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THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
- Frank Darabont
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Based upon the story
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King
1 INT -- CABIN -- NIGHT (1946)
A dark, empty room.
The door bursts open. A MAN and WOMAN enter, drunk and giggling, horny as hell. No sooner is the door shut than they're all over each other, ripping at clothes, pawing at flesh, mouths locked together.
He gropes for a lamp, tries to turn it on, knocks it over instead. Hell with it. He's got more urgent things to do, like getting her blouse open and his hands on her breasts. She arches, moaning, fumbling with his fly. He slams her against the wall, ripping her skirt. We hear fabric tear.
He enters her right then and there, roughly, up against the wall. She cries out, hitting her head against the wall but not caring, grinding against him, clawing his back, shivering with the sensations running through her. He carries her across the room with her legs wrapped around him. They fall onto the bed.
CAMERA PULLS BACK, exiting through the window, traveling smoothly outside...
2 EXT -- CABIN -- NIGHT (1946) 2
...to reveal the bungalow, remote in a wooded area, the lovers' cries spilling into the night...
...and we drift down a wooded path, the sounds of rutting passion growing fainter, mingling now with the night sounds of crickets and hoot owls...
...and we begin to hear FAINT MUSIC in the woods, tinny and incongruous, and still we keep PULLING BACK until...
...a car is revealed. A 1946 Plymouth. Parked in a clearing.
3 INT -- PLYMOUTH -- NIGHT (1946) 3
ANDY DUFRESNE, mid-20's, wire rim glasses, three-piece suit. Under normal circumstances a respectable, solid citizen; hardly dangerous, perhaps even meek. But these circumstances are far from normal. He is disheveled, unshaven, and very drunk. A cigarette smolders in his mouth. His eyes, flinty and hard, are riveted to the bungalow up the path.
He can hear them fucking from here.
He raises a bottle of bourbon and knocks it back. The radio plays softly, painfully romantic, taunting him:
You stepped out of a dream... You are too wonderful... To be what you seem...
He opens the glove compartment, pulls out an object wrapped in a rag. He lays it in his lap and unwraps it carefully --
revealing a .38 revolver. Oily, black, evil.
He grabs a box of bullets. Spills them everywhere, all over the seats and floor. Clumsy. He picks bullets off his lap, loading them into the gun, one by one, methodical and grim. Six in the chamber. His gaze goes back to the bungalow.
He shuts off the radio. Abrupt silence, except for the distant lovers' moans. He takes another shot of bourbon courage, then opens the door and steps from the car.
4 EXT -- PLYMOUTH -- NIGHT (1946) 4
His wingtip shoes crunch on gravel. Loose bullets scatter to the ground. The bourbon bottle drops and shatters.
He starts up the path, unsteady on his feet. The closer he gets, the louder the lovemaking becomes. Louder and more frenzied. The lovers are reaching a climax, their sounds of passion degenerating into rhythmic gasps and grunts.
WOMAN (O.S.) Oh god...oh god...oh god...
Andy lurches to a stop, listening. The woman cries out in orgasm. The sound slams into Andy's brain like an icepick. He shuts his eyes tightly, wishing the sound would stop.
It finally does, dying away like a siren until all that's left is the shallow gasping and panting of post-coitus. We hear languorous laughter, moans of satisfaction.
WOMAN (O.S.) Oh god...that's sooo good...you're the best...the best I ever had...
Andy just stands and listens, devastated. He doesn't look like much of a killer now; he's just a sad little man on a dirt path in the woods, tears streaming down his face, a loaded gun held loosely at his side. A pathetic figure, really.
FADE TO BLACK: 1ST TITLE UP
5 INT -- COURTROOM -- DAY (1946) 5
THE JURY listens like a gallery of mannequins on display, pale-faced and stupefied.
D.A. (O.S.) Mr. Dufresne, describe the confrontation you had with your wife the night she was murdered.
ANDY DUFRESNE
is on the witness stand, hands folded, suit and tie pressed, hair meticulously combed. He speaks in soft, measured tones:
ANDY It was very bitter. She said she was glad I knew, that she hated all the sneaking around. She said she wanted a divorce in Reno.
D.A. What was your response?
ANDY I told her I would not grant one.
D.A. (refers to his notes) 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 If they say so. I really don't remember. I was upset.
FADE TO BLACK: 2ND TITLE UP
D.A. What happened after you and your wife argued?
ANDY She packed a bag and went to stay with Mr. Quentin.
D.A. Glenn Quentin. The golf pro at the Falmouth Hills Country Club. The man you had recently discovered was her lover. (Andy nods) Did you follow her?
ANDY I went to a few bars first. Later, I decided to drive to Mr. Quentin's home and confront them. They weren't there...so I parked my car in the turnout...and waited.
D.A. With what intention?
ANDY I'm not sure. I was confused. Drunk. I think mostly I wanted to scare them.
D.A. You had a gun with you?
ANDY Yes. I did.
FADE TO BLACK: 3RD TITLE UP
D.A. When they arrived, you went up to the house and murdered them?
ANDY No. I was sobering up. I realized she wasn't worth it. I decided to let her have her quickie divorce.
D.A. Quickie divorce indeed. A .38 caliber divorce, wrapped in a handtowel to muffle the shots, isn't that what you mean? And then you shot her lover!
ANDY I did not. I got back in the car and drove home to sleep it off. Along the way, I stopped and threw my gun into the Royal River. I feel I've been very clear on this point.
D.A. Yes, you have. Where I get hazy, though, is the part where the cleaning woman shows up the next morning and finds your wife and her lover in bed, riddled with .38 caliber bullets. Does that strike you as a fantastic coincidence, Mr. Dufresne, or is it just me?
ANDY (softly) Yes. It does.
D.A. I'm sorry, Mr. Dufresne, I don't think the jury heard that.
ANDY Yes. It does.
D.A. Does what?
ANDY Strike me as a fantastic coincidence.
D.A. On that, sir, we are in accord...
FADE TO BLACK! 4TH TITLE UP
D.A. You claim you threw your gun into the Royal River before the murders took place. That's rather convenient.
ANDY It's the truth.
D.A. You recall Lt. Mincher's testimony? He and his men dragged that river for three days and nary a gun was found. So no comparison can be made between your gun and the bullets taken from the bloodstained corpses of the victims. That's also rather convenient, isn't it, Mr. Dufresne?
ANDY (faint, bitter smile) Since I am innocent of this crime, sir, I find it decidedly inconvenient the gun was never found.
FADE TO BLACK: STH TITLE UP
6 INT -- COURTROOM -- DAY (1946) 6
The D.A. holds the jury spellbound with his closing summation:
D.A. 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 foot prints. Tire tracks. Bullets scattered on the ground which bear his fingerprints. A broken bourbon bottle, likewise with fingerprints. 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?
