The Shawshank Redemption Quotes: Timeless

The Shawshank Redemption Quotes Page  1   2
USER REVIEWS TRIVIA THE NOVEL

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[first lines; Andy is sat in his car listening to the radio, he takes a gun from his glove compartment then takes a swig from his bottle; the scene moves to the courtroom where Andy is being prosecuted by the DA]
District Attorney: Mr. Dufresne, describe the confrontation you had with your wife the night that she was murdered.
Andy Dufresne: It was very bitter. She said she was glad I knew, that she hated all the sneaking around. And she said that she wanted a divorce in Reno.
District Attorney: What was your response?
Andy Dufresne: I told her I would not grant one.
District Attorney: “I’ll see you in hell before I see you in Reno.” Those were the words you used, Mr. Dufresne, according to the testimony of your neighbors.
Andy Dufresne: If they say so. I really don’t remember, I was upset.

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District Attorney: What happened after you argued with your wife?
Andy Dufresne: She packed a bag. She packed a bag to go and stay with…Mr. Quentin.
District Attorney: Glenn Quentin. A golf pro at the Snowdon Hills Country Club. The man you had recently discovered was your wife’s lover. Did you follow her?
Andy Dufresne: I went to a few bars first. Later, I drove to his house to confront them. They weren’t home, so I parked in the turnout, and waited.
District Attorney: With what intention?
Andy Dufresne: I’m not sure. I was confused, drunk. I think, mostly I wanted to scare them.
District Attorney: When they arrived, you went up to the house and murdered them.
Andy Dufresne: No, I was sobering up. I got back in the car and I drove home to sleep it off. Along the way, I stopped, and I threw my gun into the Royal River. I feel I’ve been very clear on this point.
District Attorney: Well, where I get hazy is where the cleaning woman shows up the following morning and finds your wife in bed with her lover, riddled with .38 caliber bullets. Now, does that strike you as a fantastic coincidence, Mr. Dufresne, or is it just me?
Andy Dufresne: Yes, it does.

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District Attorney: Yet you still maintain that you threw your gun into the river before the murders took place? That’s very convenient.
Andy Dufresne: It’s the truth.
District Attorney: The police dragged that river for three days, and nary a gun was found. So, there could be no comparison made between your gun and the bullets taken from the bloodstained corpses of the victims. And that also is very convenient. Isn’t it, Mr. Dufresne?
Andy Dufresne: Since I am innocent of this crime, sir, I find it decidedly inconvenient that the gun was never found.

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District Attorney: Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve heard all the evidence, you know all the facts. We have the accused at the scene of the crime. We have footprints, tire tracks, we have bullets strewn on the ground which bear his fingerprints. A broken bourbon bottle, likewise with fingerprints. And most of all, we have a beautiful young woman and her lover lying dead in each other’s arms. They had sinned. But was their crime so great as to merit a death sentence? Now, while you think about that, think about this.
[he holds up a gun]
District Attorney: A revolver holds six bullets, not eight. I submit that this was not a hot-blooded crime of passion. That at least could be understood, if not condoned. No. This was revenge of a much more brutal and cold-blooded nature. Consider this: Four bullets per victim. Not six shots fired, but eight. That means that he fired the gun empty, and then stopped to reload, so that he could shoot each of them again. An extra bullet per lover, right in the head.

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Judge: You strike me as a particularly icy and remorseless man, Mr. Dufresne. It chills my blood just to look at you. By the power vested in me by the state of Maine, I hereby order you to serve two life sentences, back to back. One for each of your victims. So be it.
[Andy looks horrified]

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[1947 Parole Hearings – Red enters the room]
1947 Parole Hearings Man: Sit.
[a nervous looking Red takes a seat]
1947 Parole Hearings Man: We see by your file you’ve served twenty years of a life sentence.
Red: Yes, sir.
1947 Parole Hearings Man: You feel you’ve been rehabilitated?
Red: Oh, yes, sir. Absolutely, sir. I mean, I learned my lesson. I can honestly say that I’m a changed man. I’m no longer a danger to society. That’s God’s honest truth.
[we see Red getting a “Rejection” stamp in his parole file]

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[after the hearing Red goes to the prison yard]
Skeet: Hey, Red. How did it go?
Red: Same old shit. Different day.
Skeet: Yeah, I know how you feel. I’m up for rejection next week.
Jigger: Yeah, I got rejected last week.
Red: It happens.
Ernie: Hey, Red. Bump me a deck.
Red: Get the fuck out of my face, will you, man?
Ernie: Come on.
Red: You’ve been to me for five packs already!
Ernie: Four.
Red: Five!

