I too was dazzled by this movie when I first saw it; Robbins and Freeman were both fabulous and the story was an intensely happy marriage of the nostalgic and edifying to the tense and disturbing. The theme of success against the odds is rarely so emotive, and the desperate hope and yearning are truly palpable.

But it's simply NOT the best film of all time! Parts of it are cliched, most of it is downright implausible. The symbolism is trite and way too in-your-face, particularly with Freeman explicitly spelling out (albeit touchingly) what should have been the movie's duty to portray.

The ending was a shameless exercise in trying to make the world feel better than it's ever felt before. Films have every right to be manipulative, but when it's this blatant the magic collapses. Or did for me anyway.

Mind you, still a smashing flick. I'm only nit-picking because everybody else seems to be in such a weird frenzy of Shawshank worship.