Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, Mark Rolston, James Whitmore
OUR RATING: ★★★★★
Story:
Prison drama written and directed by Frank Darabont, based on a Stephen King novella. The story follows banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), who is sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison for the murders of his wife and her lover in Shawshank State Penitentiary, despite his claims of innocence. Over the following decades, he forms a friendship with fellow prioner Red (Morgan Freeman), and becomes instrumental in a money laundering operation led by the prison warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton).
Our Favorite Quotes:
‘Alone in the dark with nothing but your thoughts, time can draw out like a blade.’ – Red (The Shawshank Redemption) Click To Tweet ‘I guess it comes down to a simple choice really. Get busy living or get busy dying.’ - Andy Dufresne (The Shawshank Redemption) Click To Tweet ‘Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.’ - Andy Dufresne (The Shawshank Redemption) Click To Tweet
Best Quotes
[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.
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.
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.
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.
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]
[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]
[after the hearing Red goes to the prison yard]
Skeet: Hey, Red. How did it go?
Red: Same old s**t. 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 f**** out of my face, will you, man?
Ernie: Come on.
Red: You’ve been to me for five packs already!
Ernie: Four.
Red: Five!
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.”
[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.
[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 s**t 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!
[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 s**t. Eighth, eighth from the front. He’ll be first.
Heywood: Oh, bulls**t. 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-a** there. The fifth one from the front. Put me down for a quarter deck.
[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 a**.
Ernie: That guy? Never happen.
Red: Ten cigarettes.
Floyd: That’s a rich bet.
Alright, who’s going to 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.
[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 s**t when we say you s**t, and you pi** when we say you pi**! You got that, you maggot-d**k m*therf****er?
[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 a** belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.
[Norton walks off]
[to the other guards]
Captain Hadley: Unhook them.
[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.
[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 s**t 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 going to be? It’s as good a thing to bet on as any, I guess. I had my money on Andy Dufresne.
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 d**ked 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 going to be a quiz later!
Fresh Fish Con #3: Poke your a** out, give me a first look!
Fresh Fish Con #4: Shh! Keep it down.
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.
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.
[as the prisoners are clapping and taunting, Hadley and the other guards enter]
Captain Hadley: What the Christ is this happy horse s**t?
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 a**!
Fat Ass: You got to 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 going to count to three. I’m not even going to count to one. You will shut the f**** up, or I’ll sing you a lullaby!
[as he listens from the next cell]
Heywood: Shut up, man. Shut up.
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 f****ing prison!
[the guard opens the cell, Hadley drags him out by his hair and start beating him]
Captain Hadley: Son of a b**ch.
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 m*therf****er in here!
[to the other guards]
Captain Hadley: Call the trustees. Take that tub of s**t down to the infirmary.
Red: [narrating] His first night in the joint, Andy Dufresne cost me two packs of cigarettes. He never made a sound.
[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.
[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 them down. I want them 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 a**.
Skeet: After he smells mine.
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 f****.
Heywood: Hey, Tyrell. You pull infirmary duty this week?
[Tyrell nods his head]
Heywood: How’s that horse of mine doing 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 f**** do you care, new fish? It doesn’t f****ing matter what his name was. He’s dead.
[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.
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.
[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 going to 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 f****ed me.
[to Andy]
Red: Rumor has it you’re a real cold fish. You think your s**t 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.
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.
[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.
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.
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 going to 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.
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.
[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.
[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.
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 them 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.
[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.
[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 a**hole. 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 s**t. Close to a million bucks.
Guard Trout: A million bucks?
Captain Hadley: Yeah. f****ing incredible how lucky some a**holes get.
Guard Trout: Jeez, Louise! Are you going to see any of that?
Captain Hadley: Thirty-five thousand, that’s what he left me.
Guard Trout: Dollars?
Captain Hadley: Yep.
Guard Trout: Holy s**t! That’s great. That’s like winning the sweepstakes! Isn’t it?
Captain Hadley: Dumb s**t. What do you think the government’s going to do to me? Take a big, wet bite out of my a**, is what.
[as they are listening to Hadley’s conversation to the other guards; mockingly]
Heywood: Poor Byron! Terrible f****ing 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 going to 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 got to pay tax on the car. Repair, maintenance, goddamn kids pestering me to take them for a ride all the time. And at the end of the year, you figure the tax wrong, you got to pay them 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.