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Red: [narrating] There must be a con like me in every prison in America. I’m the guy who can get it for you. Cigarettes, a bag of reefer, if that’s your thing. A bottle of brandy to celebrate your kid’s high-school graduation. Damn near anything, within reason. Yes, sir. I’m a regular Sears and Roebuck.
[the siren blares in the prison yard]
Red: [narrating] So, when Andy Dufresne came to me in 1949 and asked me to smuggle Rita Hayworth into the prison for him, I told him, “No problem.”

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[we see the new prisoners being driven to Shawshank Prison]
Red: [narrating] Andy came to Shawshank Prison in early 1947, for murdering his wife
and the fella she was banging. On the outside he’d been vice-president of a large Portland bank. Good work for a man as young as he was.
[the prisoners in the yard, including Red, go to get a better view of the new prisoners arriving]
Floyd: Hey, Red.

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[to the new prisoner stepping off the bus]
Captain Hadley: Do you speak English, butt steak? You follow this officer.
[the new prisoners step off the bus and follow the prison officer, the prisoners in the yard are all cheering as they watch them]
Heywood: I haven’t seen such a sorry looking heap of maggot shit in all my life.
[to the new prisoners]
Fresh Fish Con #1: Hey, fish! Come over here.
[the new prisoners, including a nervous looking Andy follow Hadley into the prison as the other prisoners jeer and shout]
Fresh Fish Con #2: Come on, fish!

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[as they watch the new prisoners]
Floyd: Taking bets today, Red?
Red: Smokes or coins? Betters choice.
Floyd: Smokes. Put me down for two.
Red: Alright. Who’s your horse?
Floyd: That little sack of shit. Eighth…eighth from the front. He’ll be first.
Heywood: Oh, bullshit. I’ll take that action.
Ernie: Yeah, me too.
Heywood: You’re out some smokes, son. Let me tell you.
Floyd: Well, Heywood, you’re so smart, you call it.
Heywood: I’ll take…the chubby fat-ass there. The fifth one from the front. Put me down for a quarter deck.

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[the prisoners continue to jeer and shout at the new prisoners]
Fresh Fish Con: Fresh fish! Fresh fish today! We’re reeling them in!
Red: [narrating] I must admit, I didn’t think much of Andy first time I laid eyes on him. Looked like a stiff breeze would blow him over. That was my first impression of the man.
Floyd: What do you say, Red?
Red: That tall drink of water with the silver spoon up his ass.
Ernie: That guy? Never happen.
Red: Ten cigarettes.
Floyd: That’s a rich bet.
Alright, who’s gonna prove me wrong? Heywood? Jigger? Skeet? Floyd? Four brave souls.
[over the speakers]
Prison Guard Voice: Return to your cell blocks for evening count. All prisoners return to your cell blocks.

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[to the new prisoners lined up]
Captain Hadley: Turn to the right! Eyes front.
[Norton steps forward to address the new prisoners]
Warden Norton: This is Mr. Hadley. He’s Captain of the Guards. I’m Mr. Norton, the Warden. You are convicted felons. That’s why they’ve sent you to me. Rule number one: No blasphemy. I’ll not have the Lord’s name taken in vain in my prison. The other rules, you’ll figure out as you go along. Any questions?
Hungry Fish Con: When do we eat?
[Hadley walks over to the prisoner]
Captain Hadley: You eat when we say you eat! You shit when we say you shit, and you piss when we say you piss! You got that, you maggot-dick motherfucker?
[Hadley hits him in the stomach with the end of his nightstick making the prisoner double over in pain]
Captain Hadley: On your feet.
Warden Norton: I believe in two things: Discipline and the Bible. Here you’ll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord. Your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.
[Norton walks off]

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[to the other guards]
Captain Hadley: Unhook ’em.
[Andy, now stripped naked, is hosed down with water]
Captain Hadley: Turn around.
[Andy turns and they hose him again]
Captain Hadley: That’s enough. Move to the end of the cage. Turn around. Delouse him.
[another guard throws a white powder over Andy’s back]
Captain Hadley: Turn around.
[the powder is thrown onto Andy’s front and catches his face]
Captain Hadley: Move out of the cage, go to your left, pick up your clothes and Bible. Next man up.

