Welcome back ILTBTA readers! We’ve 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.
Previews
What, if anything, did we know about this coming attraction before we watched it?
Ellen: I received this on DVD as part of twenty-one green things for my 21st birthday, but I didn’t know anything about it! I generally enjoy both Stephen King and Tom Hanks, so I think I’m in for a good time.
Tyler: As if we needed any more evidence of our parents’ 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’ 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’t literal, that’s a long way to walk just to be killed!
Plots & Feelings
This one’s pretty self-explanatory.
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.
Long Version (modified from Wikipedia and formatted to fit your screen):
We open on what is almost always a bad bake: a group of white men with guns prowling through a cotton field. It’s a frantic search party for Katie and Cora…
Tyler: “Guys we’re close, my AirTag says it’s in this field somewhere.”
In the late-90s present day, Paul Edgecomb gets his usual dry toast1 at breakfast before sneaking off on a longer walk than he’s 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’s had this faded lime flooring, earning the nickname “The Green Mile.”
Jump back to 1935, where a chain gang works in the field outside the prison, and a car with an “oowooooga!” 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’s Percy who escorts John in, and by “escort” I mean walks with him and screams “dead man walking” 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’s a gigantic but simple and mild-mannered man. Our other Green Mile residents are Eduard “Del” Delacroix and Arlen Bitterbuck. Now everyone’s acquainted!
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.
Ellen: When Paul kicks Percy out, Brutus predicts there will be political consequences, and Paul uses a phrase I love: “I’ll chew that food when I have to.”
Tyler: Spoken like a true Southerner who doesn’t like his (non-fried) vegetables.
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’s crying and wailing, saying he “couldn’t help it” and it was too late to “take it back.” Meanwhile back on the Mile, there’s 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’s 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’s best to be respectful and treat it more like an intensive care unit than anything else. Percy, uh, does not comprehend.
Ellen: Percy’s petulant insistence that he can get them all fired is especially cruel in light of The Great Depression, and he knows it.
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’ll tackle that in a future post.) At this point in the movie, I almost don’t 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’ character, who’s also clearly over his nonsense).
The guards rehearse for Bitterbuck’s execution while he’s off the block with his family, and they impress upon Percy the importance of wetting the sponge before the switch is thrown on “Old Sparky.” The execution goes smoothly for, you know, a man’s life being ended, and Percy assures Paul that if they let him stand out front for the next one, he’ll 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’s wife has a brain tumor2. The biggest news is that they’re getting a new inmate, William “Wild Bill” 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 “helps it.” CGI flies (?) erupt from his mouth and dissipate, and Paul is confused but cured!
Tyler: Paul’s 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’s a metaphor for evil or pain or whatever, but that nonsense flying out of John’s mouth got a big “No thank youuuuuuuuu” 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’t 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’s 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’s wife Jan made John cornbread to thank him, and everyone gets some but Wild Bill, who’s 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.
Del’s time has come, and Paul and Brutus tell him they’ll send Mr. Jingles down to the Mouseville attraction in Florida, where kids will pay a nickel to see him! They also forcibly reaffirm the terms of Percy’s promise to leave, and he performs all the duties of Del’s execution with the respect and solemnity you’d hope for, except that he DOESN’T WET THE SPONGE! The electricity isn’t conducted directly to Del’s head, and he instead dies a gruesome and agonizing death by burning. Not wanting to jeopardize Percy leaving forever, the official line is that he simply forgot and not that he’s a sadistic garbage person. John, who had been watching over Mr. Jingles, tells Paul that he felt everything, he’s dog tired, and the mouse ran away. A bad day all round.
Ellen: I knew Percy was going to do this because of Foreshadowing and also, he’s a piece of poop, but it was excruciating.
Tyler: Percy’s cruelty aside, I was also struck by how many people showed up to watch the execution (not to mention that they were allowed in the first place). I know “it was a different time” and there wasn’t as much to do back then, but it looked like fifty or so people took time out of their lives to watch someone get fried to death.
The next day the cool guards are over at Paul’s house eating fried chicken, and he pitches a crazy idea: get John to cure Melinda’s cancer. They’ve seen what John can do, and with their kids either grown or nonexistent, they have nothing to lose. Melinda is too sick to bring to the Mile, and Hal would never allow it, anyway. They put the plot in motion: drug Wild Bill with soda, throw Percy in the restraint room and the one guard left behind will say it’s John if anyone asks, and take John on a little road trip, armed to the teeth. John seems to know what they want before they ask him, and he’s just thrilled to see the stars3. Hal and his shotgun are understandably skeptical, but Paul and John’s calm demeanor slow him down for long enough to get the condemned man upstairs. John gently leans down and removes the cancer with a kiss. She’s cured! They have a moment, and she gives him her St. Christopher medal4. John is touched but, hmmm, he didn’t barf up flies. Bizarrely, we know this means something is wrong!