He gestures to Andy sitting quietly with his ATTORNEY.
D.A. I suspect Mr. Dufresne's answer to that would be yes. I further suspect he carried out that sentence on the night of September 21st, this year of our Lord, 1946, by pumping four bullets into his wife and another four into Glenn Quentin. And while you think about that, think about this...
He picks up a revolver, spins the cylinder before their eyes like a carnival barker spinning a wheel of fortune.
D.A. A revolver holds six bullets, not eight. I submit to you this was not a hot-blooded crime of passion! That could at least be understood, if not condoned. No, this was revenge of a much more brutal and cold-blooded nature. Consider! Four bullets per victim! Not six shots fired, but eight! That means he fired the gun empty...and then stopped to reload so he could shoot each of them again! An extra bullet per lover...right in the head. (a few JURORS shiver) I'm done talking. You people are all decent, God-fearing Christian folk. You know what to do.
FADE TO BLACK: 6TH TITLE UP
7 INT -- JURY ROOM -- DAY (1946) 7
CAMERA TRACKS down a long table, moving from one JUROR to the next. These decent, God-fearing Christians are chowing down on a nice fried chicken dinner provided them by the county, smacking greasy lips and gnawing cobbettes of corn.
VOICE (O.S.) Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty...
We find the FOREMAN at the head of the table, sorting votes.
FADE TO BLACK: 7TH TITLE UP
8 INT -- COURTROOM -- DAY (1946) 8
Andy stands before the dias. THE JUDGE peers down, framed by a carved frieze of blind Lady Justice on the wall.
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.
He raps his gavel as we
CRASH TO BLACK: LAST TITLE UP.
9 AN IRON-BARRED DOOR 9
slides open with an enormous CLANG. A stark room waits beyond. CAMERA PUSHES through. SEVEN HUMORLESS MEN sit side by side at a long table. An empty chair faces them. We are now in:
INT -- SHAWSHANK HEARINGS ROOM -- DAY (1947)
RED enters, removes his cap and waits by the chair.
MAN #1 Sit.
Red sits, tries not to slouch. The chair is uncomfortable.
MAN #2 We see by your file you've served twenty years of a life sentence.
MAN #3 You feel you've been rehabilitated?
RED Yes, sir. Absolutely. I've learned my lesson. I can honestly say I'm a changed man. I'm no longer a danger to society. That's the God's honest truth. No doubt about it.
The men just stare at him. One stifles a yawn.
CLOSEUP -- PAROLE FORM
A big rubber stamp slams down: "REJECTED" in red ink.
10 EXT -- EXERCISE YARD -- SHAWSHANK PRISON -- DUSK (1947) 10
High stone walls topped with snaky concertina wire, set off at intervals by looming guard towers. Over a hundred CONS are in the yard. Playing catch, shooting craps, jawing at each other, making deals. Exercise period.
RED emerges into fading daylight, slouches low-key through the activity, worn cap on his head, exchanging hellos and doing minor business. He's an important man here.
RED (V.O.) There's a con like me in every prison in America, I guess. I'm the guy who can get it for you. Cigarettes, a bag of reefer if you're partial, a bottle of brandy to celebrate your kid's high school graduation. Damn near anything, within reason.
He slips somebody a pack of smokes, smooth sleight-of-hand.
RED (V.O.) Yes sir, I'm a regular Sears & Roebuck.
TWO SHORT SIREN BLASTS issue from the main tower, drawing everybody's attention to the loading dock. The outer gate swings open...revealing a gray prison bus outside.
RED (V.O.) 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. And it wasn't.
CON Fresh fish! Fresh fish today!
Red is joined by HEYWOOD, SKEET, FLOYD, JIGGER, ERNIE, SNOOZE. Most cons crowd to the fence to gawk and jeer, but Red and his group mount the bleachers and settle in comfortably.
11 INT -- PRISON BUS -- DUSK (1947) 11
Andy sits in back, wearing steel collar and chains.
RED (V.O.) Andy came to Shawshank Prison in early 1947 for murdering his wife and the fella she was bangin'.
The bus lurches forward, RUMBLES through the gates. Andy gazes around, swallowed by prison walls.
RED (V.O.) On the outside, he'd been vice- president of a large Portland bank. Good work for a man as young as he was, when you consider how conservative banks were back then.
TOWER GUARD All clear!
GUARDS approach the bus with carbines. The door jerks open. The new fish disembark, chained together single-file, blinking sourly at their surroundings. Andy stumbles against the MAN in front of him, almost drags him down.
BYRON HADLEY, captain of the guard, slams his baton into Andy's back. Andy goes to his knees, gasping in pain. JEERS and SHOUTS from the spectators.
HADLEY On your feet before I fuck you up so bad you never walk again.
13 ON THE BLEACHERS 13
RED There they are, boys. The Human Charm Bracelet.
HEYWOOD Never seen such a sorry-lookin' heap of maggot shit in my life.
JIGGER Comin' from you, Heywood, you being so pretty and all...
FLOYD Takin' bets today, Red?
RED (pulls notepad and pencil) Bear Catholic? Pope shit in the woods? Smokes or coin, bettor's choice.
FLOYD Smokes. Put me down for two.
RED High roller. Who's your horse?
FLOYD That gangly sack of shit, third from the front. He'll be the first.
HEYWOOD Bullshit. I'll take that action.
ERNIE Me too.
Other hands go up. Red jots the names.
HEYWOOD You're out some smokes, son. Take my word.
FLOYD You're so smart, you call it.
HEYWOOD I say that chubby fat-ass...let's see...fifth from the front. Put me down for a quarter deck.
RED That's five cigarettes on Fat-Ass. Any takers?
More hands go up. Andy and the others are paraded along, forced by their chains to take tiny baby steps, flinching under the barrage of jeers and shouts. The old-timers are shaking the fence, trying to make the newcomers shit their pants. Some of the new fish shout back, but mostly they look terrified. Especially Andy.
RED (V.O.) I must admit I didn't think much of Andy first time I laid eyes on him. He might'a been important on the outside, but in here he was just a little turd in prison grays. Looked like a stiff breeze could blow him over. That was my first impression of the man.
SKEET What say, Red?
RED Little fella on the end. Definitely. I stake half a pack. Any takers?
SNOOZE Rich bet.
RED C'mon, boys, who's gonna prove me wrong? (hands go up) Floyd, Skeet, Joe, Heywood. Four brave souls, ten smokes apiece. That's it, gentlemen, this window's closed.
