Did Shawshank deserve its place as the highest rated film on imdb?

The IMDb list is a measure of popularity, not quality. It’s like when the public are polled on their favorite food. The top voted answer isn’t some elaborate meal prepared by a Michelin starred chef. It’s a burger served in cardboard.

Shawshank is the MacDonalds of movies. It’s old fashioned (in a good way), easily accessible, appeals to all ages, races and genders, and leaves you feeling satisfied with a warm feeling inside.

No-one with any experience of movies beyond the Hollywood mainstream is going to consider it one of the greatest ever made, but it is the most popular (with IMDb voters), so yes, it deserves its place at the top of their poll.

Something has to be at the top. Inevitably, there will be backlash.
It's not my favorite movie, not by a long shot. Very mawkish, manipulating those heart-strings.
But there could be worse outcomes.

If B was top 20 or 25, I would had gone with B.

But, I guess I have to take C, BUT, it is way closer from number 10 than 250!

Somewhere between D and E.

I am going to say B. Also I don't think The Dark Knight Rises should be in the top 10. But that's just me.

Let’s put it this way: it’s a movie I’ve never wanted to see, along with The Green Mile and several other well-regarded films. I’m not saying it’s bad. I’m saying that I won’t watch something that does not interest me, regardless of the consensus acclaim it receives. Black Panther and Schindler’s List are other examples of films I will never see. My interests are my own.

PS I think it’s a shame that this topic’s OP was last on this site over a year ago. He was intelligent, mature, reasonable and enjoyable.

Absolutely not. Completely overrated. Ridiculously, preposterously overrated. Renders the IMDB rating list totally worthless.

D