The Green Mile Hulu
Giraldo Allain
Short Version (courtesy of IMDb): A tale set on death row, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the lead guard, Paul Edgecombe, recognizes John's gift, he tries to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
Tyler: I know Michael Clarke Duncan was a big dude, but I was curious to read about the production tricks they clearly had to pull to make him look THAT much bigger than everyone there. Sure enough, the DVD extras came through.
The novel was originally published as six paperback volumes, released between March and August 1996. The idea appealed to Stephen King for several reasons, one of which was to prevent readers from skipping to the end of the story and ruining the suspense.
Director Frank Darabont got his start in Hollywood as a screenwriter, writing for movies and TV shows like A Nightmare of Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Blob, and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. His big directorial break was in 1994 when he directed The Shawshank Redemption, which along with The Green Mile and The Mist are all Stephen King adaptations.
Michael Clarke Duncan, who played John Coffey, participated in an extremely odd promotional night at a Chicago White Sox game in 1979 called Disco Demolition Night. Timed to occur between a day/night doubleheader, the promotion sought to take advantage of a backlash against disco music by some rock music fans. Those who brought a disco record to the game could enter for just 98 cents and be entertained by a crate of the records being blown up on the field between games. After the explosion, thousands of fans rushed the field, who along with the literal explosion, damaged the field enough that the White Sox later had to forfeit the night game. During the riot, Duncan ran onto the field, slid into third base, and stole a bat from the dugout.
Rudimentary critical analysis aside, I was also pleasantly surprised to see the more senior members of E Block have their own sort of code of conduct for their behavior towards the inmates. Half of this movie is Tom Hanks yelling at people to shut up, and a lot of it is not directed at people who (allegedly) committed horrible crimes! Coming into it, I expected more of the guards to act like Percy, giving Tom Hanks another opportunity to swoop in and be the moral white knight. Having the guards (Percy aside) not be outright cruel was a smart way to not only add some dimension to them as characters, but also make their actions in the second half of the movie more believable.
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Welcome back ILTBTA readers! We\u2019ve returned from our brief post-Oscars hiatus with another ILTBTA Epic: The Green Mile. This movie is a behemoth, so before ados are in any way furthered, strap yourselves in lace up your sneakers and prepare to walk the Green Mile.
Ellen: I received this on DVD as part of twenty-one green things for my 21st birthday, but I didn\u2019t know anything about it! I generally enjoy both Stephen King and Tom Hanks, so I think I\u2019m in for a good time.
Tyler: As if we needed any more evidence of our parents\u2019 caring creativity, I also got twenty-one things for my 21st birthday! Anywho, I know this movie has something to do with being on death row, and based on the movie poster it looks like Tom Hanks\u2019 character is a prison guard. I have a vague recollection of seeing a clip from this movie where there are lights exploding as people walk underneath, but beyond that I know nothing. Hopefully the titular mile isn\u2019t literal, that\u2019s a long way to walk just to be killed!
In the late-90s present day, Paul Edgecomb gets his usual dry toast1 at breakfast before sneaking off on a longer walk than he\u2019s allowed from his Louisiana assisted-living home. That evening, the denizens are trying to decide what to watch and eventually eschew the salacious Jerry Springer for Top Hat! Paul begins to cry quietly, concerning his friend Elaine. They leave to get some tea and talk, where Paul tells her about when he was an officer at Cold Mountain Penitentiary's death row. Typically called The Last Mile, Cold Mountain\u2019s had this faded lime flooring, earning the nickname \u201CThe Green Mile.\u201D
Jump back to 1935, where a chain gang works in the field outside the prison, and a car with an \u201Coowooooga!\u201D horn carries John Coffey to death row. Paul supervises Brutus Howell, Dean Stanton, Harry Terwilliger, and absolute nightmare of a nepo baby Percy Wetmore, all under the direction of Warden Hal Moores. It\u2019s Percy who escorts John in, and by \u201Cescort\u201D I mean walks with him and screams \u201Cdead man walking\u201D over and over. Paul kicks him off the cellblock and talks to John, learning he can only spell his name and is scared of the dark. He\u2019s a gigantic but simple and mild-mannered man. Our other Green Mile residents are Eduard \u201CDel\u201D Delacroix and Arlen Bitterbuck. Now everyone\u2019s acquainted!
