The Green Mile (film)

The Green Mile (1999), is an adaptation of the 1996 novel of the same name by Stephen King; adapted and directed by Frank Darabont, it stars Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecomb, a death row corrections officer, and Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey, a huge, powerful, but mentally challenged black prisoner convicted of the rape and murder of two young white girls.

We had the electric chair — "Old Sparky," we called it.

Paul Edgecomb

I think about all of us. Walking our own Green Mile, each in our own time.

Why, they's angels. Angels, just like up in heaven.

• I guess sometimes the past just catches up with you, whether you want it to or not. Usually, death row was called "the last mile"; we called ours "the Green Mile" — the floor was the color of faded limes. We had the electric chair — "Old Sparky," we called it. Oh, I've lived a lot of years, Ellie, but 1935 — that takes the prize. That year, I had the worst urinary infection of my life, and that was also the year of John Coffey and the two dead girls.
• What happens on the Mile, stays on the Mile. Always has.
• Goddamn it, Percy, get the hell off my block!
• [about Percy] The man is mean and careless and stupid, and that's a bad combination in a place like this. Sooner or later, he's gonna get somebody hurt, or worse.
• A big man is ripping your ears off, Percy — I'd do as he says.
• [grabs Percy, who is trying to turn away from the botched execution he caused] No, you watch, you son-of-a-bitch!
• I've done some things in my life I'm not proud of, but this is the first time I've ever felt in real danger of hell.
• Elaine — you'll die, too. And my curse is knowing that I'll be there to see it. It's my atonement, you see — it's my punishment for lettin' John Coffey ride the lightning. For killing a miracle of God. You'll be gone like all the others, and I'll have to stay. Oh, I'll die eventually; of that, I'm sure. I have no illusions of immortality. But I will have wished for death long before Death finds me. In truth, I wish for it already.
• We each owe a death — there are no exceptions. But, oh God, sometimes the Green Mile seems so long.
• Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not. Time takes it all, bears it away, and in the end there is only darkness. Sometimes we find others in that darkness, and sometimes we lose them there again.
• I think about all of us. Walking our own Green Mile, each in our own time.
• On the day of my judgement, when I stand before God, and he asks me why... did I ... did I kill one of his true ... miracles... what am I going to say? That it was my job? It was my job...

John Coffey

I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I'm tired of never having me a buddy to be with, to tell me where we's going to or coming from, or why. Mostly, I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There's too much of it — it's like pieces of glass in my head, all the time. Can you understand?

Heaven ... I'm in heaven … heaven …

• John Coffey, just like the drink, only not spelled the same.
• I tried to take it back, but it was too late. (crying)
• You be still, now ... you be so quiet and so still.
• Why, they's angels. Angels, just like up in heaven.
  • Entranced, watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing "Cheek to Cheek" in Top Hat.
• I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I'm tired of never having me a buddy to be with, to tell me where we's going to or coming from, or why. Mostly, I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There's too much of it — it's like pieces of glass in my head, all the time. Can you understand?
• He killed them with their love. That's how it is every day, all over the world.
• Heaven … I'm in heaven … heaven …

William "Wild Bill" Wharton

• Barbecue! Me and you! Stinky-pinky, Pew-Pew-Pew! Weren't Billy, Jilly, Hilly, or Pa! It was a French-fried Cajun named Delacroix! WOO!
• All I wanted me was a little corn bread, you motherfuckers! All I wanted me was a little corn bread!
• You can come in here on your legs, but you'll go out on your backs. Billy the Kid gonna guarantee ya that.

Percy Wetmore

• Dead man walking, we got a dead man walking here.
• Adios, Chief. Drop us a card from Hell. Let us know if it's hot enough, you motherfuckin' sonavabitch.

Dialogue

I do not see God putting a...gift like that, in the hands of a man who could kill a child.

On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I...did I kill one of his true miracles — what am I gonna say? That it was my job?

He...infected you with life?

Old Man [Disgusted at watching people arguing on The Jerry Springer Show at the retirement home]: Why do we always watch this stuff?

Old Woman: It's interesting.

Old Man: "Interesting"? A bunch of inbred trailer trash? All they ever talk about is fucking.

---

Paul: Your name is John Coffey?

John Coffey: Yessir, boss. Like the drink, only not spelled the same.

Paul: Oh, you can spell, can you?

John Coffey: Just my name, boss. J-O...

---

[Rehearsing Bitterbuck's execution, with Toot-Toot standing in for him]

Brutal: Arlen Bitterbuck, you have been condemned to die in the electric chair by a jury of your peers, sentence imposed by a judge in good standing in this state. Do you have anything to say before sentence is carried out?

Toot-Toot: Yeah. I want a fried chicken dinner with gravy on the taters, and I want to shit in your hat, and I got to have Mae West sit on my face 'cause I'm one horny motherfucker!

---

Paul: [After John enters his cell for the first time] Percy, they're moving house in the infirmary. Why don't you go see if they could use some help?

Percy Wetmore: Well, they got all the men they need.

Paul: Why don't you just go and make sure?

Percy: Uh-uh.