Ellen: As I said before, I enjoy the works of Stephen King, but it’s like he cannot help himself from making things weird sexually. The most egregious example is probably It, but even here: John had to grab Paul’s penis to cure him5, the way to get the cancer out is a kiss on the lips - enough!!
Tyler: Ellen, you see the UTI was a metaphor for … something … and the kiss was also a metaphor for … something else? Nope you’re right, the same effect could’ve been had if John just put his hands on their heads or something.
Tyler: I also didn’t quite buy that it wasn’t easier to bring Melinda to the prison than to go through their elaborate temporary-breakout scheme that involved drugging Wild Bill, locking Percy away, sneaking the largest human being ever out (then back in) to prison out a side door without getting noticed, and just showing up to their boss’ house unannounced in the middle of the night with a convicted murder. I understand it doesn’t work as well for ~the story~ and I can already hear people saying “Shut up it’s a movie,” but that distracted me enough to take me out of an otherwise pretty engaging story.
On the way back, Brutus speculates that John “kept” the cancer so that he’d die before he got to the Chair. Back on the cellblock, they let Percy out, and John grabs him by the throat and “releases” the affliction into Percy! Percy in turn shoots Wild Bill dead and goes into a catatonic state! Paul regains order but is like “what the hell happened to my quiet little death row??” John grabs his arm to transfer some power and shows him what he saw in Wild Bill the one time he touched him: Bill is the one who killed those little girls. And Percy just sucks, so he gets his poetic justice by becoming a patient at the very mental hospital to which he was going to transfer.
Tyler: The exact rules of the power transfer seemed to get a little squishy here for Plot Purposes, but whatever.
For his last meal, John would like meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, okra, and Jan’s excellent cornbread. Paul offers to let John go, knowing both that he’s innocent and a miracle, but the big man declines. He’s exhausted by the world and tired of being alone. There’s one thing they can do though: he’s never seen a “flicker show”! The guards screen Top Hat for him, and he’s absolutely entranced. John’s time comes, and it’s him that’s comforting the others, saying it’ll be over soon. He feels the hate in the room from those who think he’s guilty, and Brutus encourages him to feel the love coming from the guards. Holding back tears, the men perform their duties, and John dies.
Back in present day, Paul tells Elaine that John's execution was the last that he and Brutal witnessed, as they both subsequently resigned from the prison and took up jobs in the juvenile system. Elaine is obviously moved, but the math ain’t mathing. How could Paul have had a grown son in 1935? He takes her up to the cabin he visits and reveals Mr. Jingles! John imparted some magic to Mr. Jingles and Paul, and the man was 44 in 1935 and is now 108 years old. He believes this is his punishment for allowing John to die. Time passes, and Elaine eventually dies, and Paul muses about if Mr. Jingles is still alive, how much longer must he walk his own Green Mile?
Tyler: I’m so glad it addressed the timeline oddity! I was thinking about that when Paul said in the beginning that Coffey came 60 years ago: Old Paul looked to be about in his 80s, so 60 years ago would’ve meant he was in charge of a cell block in his 20s?
Intermission
Even though ILTBTA is free, please indulge us further and enjoy this quick “advertisement.”
This installment of ILTBTA is brought to you by … Mouseville!
Step right up, step right up ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, come one and all to the fabulous Mouseville! Experience the wonder of adorable little mice performing fantastical feats firsthand at our Tallahassee big top. For just a nickel per person, prepare to be dazzled by our newest star: Mr. Jingles! Hailing all the way from Louisiana, Mr. Jingles is sure to delight the whole family.
Come enjoy the best mouse-based attraction Florida will ever see! Mention “ILTBTA” upon your next visit to Mouseville to receive priority seating!
Wiki-Wiki-Whaaat?
Love a good Wikipedia rabbit hole in search of some fun facts? Us too.
The Green Mile’s Wikipedia page has some interesting facts and anecdotes that we recommend you read through, but here are a few of our favorites:
The Green Mile is based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Stephen King. Based solely on a quick read of Wikipedia plot summary, one of the few differences between the movie adaptation and the original text was the novel’s inclusion of Paul witnessing his wife die in a car accident and his subsequent sight of the ghost of John Coffey looking at him from an overpass.