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[the new prisoners who are all naked, are escorted their cells]
New Fish Guard: Right, right, right. Left, left…
Red: [narrating] The first night’s the toughest, no doubt about it. They march you in, naked as the day you were born, skin burning and half-blind from that delousing shit they throw on you. And when they put you in that cell, and those bars slam home, that’s when you know it’s for real. Old life blown away in the blink of an eye. Nothing left but all the time in the world to think about it.
[Red watches as Andy is taken to his cell]
Red: [narrating] Most new fish come close to madness the first night. Somebody always breaks down crying. Happens every time. The only question is: Who’s it gonna be? It’s as good a thing to bet on as any, I guess. I had my money on Andy Dufresne.

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New Fish Guard: Lights out!
[the lights in the cells are turned off]
Red: [narrating] I remember my first night. Seems like a long time ago.
[the other prisoners start taunting the new arrivals]
Fresh Fish Con #1: Yoo-hoo! Fresh fish. Fish, fish, fish, fish, fishy.
Fresh Fish Con #2: Boy, are you scared of the dark?
Fresh Fish Con #1: You like it here, new fish?
Fresh Fish Con #2: You’ll wish your daddy never dicked your mommy.
Fresh Fish Con #3: Fishy! Oh, I want me a pork chop. Oh, yes!
Fresh Fish Con #1: You taking this down, new fish?
Fresh Fish Con #2: There’s gonna be a quiz later!
Fresh Fish Con #3: Poke your ass out, give me a first look!
Fresh Fish Con #4: Shh! Keep it down.

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Red: [narrating] The boys always go fishing with first-timers. And they don’t quit till they reel someone in.
Heywood: Hey, Fat Ass. Fat Ass. Talk to me, boy. I know you’re there. I can hear you breathing.
[Fat Ass is crying in his cell]
Heywood: Don’t you listen to these nitwits. You hear me? This place ain’t so bad. I tell you what. I’ll introduce you around, make you feel right at home. I know a couple of big old bull queers that would just love to make your acquaintance. Especially that big, white, mushy butt of yours.
Fat Ass: God! I don’t belong here!
Fresh Fish Con: We have a winner!
Fat Ass: I want to go home!
Heywood: And it’s Fat Ass by a nose!
Fresh Fish Con: Hey, it’s the fat guy! It’s the fat guy!
Heywood: Fresh fish! Fresh fish! Fresh fish!
Fat Ass: I don’t belong here!
[the other prisoners start singing along and clapping]
Fat Ass: I want to go home. I want my mama.
Fresh Fish Con: I had your mother! She wasn’t that great.

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[as the prisoners are clapping and taunting Fat Ass Hadley and the other guards enter]
Captain Hadley: What the Christ is this happy horse shit?
Inmate: He took the Lord’s name in vain. I’m telling the Warden.
Captain Hadley: You’ll be telling him with my baton up your ass!
Fat Ass: You gotta let me out of here!
Captain Hadley: What is your malfunction, you fat barrel of monkey spunk?
Fat Ass: Please, I ain’t supposed to be here. Not me!
Captain Hadley: I ain’t gonna count to three. I’m not even gonna count to one. You will shut the fuck up, or I’ll sing you a lullaby!
[as he listens from the next cell]
Heywood: Shut up, man. Shut up.

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Fat Ass: Please! Please, there’s been a mistake! You don’t understand. I’m not supposed to be here!
Captain Hadley: Open that cell.
Inmate: Me neither. You people run this place like a fucking prison!
[the guard opens Fat Ass’s cell, Hadley drags him out by his hair and start beating him]
Captain Hadley: Son of a bitch.
Inmate: Take it easy.
[after Hadley beats Fat Ass to a pulp]
Captain Hadley: If I hear so much as a mouse fart in here the rest of the night, I swear by God and sonny Jesus, you will all visit the infirmary. Every last motherfucker in here!
[to the other guards]
Captain Hadley: Call the trustees. Take that tub of shit down to the infirmary.

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Red: [narrating] His first night in the joint, Andy Dufresne cost me two packs of cigarettes. He never made a sound.