For the sake of his political connections, Warden Hal advises Paul to just tolerate Percy until his transfer to a mental hospital, a job that would come with higher pay, goes through. Paul also learns why John Coffey is on death row. Flash back to the search party coming upon John sitting against a fallen tree on a riverbank, with a little girl on either side of him, blonde curls matted with blood. He\u2019s crying and wailing, saying he \u201Ccouldn\u2019t help it\u201D and it was too late to \u201Ctake it back.\u201D Meanwhile back on the Mile, there\u2019s a cute lil mouse! The guards try and fail to catch it, and the next morning, Percy is back, and he loses his entire mind trying to catch and kill it. It ends up in Del\u2019s cell, and he names it Mr. Jingles. Paul attempts to explain to Percy that the men on this block are under tremendous strain, and in order to keep everybody safe, it\u2019s best to be respectful and treat it more like an intensive care unit than anything else. Percy, uh, does not comprehend.
Tyler: Percy is the kind of character that is just so easy to hate, especially when juxtaposed to All-American-Everyman/Picture-Of-Righteousness Tom Hanks. (Side note: this is what made Hanks such a confounding casting choice for Elvis, but maybe we\u2019ll tackle that in a future post.) At this point in the movie, I almost don\u2019t want to see any character growth from such an uncompromisingly dickish character as Percy, I just want him gone, which I imagine is exactly what the director wants us to feel (to better connect with Hanks\u2019 character, who\u2019s also clearly over his nonsense).
The guards rehearse for Bitterbuck\u2019s execution while he\u2019s off the block with his family, and they impress upon Percy the importance of wetting the sponge before the switch is thrown on \u201COld Sparky.\u201D The execution goes smoothly for, you know, a man\u2019s life being ended, and Percy assures Paul that if they let him stand out front for the next one, he\u2019ll take the job at the mental hospital. A few other things are afoot on the Mile: Del has tamed the mouse and named it Mr. Jingles, Paul has been suffering from a bladder infection this whole time, and Hal\u2019s wife has a brain tumor2. The biggest news is that they\u2019re getting a new inmate, William \u201CWild Bill\u201D Wharton, a bank robber convicted of triple homicide. He makes good on his name by pretending to be drugged when they bring him in and then immediately attacking! Percy just stands there while another guard is nearly choked to death, but Brutus saves the day, and they lock Wild Bill up. After the other guards are gone, Paul collapses from pain, and John beckons him over, puts his hand on his private bits, and \u201Chelps it.\u201D CGI flies (?) erupt from his mouth and dissipate, and Paul is confused but cured!
Tyler: Paul\u2019s refusal to see a doctor until his very real medical issue knocked him on the ground is an incredibly realistic portrayal of masculinity. Also, I know it\u2019s a metaphor for evil or pain or whatever, but that nonsense flying out of John\u2019s mouth got a big \u201CNo thank youuuuuuuuu\u201D from me!
Ellen: I had no idea there would be a supernatural element! Shock and awe!! Also, this is where the seed is planted that John may be innocent, because what he said when he was discovered with the bodies was that he couldn\u2019t help it or take it back, which to him, means heal and undo the harm.
Shaken by his miraculous healing, Paul goes to visit John\u2019s state-appointed attorney to get some more background. All he really receives is a racist story comparing John to a dog who was great and normal until he lashed out and attacked a kid. Thanks for nothing, guy! Back at prison, Paul\u2019s wife Jan made John cornbread to thank him, and everyone gets some but Wild Bill, who\u2019s racist and even more obnoxious than Percy, somehow. After a few similar incidents, Wild Bill becomes a semi-regular resident of the restraint room at the end of the cellblock. He even scares Percy so badly that the guard pees his pants! In a fit of rage, Percy vindictively STEPS ON MR. JINGLES! John blows life back into the mouse, however, and all the guards see it but Percy.
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