This is far and away better than Forrest Gump.

Shawshank Redemption is generic and predictable. Performances are good, but suggesting it is the most liked movie of all time is ridiculous. Forrest Gump is a better story and a more entertaining film. Gump is a 10/10 and Shawshank is an 8/10.

I love both these films - they are like comfort food on a cold evening - but if forced to vote on these for Best Picture, I am forced to agree with the voters on this.

Shawshank is a great film, but by design, prisoner escape prison films are limited in scope in what they can do and where they can go. Shawshank is almost like a rewrite of Escape From Alcatraz - and I don't mean that as a criticism, I mean that prison escape movies are necessarily limited. I think what made the original The Longest Yard great is that they integrated a sports movie into the plot.

Forrest Gump was almost infinitely more complicated in plot, and while I don't think a lot of Tom Hanks as a person, he hit that role out of the park (the ball is still in the air actually) and Gary Sinese was just as brilliant.

Which will I watch if they're both on tonight? Tough one, maybe Shawshank, but the brilliance of Forrest Gump is unmatched by most films.

I can understand preferring Shawshank but I defend Gump winning best screenplay at the Oscars because adapting such a silly over the top book and turning it into a good dramatic movie was a pretty hard feat. Just to let you know TC, here are the things that happened in the 2nd half of the book Forrest Gump.

Forrest to avoid going to prison for throwing his Congressional Medal of Honor at the Clerk of Congress (Forrest gets into trouble with the law through out the book), Forrest goes into outer space, crashes his spaceship in an area full of cannibals, and the Cannibal King is a Yale graduate who ends teaching Forrest to play chess. After living with the Cannibals for a few years, he finally he gets rescued.

Then after getting rescued, he ends up going to find Jenny in a town in Indiana and ends up happening to meet a wrestler promoter in a bar near the factory that Jenny works at, who is impressed he could win every arm wrestling match against strong men. So Forrest becomes a wrestler after talking with said Wrestler promoter. Then after doing wrestling he upsets Jenny who ends up leaving him after he gets too obsesed with wrestling. Then he quits wrestling after he loses most of his money from it on betting on himself in a fight. It was actually Lieutenant Dan who convinces him to do that as he gets back with him at the same time he got back with Jenny in Indiana.

Then after quitting wrestling he uses what money he has to buys plane tickets to try to get back to Alabama but accidentally gets stuck in Los Angelus California after he misses his plane to Alabama there. Then he ends meeting a guy in charge of a Chess Competition who he plays chess with and the guy puts him in said chess competition. While exploring L.A he ends up upon a movie director who wants him to play the Creature from the Black Lagoon in a remake he plans to do. So he gets to film a scene for that movie with Raquelle Welch.

I don't like Forrest Gump at all and think Shawshank Redemption is... OK. I don't understand why it is 'probably the most liked movie of all time' as you put it, but it's evidently got something going for it that I can't see myself. Lot of people love it... so... yeah, you're probably right that this should have beaten Forrest Gump for Best Picture, although -- without bothering to look it up -- I'm pretty sure there were better films than either released that year that would have deserved Best Picture more. Was that Pulp Fiction year? That, then.