Shawsank Redemption

19.15 in Film

In 1947, banker Andrew "Andy" Dufresne (Tim Robbin) is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, based on circumstantial evidence. He is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences at Shawshank State Penitentiary in Maine, run by Warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton). During the first night the chief guard, Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown), savagely beats a newly arrived inmate who later dies in the infirmary. Andy befriends Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman), an inmate serving a life sentence whose paroleapplication was recently rejected. Red is known for obtaining contraband and is able to procure a rock hammer for Andy, allowing him to create small stone chess pieces. Red jokes that Andy might use it to break out until he sees how small the hammer is. Andy later obtains a large poster of Rita Hayworth from Red, followed in later years by Marilyn Monroe and Raquel Welch.

During the first two years of his incarceration, Andy works in the prison laundry. He attracts attention from "the Sisters", a group of prisoners who sexually assault other prisoners, and their leader Bogs (Mark Rolston). Though he persistently resists, Andy is beaten and raped on a regular basis.

Later, Andy overhears Hadley complain about having to pay taxes on a forthcoming inheritance and, after explaining a legal loophole to him, is reassigned to assist the prison librarian, elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore), a pretext to allow him to work on financial requests full time. His financial advice is soon sought by other guards at Shawshank and by visiting guards from nearby prisons. Hadley delivers a crippling beating to Bogs, after his gang's brutal assault puts Andy in the infirmary. Andy is left alone by the gang from then on.

Using his goodwill with Norton, Andy helps to expand the prison library by writing weekly letters to the state government for funds. When one donation to the library provides him with a recording of The Marriage of Figaro, he plays an excerpt over the public address system, well aware he will receive solitary confinement for doing so. Norton develops a scheme that uses prison labor for public works, undercutting the cost of skilled labor and receiving kickbacks. He has Andy launder the money under the false identity of "Randall Stevens", in exchange for allowing him to keep his private cell and continue maintaining the library. Brooks is freed on parole and moves into a halfway house, but unable to adjust to the outside world, he hangs himself and the expanded library is dedicated to him.

In 1965, Tommy Williams (Gil Bellows) is incarcerated on robbery charges. He joins Andy and Red's circle of friends, and Andy assists him in getting his GED. When he hears the details of Andy's case, Tommy reveals that an inmate at another prison, Elmo Blatch (Bill Bolender), claimed to have committed a nearly identical murder, suggesting Andy's innocence.

Fearing Andy might tell of his corruption if released, Norton refuses to cooperate. After they argue, he throws Andy into solitary confinement for two months. Norton has Hadley kill Tommy, making it look like a failed escape attempt.

Andy returns to his regular cell block and tells Red of his dream of living in Zihuatanejo, a Mexican Pacific coastal town, and setting up a hotel with boat rides for his customers. While Red shrugs it off as unrealistic, Andy instructs him, should he ever be freed, to visit a specific hayfield near Buxton to retrieve a package.

The next day at roll call, Andy's cell is empty. When Norton, angry at Andy's disappearance, throws one of Andy's rocks at the poster of Raquel Welch, the rock tears through the poster, revealing a tunnel that Andy dug with the rock hammer over the last two decades. The night before, Andy switched Norton's ledger with his prison-issue Bible, took the ledger, his chess set, and one of Norton's suits and escaped through the tunnel and a narrow sewage drain during a thunderstorm.

After escaping, Andy poses as Randall Stevens to withdraw most of the corruption money from several banks, then sends evidence of Norton's corruption and murder of Tommy to a local newspaper. The police arrive at the prison and Hadley is arrested, but Norton commits suicide to evade arrest.

Red receives parole after serving 40 years and is allocated the apartment where Brooks committed suicide, and works at the same grocery store. Just like Brooks, Red begins to fear the outside world. Remembering Andy's advice, he visits Buxton and finds a cache of money as well as a note left by Andy, telling him to get to Zihuatanejo. Red violates his parole and travels to Fort Hancock, Texas to skip the border to Mexico. The two are happily reunited on the beach to begin a new life.