Red pockets his notepad. A VOICE comes over the P.A. speakers:
VOICE (amplified) Return to your cellblocks for evening count.
14 INT -- ADMITTING AREA -- DUSK (1947) 14
The new fish are marched in. Guards unlock the shackles. The chains drop away, rattling to the stone floor.
HADLEY Eyes front.
WARDEN SAMUEL NORTON strolls forth, a colorless man in a gray suit and a church pin in his lapel. He looks like he could piss ice water. He appraises the newcomers with flinty eyes.
NORTON This is Mr. Hadley, captain of the guard. I am Mr. Norton, the warden. You are sinners and scum, that's why they sent you to me. Rule number one: no blaspheming. 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?
CON When do we eat?
Cued by Norton's glance, Hadley steps up to the con and screams right in his face:
HADLEY YOU EAT WHEN WE SAY YOU EAT! YOU PISS WHEN WE SAY YOU PISS! YOU SHIT WHEN WE SAY YOU SHIT! YOU SLEEP WHEN WE SAY YOU SLEEP! YOU MAGGOT- DICK MOTHERFUCKER!
Hadley rams the tip of his club into the con's belly. The man falls to his knees, gasping and clutching himself. Hadley takes his place at Norton's side again. Softly:
NORTON Any other questions? (there are none) I believe in two things. Discipline and the Bible. Here, you'll receive both. (holds up a Bible) Put your faith in the Lord. Your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.
HADLEY Off with them clothes! And I didn't say take all day doing it, did I?
The men shed their clothes. Within seconds, all stand naked.
HADLEY First man into the shower!
Hadley shoves the FIRST CON into a steel cage open at the front. TWO GUARDS open up with a fire hose. The con is slammed against the back of the cage, sputtering and hollering. Seconds later, the water is cut and the con yanked out.
HADLEY Delouse that piece of shit! Next man in!
The con gets a huge scoop of white delousing powder thrown all over him. Gasping and coughing, blinking powder from his eyes, he gets shoved to a trustee's cage. The TRUSTEE slides a short stack of items through the slot -- prison clothes and a Bible. All the men are processed quickly -- a blast of water, powder, clothes and a Bible...
15 INT -- INFIRMARY -- NIGHT (1947) 15
A naked CON steps before a DOCTOR and gets a cursory exam. A penlight is shined in his eyes, ears, nose, and throat.
DOCTOR Bend over.
The con does. A GUARD with a penlight in his teeth spreads his cheeks, peers up his ass, and nods. Andy is next up. He gets the same treatment.
16 INT -- PRISON CHAPEL -- NIGHT (1947) 16
CAMERA TRACKS the naked newcomers shivering on hard wooden chairs, clothes on their laps, Bibles open.
CHAPLAIN (O.S.) ...maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul...
17 INT -- CELLBLOCK FIVE -- NIGHT (1947) 17
Three tiers to a side, concrete and steel, gray and imposing. Andy and the others are marched in, still naked, carrying their clothes and Bibles. The CONS in their cells greet them with TAUNTS, JEERS, and LAUGHTER. One by one, the new men are shown to their cells and locked in with a CLANG OF STEEL.
RED (V.O.) The first night's the toughest, no doubt about it. They march you in naked as the day you're born, fresh from a Bible reading, skin burning and half-blind from that delousing shit they throw on you...
Red watches from his cell, arms slung over the crossbars, cigarette dangling from his fingers.
RED (V.O.) ...and when they put you in that cell, when those bars slam home, that's when you know it's for real. Old life blown away in the blink of an eye...a long cold season in hell stretching out ahead...nothing left but all the time in the world to think about it.
Red listens to the CLANGING below. He watches Andy and a few others being brought up to the 2nd tier.
RED (V.O.) 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?
Andy is led past and given a cell at the end of the tier.
RED (V.O.) It's as good a thing to bet on as any, I guess. I had my money on Andy Dufresne...
18 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1947) 18
The bars slam home. Andy is alone in his cell, clutching his clothes. He gazes around at his new surroundings, taking it in. He slowly begins to dress himself...
19 EXT -- SHAWSHANK PRISON -- NIGHT (1947) 19
A malignant stone growth on the Maine landscape. The moon hangs low and baleful in a dead sky. The headlight of a PASSING TRAIN cuts through the night.
20 INT -- RED'S CELL -- NIGHT (1947) 20
Red lies on his bunk below us, tossing his baseball toward the ceiling and catching it again. He pauses, listening. FOOTSTEPS approach below, unhurried, echoing hollowly on stone.
21 INT -- CELLBLOCK FIVE -- NIGHT (1947) 21
LOW ANGLE. A CELLBLOCK GUARD strolls into frame.
GUARD That's lights out! Good night, ladies.
The lights bump off in sequence. The guard exits, footsteps echoing away. Darkness now. Silence. CAMERA CRANES UP the tiers toward Red's cell.
RED (V.O.) I remember my first night. Seems a long time ago now.
Red looms from the darkness, leans on the bars. Listens. Waits. From somewhere below comes faint, ghastly tittering. VOICES drift through the cellblock, taunting:
VARIOUS VOICES (O.S.) Fishee fishee fisheeee...You're gonna like it here, new fish. A whooole lot...Make you wish your daddies never dicked your mommies...You takin' this down, new fish? Gonna be a quiz later. (somebody LAUGHS) Sshhh. Keep it down. The screws'll hear...Fishee fishee fisheeee...
RED (V.O.) The boys always go fishin' with first-timers...and they don't quit till they reel someone in.
The VOICES keep on, sly and creepy in the dark...
22 INT -- VARIOUS CELLS -- NIGHT (1947) 22 thru thru 25 2g ...while the new cons go quietly crazy in their cells. One man paces like a caged animal...another sits gnawing his cuticles bloody...a third is weeping silently...a fourth is dry-heaving into the toilet...
26 INT -- RED'S CELL -- NIGHT (1947) 26
Red waits at the bars. Smoking. Listening. He cranes his head, peers down toward Andy's cell. Nothing. Not a peep.
HEYWOOD (O.S.) Fat-Ass...oh, Faaaat-Ass. Talk to me, boy. I know you're in there. I can hear you breathin'. Now don't you listen to these nitwits, hear?
27 INT -- FAT-ASS' CELL -- NIGHT (1947) 27
Fat-Ass is crying, trying not to hyperventilate.
HEYWOOD (O.S.) This ain't such a bad place. I'll introduce you around, make you feel right at home. I know some big ol' bull queers who'd love to make your acquaintance...especially that big white mushy butt of yours...
And that's it. Fat-Ass lets out a LOUD WAIL of despair:
FAT-ASS OH GOD! I DON'T BELONG HERE! I WANNA GO HOME!
