The Shawshank Redemption versus Forrest Gump versus Pulp Fiction

[John Corn]

In my opinion, these three films are wonderful......... But which one is the best........

I pick Shawshank............


Who do you pick?

[jrjcd]

shawshank, without a doubt....

[EricG]

Shawshank

Pulp

Forrest

[gcutler]

Another Vote for Shawshank. There were sooooo many good actors and characters and scenes.

[Steve Mehs]

Shawshank! Gotta stick with SK :)

[leestoo]

Shawshank - my favorite movie based on a Stephen King story

[kmccoach]

Has to be Shawshank. The only movie that will stop me from watching anything else when it is on TNT.

[gcutler]

Such quotes as "Let me tell you something, Hope Can be a mighty dangerous thing..."

[gcutler]

Now lets switch the movies around, Shawshank vs Braveheart. As that point the decision becomes a little harder?!?!

[Steve Mehs]

Hmmm. sorry Stephen, I'm gonna have to go with Braveheart here

[jrjcd]

nope-shawshank still ther best....

[gcutler]

Were there any Blue Face painted Scotsmen in Shawshank? That is hard to beat! :p

[jrjcd]

well, there WAS a LOT of something brown on tim robbins' face towards the end...

[Martyva]

Shawshank vs Road to Pertition, maybe a little closer themeatically (is that a word?)

[Martyva]

Pulp fiction vs Desperado vs Dusk to Dawn

[gcutler]

Dusk to Dawn = Vampire Strippers, we have a WINNER!!!! :p

[Karl Foster]

Forrest Gump. I'm kinda sentimental by nature, though. Tom Hank was incredible in that movie (as he is in most movies). I believe in twenty years, that will be considered his signature movie.

[gcutler]

I think for Hanks his signature movie would be Castaway, So much screen acting time only him and Wilson. or Philadelphia due to the strength of portraying a dying man. I think in Gump he was underacting and alot since since Gump was not able to show emotion very well. While he does the underacting superbly, he isn't stretched as much as Castaway or Philadelphia?

But then again, who knows how these movies will hold up with time.

[jrjcd]

i would hope hanks signature movie wouldn't be castaway, unless the dvd comes up with the two hour middle section i assume the director cut out for time's sake(i'm hoping i'm right about that and that it'll show up on a special director's edition dvd-if not, then cast away is a film with a gutted middle section story wise-one of the MAIN reasons i was disappointed in it...)

if hanks has a signiture film in his canon at this point, i would say it would be gump...

[bogi]

Shawshank was one of the greatest movies I ever seen. It defiantly tops all the others mentioned.

[cnsf]

Hanks' signature film is and always will be "Big." As much as I love the others, this is the movie that launched his career, making him who he is today. Gump was a natural next step, as was Philadelphia, Apollo 13, Castaway, Toy Story (forever Woody), Green Mile, Saving Private Ryan, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, and the forever present "There's no CRYING in BASEBALL!!!!!" - A League of Their Own....

Also, don't forget the "pre-Big" films Bachelor Party and Splash, also classic.

[Martyva]

I'm still not sure Shawshank was in the same venue as Pulp Fiction or Forest Gump, one being a great B movie and the other a story about a generation. I would more readily compare Shawshank Redemption to Chocolat and to (i'm old 2 days ago i had a 3rd choice--brains on vacation) another story that has the feeling of redemption and texture of Shawshank Redemption. (i had eliminated The Green Mile as a possibility since it was the same writer.) (Tumbleweeds and Erin Brockovich were not the same texture.) Any other suggestions for a third movie to compare?

[Unthinkable]

For those movie lovers who loved seeing Tom Hanks playing the non standard role of a very bad man in Road To Perdition, I highly recommend checking out Robin Williams' eery loner character in One Hour Photo. I would have to pick Shawshank Redemption over both Forest Gump and Pulp Fiction myself. Morgan Freeman delivered some of the most memorable lines ever in that one like GCutler pointed out.

[gcutler]

I'm changing my opinion about the Signature movie of Hanks. Looking at the person most like Hanks as an actor before Hanks was even born (Jimmy Stewart). I see that his best work may not have been his most popular work. Some might say his best work was in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance" or "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" or 'Rear Window", but we all know his signature movie was "It's A Wonderful Life".

So I'm changing it to "Gump", since that will be the movie that (as of now at least) he will be most remembered for. But I still think it isn't his best work.

[gcutler]

Originally posted by The Unthinkable
I would have to pick Shawshank Redemption over both Forest Gump and Pulp Fiction myself. Morgan Freeman delivered some of the most memorable lines ever in that one like GCutler pointed out.

Morgan Freeman was probably the most important component of Shawshank (after Rita Hayworth) :D . His absence from the movie more than anyone would have affected the movie the most.