[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! S**t.
[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 going to look funnier sucking my d**k 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 f****er’s having himself an accident.
[as they watch Hadley pushing Andy towards the edge of the roof]
Heywood: He’s going to push him off the roof.
[to Hadley as he’s getting ready to push him off the roof]
Andy Dufresne: Because 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.
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: Bulls**t! 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, f****ing-A. I don’t need no smart wife-killing banker to tell me where the bears s**t 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.
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 f****ing 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 s**t 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!
Andy Dufresne: I understand you’re a man that knows how to get things.
Red: Yeah, I’m known to locate certain things from time to time. What do you want?
Andy Dufresne: Rita Hayworth.
Red: What?
Andy Dufresne: Can you get her?
[Red looks at Rita Hayworth on the screen before replying]
Red: Take a few weeks.
Andy Dufresne: Weeks?
Red: Well, yeah, Andy. I don’t have her stuffed down the front of my pants right now, I’m sorry to say. But I’ll get her. Relax.
Andy Dufresne: Thanks.
[as Andy is leaving the prison cinema area he is attacked by Bogs and his men who drag him into the projection room]
Bogs Diamond: Take a walk.
Projectionist: I got to change the reel!
Bogs Diamond: I said f**** off!
[the projectionist leaves the room]
Bogs Diamond: ain’t you going to scream?
Andy Dufresne: Let’s get this over with.
[Andy turns, picks up a film reel and hits Bogs and his men with it]
Rooster: He broke my f****ing nose!
[Bogs’s men hold Andy as Bogs punches him in the stomach, Andy falls to his knees and Bogs take out his knife]
Bogs Diamond: Now, I’m going to open my fly and you’re going to swallow what I give you to swallow. Then when you’ve swallowed mine you’re going to swallow Rooster’s. You done broke his nose, I think he ought to have something to show for it.
Andy Dufresne: Anything you put in my mouth, you’re going to lose.
Bogs Diamond: No. You don’t understand. You do that, and I’ll put all eight inches of this steel in your ear.
Andy Dufresne: Alright. But you should know that sudden, serious brain injury causes the victim to bite down hard. In fact, I hear the bite reflex is so strong they have to pry the victim’s jaws open with a crowbar.
Bogs Diamond: Where do you get this s**t?
Andy Dufresne: I read it. Know how to read, you ignorant f****?
Bogs Diamond: Honey, you shouldn’t.
[Bogs starts punching Andy repeatedly]
Red: [narrating] Bogs didn’t put anything in Andy’s mouth, and neither did his friends. What they did do is beat him within an inch of his life. Andy spent a month in the infirmary. Bogs spent a week in the hole.
[we see Bogs being let out of solitary confinement]
Hole Guard: Time’s up, Bogs.
Bogs Diamond: It’s your world, boss.
[Bogs returns to his cell to find Hadley and another guard, Mert, in his cell]
Bogs Diamond: What?
[suddenly Hadley and Mert start beating Bogs who starts to crawl out of his cell in fear]
Guard Mert: Where’s he going?
Captain Hadley: Grab his ankles.
[Hadley and Mert grab Bogs by the ankle and proceed to pull him back into the cell]
Bogs Diamond: No! No! No! Help me! Aaah!
Red: [narrating] Two things never happened again after that. The Sisters never laid a finger on Andy again and Bogs never walked again. They transferred him to a minimum-security hospital upstate. To my knowledge, he lived out the rest of his days drinking his food through a straw.
[as they watch Bogs, who’s now in a wheelchair, being driven off]
Red: I’m thinking Andy could use a nice welcome back when he gets out of the infirmary.
Heywood: Sounds good to us. I figure we owe him that much for the beer.
Red: The man likes to play chess. Let’s get him some rocks.
[as they are digging up ground outside the prison Heywood finds a big rock and goes to show it to Red and the others]
Heywood: Guys. I got one. I got one. Look.
Floyd: Heywood, that isn’t soapstone. And it ain’t alabaster, either.
Heywood: What are you, a f****ing geologist?
Snooze: He’s right. It ain’t.
Heywood: Well, what the hell is it?
Red: A horse apple.
Heywood: Bulls**t.
Red: No, horse s**t. Petrified.
Heywood: Oh, Jesus Christ!
[Heywood drops the feces as the others laugh at him]
Heywood: Oh, damn!
