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About This Quiz
Set in a rural prison, this three-hour epic starred Tom Hanks and introduced Michael Clark Duncan to the world. Find out how much you remember about this moving, character-driven film with our quiz!
What is the name of the character played by Tom Hanks?
Nick Carraway
Paul Edgecomb
Paul Edgecomb was the chief guard on "The Green Mile." If the name "Paul Sheldon" is familiar, he's from another Stephen King novel-turned-film -- he's the main character in "Misery."
Paul Sheldon
Marcus Wells
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In what setting does "The Green Mile" open?
Cold Mountain Penitentiary, where the Mile is
Briar Ridge Mental Hospital
a nursing home
The movie's "frame tale" is Paul Edgecomb telling his story to a fellow resident. (A frame tale is the beginning and end segments that "frame" the real story in a movie. Occasionally writers jump back to the frame story at several points, but most often, it's just the beginning and end -- hence the term "frame.")
the Edgecomb farmhouse
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Who wrote the novel, "The Green Mile"?
Peter Straub
Graham Greene
Stephen King
"The Green Mile" was originally published as six retro-style serial paperbacks, then collected into one volume. Fun fact: "Graham Greene" is the name of both a writer and an actor. The actor co-starred in "The Green Mile."
Anne Rivers Siddons
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What was the name of the pivotal character played by Michael Clark Duncan?
John Coffey
Stephen King commented later that he took flack from critics for giving his saintly, doomed hero the same initials as Jesus Christ. King laughed it off, suggesting they were taking a serial novel way too seriously.
Jack Torrance
John Smith
the Man in Black
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What is the name of the character Graham Greene played?
Arlen Bitterbuck
Graham Greene is an actor of First Nations lineage (the equivalent of "Native American" in the US). He plays the Cherokee inmate, Arlen Bitterbuck, leading one Green Mile guard to speculate that they'll need to bring in a native shaman for Bitterbuck's execution. (Not so: Bitterbuck is Christian, as Edgecomb explains).
Frankie Flowers
Gary Stone
William Wharton
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Every story needs a bad guy. Who is the nasty one in "Green Mile"?
the guard Percy Wetmore
the prison administrator Hal Moores
the inmate William Wharton
both #1 and #3
John Coffey calls these two "the bad men." Wait, they're just victims of bad upbringing and societal -- oh, never mind! We're with you on this one, John.
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Which of these directors made "The Green Mile"?
Frank Darabont
Darabont jokes that he has the world's smallest niche: prison movies adapted from Stephen King novels. This is because Darabont also directed "The Shawshank Redemption," which was set mostly in a Maine prison.
Stephen Spielberg
Rob Reiner
Zack Snyder
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What is Coffey accused of doing?
attempting to assassinate the governor
murdering a pregnant woman
murdering two little white girls
The girls' names were Katie and Cora. Coffey was found holding them in his arm and weeping, saying "I tried to take it back."
shooting a police officer in the back
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What happens right after John Coffey heals someone?
he has an epileptic seizure
he's immensely hungry
he sheds a single tear
he exhales grayish-brown particles from his mouth
Some ideas that work well in novels can look almost comic as a CGI effect on film. This was probably the case with what we'll call, for lack of a better term, the "sickness confetti."
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Where is Cold Mountain penitentiary, where "The Green Mile" is set?
Colorado
Louisiana
Stephen King rarely sets his work outside Maine, except for one ("The Shining") set in Colorado -- both states where he has lived. But for "The Green Mile," King evidently wanted to use the Southern color and racial politics that a Louisiana setting could provide.
Maine
Wisconsin
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How old does Paul reveal himself to be?
78
87
63
108
Paul tells this to his friend Elaine, who has thought of him as decades younger (which he looks). Paul credits his incredible longevity to John Coffey's touch -- he "gave a little bit of himself" to Paul when he shared the vision of Wharton killing the two girls.
