Get Busy Livin’, or Get Busy Sightseein’

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Since I’m not a big movie buff, I can safely say that my favorite movie of the past 30 years is The Shawshank Redemption, the 1994 classic starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Start-to-finish brilliance. And that great line near the end of the movie: “Get busy livin’, or get busy dyin’.” Yeah, I love that film. My trip through Ohio made a stop in Mansfield, where the old Ohio State Reformatory is located. The long-closed prison has served as a filming site for seven movies (including a forthcoming Sylvester Stallone flick), including Air Force One and, most famously, The Shawshank Redemption. It was a major thrill to visit the prison/movie set! It’s a two-for-one special, given that you not only get to see the sites used in the film (Brooks’ room was built in an area on the 3rd floor instead of in Hollywood), but also the history of the prison itself and the now-demolished Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio, where executions were carried out (“Old Sparky,” the electric chair from the Ohio Penitentiary, is on display), as well as a description sign about the 1930 fire at the Columbus prison, which killed 330 inmates and stands as the sixth-worst fire in American history. There are displays of homemade weapons (every time I see a display of shanks I can’t help but think that, if the prisoner had been half that ingenious outside, he never would have become a prisoner ) and the weapons the guards had to defend themselves. Unquestionably, though, the star of the tour is The Shawshank Redemption. Even as popular an actor as Harrison Ford is, his Air Force One film is given scant attention on the tour. The office door for Warden Norton (played so well by Bob Gunton) is still labeled as “his” office, and there’s a brief film with Gunton explaining the scene at the end when Norton commits suicide. The tour beautifully mixes the history of the prison and the backdrop of the film together. It’s not “Oh, here’s the prison history, there’s the Shawshank history, and never the two shall meet.” I had a great time touring the prison. As a prison, it’s in pretty terrible shape (and I thought Brushy Mountain, Tennessee looked bad!). As a locale for a classic film, it’s absolutely beautiful. COLLAGE: *The “Brooks was here” prop that Red (Freeman) added “so was Red” to near the end of the film *Cutout stand ups of Andy (Robbins) and Red (Freeman) *The pipe prop, which was used to film Andy escaping (there’s a sign that says the “sludge” was actually chocolate syrup and sawdust) *For the prison history, the Columbus Ohio Reformatory’s electric chair. The sign points out that no prisoners were ever executed by the state in Mansfield.