Red: [narrating] Despite a few hitches, the boys came through in fine style. And by the weekend he was due back, we had enough rocks saved up to keep him busy till rapture. I also got a big shipment in that week. Cigarettes, chewing gum, sipping whiskey, playing cards with naked ladies on them, you name it. And of course, the most important item: Rita Hayworth herself.
[when Andy is released from the infirmary, he finds the rocks as well as the poster of Rita Heyworth in his cell, along with a note: “No charge. Welcome back.”]
[as he’s mopping the floor he hears Norton and the guards coming and warns the others]
Ernie: Heads up. They’re tossing cells. Heads up. They’re tossing cells.
Warden Norton: One-nineteen. One-twenty-three.
[Andy is sitting in his cell reading the bible when Hadley enter his cell]
Captain Hadley: On your feet.
[Andy rises to his feet]
Captain Hadley: Face the wall.
[as Andy faces the wall Hadley and Trout toss his cell for contraband, then Norton enters]
Captain Hadley: Turn around and face the Warden.
[Andy turns to face Norton who takes the bible his hand]
Warden Norton: Pleased to see you reading this. Any favorite passages?
Andy Dufresne: “Watch ye, therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh.”
Warden Norton: Mark 13:35. I always liked that one. But I prefer, “I’m the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
Andy Dufresne: John, Chapter 8, Verse 12.
Warden Norton: I hear you’re good with numbers. How nice. A man should have a skill.
[referring to the sandpapers in Andy’s cell]
Captain Hadley: want to explain this?
Andy Dufresne: It’s called a rock blanket. It’s for shaping and polishing rocks. A little hobby of mine.
[Hadley looks at the rocks, picks one up to smell it]
Captain Hadley: It’s pretty clean. Some contraband here, but nothing to get in a twist over.
[Norton then notices Andy’s Rita Heyworth poster on the wall]
Warden Norton: I can’t say I approve of this. But I suppose exceptions can be made.
[Norton and Hadley walk out of Andy’s cell]
Captain Hadley: Lock them up!
[as the cells are being locked Norton turns]
Warden Norton: I almost forgot. I’d hate to deprive you of this.
[he gives back Andy’s through the cell bars]
Warden Norton: Salvation lies within.
Andy Dufresne: Yes, sir.
[Norton turns and leaves]
Red: [narrating] Tossing cells was just an excuse. The truth is, Norton wanted to size Andy up.
[Andy is shown into Norton’s office, Andy notices needlework framed on his office wall which says “His Judgment Cometh and That Right Soon”]
Warden Norton: My wife made that in church group.
Andy Dufresne: Very nice, sir.
Warden Norton: Do you enjoy working in the laundry?
Andy Dufresne: No, sir, not especially.
Warden Norton: Well perhaps we can find something more befitting a man of your education.
[Andy is transfered to the prison library where he finds Brook’s crow, Jake]
Andy Dufresne: Hey, Jake. Where’s Brooks?
Brooks Hatlen: Andy. I thought I heard you out here.
Andy Dufresne: I’ve been reassigned to you.
Brooks Hatlen: I know, they told me.
[he laughs]
Brooks Hatlen: ain’t that a kick in the head? Well, I’ll give you the dime tour. Come on.
[he takes Andy to the small room containing all the books]
Brooks Hatlen: Well, here she is. Shawshank Prison library. National Geographics. Reader’s Digest, condensed books. Louis L’Amour. Look Magazine. Erle Stanley Gardners. Every evening, I load up the cart and make my round. I enter the names on this clipboard here. Easy-peasy, Japanesey. Any questions?
Andy Dufresne: Brooks, how long have you been librarian?
Brooks Hatlen: Oh, I come here in ’05, and they made me librarian in 1912.
Andy Dufresne: And in all that time, have you ever had an assistant?
Brooks Hatlen: No. No, not much to it, really.
Andy Dufresne: Well, why me? Why now?
Brooks Hatlen: I don’t know, but it’ll be nice to have some company down here for a change.
Captain Hadley: Dufresne!
[Andy turns and walks over to Hadley who’s there with another guard named Dekins]
Captain Hadley: That’s him. That’s the one.
[Hadley leaves and Dekins walks over to Andy]
Dekins: I’m Dekins. I was, uh, thinking about maybe setting up some kind of trust fund for my kids’ educations.