Paul: I don't care where you go, Percy, just as long as it's not here at this very moment. [Percy nods and walks down the Mile; Del grins at him as he walks by, so Percy smacks Del's fingers with a nightstick and makes Del scream in pain]

Eduard Delacroix: [crying] God, he bust my finger!

Percy: I wiped that grin off ya shit-poke face, didn't I?!

Paul: Goddamn it, Percy, get the hell off my block! [Percy looks at him, nods and leaves]

---

[Coffey seizes Paul's groin for a few moments, then spews a mysterious insect-like cloud, which dissipates overhead]

Paul: What did you just do to me?

John Coffey: I helped it. Didn't I help it? I just took it back, is all. Awful tired now, boss...dog-tired.

---

[After Percy empties the restraint room, trying to catch Mr. Jingles]

Paul: Percy, you want to think about what you were doing just now?

Percy: [looks at Paul] I was trying to get the mouse. Are you blind?

Harry Terwilliger: You also scared the living crap out of me and Bill. Not to mention the inmates. [nods towards the inmate cells]

Percy: So what? They aren't in cradle-school, in case you didn't notice. [to Paul] Although you treat them that way half the time.

Brutus: We don't scare 'em any more than we have to, Percy. They're under enough strain as it is.

Paul: Men under strain can snap. Hurt themselves and hurt others. That's why our job is talking, not yelling. You'll do better to think of this place like an intensive care ward of a hospital.

Percy: I think of it as a bucket of piss to drown rats in, that's all. [scans their faces] Anybody doesn't like it, hm? You can kiss my ass. [Brutus grabs him by his collar and pushes him up against the wall] Don't. Yeah, you try it. Go on, try it. You'll be on the bread lines before the week is out.

Paul: [puts his hand on Brutus's arm] Okay, Brutal.

[Brutus looks towards Paul, then back towards Percy, then lets go of him]

Paul: [steps close] We all know who your connections are, Percy. But you ever threaten a man on this block again, we all gonna have a go. Job be damned.

Percy: You done?

Paul: [Contemptuously] Get all this shit back in the restraining room, Percy. You're cluttering up my Mile.

---

[Percy sees Mr. Jingles alive again and storms back to Paul and Howell]

Percy: You switched 'em! You switched 'em somehow, you bastards!

Brutus: [grinning] I always keep a spare mouse in my wallet for occasions such as this.

---

[Paul has the men over for lunch, as he hatches his plan for Moores' terminally-ill wife]

Paul: You all saw what he did to the mouse.

Brutus: I coulda gone the rest of the day without you bringin' that up.

Dean: I coulda gone the rest of the year.

Paul: He did the same thing to me. He put his hands on me...and he took my bladder infection away.

Jan: 'S true. When he came home that day, he was... [pauses and half-smiles] all better. [Paul gives her a sly look]

Dean: Aw, wait. You're talkin' about a...an authentic healin'? A praise-Jesus miracle?

Paul: I am.

Jan: [barely suppressing a grin] Oh, yeah.

---

Harry: Now, w-what if he escapes? I'd hate to lose my job or go to prison...but I'd hate worse to have a dead child on my conscience.

Paul: I don't think that's gonna happen. In fact...I don't think he did it at all. I do not see God putting a...gift like that, in the hands of a man who could kill a child.

---

[Percy, staring vacantly, is unresponsive after shooting and killing Wild Bill]

Bill Dodge: Percy. Percy Wetmore. Son, can ya hear me?

Sheriff McGee: Speak up if you can hear us.

Bill Dodge: [to the bystanders] I think this boy's cheese slid off his cracker.

---

Paul: John, tell me what you want me to do. You want me to take you out of here? Just let you run away, see how far you could get?

John Coffey: [scornful] Why would you do such a foolish thing?

Paul: On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I...did I kill one of his true miracles — what am I gonna say? That it was my job? [disgustedly] It was my job.

John Coffey: You tell God the Father it was a kindness you done. [puts his hand on Paul's wrung ones] I know you hurtin' and worryin', I can feel it on you. But you oughta quit on it now. I want it over and done with, I do. I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I'm tired of never having me a buddy to be with, to tell me where we's going to or coming from, or why. Mostly, I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There's too much of it — it's like pieces of glass in my head, all the time. Can you understand?

Paul: Yes, John, I think I can.

---

Elaine [Feeding a slow but still active Mr. Jingles]: He...infected you with life?

Paul: That's as good a word as any.

Cast

• Tom Hanks — Paul Edgecomb
• David Morse — Brutus "Brutal" Howell
• Bonnie Hunt — Jan Edgecomb
• Michael Clarke Duncan — John Coffey
• James Cromwell — Warden Hal Moores
• Doug Hutchison — Percy Wetmore
• Sam Rockwell — "Wild Bill" Wharton
• Michael Jeter — Eduard "Del" Delacroix
• Barry Pepper — Dean Stanton
• Jeffrey DeMunn — Harry Terwilliger
• Patricia Clarkson — Melinda Moores
• Harry Dean Stanton — Toot-Toot
• Dabbs Greer — Old Paul Edgecomb
• Eve Brent — Elaine Connelly

External links

Encyclopedic article on The Green Mile (film) on Wikipedia

• The Green Mile quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• The Green Mile at Rotten Tomatoes