Good Movie, But

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Sergei

Active Member
Nov 12, 2013
27
185
Buenos Aires, Argentina
...bad cast selection. Fine actors, but there was a very big mistake: the guy who made the fugitive (don't remember his name,sorry) is very tall and a big fellow.
A guy like him could never pass for the hole on the wall. In the book, he was rather short and thin, and is logical. But that big man crawling for tubes and sewers? Impossible.
 
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skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
...bad cast selection. Fine actors, but there was a very big mistake: the guy who made the fugitive (don't remember his name,sorry) is very tall and a big fellow.
A guy like him could never pass for the hole on the wall. In the book, he was rather short and thin, and is logical. But that big man crawling for tubes and sewers? Impossible.

I don't think it's impossible, but improbable. The film was good. Tim Robbins was too big for the part, but he has a vulnerability that worked. I was willing to suspend my disbelief :)
 

doowopgirl

very avid fan
Aug 7, 2009
6,946
25,119
65
dublin ireland
...gotta disagree...he owned that role, and physically could have pulled it off in reality, as well as in the movie-you'd be amazed at what contortions the human body can accomplish under duress...
Have to agree with you. I feel the actor doesn't have to look like the description in the book. I feel it's all in the attitude. I mean I never saw Morgan Freeman in the role when I've read it, but thats attitude for you.
 

VampireLily

Vampire Goddess & Consumer of men's souls.
Jul 25, 2013
1,469
8,829
New Jersey
sorry, i disagree.... the film was perfect and the cast was perfect. I wouldn't change a single thing.

Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Clancy Brown.... genius casting. Tim Robbins' height only further added to Andy's situation for me, sure he was a big tall guy....but he was a gentleman with a thoughtful, intelligent manner that refused to be beat down. Remember... 'Hope Springs Eternal'.... and Andy refused to lose hope. Tim Robbins evoked that perfectly.
 
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prufrock21

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2011
2,956
12,657
The Caribbean
...bad cast selection. Fine actors, but there was a very big mistake: the guy who made the fugitive (don't remember his name,sorry) is very tall and a big fellow.
A guy like him could never pass for the hole on the wall. In the book, he was rather short and thin, and is logical. But that big man crawling for tubes and sewers? Impossible.
Actually the hole was bigger than it looks. Besides, Tim Robbins is a great actor, so he would have no difficulty going through that hole.
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
...bad cast selection. Fine actors, but there was a very big mistake: the guy who made the fugitive (don't remember his name,sorry) is very tall and a big fellow.
A guy like him could never pass for the hole on the wall. In the book, he was rather short and thin, and is logical. But that big man crawling for tubes and sewers? Impossible.
I haven't read the book yet (I know, everybody... There, I just cut myself. Satisfied for now? Ok, then), but don't think I'll have had to to make the observation that this a good example of that which, imho, Hollywood does show great skill doing: Casting well against what might be expected. I've seen the movie a number of times so far, and I've yet to have the least problem with believing that...
Tim Robbins could dig a hole through a wall and crawl through it. I don't even remember to notice anything wrong with what's going on. I believe it's because at the time I believe there isn't. That's what's known as the Suspension of Disbelief; the most basic, primary goal of any artist and any work of art. It's what movies are and always have been, from the very first moment the very first human brain decided that what it was seeing was not a succession of photos but action, to the difference between an Ed Wood flying saucer and a Ray Harryhausen one, or between a Harryhausen dinosaur and a Jurassic Park one; from Dustin Hoffman being this person in this movie to a whole 'nother in the next. Good moviemaking, more so than any other art form, is the art of suspending disbelief, of causing the viewers' minds to overlook what they know isn't so, to, for a time, prefer it.
So, Robbins fitting through? Not a problem, at least for me.