Andy Dufresne: Oh, I see. Well, um, why don’t we have a seat and talk it over?
[Andy goes to puts some chairs down by a table]
Andy Dufresne: Brooks, do you have a piece of paper and a pencil?
[Brooks get him a pencil and some paper]
Andy Dufresne: Thanks. So, Mr. Dekins…
[later at lunch Brooks recounts Andy and Dekins meeting to the others]
Brooks Hatlen: And then Andy says, “Mr. Dekins, do you want your sons to go to Harvard, or Yale?”
Floyd: He didn’t say that?
Brooks Hatlen: As God is my witness, he did! Dekins just blinked for a second, and then he laughed himself silly. And afterwards he actually shook Andy’s hand.
Heywood: My a**!
Brooks Hatlen: Shook his hand.
[Brooks laughs]
Brooks Hatlen: Hell, I near soiled myself! All Andy needed was a suit and a tie and a little jiggly hula girl on his desk, and he would have been, “Mr. Dufresne, if you please.”
Red: Making a few friends, huh, Andy?
Andy Dufresne: I wouldn’t say “friends”. I’m a convicted murderer who provides sound financial planning. It’s a wonderful pet to have.
Red: Got you out of the laundry, though, didn’t it?
Andy Dufresne: Well, it might do more than that. How about expanding the library, get some new books in there?
Ernie: If you’re going to ask for something, ask for a pool table.
Snooze: Right.
Heywood: How do you expect to do that? I mean, get new books in here, Mr. Dufresne, if you please?
Andy Dufresne: Ask the Warden for funds.
[the others laugh]
Brooks Hatlen: Son, son, son, six wardens have been through here in my tenure, and I’ve learned one immutable, universal truth. Not one of them born whose a**hole wouldn’t pucker up tighter than a snare drum when you asked them for funds.
[after Andy’s asked Norton for funds]
Warden Norton: The budget’s stretched thin as it is.
Andy Dufresne: I see. Perhaps I could write to the State Senate and request funds directly from them.
Warden Norton: As far as they’re concerned there’s only three ways to spend the tax payers hard earned money when it comes to prisons: more walls, more bars and more guards.
Andy Dufresne: Still, I’d like to try, with your permission. I’ll write a letter a week. They can’t ignore me forever.
Warden Norton: Sure can. But you write your letters if it makes you happy. I’ll even mail them for you. How’s that?
Red: [narrating] So, Andy started writing a letter a week, just like he said. And, just like Norton said, Andy got no answers.
Red: [narrating] The following April, Andy did tax returns for half the guards at Shawshank. The year after that, he did them all, including the Warden’s. The year after that, they rescheduled the start of the intramural season to coincide with tax season. The guards on the opposing teams all remembered to bring their W-2s.
[we see Andy meeting with each prison guard]
Andy Dufresne: So, Moresby Prison issued you your gun, but you actually had to pay for it?
Moresby Batter: Damn right. The holster, too.
Andy Dufresne: See that’s tax-deductible. You can write that off.
Red: [narrating] Yes, sir. Andy was a regular cottage industry. In fact, it got so busy at tax time, he was allowed a staff.
[we see Red assisting Andy]
Andy Dufresne: Hey, Red, can you hand me a stack of 10-40s?
Red: [narrating] It got me out of the wood shop a month out of the year, and that was fine by me. And still he kept sending those letters.
[Floyd rushes over to Red and Andy in the prison yard]
Floyd: Red, Andy. It’s Brooks.
[Red, Andy and Floyd go to the library; to Floyd]
Red: Watch the door.
Jigger: Please, Brooks. Just calm the f**** down.
[Brooks is holding a knife to Heywood’s throat]
Brooks Hatlen: Stay back! Stay back! Stab back there!
Red: What the hell’s going on?
Jigger: You tell me. One second he’s fine, then out comes the knife.
Red: Brooks. Brooks, we can talk about this, right?
Brooks Hatlen: Nothing to talk about, Goddamn it! It’s all talked out. I’m going to cut his f****ing throat!
Red: Heywood? Wait, what’s he done to you?
Brooks Hatlen: It’s what they done! I got no choice.
Andy Dufresne: Brooks, you’re not going to hurt Heywood. We all know that, even Heywood knows that. Right, Heywood?
Heywood: Yeah, I know that, sure.
