The Green Mile

Frank Darabont returned to Stephen King territory with this 1999 film, three years after The Shawshank Redemption. Set in the 1930s at Louisiana's Cold Mountain Penitentiary, the story follows Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), the head guard of death row, known as the Green Mile for its sickly linoleum floor. His routine is upended by the arrival of John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a towering, gentle man convicted of murdering two young girls. Coffey possesses a strange gift: he can absorb illness and pain from others, expelling it as glowing orbs.

The film cost $60 million and grossed over $286 million worldwide. Michael Clarke Duncan earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance, his first major role. Thomas Newman's score, with its melancholic piano and strings, became as iconic as the film itself. Darabont shot the movie in chronological order, a rare choice that helped the cast track their characters' emotional arcs.[edit]

Paul Edgecomb, now an elderly man in a nursing home, begins writing about his time as the head guard of E Block at Cold Mountain Penitentiary in 1935. The block's green linoleum floor gives it its nickname. Paul leads a team that includes the stoic Brutus 'Brutal' Howell (David Morse), kind Dean Stanton (Barry Pepper), and timid Harry Terwilliger (Jeffrey DeMunn). Their quiet routine involves supervising inmates like the elderly Native American Arlen Bitterbuck (Graham Greene) and the Frenchman Eduard Delacroix (Michael Jeter), who has a pet mouse named Mr. Jingles.

The arrival of John Coffey, a massive black man convicted of raping and killing two white girls, unsettles the block. Coffey is gentle, childlike, and terrified of the dark. He speaks softly and asks for a nightlight. Meanwhile, the sadistic guard Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison), nephew of the governor, torments inmates and staff alike. He crushes Mr. Jingles under his boot, then mocks Delacroix's grief.

Paul suffers from a severe urinary tract infection, which Coffey heals by touching him, expelling the sickness as a swarm of glowing particles. Paul realizes Coffey has supernatural powers. When the warden's wife, Melinda Moores (Patricia Clarkson), is dying from a brain tumor, Paul and his team secretly bring Coffey to her. Coffey heals her, absorbing the tumor into himself. The guards begin to suspect Coffey is innocent. Their investigation points to the psychopathic inmate 'Wild Bill' Wharton (Sam Rockwell), who reveals his true nature through taunts and violent behavior.[edit]