Harry Terwilliger: Piss on ME?
[he sprays Wild Bill with a fire hose]
- Paul Edgecomb: We all know who your connections are Percy. You ever threaten a man on this block again we're all gonna have a go. The job be damned.
Percy Wetmore: You done?
Paul Edgecomb: Get all this shit back in the restraint room, you are cluttering up my mile.
- The irony of Percy Wetmore ending up (for life) in the very place he wanted to transfer to, due to 'insanity' - what goes around comes around. ;)
- [Eduard has just been executed, and Paul comes up to the Mile to find Wild Bill sitting on his bed, ripping out chunks of his pillow and throwing the feathers around, singing loudly]
William 'Wild Bill' Wharton: Barbecue, me and you! Stinky pinky, pew, pew, peeeew! Weren't Billy, Hilly, Jilly or Bob! It was a french-fried Cajun named Delacroix!
Paul Edgecomb: [Paul roughly hits his baton against Wild Bill's bars] You are about ten seconds away from spending the rest of your life in the padded room!
[Wild Bill, who never takes an order or refuses to give out mayhem, stops immediately]
- Thomas Newman's score throughout the film, particularly during Coffey's execution, when the guys take him to Hal's house and during the end credits.
- John's tearful reminder that he doesn't want to be put in the dark as Harry goes to put the black hood over his head.
- Brutal having to remind Paul to give the order ("You have to say it. You have to give the order.") to execute Coffey because he can't say the words.
- Tom Hanks'/Paul's teary-eyed face as he steps back from John, saying "Roll on two". :(
A Special Edition of this movie is coming out later in the year - YEEEEAAAAAHH!!!
OMGLOOKITSHINYARTWORKCOVER!! (http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/the-green-mile.html)♥
