The only reason this movie did not win the BEST MOVIE Oscar was because it was released the same year as FOREST GUMP. Tough competition. I may not agree with Tim Robbins politics but he sure is one hell of a good actor. Morgan Freeman is one of the all time greats. Morgan Freeman's son is also in this movie. He played one of the cons yelling at the new arrivals near the bigining of the film. He was the one acting like he a had a fishing rod. In the Novella APT PUPIL (also by Stephen King) it is mentioned that Andy Dufrense handled the stocks for the lead charector in the story. Nice to see a little continuty in King's work.