28 INT -- HEYWOOD'S CELL -- NIGHT (1947) 28
HEYWOOD AND IT'S FAT-ASS BY A NOSE.'
29 INT -- CELLBLOCK -- NIGHT (1947) 29
The place goes nuts. Fat-Ass throws himself screaming against the bars. The entire block starts CHANTING:
VOICES Fresh fish...fresh fish...fresh fish...fresh fish...
FAT-ASS I WANNA GO HOME! I WANT MY MOTHER.'
VOICE (O.S.) I had your mother! She wasn't that great!
The lights bump on. GUARDS pour in, led by Hadley himself.
HADLEY What the Christ is this happy shit?
VOICE (O.S.) He took the Lord's name in vain! I'm tellin' the warden!
HADLEY (to the unseen wit) You'll be tellin' him with my baton up your ass!
Hadley arrives at Fat-Ass' cell, bellowing through the bars:
HADLEY What's your malfunction you fat fuckin' barrel of monkey-spunk?
FAT-ASS PLEASE! THIS AIN'T RIGHT! I AIN'T SUPPOSED TO BE HERE! NOT ME!
HADLEY I ain't gonna count to three! Not even to one! Now shut the fuck up 'fore I sing you a lullabye!
Fat-Ass keeps blubbering and wailing. Total freak-out. Hadley draws his baton, gestures to his men. Open it.
A GUARD unlocks the cell. Hadley pulls Fat-Ass out and starts beating him with the baton, brutally raining blows. Fat-Ass falls, tries to crawl.
The place goes dead silent. All we hear now is the dull THWACK-THWACK-THWACK of the baton. Fat-ass passes out. Hadley gets in a few more licks and finally stops.
HADLEY Get this tub of shit down to the infirmary. (peers around) If I hear so much as a mouse fart in here the rest of the night, by God and Sonny Jesus, you'll all visit the infirmary. Every last motherfucker here.
The guards wrestle Fat-Ass onto a stretcher and carry him off. FOOTSTEPS echo away. Lights off. Darkness again. Silence.
30 INT -- RED'S CELL -- NIGHT (1947) 30
Red stares through the bars at the main floor below, eyes riveted to the small puddle of blood where Fat-Ass went down.
RED (V.O.) His first night in the joint, Andy Dufresne cost me two packs of cigarettes. He never made a sound...
31 INT -- CELLBLOCK FIVE -- MORNING (1947) 31
LOUD BUZZER. The master locks are thrown -- KA-THUMP! The cons step from their cells, lining the tiers. The GUARDS holler their head-counts to the HEAD BULL, who jots on a clipboard. Red peers at Andy, checking him out. Andy stands in line, collar buttoned, hair combed.
32 INT -- MESS HALL -- MORNING (1947) 32
Andy goes through the breakfast line, gets a scoop of glop on his tray. WE PAN ANDY through the noise and confusion...and discover BOGS DIAMOND and ROOSTER MacBRIDE watching Andy go by. Bogs sizes Andy up with a salacious gleam in his eye, mutters something to Rooster. Rooster laughs.
Andy finds a table occupied by Red and his regulars, chooses a spot at the end where nobody is sitting. Ignoring their stares, he picks up his spoon -- and pauses, seeing something in his food. He carefully fishes it out with his fingers.
It's a squirming maggot. Andy grimaces, unsure what to do with it. BROOKS HATLEN is sitting closest to Andy. At age 65, he's a senior citizen, a long-standing resident.
BROOKS You gonna eat that?
ANDY Hadn't planned on it.
BROOKS You mind?
Andy passes the maggot to Brooks. Brooks examines it, rolling it between his fingertips like a man checking out a fine cigar. Andy is riveted with apprehension.
BROOKS Mmm. Nice and ripe.
Andy can't bear to watch. Brooks opens up his sweater and feeds the maggot to a baby crow nestled in an inside pocket. Andy breathes a sigh of relief.
BROOKS Jake says thanks. Fell out of his nest over by the plate shop. I'm lookin' after him till he's old enough to fly.
Andy nods, proceeds to eat. Carefully. Heywood approaches.
JIGGER Oh, Christ, here he comes.
HEYWOOD Mornin', boys. It's a fine mornin'. You know why it's fine?
Heywood plops his tray down, sits. The men start pulling out cigarettes and handing them down.
HEYWOOD That's right, send 'em all down. I wanna see 'em lined up in a row, pretty as a chorus line.
An impressive pile forms. Heywood bends down and inhales deeply, smelling the aroma. Rapture.
FLOYD Smell my ass...
HEYWOOD Gee, Red. Terrible shame, your horse comin' in last and all. Hell, I sure do love that horse of mine. I believe I owe that boy a big sloppy kiss when I see him.
RED Give him some'a your cigarettes instead, cheap bastard.
HEYWOOD Say Tyrell, you pull infirmary duty this week? How's that winnin' horse of mine, anyway?
TYRELL Dead. (the men fall silent) Hadley busted his head pretty good. Doc already went home for the night. Poor bastard lay there till this morning. By then...
He shakes his head, turns back to his food. The silence mounts. Heywood glances around. Men resume eating. Softly:
ANDY What was his name?
HEYWOOD What? What'd you say?
ANDY I was wondering if anyone knew his name.
HEYWOOD What the fuck you care, new fish? (resumes eating) Doesn't matter what his fuckin' name was. He's dead.
33 INT -- PRISON LAUNDRY -- DAY (1947) 33
A DEAFENING NOISE of industrial washers and presses. Andy works the laundry line. A nightmarish job. He's new at it. BOB, the con foreman, elbows him aside and shows him how it's done.
34 INT -- SHOWERS -- DAY (1947) 34
Shower heads mounted in bare concrete. Andy showers with a dozen or more men. No modesty here. At least the water is good and hot, soothing his tortured muscles.
Bogs looms from the billowing steam, smiling, checking Andy up and down. Rooster and PETE appear from the sides. The Sisters.
BOGS
You're some sweet punk. You been broke in yet?
Andy tries to step past them. He gets shoved around, nothing serious, just some slap and tickle. Jackals sizing up prey.
BOGS Hard to get. I like that.
Andy breaks free, flushed and shaking. He hurries off, leaving the three Sisters laughing.
35 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1947) 35
Andy lies staring at the darkness, unable to sleep.
36 EXT -- EXERCISE YARD -- DAY (1947) 36
Exercise period. Red plays catch with Heywood and Jigger, lazily tossing a baseball around. Red notices Andy off to the side. Nods hello. Andy takes this as a cue to amble over. Heywood and Jigger pause, watching.
ANDY (offers his hand) Hello. I'm Andy Dufresne.
