The Green Mile – A Stephen King Film
The Green Mile is a film about a series of events on Louisiana’s death row in the 1930s. The original story was written by Stephen King. The film was directed by Frank Darabont, who wrote the script. Tom Hanks plays the lead character Paul Edgecomb, Michael Clarke Duncan co-stars as John Coffey.
The film centers on Paul Edgecomb, head of the guard at a death row facility. Paul and his guards take custody of an unusual inmate, John Coffey. Coffey is a gigantic man but extremely compassionate and gentle. Coffey has been convicted of raping and killing two girls. At first, the guards are suspicious of Coffey, but his gentle nature soon changes the perception that the guards have of him.
John Coffey soon displays extraordinary healing powers. Eliminate Paul Edgecomb’s UTI and bring a mouse killed by another inmate back to life. The guards realize that Coffey has supernatural powers and that they will be lost when he is executed.
The prison director’s wife is terminally ill. Paul Edgecomb is upset by the news of his friend. The guards develop a plan to smuggle John Coffey out of the prison, into the warden’s home, heal the warden’s wife, and then return Coffey to The Green Mile. They all risk their jobs and possibly become criminals to move Coffey in and out of prison. Coffey is taken to the warden’s house, where he takes the illness away from the warden’s wife.
The story also contains the character Percy Wetmore. Percy is a vicious and obnoxious prison officer. Intimidates and hurts inmates. He does not look like the other guards, who are firm but compassionate prison officials, and he does not like him. Wetmore agrees to transfer to a different position if he is in charge of the next execution. An agreement is reached reluctantly. However, Wetmore sabotages the electrocution, causing the inmate maximum suffering.
John Coffey seeks revenge on Percy Wetmore, for the pain he caused the inmate during the electrocution. After Coffey returns to The Green Mile, from the warden’s house, he transfers the disease he took from the warden’s wife to Percy. Later, Percy finds himself in a permanent catatonic state.
A violent prisoner named William Wharton arrives on The Green Mile. During one scene, Wharton grabs Coffey by the arm, who sees that Wharton is the real killer of the girls for whom Coffey has been sentenced to death. Coffey then uses his powers to transfer this image to Paul Edgecomb, the head of the guard.
With this information, Paul Edgecomb has yet to execute John Coffey. A man he knows is innocent and possesses incredible powers.
The movie is told in flashback. Paul is now a senior elder and is explaining the series of events to another resident in his nursing home. After the story is told, Edgecomb reveals that he is now 108 years old. This is an apparent side effect of John Coffey’s life-giving powers. However, Paul believes that having outlived his family and friends is a punishment from God for not stopping Coffey’s execution.
Louisiana’s death row is called The Green Mile because it is often called “the last mile.” In Louisiana, the soil is green.
The Green Mile was written by Stephen King. King has written two stories about prisons, The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption. Both were adapted to the cinema and directed by Frank Darabont.
The Green Mile was nominated for four Academy Awards in 2000. These were Best Supporting Actor, Best Movie, Best Sound, and Best Screenplay – Screenplay based on previously produced or published material. He did not win any of these awards.