Andy Dufresne: You know why you’re not going to hurt him? Because he’s a friend of yours and because Brooks Hatlen is a reasonable man.
Red: That’s right. That’s right. Isn’t that right, guys?
Jigger: Yes!
Andy Dufresne: So put the knife down. Brooks. Brooks, look at me. Put the knife down. Brooks. Look at his neck, for God’s sake. Brooks, look at his neck. He’s bleeding.
[Brooks starts weeping]
Brooks Hatlen: It’s the only, it’s the only way they’d let me stay.
Andy Dufresne: Come on, this is crazy. You don’t want to do this. Come on. Put it down.
[Brooks lets go of Heywood and drops the knife as he weeps, Andy tries to comfort him]
Andy Dufresne: Hey, hey. Come on. Take it easy. You’re going to be alright.
Heywood: Him? Hell, what about me? Crazy old fool goddamn near cut my throat.
Red: Ah, s**t, Heywood, you’ve had worse from shaving. What the hell did you do to set him off, anyway?
Heywood: I ain’t do nothing! I come in here to say fare-thee-well. ain’t you heard? His parole’s come through.
[later as they’re all sat in the prison yard]
Andy Dufresne: I just don’t understand what happened in there, that’s all.
Heywood: The old man’s as crazy as a rat in a tin s**thouse is what.
Red: Oh, Heywood, that’s enough out of you!
Snooze: I heard he had you s**tting in your pants.
Heywood: F**** you!
Red: Would you knock it off? Brooks ain’t no bug. He’s just, he’s just institutionalized.
Heywood: Institutionalized, my a**.
Red: The man’s been in here fifty years, Heywood. Fifty years. This is all he knows. In here, he’s an important man. He’s an educated man. Outside, he’s nothing. Just a used-up con with arthritis in both hands. Probably couldn’t get a library card if he tried. You know what I’m trying to say?
Floyd: Red, I do believe you’re talking out of your a**. You believe whatever you want, Floyd. But I’m telling you, these walls are funny. First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes you get so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized.
Jigger: S**t. You can never get like that.
Ernie: Oh, yeah? Say that when you’ve been here as long as Brooks has.
Red: Goddamn right. They send you here for life, that’s exactly what they take. The part that counts, anyway.
[we see Brooks getting to ready to leave prison]
Brooks Hatlen: I can’t take care of you no more, Jake. You go on, now. You’re free. You’re free.
[he lets Jake go and he flies off through the prison window; later the guards let Brooks out]
Brooks Hatlen: Bye.
Guard: Good luck, Brooks.
[Brooks steps outside the prison gates looking lost and sad]
Brooks Hatlen: [voice over] Dear fellas, I can’t believe how fast things move on the outside.
[we see Brooks trying to cross the road and nearly getting run over]
Man in Car: Watch it, old-timer! Are you trying to get killed?
Brooks Hatlen: [voice over] I saw an automobile once, when I was a kid, but now they’re everywhere. The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry. The parole board got me into this halfway house called The Brewer, and a job bagging groceries at the Foodway. It’s hard work, and I try to keep up, but my hands hurt most of the time.
[we see Brooks bagging groceries]
1954 Food-Way Woman: Make sure your man double bags. Last time he didn’t double bag and the bottom near came out.
[to Brooks]
1954 Food-Way Manager: Make sure you double bag, like the lady says. You understand?
Brooks Hatlen: Yes, sir. I surely will.
Brooks Hatlen: [voice over] I don’t think the store manager likes me very much. Sometimes, after work, I go to the park and feed the birds. I keep thinking Jake might just show up and say hello. But he never does. I hope wherever he is, he’s doing okay and making new friends. I have trouble sleeping at night. I have bad dreams, like I’m falling. I wake up, scared. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember where I am. Maybe I should get me a gun and rob the Foodway, so they’d send me home. I could shoot the manager, while I was at it. Sort of like a bonus. I guess I’m too old for that sort of nonsense any more.
[we see Brooks packing in his room]
Brooks Hatlen: [voice over] I don’t like it here. I’m tired of being afraid all the time. I’ve decided not to stay. I doubt they’ll kick up any fuss. Not for an old crook like me.
[Brooks steps up on a table and starts etching the inscription “BROOKS WAS HERE” into the wall, he then knocks the table down and we see he’s hanged himself]