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[next morning, the cell bars are opened and the inmates are ordered out of their cells for rollcall and breakfast, Red looks at Andy then they all go to breakfast; Andy sits near Red’s group and just as he goes to eat he finds a maggot in his food]
Brooks Hatlen: Are you…are you going to eat that?
Andy Dufresne: I hadn’t…I hadn’t planned on it.
Brooks Hatlen: Do you mind?
[Andy gives the maggot to Brooks]
Brooks Hatlen: Ah…that’s nice and ripe.
[Brooks feeds the maggot to the baby crow named Jake in his pocket]
Brooks Hatlen: Jake says thank you. Fell out of his nest over by the plate shop. I’m going to look after him until he’s big enough to fly.

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[referring to Heywood]
Jigger: Oh, no, no. Here he comes.
[a smiling Heywood joins them at their table]
Heywood: Morning, fellas. Fine morning, ain’t it? You know why it’s a fine morning, don’t you? Come on, set ’em down. I want ’em all lined up here, just like a pretty little chorus line.
[the others hand over their cigarettes]
Heywood: Yeah, look at that! Look at that.
Jigger: I can’t stand this guy.
Heywood: Oh, Lord.
[he takes a sniff of the cigarettes]
Heywood: Yes. Richmond, Virginia.
Floyd: Smell my ass.
Skeet: After he smells mine.

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Heywood: Jee, Red, it was a terrible shame about your horse coming in last, an’ all. But I sure do love that winning horse of mine, though. I believe I owe that boy a great big, sloppy kiss when I see him.
Red: Why don’t you give him some of your cigarettes, instead? Lucky fuck.
Heywood: Hey, Tyrell. You pull infirmary duty this week?
[Tyrell nods his head]
Heywood: How’s that horse of mine doin’ anyway?
Tyrell: Dead. Hadley busted his head up pretty good. The doc had already gone home for the night. Poor bastard lay there till this morning. By then, hell, there weren’t nothing we could do.
[everyone goes quiet]
Andy Dufresne: What was his name?
Heywood: What’d you say?
Andy Dufresne: I was just wondering if anyone knew his name.
Heywood: What the fuck do you care, new fish? It doesn’t fuckin’ matter what his name was. He’s dead.

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[as Andy is taking a shower with the other inmates Bogs takes the shower next to Andy’s]
Bogs Diamond: Hey, anybody come at you yet?
[Andy looks at him with confusion]
Bogs Diamond: Anybody get to you yet? Hey, we all need friends in here. I could be a friend to you.
[Andy walks away]
Bogs Diamond: Hey… Hard to get. I like that.

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Red: [narrating] Andy kept pretty much to himself at first. I guess he had a lot on his mind,trying to adapt to life on the inside. It wasn’t until a month went by that he finally opened his mouth to say more than two words to somebody. As it turned out, that somebody was me.

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[in the prison yard Andy approaches Red as he’s throwing ball with Heywood]
Andy Dufresne: I’m Andy Dufresne.
Red: The wife-killing banker. Why’d you do it?
Andy Dufresne: I didn’t, since you ask.
[Red laughs]
Red: You’re gonna fit right in! Everybody in here is innocent. Didn’t you know that? Heywood, what you in here for?
Heywood: Didn’t do it! Lawyer fucked me.
[to Andy]
Red: Rumor has it you’re a real cold fish. You think your shit smells sweeter than most. Is that right?
Andy Dufresne: What do you think?
Red: Well, to tell you the truth, I haven’t made up my mind.

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Andy Dufresne: I understand you’re a man that knows how to get things.
Red: I’m known to locate certain things, from time to time.
Andy Dufresne: I wonder if you might get me a rock hammer.
Red: A what?
Andy Dufresne: A rock hammer.
Red: What is it, and why?
Andy Dufresne: What do you care?
Red: Well, if it was a toothbrush, I wouldn’t ask questions, I’d just quote a price, but then a toothbrush is a non-lethal object, isn’t it?
Andy Dufresne: Fair enough. A rock hammer is about six or seven inches long. Looks like a miniature pickaxe.
Red: Pickaxe?
Andy Dufresne: For rocks.
Red: Rocks.