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Who is "Mr. Jingles"?
an ice-cream man who visits the prison
the executioner
a mouse
When we first see the tame mouse, it's calmly approaching the guards on E Block. The younger guard, Dean, says it isn't normal for "a mouse to walk up on people like that" and suggests it's rabid, but this isn't the case.
a nickname for the governor
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What last request does John Coffey make?
to dictate a letter to his siblings
to see a movie
If Coffey has any siblings, this isn't revealed in the movie. Instead, he tells Paul "I've never seen a flicker show." He watches "Top Hat," with Fred Astaire, in the prison's movie theater.
for the guards to find Mr. Jingles
to have a new suit for his burial
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Who or what is Paul visiting in the woods outside the nursing home?
a quiet pond
John Coffey's grave
Mr. Jingles
Incredibly, the mouse is still alive. Paul credits this to John Coffey, who held him during Del's execution and passed some of his power into the mouse.
Brutal's grandchildren on their farm
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Who played guard Brutus "Brutal" Howell?
Edward Norton
Tim Robbins
David Morse
The nickname "Brutal" is misleading; Howell is mild-mannered, like Edgecomb. Morse is often called on to play law-enforcement professionals and/or big, calm, voice-of-reason types.
Alec Baldwin
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What is the name of the Cajun inmate on the Mile?
Eduard Delacroix
Delacroix is a colorful and good-natured prisoner. But if you've read the book, you also know he's an arsonist and a murderer.
Percival Robicheaux
Ti Beau Maisonette
Cletus Purcel
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Whose nephew is Percy Wetmore?
Paul's
Hal's
the governor of Louisiana
the governor of Louisiana's wife
For this reason, Percy can't easily be fired. This is why the other guards have to put up with his cowardice and cruelty.
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Which inmate takes Mr. Jingles into his care?
John Coffey
Eduard Delacroix
Delacroix is delighted by the mouse's exploits and its friendliness. The guards find Delacroix a cigar box and some cotton batting for Mr. Jingles to sleep in.
Arlen Bitterbuck
William Wharton
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Which inmate does Wharton get the drop on?
Brutal
Dean
Wharton fakes being drugged and submissive until they reach E Block, when he gets a stranglehold on Dean. This scene is mostly to show that Percy, while a sadist, is actually a coward -- he freezes and fails to hit Wharton on the head with his nightstick, though he has a clear shot. Brutal, arriving from the yard, has to do it.
Paul
Percy
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What tattoo does Wharton have on his arm?
Billy the Kid
Wharton likes to think of himself as a 1930s Billy the Kid. He objects to the guards calling him "Wild Bill," whom he does not admire.
a rose and cross
a naked woman
a devil
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What is wrong with Hal Moores's wife, Melinda?
a brain tumor
Hal confides that he's worried about Melinda early in the film. An X-ray reveals that these fears are well-founded: she has a brain tumor the size of a lemon.
lupus
breast cancer
inability to conceive
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Of what does John Coffey heal Edgecomb?
asthma
glaucoma
a summer cold
a urinary-tract infection
An online article on "Actors Who Do the Same Thing in Every Movie" once identified urination as Tom Hanks' particular bit (note especially his first scene in "A League of Their Own.") We're sure that "every" movie is an exaggeration, but admittedly, in "The Green Mile" Hanks's first scene shows him painfully urinating in the restroom of E Block.
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Where does Percy have a job application pending?
Briar Ridge Mental Hospital
The job Percy has applied for is administrative, with "better pay," Paul explains. Paul also believes that Percy hasn't moved on yet because he wants to see an execution up close.
the boys' correctional facility
the governor's office
Angola prison
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What are the guards fond of saying about their job?
"Everyone walks their own mile."
"You fall in love with the Mile, but it doesn't love you back."
"What happens on the Mile, stays on the Mile."
This feels a little bit out of place in a movie set in 1935. So does the phrase, "Knock yourself out," which a guard says to Percy when he wants to tear apart the restraint room looking for the mouse. But it's a rare historical movie that doesn't have at least one anachronism in its dialogue, since most screenwriters don't have a background in linguistics.
"Come for the executions, stay for the pie."
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What object does Mr. Jingles roll?
a grape
a pencil
a marble
a spool
What's a thread spool doing in a prison? That's one of the unsolved mysteries of "The Green Mile."