Red glances at the hand, ignores it. The game continues.
RED The wife-killin' banker.
ANDY How do you know that?
RED I keep my ear to the ground. Why'd you do it?
ANDY I didn't, since you ask.
RED Hell, you'll fit right in, then. (off Andy's look) Everyone's innocent in here, don't you know that? Heywood! What are you in for, boy?
HEYWOOD Didn't do it! Lawyer fucked me!
Red gives Andy a look. See?
ANDY What else have you heard?
RED People say you're a cold fish. They say you think your shit smells sweeter than ordinary. That true?
ANDY What do you think?
RED Ain't made up my mind yet.
Heywood nudges Jigger. Watch this. He winds up and throws the ball hard -- right at Andy's head. Andy sees it coming out of the corner of his eye, whirls and catches it. Beat. He sends the ball right back, zinging it into Heywood's hands. Heywood drops the ball and grimaces, wringing his stung hands.
ANDY I understand you're a man who knows how to get things.
RED I'm known to locate certain things from time to time. They seem to fall into my hands. Maybe it's 'cause I'm Irish.
ANDY I wonder if you could get me a rock-hammer?
RED What is it and why?
ANDY You make your customers' motives a part of your business?
RED If you wanted a toothbrush, I wouldn't ask questions. I'd just quote a price. A toothbrush, see, is a non-lethal sort of object.
ANDY Fair enough. A rock-hammer is about eight or nine inches long. Looks like a miniature pickaxe, with a small sharp pick on one end, and a blunt hammerhead on the other. It's for rocks.
RED Rocks.
Andy squats, motions Red to join him. Andy grabs a handful of dirt and sifts it through his hands. He finds a pebble and rubs it clean. It has a nice milky glow. He tosses it to Red.
RED Quartz?
ANDY Quartz, sure. And look. Mica. Shale. Silted granite. There's some graded limestone, from when they cut this place out of the hill.
RED So?
ANDY I'm a rockhound. At least I was, in my old life. I'd like to be again, on a limited scale.
RED Yeah, that or maybe plant your toy in somebody's skull?
ANDY I have no enemies here.
RED No? Just wait.
Red flicks his gaze past Andy. Bogs is watching them.
RED Word gets around. The Sisters have taken a real shine to you, yes they have. Especially Bogs.
ANDY Tell me something. Would it help if I explained to them I'm not homosexual?
RED Neither are they. You have to be human first. They don't qualify. (off Andy's look) Bull queers take by force, that's all they want or understand. I'd grow eyes in the back of my head if I were you.
ANDY Thanks for the advice.
RED That comes free. But you understand my concern.
ANDY If there's trouble, I doubt a rock- hammer will do me any good.
RED Then I guess you wanna escape. Tunnel under the wall maybe? (Andy laughs politely) I miss the joke. What's so funny?
ANDY
You'll know when you see the rock- hammer.
RED What's this item usually go for?
ANDY Seven dollars in any rock and gem shop.
RED My standard mark-up's twenty percent, but we're talkin' about a special object. Risk goes up, price goes up. Call it ten bucks even.
ANDY Ten it is.
RED I'll see what I can do. (rises, slapping dust) But it's a waste of money.
ANDY Oh?
RED Folks who run this place love surprise inspections. They turn a blind eye to some things, but not a gadget like that. They'll find it, and you'll lose it. Mention my name, we'll never do business again. Not for a pair of shoelaces or a stick of gum.
ANDY I understand. Thank you, Mr...?
RED Red. The name's Red.
ANDY Red. I'm Andy. Pleasure doing business with you.
They shake. Andy strolls off. Red watches him go.
RED (V.O.) 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 worry. Like he had on an invisible coat that would shield him from this place. (resumes playing catch) Yes, I think it would be fair to say I liked Andy from the start.
37 INT -- MESS HALL -- DAY (1947) 37
Red gets his breakfast and heads for a table. Andy falls in step, slips him a tightly-folded square of paper.
38 INT -- RED'S CELL -- NIGHT (1947) 38
Lying on his bunk, Red unfolds the square. A ten dollar bill.
RED (V.O.) He was a man who adapted fast.
39 EXT -- LOADING DOCK -- DAY (1947) 39
Under watchful supervision, CONS are off-loading bags of dirty laundry from an "Eliot Nursing Home" truck.
RED (V.O.) Years later, I found out he'd brought in quite a bit more than just ten dollars...
A certain bag hits the ground. The TRUCK DRIVER shoots a look at a black con, LEONARD, then ambles over to a GUARD to shoot the shit. Leonard loads the bag onto a cart...
40 INT -- PRISON LAUNDRY -- DAY (1947) 40
Bags are being unloaded. We find Leonard working the line.
RED (V.O.) When they check you into this hotel, one of the bellhops bends you over and looks up your works, just to make sure you're not carrying anything. But a truly determined man can get an object quite a ways up there.
Leonard slips a small paper-wrapped package out of the laundry bag, hides it under his apron, and keeps sorting...
4l INT -- PRISON LAUNDRY EXCHANGE -- DAY (1947) 41
Red deposits his dirty bundle and moves down the line to where the clean sheets are being handed out.
RED (V.O.) That's how Andy joined our happy little Shawshank family with more than five hundred dollars on his person. Determination.
Leonard catches Red's eye, turns and grabs a specific stack of clean sheets. He hands it across to Red --
TIGHT ANGLE
-- and more than clean laundry changes hands. Two packs of cigarettes slide out of Red's hand into Leonard's.
42 INT -- RED'S CELL -- DAY (1947) 42
Red slips the package out of his sheets, carefully checks to make sure nobody's coming, then rips it open. He pulls out the rock-hammer. It's just as Andy described. Red laughs softly.
RED (V.O.) 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.
43 INT -- CELLBLOCK FIVE -- 2ND TIER -- NIGHT (1947) 43
Brooks Hatlen pushes a cart of books from cell to cell. The rolling library. He finds Red waiting for him. Red slips the rock-hammer, wrapped in a towel, through the bars and onto the cart. Next comes six cigarettes to pay for postage.
RED
Dufresne.
Brooks nods, never missing a beat. He rolls his cart to Andy's cell, mutters through the bars:
BROOKS Middle shelf, wrapped in a towel.
Andy's hand snakes through the bars and makes the object disappear. The hand comes back and deposits a small slip of folded paper along with more cigarettes. Brooks turns his cart around and goes back. He pauses, sorting his books long enough for Red to snag the slip of paper. Brooks continues on, scooping the cigarettes off the cart and into his pocket.
44 INT -- RED'S CELL -- NIGHT (1947) 44
Red unfolds the slip of paper. Penciled neatly on it is a single word: "Thanks."