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[Andy throws Red a small rock]
Red: Quartz?
Andy Dufresne: Quartz.
[Andy bends down and picks up more rocks]
Andy Dufresne: And some mica. Shale. Limestone.
Red: So?
Andy Dufresne: So, I’m a rock hound. At least, I was in my old life. I’d like to be again on a limited basis.
Red: Or maybe you’d like to stink your toy into somebody’s skull.
Andy Dufresne: No, sir. I have no enemies here. No? Wait a while. Word gets around.
Red: The Sisters have taken quite a liking to you. Especially Bogs.
[they look across the yard to see Bogs staring at Andy]
Andy Dufresne: I don’t suppose it would help any if I explained to them I’m not homosexual.
Red: Neither are they. You have to be human first. They don’t qualify.

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Red: Bull queers take by force. It’s all they want or understand. If I were you, I’d grow eyes in the back of my head.
Andy Dufresne: Thanks for the advice.
Red: Well, that’s free. You understand my concern.
Andy Dufresne: Well, if there’s any trouble, I won’t use the rock hammer. Okay?
Red: Then I’d guess you want to escape. Tunnel under the wall, maybe.
[Andy chuckles]
Red: Did I miss something here? What’s funny?
Andy Dufresne: You’ll understand when you see the rock hammer.
Red: What’s an item like this usually go for?
Andy Dufresne: Seven dollars in any rock and gem shop.
Red: My normal mark-up’s twenty percent, but this is a specialty item. The risk goes up, the price goes up. Let’s make it an even ten bucks.
Andy Dufresne: Ten it is.
Red: Okay.

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Red: Waste of money, if you ask me.
Andy Dufresne: Why’s that?
Red: Folks around this joint love surprise inspections. If they find it, you’re gonna lose it. If they do catch you with it, you don’t know me. You mention my name, we never do business again. Not for shoelaces or a stick of gum. Now, you got that?
Andy Dufresne: I understand. Thank you, Mr., uh…?
Red: Red. The name’s Red.
Andy Dufresne: Red? Why do they call you that?
[Red thinks for a moment before replying]
Red: Maybe it’s because I’m Irish.

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Red: [narrating] I could see why some of the boys took him for snobby. He had a quiet way about him. A walk and a talk that just wasn’t normal around here. He strolled like a man in a park, without a care or a worry in the world. Like he had on an invisible coat that would shield him from this place. Yeah. I think it would be fair to say, I liked Andy from the start.

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[after the rock hammer is smuggled to Red via the laundry using some bedsheets]
Red: [narrating] Andy was right, I finally got the joke. It would take a man about six hundred years to tunnel under the wall with one of these.
[we see Brooks doing his mobile library round to the cells]
Brooks Hatlen: Book?
Inmate #1: Not today.
Brooks Hatlen: Book?
Inmate #2: No.
[as Brooks approaches Red’s cell]
Red: Hey, Brooksy. Delivery for Dufresne.
[Red puts the rock hammer, wrapped in a cloth, in Brooks’s book trolley, picks up a book and puts a pack of cigarettes in Brooks’s shirt pocket, Brooks then moves along to the next cells]
Brooks Hatlen: Book? Books?
[he comes to Andy’s cell]
Brooks Hatlen: Dufresne. Here’s your book.
[Brooks passes a book along with the rock hammer to Andy]
Andy Dufresne: Thanks.

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[Andy’s in the laundry working when the boss approaches him]
Laundry Boss: Dufresne! We’re running low on Hexlite. Get on back and fetch us up some.
[when Andy goes to the Hexlite he’s cornered by Bogs and his men, Andy grabs a fist full of the cleaning powder]
Andy Dufresne: If you get this in your eyes, it blinds you.
Bogs Diamond: Honey, hush.
[one of Bogs’s men grabs hold of Andy from behind, Andy tries to fight them off but he held down by Bog’s men]
Bogs Diamond: That’s it, you fight. It’s better that way.
[Andy struggles again so Bogs and his men start punching and kicking him]
Red: [narrating] I wish I could tell you that Andy fought the good fight, and the Sisters let him be. I wish I could tell you that, but prison is no fairy-tale world. He never said who did it. But we all knew.

