King’S Reign Spans Far Beyond Horror, Especially At The Movies

When the name Stephen King is uttered, one word comes to mind.

And that word, naturally enough, is horror.

The author of such creepy novels as “Carrie,” “Salem’s Lot,” “The Shining,” “Cujo,” “Pet Sematary,” “Misery,” “The Dark Half,” “It” and “The Tommyknockers” has seen those and many more made into creepy movies of varying quality.

But horror is not King’s only literary genre. Occasionally, he writes stories about kids coming of age, or people in general coming to grips.

Chief among those films is “The Green Mile,” which is available this week on video and DVD. But there are others, too, namely the three major films adapted from King’s novella collection “Different Seasons.”

They include:

“Stand By Me” (1986): Based on King’s novella “The Body,” this Rob Reiner-directed film tells about four young boys and their sojourn to find the body of a boy who has been killed by a passing train.

Although it has a few maudlin moments that are typically King, it boasts a lot of genuine feeling. And its cast — which includes River Phoenix, Will Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, Casey Siemaszko and John Cusack — is a virtual who’s who of future stars.

“The Shawshank Redemption” (1994): A prequel to “The Green Mile,” this Frank Darabont-directed movie earned seven Oscar nominations (winning none). It tells the story about a prison lifer (Tim Robbins), put behind bars for murdering his wife, who provides inspiration for his fellow inmates (including the Oscar-nominated Morgan Freeman) by battling a crooked warden, brutal guards and a gang of rogue convicts.

Exquisitely filmed and expertly acted, “Shawshank” has only one real flaw: It reflects King’s tendency to make things (emotions, plot points, character motivation) bigger, and therefore more obvious, than they need to be. What may work for horror doesn’t always translate well to straight drama.

“Apt Pupil” (1998): Bryan Singer followed up his inventive “The Usual Suspects” (1995) with this look at a young boy’s (Brad Renfro) dual fascination with World War II and an elderly neighbor (the great Ian McKellan) whom he suspects of being an escaped Nazi war criminal.

More of a mystery than anything else, “Apt Pupil” most resembles King’s typical work. Essentially a character study, it borders on the horrific.

And though it’s one of the most expertly made adaptations of a King work, “Apt Pupil” fails to be completely fulfilling. Singer and King give us no one to root for, and such a situation tends to lessen the required tension.

Whatever his limitations, King is sure to be remembered as one of the best-selling novelists of the 20th century. One or two of his books may even earn a footnote in literary texts printed 50 years from now. If so, the notation likely will involve his main subject matter: horror.

Yet this, too, is equally clear: At least three movies made from King’s work will remind folks that he was capable of something different.

The week’s major openings on video and/or DVD:

The Green Mile

***-1/2

Here’s a three-hour film that doesn’t feel as if it’s straining. Based on the serial novel by Stephen King, it’s only as long as it needs to be to tell its story. That story involves life on the death row (circa 1935) of a Louisiana prison and the various guards and prisoners (especially one giant-sized convict named John Coffey) who populate it. A searching examination of the human soul, which is at once capable of the most exquisite graciousness and most reviling cruelty, the movie doubles as a powerful indictment of the death penalty.

Directed by Frank Darabont, the film is helped immensely by a cast, led by the always-solid Tom Hanks, that ranges from able veterans James Cromwell and David Morse to newcomers Michael Clark Duncan and Doug Hutchinson. Ultimately a film that renews one’s faith in humanity, “The Green Mile” is, even so, worthy of its R rating for its explicit representations of electric-chair executions and sex-related crimes involving children. Rated R.

Play It to the Bone

*-1/2

Ron Shelton makes films about sports, whether they be football or golf, basketball or boxing, politics or sex — or any combination of the above. His stories are about struggle, featuring flawed characters whose personality traits often are in conflict with their athletic talents.

In “Play It to the Bone,” Shelton gives us two aging middleweights, best friends Vince (Woody Harrelson) and Cesar (Antonio Banderas), who are given the second chance of their lives: to box on the undercard of a Mike Tyson bout. The catch: They have to fight each other.

It’s an intriguing notion, but Shelton doesn’t do much with it. Fully half the film is taken up with the road trip to Las Vegas, a trek that has Cesar and Vince arguing both with each other and with the woman (Lolita Davidovich) they both love. The other half involves the fight itself, which boasts some good energy but less reality than one would expect from a talent such as Shelton. In the end, “Play It to the Bone” is not so much an exploration of flawed character as it is a profile of three — or more — losers. (VHS, DVD.) Rated R.