45 INT -- PRISON LAUNDRY -- DAY (1947) 45
We are assaulted by the deafening noise of the laundry line. Andy is doing his job, getting good at it.
BOB DUFRESNE! WE'RE LOW ON HEXLITE! HEAD ON BACK AND FETCH US UP SOME!
Andy nods. He leaves the line, weaving his way through the laundry room and into --
46 INT -- BACK ROOMS/STOCK AREA -- DAY (1947) 46
-- a dark, tangled maze of rooms and corridors, boilers and furnaces, sump pumps, old washing machines, pallets of cleaning supplies and detergents, you name it. Andy hefts a cardboard drum of Hexlite off the stack, turns around --
-- and finds Bogs Diamond in the aisle. blocking his way. Rooster looms from the shadows to his right, Pete Verness on the left. A frozen beat. Andy slams the Hexlite to the floor, rips off the top, and scoops out a double handful.
ANDY You get this in your eyes, it blinds you.
BOGS Honey, hush.
Andy backs up, holding them at bay, trying to maneuver through the maze. The Sisters keep coming, tense and guarded, eyes riveted and gauging his every move, trying to outflank him. Andy trips on some old gaint sugglies. That's all it takes. They're on him in an instant, kicking and stomping.
Andy gets yanked to his feet. Bogs applies a chokehold from behind. They propel him across the room and slam him against an old four-pocket machine, bending him over it. Rooster jams a rag into Andy's mouth and secures it with a steel pipe, like a horse bit. Andy kicks and struggles, but Rooster and Pete have his arms firmly pinned. Bogs whispers in Andy's ear:
BOGS That's it, fight. Better that way.
Andy starts screaming, muffled by the rag. CAMERA PULLS BACK, SLOWLY WIDENING. The big Washex blocks our view. All we see is Andy's screaming face and the men holding him down...
...and CAMERA DRIFTS FROM THE ROOM, leaving the dark place and the dingy act behind...MOVING up empty corridors, past concrete walls and steel pipes...
RED (V.O.) 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.
WE EMERGE into the prison laundry past a guard, WIDENING for a final view of the line. The giant steel "mangler" is slapping down in brutal rhythm. The sound is deafening.
RED (V.O.) He never said who did it...but we all knew.
PRISON MONTAGE: (1947 through 1949)
47 ANDY PLODS THROUGH HIS DAYS. WORKING. EATING. CHIPPING AND 47 shaping his rocks after lights-out...
RED (V.O.) Things went on like that for a while. Prison life consists of routine, and then more routine.
48 ANDY WALKS THE YARD, FACE SWOLLEN AND BRUISED. 48
RED (V.O.) Every so often, Andy would show up with fresh bruises.
49 ANDY EATS BREAKFAST. A FEW TABLES OVER, BOGS BLOWS HIM A KISS. 49
RED (V.O.) The Sisters kept at him. Sometimes he was able to fight them off... sometimes not.
50 ANDY BACKS INTO A CORNER IN SOME DINGY PART OF THE PRISON, wildly swinging a rake at his tormentors.
RED (V.O.) He always fought, that's what I remember. He fought because he knew if he didn't fight, it would make it that much easier not to fight the next time.
The rake connects, snapping off over somebody's skull. They beat the hell out of him.
RED (V.O.) Half the time it landed him in the infirmary...
51 INT -- SOLITARY CONFINEMENT ("THE HOLE") -- NIGHT (1949) 51
A stone closet. No bed, sink, or lights. Just a toilet with no seat. Andy sits on bare concrete, bruised face lit by a faint ray of light falling through the tiny slit in the steel door.
RED (V.O.) ...the other half, it landed him in solitary. Warden Norton's "grain & drain" vacation. Bread, water, and all the privacy you could want.
52 INT -- PRISON LAUNDRY -- DAY (1949) 52
Andy is working the line.
RED (V.O.) 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...
53 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- DAY (1949) 53
Warden Norton addresses the assembled cons via bullhorn:
NORTON ...the roof of the license-plate factory needs resurfacing. I need a dozen volunteers for a week's work. We're gonna be taking names in this steel bucket here...
Red glances around at his friends. Andy also catches his eye.
RED (V.O.) It was outdoor detail, and May is one damn fine month to be workin' outdoors.
54 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- DAY (1949) 54
Cons shuffle past, dropping slips of paper into a bucket.
RED (V.O.) More than a hundred men volunteered for the job.
Red saunters to a guard named TIM YOUNGBLOOD, mutters discreetly in his ear.
55 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- DAY (1949) 55
Youngblood is pulling names and reading them off. Red exchanges grins with Andy and the others.
RED (V.O.) Wouldn't you know it? Me and some fellas I know were among the names called.
56 INT -- PRISON CORRIDOR -- NIGHT (1949) 56
Red slips Youngblood six packs of cigarettes.
RED (V.O.) Only cost us a pack of smokes per man. I made my usual twenty percent, of course.
57 EXT -- LICENSE PLATE FACTORY -- DAY (1949) 57
A tar-cooker bubbles and smokes. TWO CONS dip up a bucket of tar and tie a rope to the handle. The rope goes taught. CAMERA FOLLOWS the bucket of tar up the side of the building to --
58 THE ROOF 58
-- where it is relayed to the work detail. the men are dipping big Padd brushes and spreading the tar. ANGLZ OVER to Byron Hadley bitching sourly to his fellow guards:
HADLEY ...so this shithead lawyer calls long distance from Texas, and he says, Byron Hadley? I say, yeah. He says, sorry to inform you, but your brother just died.
YOUNGBLOOD Damn, Byron. Sorry to hear that.
HADLEY I ain't. He was an asshole. Run off years ago, family ain't heard of him since. Figured him for dead anyway. So this lawyer prick says, your brother died a rich man. Oil wells and shit, close to a million bucks. Jesus, it's frigging incredible how lucky some assholes can get.
TROUT A million bucks? Jeez-Louise! You get any of that?
HADLEY Thirty five thousand. That's what he left me.
TROUT Dollars? Holy shit, that's great! Like winnin' a lottery... (off Hadley's shitty look) ...ain't it?
HADLEY Dumbshit. What do you figger the government's gonna do to me? Take a big wet bite out of my ass, is what.
TROUT Oh. Hadn't thought of that.
HADLEY Maybe leave me enough to buy a new car with. Then what happens? You pay tax on the car. Repairs and maintenance. Goddamn kids pesterin' you to take 'em for a ride...
MERT And drive it, if they're old enough.