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Red: [narrating] Things went on like that for a while. Prison life consists of routine, and then more routine. Every so often Andy would show up with fresh bruises. The Sisters kept at him. Sometimes he was able to fight ’em off, sometimes not. And that’s how it went for Andy. That was his routine. I do believe those first two years were the worst for him. And I also believe, if things had gone on that way, this place would have got the best of him. But then, in the spring of 1949, the powers that be decided that…
Warden Norton: The roof of the license-plate factory needs resurfacing. I need a dozen volunteers for a week’s work. As you know, special detail carries with it special privileges.
Red: [narrating] It was outdoor detail, and May is one damn fine month to be working outdoors.

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[we see the inmates lining up to volunteer their names for the roof resurfacing job]
Captain Hadley: Stay in line there.
Red: [narrating] More than a hundred men volunteered for the job.
[we see Red whispering to one of guards to make a deal; next starts calling out Red and his friends names]
Guard Youngblood: Wallace E. Unger. Ellis Redding.
Red: [narrating] Wouldn’t you know it? Me and some fellows I know were among the names called.
Guard Youngblood: Andrew Dufresne.
Red: [narrating] Only cost us a pack of smokes per man. I made my usual twenty per cent, of course.

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[as Andy, Red and his friends are working resurfacing the roof]
Captain Hadley: So, this big-shot lawyer calls me long-distance from Texas. I say, “Yeah?” He says, uh, “Sorry to inform you, but your brother just died.”
Guard Youngblood: Oh, damn, Byron. I’m sorry to hear that.
Captain Hadley: I’m not, he was an asshole. Ran off years ago. Figured him for dead, anyway. So anyway, this lawyer fella says to me, “Your brother died a rich man.” Oil wells and shit. Close to a million bucks.
Guard Trout: A million bucks?
Captain Hadley: Yeah. Fucking incredible how lucky some assholes get.
Guard Trout: Jeez, Louise! Are you gonna see any of that?
Captain Hadley: Thirty-five thousand, that’s what he left me.
Guard Trout: Dollars?
Captain Hadley: Yep.
Guard Trout: Holy shit! That’s great. That’s like winning the sweepstakes! Isn’t it?
Captain Hadley: Dumb shit. What do you think the government’s gonna do to me? Take a big, wet bite out of my ass, is what.

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[as they are listening to Hadley’s conversation to the other guards; mockingly]
Heywood: Poor Byron! Terrible fucking luck, huh?
Red: Crying shame. Some people really got it awful.
[Red notices Andy’s stopped working and is looking at Hadley]
Red: Andy, are you nuts? Keep your eyes on your mop, man. Andy!
[Andy turns to continue working]
Guard Trout: Well, alright. You’re gonna pay some taxes, but you’ll still end up…
Captain Hadley: Oh, yeah, yeah. Maybe enough to buy a new car. And then what? I’ve gotta pay tax on the car. Repair, maintenance, goddamn kids pestering me to take ’em for a ride all the time. And at the end of the year, you figure the tax wrong, you gotta pay ’em out of your own pocket. I tell you. Uncle Sam. He puts his hand in your shirt and squeezes your tits till it’s purple.

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[Andy stops working, turns and starts walking towards Hadley]
Red: Andy! Andy!
Ernie: What’s he doing?
Heywood: Getting himself killed. Keep tarring.
[Andy continues to walk over to Hadley as he’s talking to the guards]
Captain Hadley: Some brother! Shit.
[suddenly Trout points his rifle at Andy]
Guard Trout: Hey!
Andy Dufresne: Mr. Hadley, do you trust your wife?
[Hadley takes out his nightstick]
Captain Hadley: Oh, that’s funny. You’re gonna look funnier sucking my dick with no teeth.
Andy Dufresne: What I mean is, do you think she’d go behind your back, try to hamstring you?
Captain Hadley: That’s it. Step aside, Mert. This fucker’s having himself an accident.

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[as they watch Hadley pushing Andy towards the edge of the roof]
Heywood: He’s gonna push him off the roof.
[to Hadley as he’s getting ready to push him off the roof]
Andy Dufresne: Cause if you do trust her, there’s no reason you can’t keep that thirty-five thousand!
Captain Hadley: What did you say?
[Hadley stops right at the edge of the roof and holds Andy by his shirt]
Andy Dufresne: Thirty-five thousand.
Captain Hadley: Thirty-five thousand?
Andy Dufresne: All of it.
Captain Hadley: All of it?
Andy Dufresne: Every penny.
Captain Hadley: You’d better start making sense.

