About This Quiz
Injustice and indignity are commonplace in this world. But compassion and commitment are, too. How much do you know about the drama of "The Green Mile"?"The Green Mile" is a dramatic film about a death row inmate and the guards who keep watch on him. Much of the movie takes place during the 1930s.
Famed horror writer Stephen King published "The Green Mile" in 1996. It was published in a series of six paperback volumes during that year.
Tom Hanks, ever the star of heart-wrenching dramas, gets the lead role in "The Green Mile." He plays the prison guard named Paul Edgecomb.
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John Coffey is a gigantic black man sent to death row. He looks intimidating, but prison guards soon see that he's a gentle man who has the mind of a child.
John has been convicted of killing two girls -- and it is implied that he raped them, too. The justice system has decided that he is to die for his crimes.
"The Green Mile" takes place in Louisiana. In the 1930s, the Deep South was a place rife with racism and discrimination that greatly affected every aspect of the justice system.
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Percy is a cruel psychopath who sometimes abuses the prisoners. But he's related to the first lady of Louisiana, so he can do whatever he wants without fear of reprisals or punishment.
The prison uses the electric chair to kill death row inmates. The chair is billed as relatively painless, but in reality, it seems to be a gruesome ordeal.
The electric chair is "Old Sparky." It sounds like a pet dog's name, but it refers to the sinister gadget that overshadows every part of the film.
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Eduard Delecroix, or "Del," has a pet mouse named Mr. Jingles. The mouse is the only bright spot in the doomed prisoner's existence.
Paul is in pain due to a nasty bladder infection. But he's in luck. John Coffey grabs Paul through the bars of his cell … and somehow magically cures him.
Del trained Mr. Jingles to fetch a spool of thread. But one of the guards -- the merciless Percy -- decides to kill the mouse by stomping on it.
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The gentle giant John holds Mr. Jingles in his hands. Then, as prisoners and guards watch in amazement, he brings the little rodent back to life.
The electric chair relies on wet sponges touching the prisoner's head for proper conductivity. Percy purposely leaves the sponges dry. The effect? Del dies a horrifying and painful death.
Hal's wife Melinda has a brain tumor. To his horror, she is slowly but surely dying.
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In the 1940s, Louisiana finally updated its execution tool to the electric chair. But in the 1930s, it was still simply hanging people who were sentenced to death.
Paul thinks maybe the magical prisoner can possibly cure Melinda's brain tumor. He hatches a scheme to spring John out of prison long enough to make the sickness go away.
Paul drugs Wharton, causing him to fall into a stupor. Then the guards sneak John out of prison for a short time -- during which he manages to heal Melinda's brain tumor.
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"The Green Mile" blew away audiences around the world. It impressed critics, too, and earned four Oscar nominations, including the prestigious Best Picture award.
The movie didn't win Best Picture -- it lost to another major hit, called "American Beauty." The movie swung and missed on all four of its Oscar nominations.
John exhales the tumor's deadly energy into Percy, who then loses his mind. Percy shoots Wharton, the other death row inmate. And then Percy is committed to a lunatic asylum -- poetic justice at its finest.
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Del loves Mr. Jingles dearly and fashions him a home out of a cigar box. The film crew trained more than a dozen mice to play the role of Mr. Jingles.
When John places his hands on Paul, he sees that John is an innocent man. The actual perpetrator of the crime was Wharton, now dead by Percy's hand.
"The green mile" is death row. It's an agonizing place for prisoners and sometimes for the guards, too.
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The movie is roughly three hours long. Long enough, perhaps, to help you get a feel for what it's like to sit around in a prison cell pondering your fate.
King is notoriously fickle when it comes to judging adaptations of his books. But he thought Tom Hanks was perfect for the role of Paul.
John is tired of this cruel world. He tells Paul that he's ready to die, even though he didn't commit the crime that earned him the death penalty.
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John's special touch helped Paul live an extraordinarily long life, and Mr. Jingles is still alive, too.
These days, $60 million is a ton of money for a movie. But in 1999, it was nearly astronomical. It was the very definition of a big-budget Hollywood film.
"The Green Mile" overperformed at box offices. It grossed nearly $300 million around the world, far exceeding its production budget.
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