HADLEY That's right, wanting to drive it, wanting to learn on it, f'Chrissake! Then at the end of the year, if you figured the tax wrong, they make you pay out of your own pocket. Uncle Sam puts his hand in your shirt and squeezes your tit till it's purple. Always get the short end. That's a fact. (spits over the side) Some brother. Shit.
The prisoners keep spreading tar, eyes on their work.
HEYWOOD Poor Byron. What terrible fuckin' luck. Imagine inheriting thirty five thousand dollars.
RED Crying shame. Some folks got it awful bad.
Red glances over -- and is shocked to see Andy standing up, listening to the guards talk.
RED Hey, you nuts? Keep your eyes on your pail!
Andy tosses his Padd in the bucket and strolls toward Hadley.
RED Andy! Come back! Shit!
SNOOZE What's he doing?
FLOYD Gettin' himself killed.
RED God damn it...
HEYWOOD Just keep spreadin' tar...
The guards stiffen at Andy's approach. Youngblood's hand goes to his holster. The tower guards CLICK-CLACK their rifle bolts. Hadley turns, stupefied to find Andy there.
ANDY Mr. Hadley. Do you trust your wife?
HADLEY That's funny. You're gonna look funnier suckin' my dick with no fuckin' teeth.
ANDY What I mean is, do you think she'd go behind your back? Try to hamstring you?
HADLEY That's it! Step aside, Mert. This fucker's havin' hisself an accident.
Hadley grabs Andy's collar and propels him violently toward the edge of the roof. The cons furiously keep spreading tar.
HEYWOOD Oh God, he's gonna do it, he's gonna throw him off the roof...
SNOOZE Oh shit, oh fuck, oh Jesus...
ANDY Because if you do trust her, there's no reason in the world you can't keep every cent of that money.
Hadley abruptly jerks Andy to a stop right at the edge. In fact, Andy's past the edge, beyond his balance, shoetips scraping the roof. The only thing between him and an ugly drop to the concrete is Hadley's grip on the front of his shirt.
HADLEY You better start making sense.
ANDY If you want to keep that money, all of it, just give it to your wife. See, the IRS allows you a one-time- only gift to your spouse. It's good up to sixty thousand dollars.
HADLEY Naw, that ain't right! Tax free?
ANDY Tax free. IRS can't touch one cent.
The cons are pausing work, stunned by this business discussion.
HADLEY You're the smart banker what shot his wife. Why should I believe a smart banker like you? So's I can wind up in here with you?
ANDY It's perfectly legal. Go ask the IRS, they'll say the same thing. Actually, I feel silly telling you all this. I'm sure you would have investigated the matter yourself.
HADLEY Fuckin'-A. I don't need no smart wife-killin' banker to show me where the bear shit in the buckwheat.
ANDY Of course not. But you will need somebody to set up the tax-free gift, and that'll cost you. A lawyer, for example...
HADLEY Ambulance-chaaing, highway-robbing cocksuckers!
ANDY ...or come to think of it, I suppose I could set it up for you. That would save you some money. I'll write down the forms you need, you can pick them up, and I'll prepare them for your signature... nearly free of charge. (off Hadley's look) I'd only ask three beers apiece for my co-workers, if that seems fair.
TROUT (guffawing) Co-workers! Get him! That's rich, ain't it? Co-workers...
Hadley freezes him with a look. Andy presses on:
ANDY I think a nan working outdoors feels more like a man if he can have a bottle of suds. That's only my opinion.
The convicts stand gaping, all pretense of work gone. They look like they've been pole-axed. Hadley shoots them a look.
HADLEY What are you jimmies starin' at? Back to work, goddamn it!
59 EXT -- LICENSE PLATE FACTORY -- DAY (1949) 59
As before, an object is hauled up the side of the building by rope -- only this time, it's a cooler of beer and ice.
RED (V.O.) 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...
60 EXT -- ROOF -- SHORTLY LATER (1949) 60
The cons are taking the sun and drinking beer.
RED (V.O.) ...wound up sitting in a row at ten o'clock in the morning, drinking icy cold Black Label beer courtesy of the hardest screw that ever walked a turn at Shawshank State Prison.
HADLEY Drink up, boys. While it's cold.
RED (V.O.) The colossal prick even managed to sound magnanimous.
Red knocks back another sip, enjoying the bitter cold on his tongue and the warm sun on face.
RED (V.O.) We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders, and felt like free men. We could'a been tarring the
roof of one of our own houses. We were the Lords of all Creation.
He glances over to Andy squatting apart from the others.
RED (V.O.) As for Andy, he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer.
HEYWOOD (approaches with a beer) Here's a cold one, Andy.
ANDY No thanks. I gave up drinking.
Heywood drifts back to others, giving them a look.
RED (V.O.) 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.
61 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- THE BLEACHERS -- DAY (1949) 61
Andy and Red play checkers. Red makes his move.
RED King me.
ANDY Chess. Now there's a game of kings. Civilized...strategic...
RED ...and totally fuckin' inexplicable. Hate that game.
ANDY Maybe you'll let me teach you someday. I've been thinking of getting a board together.
RED You come to the right place. I'm the man who can get things.
ANDY We might do business on a board. But the pieces, I'd like to carve those myself. One side done in quartz... the opposing side in limestone.
RED That'd take you years.
ANDY Years I've got. What I don't have are the rocks. Pickings here in the exercise yard are pretty slim.
RED How's that rock-hammer workin' out anyway? Scratch your name on your wall yet?
ANDY (smiles) Not yet. I suppose I should.
RED Andy? I guess we're gettin' to be friends, ain't we?
ANDY I suppose we are.
RED I ask a question? Why'd you do it?
ANDY I'm innocent, remember? Just like everybody else here.
Red takes this as a gentle rebuff, keeps playing.
ANDY What are you in for, Red?
RED Murder. Same as you.
ANDY Innocent?
RED The only guilty man in Shawshank.
62 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1949) 62
Andy lies in his bunk after lights out, polishing a fragment of quartz by the light of the moon. He pauses, glancing at all the names scratched in the wall. He rises, makes sure the coast is clear, and starts scratching his name into the cement with his rock-hammer, adding to the record.
63 RAY MILLAND 63
fills the screen in glorious (and scratchy) black & white, suffering a bad case of DT's...
64 INT -- PRISON AUDITORIUM -- NIGHT (1949) 64
...while a CONVICT AUDIENCE hoots and catcalls, talking back to the screen. We find Red slouched in a folding chair, watching the movie. Andy enters, backlit by the flickering glare of the projector, and takes a seat next to him.
RED Here's the good part. Bugs come out of the walls to get his ass.
ANDY I know. I've seen it three times this month already.
Ray Milland starts SCREAMING. The entire audience SCREAMS with him, high-pitched and hysterical. Andy fidgets.
ANDY Can we talk business?