The setting of the book was also changed from 1932 to 1935 for the movie so the latter could include the film Top Hat, which does not appear in the book.
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.
Given his 6’5” and 315 pound stature, Duncan unsurprisingly worked as a bodyguard for several celebrities (including Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J, and The Notorious B.I.G.) while building up his acting resume. Duncan left the “personal protection business” in 1997 after B.I.G. was murdered, and received his big break in Michael Bay’s Armageddon the following year.
Shaquille O’Neal was apparently first offered the role of John Coffey but turned it down. Other near-castings include John Travolta (as Paul Edgecomb, a role that eventually went to Tom Hanks) and Josh Brolin (as William “Wild Bill” Wharton, who was played by Sam Rockwell).
Oscar NomNomNomz
Since we all know a movie is nothing without the food and drink it incorporates.
It’s now time to award the Oscar for Best Snacktor in a Supporting Role6. And the nomnomnominees are:
Two pieces of dry and cold toast
A pot of coffee (in honor of John Coffey)
A Mickey waffle (in honor of Mr. Jingles)
Two loaves of homemade cornbread
A Moon Pie to spit on the guard's face
Jan’s fried chicken and mashed taters
Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, okra, and cornbread (a rare double nominee, congrats cornbread!)
And the Oscar goes to … the two loaves of homemade cornbread! Unfortunately, we’ve already eaten the cornbread and boy was it tasty … so, uh, we will accept this award on its behalf.
Fill In The Blank
How did we really feel about The Academy nominating this?
Ellen: I’d like to bake The Academy some absolutely top tier cornbread! I really enjoyed this one. It’s certainly an epic length, but I cannot think of anything I would cut. It’s a movie where everything matters to the plot: the bladder infection, Mr. Jingles, and Melinda’s cancer, for example, all drive the plot forward and build the bigger picture. In a different method of storytelling, cancer would just be a part of life and not necessarily be integral to the plot. While there’s nothing wrong with that, I do like that everything fits together - I don’t feel like I’m seeing real life, I feel like I’m seeing a crafted story, and sometimes that’s what you want! The biggest whoopsie is that John Coffey doesn’t really get to be his own person, falling into the trope I mentioned in a previous footnote, but Michael Clarke Duncan acts the absolute heck out of it. In fact, his was the only performance that stood out to me, so between that and cursing Paul to near-eternal life, Mr. Coffey at least has a few things going for him!
Tyler: I’d like to pay for The Academy’s tickets to Mouseville. I totally agree that you start to feel the length after a while, but it’s such a well-written story that there’s no obvious fat to trim and doing so would detract from the movie overall. There’s a heavy dose of discussions of Heaven and Hell that also play out in the outcomes of some characters: despite being killed, John Coffey is given angelic status throughout the movie and (if you believe in it) certainly earned himself a ticket to Heaven with all of healing; Percy is fittingly banished to a sort of living Hell in the very place he tried to weasel his way to working at; and Paul is stuck in a purgatory-like limbo state as a “punishment … for killing a miracle of God” as he puts it. Similarly, the relationship between the characters and the concepts of life and death (a symbolic layup for Stephen King if you’re going to set the story on death row) gives a movie that (MCD’s acting aside) doesn’t have a lot of other standout components some extra weight. “I think about all of us walking our own Green Mile, each in our own time” is something that’ll definitely stick with me when thinking back on this movie.
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.
Let The Credits Roll
Thanks for reading! Some quick housekeeping as you exit the theatre:
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Post-Credits Scene
Get a sneak peek at the next ILTBTA installment.
Pack your swimsuit and sunscreen and get ready for some drama on the high seas (we assume) because our next ILTBTA post will cover 1935’s Mutiny on the Bounty. Starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable, Mutiny on the Bounty tells what we assume is a lightly fictionalized tale of the real-life mutiny that occurred on the HMS … you guessed it … Bounty. MOTB can be streamed for free with a subscription to Hulu, watched for free (with ads) on Tubi, or rented from Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.
Until then,
Sounds like my ex-wife!
Notable here: part of Hal’s fear is that he knows his wife has cancer, but she doesn’t, and he doesn’t know how to tell her. At the time, the husband got this info, not the actual patient, which famously happened in the case of Alabama’s first female governor Lurleen Wallace. In case anyone asks you the point of feminism!
Tyler: Sounds like my current wife!
Ellen: I had been thinking how giant the necklace chain was on her, so one might say: called it!
This exact thing is parodied in the recent movie American Society of Magical Negroes, and if that trope is something you’ve never heard of, I’ll let Key & Peele take it.
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