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What happens while Eduard Delacroix is entertaining prison administrators with Mr. Jingles's tricks?
the guards clean his cell
the guards rehearse his execution
From the first, the audience knows something is up. One visitor who has supposedly come from the state government to see Mr. Jingles perform is actually the prison's plumber, required to put on a tie to look the part. But Delacroix believes the ruse -- until Percy tells him otherwise.
the guards slip John Coffey out of the prison
Wharton steals his personal possessions
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After Edgecomb, who is next to be healed by Coffey?
Brutus Howell
Melinda Moores
Eduard Delacroix
Mr. Jingles
Percy, who has disliked the mouse since the first day he saw it, steps on Mr. Jingles and kills him just before Delacroix's execution. Coffey holds the mouse in his hands and brings it back to life.
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What does Coffey mean when he says he tried to "take [something] back"?
he tried to make amends for something
he tried to heal someone
We learn about midway through the film that Coffey refers to healing as "taking it back," "it" being an illness or injury that passes physically into his body from the other person's. So his conviction for murder hung largely on confusion about language: When he said "I tried to take it back" about Katie and Cora, the authorities didn't understand that he meant he tried to help them.
he tried to unthink a bad thought
this is never made clear
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What does the phrase "Roll on two" mean?
that a prisoner is about to take his last walk
that the prison is on lockdown
that the prison transport van is rolling out
that the executioner should start the flow of electricity to the chair
We hear the phrases "Roll on one" and "Roll on two" several times in the movie. Three inmates are executed by the end, the last being, of course, John Coffey.
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Who sabotages Del's execution?
Brutal
Percy
Percy is angry at Del for several reasons. One, his attempt to kill Mr. Jingles failed; two, Del mocked him after Percy wet himself when Wharton grabbed him through the bars. So Percy deliberately failed to soak the sponge that goes under the cap during the execution, meaning that electricity was not properly conducted to Del's brain, and his death was prolonged and painful.
Hal
a civilian witness
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Why do Paul, Brutal and Harry make a 2 a.m. trip to Hal's home?
there's been a riot
Wharton has escaped
they are bringing Coffey to heal Melinda
The clandestine trip requires a lot of preparation, including drugging Wharton so be won't be a witness and locking Percy in the restraint room. These measures don't go as well as planned -- Wharton wakes up while the men are slipping out of E Block, and grabs John Coffey's arm, saying, "Where do you think you're going?"
they mistakenly believe Melinda has died
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What does Melinda give Coffey after he heals her?
coffee and pie
her St. Christopher medal
Melinda apparently doesn't remember anything since heading to Vicksburg to get her X-ray. Yet she recognizes Coffey when she sees him, and gives him a hug and her St. Christopher medal.
her family Bible
nothing
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Which of these is a sign of Coffey using his powers?
electrical surges
shaking walls and furniture
wind and dark clouds gathering outside
both #1 and #2
Coffey's power shakes the walls and furniture of the Moores's house when he heals Melinda. More often, power surges occur, often overloading light fixtures, which spark and die. This mirrors what happens during an execution on the Mile.
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Who was the real killer of the two little girls?
Arlen Bitterbuck
William Wharton
This shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone -- Wharton killed three people, including a pregnant woman. Coffey learns the truth when Wharton grabs his arm. Later, by taking Paul's hand, Coffey passes his vision of the murder onto him.
a traveling preacher
this is never made clear
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Why does Coffey not regurgitate the sickness that he took from Melinda?
he wants to die before he can be executed
he physically can't
he waits to pass it into Percy
It's Paul's theory that Coffey wants to die of (somewhat) natural causes. But back at E Block, Coffey grabs Percy by the throat and exhales all the "sickness confetti" into his mouth, giving him Melinda's illness.
he waits to pass it into Wharton
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What does Percy do under the influence of the illness?
immediately dies
shoots William Wharton
Melinda didn't seem to be violent under the influence of her brain tumor, but it affects Percy differently. He empties his gun into Wharton and then becomes catatonic. Coffey says simply, "I punished the bad men." That's an understatement!
weeps and repents of his sins
asks to be taken to the infirmary
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You Got:
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