The Green Mile | First Time Reaction
Added 2021-06-28 10:38:49 +0000 UTCOur new reactor Grace joins the squad for this phenomenal tearjerker!
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More answers and interesting tidbits as promised. One of you asked how they were planning to get John to Melinda when she's in bed with their boss (Hal). In the book, it's explained that she sleeps in a separate room, not in the same bed as Hal. This is because when she goes into her fits of rage, he can't sleep properly. This is why, in the movie, when the guards pull up in the truck with John, there are two lights that go on upstairs, one in her room, one in his. In the book, when Hal is telling Paul about his wife's bad days and talks about her cursing, he tells him that it gets so bad that he has to sleep in another room. The implication is that he told the others they sleep far enough apart that they were hoping to get John in and out of the house without waking Hal up. The plan goes awry because Hal wakes up the moment they pull up in the truck. In the first scene with Toot, the guy who rehearses the executions with the guards and said that funny line, "Do I get to have May West sit on my face, 'cause I'm one horney motherfucker," Paul refers to him as a trustee. You guys didn't ask what that is, but most reactors do, so in case you don't know, a trustee in a prison is an inmate who has shown himself to be a model prisoner and is given special privileges or entrusted with special jobs. This is why Toot was cleaning the Mile when Wild Bill bought the moon pie from him, and why he gets to rehearse the executions. These may seem like odd rewards for good behavior, but when you have nothing to do all day but sit in a cell, anything to break up the monotony is a blessing and seen as a reward. That's why Toot has so much fun when he rehearses. There is an interesting thing in the book that is not in the movie when it comes to the scene before John's execution. In the book, The rehearsal for John is not shown in the movie, and it's only briefly touched on in the book, but in the book version, it's explained that Toot didn't sit in the chair in place of John, playing his part because with the way Toot behaves, the guards would have seen that as insulting and disrespectful to John. In the book, Paul sat for him instead. Reading that part always hits me hard. It's a wonderful, subtle little touch that shows how much the guards respect and care for John, and how horrible Paul feels about what is happening. It also suggests that he feels responsible for it. Every time I read that part, I choke up a little. I've seen lots of people ask what the symbolism is behind Mr. Jingles. Out of interest, I looked it up. Apparently Mr. Jingles is supposed to signify the smallness of mankind in the presence of God. This is why John is portrayed with such enormous size. I don't think it's a coincidence that John dies while having saved others, but not saving himself. Or that his initials just happen to be J.C. "Roll on 2." Tom Hanks' delivery of that line is utter perfection. He does it so that Paul's voice subtly breaks as he says it, as if he's fighting back tears, and yet he doesn't lose his composure. It's beautiful. I've also seen some people say that they felt Paul should have closed John's eyes before he covered him with the cloth after he was executed. I understand why they say this, but I see it differently. John was afraid of the dark. Paul left his eyes open so that he would never have to be in the dark again. "We each owe a death. There are no exceptions. But oh, God. Sometimes, the Green Mile seems so long." That is such a perfect and powerful last line. Chills every time I hear it. Chills. If you guys are looking for another great film starring Tom Hanks in a serious role, check out Philadelphia. It's an emotional, but fantastic movie, and I'd love to see you react to it.
Raven Dark
2021-09-23 00:41:25 +0000 UTCI'm actually rewtching this reaction for the second time. That's how good it is. I'll try to answer the questions you girls asked, in hopes that they aren't coming too long after you watched the movie, and that you find the information interesting. About Percy yelling at the start, "Dead man walking." I've read or seen somewhere that this is kind of like an unofficial tradition they used to do, but no one really enforces it on the Green Mile, and only Percy is enough of a jerk to actually do it. It's meant to add to the shame of a perp walk, kind of like the same effect that marching the prisoners in in the nude accomplishes in The Shawshank Redemption. Rehearsing an execution like they did in this movie is, or at least was, a real thing. They do this because this is a matter of life and death, and so many things can go horribly wrong. The smallest mistake can lead to the inmate surviving the way Bitterbuck did, so that they had to do it again, as well as other complications. I know they did it when the electric chair was in use. I don't know if they do it now. As far as whether the electric chair is still in use. When I looked it up, I read that, in 2020, it was outlawed in most parts of the world, but there were still four states in the US that still employed it. Everywhere else, lethal injection was used. I don't think the electric chair is in use anywhere now. In the state where this movie took place, apparently, the electric chair had been outlawed the year before, so there was a little poetic license used for the sake of the story. In the book, the story took place in 1931, I believe instead of 1935, so in the book, the use of the electric chair is accurate for the time. Regarding the outdoor plumbing at Paul's (Tom Hanks') house. Indoor plumbing became a thing in most places by a few years before this movie took place, if I recall correctly, but it was common for more rural places not to have it for at least a few years yet. Paul lived out in the middle of nowhere, so that's why he doesn't have indoor plumbing, but the prison does. A few points you may find interesting. Michael Clarke Duncan (the actor who played John Coffey) is 6 feet and five inches tall, so he was big in real life (he passed away a few years ago). But in the movie, they employed a lot of movie magic to make him look even bigger. They built the bed he sleeps on a little smaller than usual to make him look larger, and they had him walk in an elevated platform next to his shorter costars to give the illusion that he was a lot bigger than they are. Fifteen mice were trained to play the part of Mr. Jingles, each one hired to do different tricks. It's all real. There is no CGI. In the scene where Dell is about to be executed and he puts Mr. Jingles on Paul's shoulder, Paul then gives the mouse to John Coffey, then brushes his shoulder off. The director wanted the mouse to take a crap on his shoulder to add to the effect, but then the mouse ended up doing it by accident for real. This is why he wipes his shoulder off. The actor who played Percy isn't all that different from the character. He married a 16 year old girl when he was in his 50s. She has since divorced him and has spoken out about him "grooming her." As to why or who would want to come to watch an execution. Typically, it's the family of those the condemned person wronged, and sometimes the detectives who caught him, the layer for the victims or their families, the FBI profilers if there is one, and sometimes the family of the condemned, either because they think he or she deserves it, or because the condemned person asks them to attend. This is still a thing today. The general public, people who are not connected to the case, are not allowed in. When serial killer Ted Bundy was executed in 1989, hundreds of people gathered outside the prison for a few hours before he was put to death or longer. Bundy created a world of terror in the 70s, murdering at least 20 women. The crowd cheered when he died. When serial killer John Wayne Gacey was put to death for the murder of dozens of teenaged boys, he asked Robert Wrestler, the FBI profiler who helped catch him, to attend his execution. Wrestler refused. I'll put the rest of my answers in another comment. Sometimes if they get too long, Patreon eats them.
Raven Dark
2021-09-22 21:29:15 +0000 UTC
