(The) Shawshank Redemption

I shouldn’t like this movie. Almost the entire movie takes place in a prison, there are two scenes I find hard to watch, and the bad guys in this movie aren’t the ones you expect them to be….. BUT I do love this movie and I think you will too because Stephen King has created a collection of characters that are so interesting you want to follow them on their journey and find out what happens to each one of them along the way. There is the message too…there’s always hope.

I give you permission, as if you needed it, to close your eyes or go get popcorn during those two parts I mentioned, but you will want to keep them open for the rest. I promise; it is that good of a movie.

Special Note: This movie is based on a novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King. There are some differences between the novella and the movie so you might want to read Stephen King’s piece too.

Quotes

(Cross-stitch on the wall of Warden Norton’s office which covers the prison safe): “His judgment cometh and right soon..”

Andy Dufresne: That's the beauty of music. They can't take that from you... Haven't you ever felt that way about music?
Red: I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it though. Didn't make much sense in here.
Andy Dufresne: Here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget.
Red: Forget?
Andy Dufresne: Forget that... there are places in this world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside... that they can't get to, that they can't touch. That's yours.
Red: What're you talking about?
Andy Dufresne: Hope.


Andy Dufresne: Get busy living, or get busy dying.
(Repeated by Red later in the movie)


Red: Andy Dufresne, who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.

Plot Summary

It’s the late 1940s and banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), is accused and convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, based on circumstantial evidence. Calmly maintaining his innocence, he is sentenced to life in a Maine prison called Shawshank State Penitentiary which is run by a bible quoting warden named Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton).

Andy keeps to himself at first, but eventually makes friends with the prison’s “scrounger” (think the James Garner character in the movie The Great Escape) named Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding (Morgan Freeman). Red is serving a life sentence for a crime he committed as a very young man. Their friendship begins when Andy asks Red for a rock hammer, in order to maintain his rock collection hobby (Andy eventually makes a chess set). Later he asks Red for a full-size poster of Rita Hayworth which he puts on his cell wall and replaces over the years with various other “bombshells” like Marilyn Monroe and Raquel Welch.

While tarring the prison roof, Andy overhears the Captain of the Guards Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown) complain about having to pay taxes on an inheritance. Andy takes an incredible risk by walking over and explaining to Hadley how to legally reduce his tax liability on his soon-to-be windfall. Hadley accepts Andy's advice and rewards him and his fellow “work gang” (and soon-to-be friends) with a beer break up on the prison roof once the tarring job is done. Andy goes from doing laundry and other “menial labor chores” to giving out financial advice and doing the taxes of the guards – eventually he comes to the attention of the warden and does similar legal and non-legal work for him. About this time he also asks and is granted permission to start a prison library, where Red and some of his other friends work. He also helps more than one prisoner get their GED.

Life has taken an upward turn until Andy comes into the radar of the Sisters, led by inmate Bogs (Mark Rolston). Remember those scenes I told you about – this might be the time you want to go for popcorn, but they are not graphic – they are like the old movies of the 1930s and 1940s – you KNOW what is going to happen, but they pan away before it does (still I find them disturbing). Andy fights the good fight, but winds up in the prison infirmary. Hadley (captain of the guards) brutally beats Bogs, leaving the deviant paralyzed and the remaining Sisters finally leave Andy alone.

The bible quoting and self-righteous Warden Norton eventually creates a scheme to use prison labor for public works, undercutting the cost of skilled labor and discreetly receiving personal kickbacks for it. Norton has Andy launder the money under a false identity, in exchange for allowing Andy to keep his private cell and to continue maintaining the library.

In the 1960s, a habitual and likable petty thief named Tommy Williams (Gil Bellows) (the role was originally written with Brad Pitt in mind) winds up in Shawshank and becomes a member of Andy and Red's circle of friends. Andy takes a liking to the kid and tries to help Tommy get his GED. In turn Tommy, after hearing the details of Andy's crime, reveals that one of his old prison cellmates had claimed to have committed a murder just like the one Andy was charged with. Andy goes to Warden Norton with the information and you are going to have to watch the movie to find out what happens next.

Life Lessons

Life is a wonderful journey, but you and I are going to encounter some bumps along the way. Bumps are tests, catalysts of growth and change, and character builders to show us what we are made of – no one is immune to them and we can’t control them, but we can control how we react to them.

It comes down to this, you have two choices when something bad happens - you can take the “woe is me” route, lay down, and let them throw dirt on you or you can take the productive route create a plan and take action to find a way to turn this negative event into a positive.

Remember the organization MADD – it was created by a woman who lost her child to a drunk driver. She could have laid down and no one would have blamed her, but she CHOSE HOPE, she MADE A PLAN, she TOOK ACTION, and she MADE A DIFFERENCE in the lives of other parents and children while making her child’s death count for something.

(The) Shawshank Redemption Movie Cast

• Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne
• Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding
• Bob Gunton as Warden Norton
• William Sadler as Heywood
• Clancy Brown as Captain Hadley
• Gil Bellows as Tommy
• Mark Rolston as Bogs Diamond
• James Whitemore as Brooks Hatlen