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Andy Dufresne: If you want to keep all that money, give it to your wife. The IRS allows a one-time-only gift to your spouse for up to sixty thousand dollars.
Captain Hadley: Bullshit! Tax-free?
Andy Dufresne: Tax-free. IRS can’t touch one cent.
Captain Hadley: You’re that smart banker what killed his wife, aren’t you? Why should I believe a smart banker like you? So I can end up in here with you?
Andy Dufresne: It’s practically legal. Go ask the IRS, they’ll say the same thing. Actually I feel stupid telling you this. I’m sure you would have investigated the matter yourself.
Captain Hadley: Yeah, fucking-A. I don’t need no smart wife-killing banker to tell me where the bears shit in the buckwheat.
Andy Dufresne: Of course not, but you do need someone to set up the tax-free gift for you and it’ll cost you. A lawyer, for example.
Captain Hadley: Bunch of ball-washing bastards.

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Andy Dufresne: I suppose I could set it up for you. That would save you some money. If you get the forms, I’ll prepare them for you. Nearly free of charge. I’d only ask three beers a piece for each of my co-workers.
[Trout laughs]
Guard Trout: Co-workers. Get him. That’s rich, ain’t it?
Andy Dufresne: I think a man working outdoors feels more like a man if he can have a bottle of suds. That’s only my opinion…sir.
[Hadley turns to see Red and the others staring at them in shock]
Captain Hadley: What are you jimmies staring at?! Back to work!
[they quickly continue to tar the roof]
Guard Trout: Let’s go. Work!

---

 

Red: [narrating] And that’s how it came to pass, that on the second-to-last day of the job, the convict crew that tarred the plate factory roof in the spring of ’49 wound up sitting in a row at ten o’clock in the morning, drinking icy-cold, Bohemia-style beer, courtesy of the hardest screw that ever walked a turn at Shawshank State Prison.
Captain Hadley: Drink up while it’s cold, ladies.
Red: [narrating] The colossal prick even managed to sound magnanimous. We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men. Hell, we could have been tarring the roof of one of our own houses. We were the lords of all creation.

---

 

Red: [narrating] As for Andy, he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer.
[Heywood takes a beer and goes to offer to Andy]
Heywood: Hey. Want a cold one, Andy?
Andy Dufresne: No, thanks. I gave up drinking.
Red: [narrating] You could argue he’d done it to curry favor with the guards. Or maybe make a few friends among us cons. Me, I think he did it just to feel normal again, if only for a short while.

---

 

[Andy and Red are playing checkers sat in the prison yard]
Red: King me.
Andy Dufresne: Chess. Now, there’s a game of kings.
Red: What?
Andy Dufresne: Civilized, strategic.
Red: And a total fucking mystery. I hate it.
Andy Dufresne: Maybe you’ll let me teach you someday.
[Red chuckles]
Red: Sure.
Andy Dufresne: I’ve been thinking of getting a board together.
Red: Well, hey, you’re talking to the right man. I’m the guy that can get things, right?
Andy Dufresne: We might do business on a board, I want to carve the pieces myself. One side in alabaster, the opposing side in soapstone. What do you think?
Red: I think it’ll take years.
Andy Dufresne: Well, years I got. What I don’t have are the rocks. Pickings are pretty slim in the yard. Pebbles, mostly.

---

 

Red: Andy, we’re getting to be kind of friends, aren’t we?
Andy Dufresne: Yeah, I guess.
Red: Can I ask you something? Why’d you do it?
Andy Dufresne: I’m innocent, Red. Just like everybody else here. What are you in for?
Red: Murder. Same as you.
Andy Dufresne: Innocent?
Red: Only guilty man in Shawshank.

---

 

[Andy is carving up a chess piece in his cell when he notices the names Peter and Jenny carved into the wall, he then tries to carve his name into the wall; Andy goes to Red in the as the inmates are watching “Gilda” starring Rita Hayworth]
Andy Dufresne: Red.
Red: Ah…wait, wait, wait, wait. Here she comes. This is the part I like, just when she does that shit with her hair.
Andy Dufresne: Oh, yeah, I know. I’ve seen it three times this month.
[the inmates whoop when Rita Hayworth is shown flipping her hair back in the film]
Red: Hah! God, I love it!

 

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