The book The Green Mile, written by Stephen King, is about a prison guard who works on death row of the Tennessee State Penitentiary. Paul Combed has his work cut out for him every day with this Job due to the behavior of the prisoners as well as the immaturity of one of his guards, Percy Wetware. Throughout the book, Paul experiences many things, good and bad; however, when John Coffey arrives on the “E- Block” things change completely for Paul. John has a very different vibe to him than the other prisoners.
He was accused of the murder and rape of two girls and sentenced to death for his actions. While in prison, John performs many magical acts such as bringing a dead mouse back to life and curing Warden Hal Mores’ wife of cancer which makes Paul believe that John didn’t kill those two little girls. This, along with watching the prisoner’s actions every day, changed the way Paul viewed life and changed his faith. I really enjoyed reading this book. I was always eager to read on and see what happened next when reading.
This novel was made into a movie erected by Frank Dartboard. In most cases, when a book is made into a movie people don’t like the movie as much as the book. This is not the case when it comes to The Green Mile. Being a prison guard is one thing, but being a prison guard on death row is a whole different story. Paul Combed, played by Tom hanks, is a prison guard on Death Row at the Tennessee State Penitentiary. He has to work around a few obstacles while he’s there, but when a new inmate checks in, executing criminals is the last thing on his mind.
This movie takes place in the sass’s. You can tell because of the way they dress as well as the type of automobiles that are showed in the movie. Also, in the office at the prison, the telephone they use is extremely old which shows the date of this movie. The main character in this movie is Paul Combed. Tom Hanks does a phenomenal Job playing the part. He really perfects the personality as it is described in the book. John Coffey, played by Michael Clarke Duncan, basically changes everything in the “E-Block. ” Michael Clarke Duncan absolutely nails this part.
There re a few other main parts like David Morse playing Brutes Howell, another guard on the “E-Block,” James Cromwell playing the warden, and Doug Hutchison playing Percy Wetware, who is the main problem for Paul and the other guards. Percy constantly wants to be in the action and all he does is get in the way. Paul canto get rid of him because he is the nephew of the governor. These actors all did a very good Job playing their roles and really supported the lead actors. I believe that there are a few themes that can work for The Green Mile.
I believe that the main theme is, “don’t edge a book by its cover. ” This applies because John Coffey had an awful reputation going into the Jail; however, once Paul got to know him and talk to him, he started to think differently about John even though, at first, he was pretty much terrified of him. The plot of the movie definitely relates to this theme in many ways. One way is because all of the guards, like Paul, were frightened by John, but eventually they trusted Pall’s feelings about John and they became more comfortable with him.
Another way the plot relates is that even though throughout most of the movie the awards hated Percy, there were a tee times where they tell bad tort Percy, like when “Wild Bill” Wharton, a prisoner and the actual murderer of the two girls, humiliates him in front of everyone. Throughout the movie and the book there were a few key turning points. I think the three main turning points are when John heals Pall’s kidney stones, he brings the mouse back to life, and he cures the warden’s wife of cancer. These are all vital to the movie because after each one of these miracles, John gets more believers each time.
First it starts with Just Paul believing in him, hen it grows to the other guards, and after the final miracle the warden believes too. This makes it that much harder when they have to execute John because all of the guards are crying and you can tell he touched all of them, including the warden. There aren’t many negative things that I could find that critics said about the movie or the book. The main thing was that many people thought the movie may have been too long. I would have to disagree with this because not once did I check the time throughout the duration of the movie.
Most of the other reviews of the movie were positive and I think they should be because this movie is right on cue with the book and Frank Dartboard does a phenomenal Job recreating this book into a masterpiece in the box office. In general, I was very impressed with the movie and how it compared to the book. There were a few differences, but they weren’t vital to the success of the movie. For example, in the book he remembers his Job on death row because he is writing it in his diary, but in the movie he remembers it because he is telling the story to Elaine who is a woman that he is always with in the nursing home.
Another difference is that in the book Paul is reminded of his Job because of Brad Dolan in the nursing home who reminds him of Percy, but in the movie he is reminded of the experience from a TV show. These differences don’t affect the movie at all and even though they were changed or left out the movie still did a great Job sticking with the storyline provided by the novel. If someone asked me if I would recommend the book or the movie, I would say yes to both of them. The book is definitely worth reading and then the movie does a great Job capturing all the aspects that were mentioned in the book.