RED Sure. What do you want?
ANDY Rita Hayworth. Can you get her?
RED No problem. Take a few weeks.
ANDY Weeks?
RED Don't have her stuffed down my pants this very moment, sorry to say. Relax. What are you so nervous about? She's just a woman.
Andy nods, embarrassed. He gets up and hurries out. Red grins, turns back to the movie.
65 INT -- AUDITORIUM CORRIDOR -- NIGHT (1949) 65
Andy exits the theater and freezes in his tracks. Two dark figures loom in the corridor, blocking his path. Rooster and Pete. Andy turns back -- and runs right into Bogs. Instant bear hug. The Sisters are on him like a flash. They kick a door open and drag him into --
66 THE PROJECTION BOOTH 66
-- where they confront the startled PROJECTIONIST, an old con blinking at them through thick bifocals.
BOGS Take a walk.
PROJECTIONIST I have to change reels.
BOGS I said fuck off.
Terrified, the old man darts past and out the door. Pete slams and locks it. Bogs shoves Andy to the center of the room.
ANDY I know. I've seen it three times this month already.
Ray Milland starts SCREAMING. The entire audience SCREAMS witt him, high-pitched and hysterical. Andy fidgets.
ANDY Can we talk business?
RED Sure. What do you want?
ANDY Rita Hayworth. Can you get her?
RED No problem. Take a few weeks.
ANDY Weeks?
RED Don't have her stuffed down my pants this very moment, sorry to say. Relax. What are you so nervous about? She's just a woman.
Andy nods, embarrassed. He gets up and hurries out. Red grins, turns back to the movie.
65 INT -- AUDITORIUM CORRIDOR -- NIGHT (1949) 65
Andy exits the theater and freezes in his tracks. Two dark figures loom in the corridor, blocking his path. Rooster and Pete. Andy turns back -- and runs right into Bogs. Instant bear hug. The Sisters are on him like a flash. They kick a door open and drag him into --
66 THE PROJECTION BOOTH 66
-- where they confront the startled PROJECTIONIST, an old con blinking at them through thick bifocals.
BOGS Take a walk.
PROJECTIONIST I have to change reels.
BOGS I said fuck off.
Terrified, the old man darts past and out the door. Pete slams and locks it. Bogs shoves Andy to the center of the room.
BOGS Ain't you gonna scream?
Andy sighs, cocks his head at the projector.
ANDY They'd never hear me over that. Let's get this over with.
Seemingly resigned, Andy turns around, leans on the rewind bench -- and curls his fingers around a full 1.000 foot reel of 35mm film. Rooster licks his lips, pushes past the others.
ROOSTER Me first.
ANDY Okay.
Andy whips the reel of film around in a vicious arc, smashing it into Rooster's face and bouncing him off the wall.
ROOSTER Fuck! Shit! He broke my nose!
Andy fights like hell, but is soon overpowered and forced to his knees. Bogs steps to Andy, pulls out an awl with a vicious eight-inch spike, gives him a good long look at it.
BOGS Now I'm gonna open my fly, and you're gonna swallow what I give you to swallow. And when you d mine, you gonna swallow Rooster's. You done broke his nose, so he ought to have somethin' to show for it.
ANDY Anything you put in my mouth, you're going to lose.
BOGS You don't understand. You do that, I'll put all eight inches of this steel ii your ear.
ANDY Okay. But you should know that sudden serious brain injury causes the victim to bite down. Hard. (faint smile) In fact, I understand the bite-reflex is so strong the victim's jaws have to be pried open with a crowbar.
The Sisters consider this carefully. The film runs out of the projector, flapping on the reel. The screen goes white.
BOGS You little fuck.
Andy gets a bootheel in the face. The Sisters start kicking and beating the living shit out of him with anything they can get their hands on. In the theater, the convicts are CHANTING AND CLAPPING for the movie to come back on.
RED (V.O.) 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...
67 INT -- INFIRMARY -- DAY (1949) 67
Andy lies wrapped in bandages.
RED (V.O.) Andy spent a month in traction.
68 INT -- SOLITARY CONFINEMENT -- DAY (1949) 68
RED (V.O.) Bogs spent a week in the hole.
Bogs sits on bare concrete. The steel door slides open.
GUARD Time's up, Bogs.
69 INT -- CELLBLOCK FIVE -- 3RD TIER -- DUSK (1949) 69
Bogs comes up the stairs, smoking a cigarette. Not many cons around; the place is virtually deserted. A VOICE echoes dimly over the P.A. system:
VOICE (O.S.) Return to your cellblocks for evening count.
Bogs enters his cell. Dark in here. He fumbles for the light cord, yanks it. The sudden light reveals Captain Hadley six inches from his face, waiting for him. Mert steps in behind Bogs. hemming him.
Before Bogs can even open his mouth to say "what the fuck," Hadley rams the tip of his baton brutally into his solar plexus. Bogs doubles over, gagging his wind out.
70 GROUND FLOOR 70
Ernie comes slowly around the corner, rolling a steel mop cart loaded with supplies.
71 2ND TIER 71
Red is darning a sock in his open cell. He pauses, frowning, hearing strange THUMPING sounds. What the hell is that?
72 3RD TIER 72
It's Hadley and Mert methodically and brutally pulping Bogs with their batons, and kicking the shit out of him for good measure. He feebly tries to ward them off.
73 2ND TIER 73
Puzzled, Red steps from his cell, following the sound. It dawns on him that it's coming from above. He moves to the railing and leans out, craning around to look up --
74 RED'S POV 74
-- just as Bogs flips over the railing and comes sailing
directly toward us, eyes bugging out, SCREAMING as he falls.
75 RED (SLOW MOTION) 75
jumps back as Bogs plummets past, missing him by inches, arms swimming and trying to grab the railing (but missing that too), SCREAMING aaaaalll the way down --
76 GROUND FLOOR 76
-- and impacting on Ernie's gassing mop cart in an enormous eruption of solvents and cleansers. The cart is squashed flat, shooting out from under Bogs and skidding across the cellblock floor like a tiddly wink, kicking up sparks for thirty yards. Ernie is left gaping in shock at Bogs and all the Bogs-related wreckage at his feet.
77 2ND TIER 77
Red is stunned. He very tentatively leans out and looks up. Above him, Hadley and Mert lean on the 3rd tier railing. Hadley tilts the cap back on his head, shakes his head.
MERT Damn, Byron. Look'a that.
HADLEY Poor fella must'a tripped.
A tiny drop of blood drips off the toe of Hadley's shoe and
splashes across Red's upturned cheek. He wipes it off, then looks down at Bogs. Cons and guards are racing to the scene.
RED (V.O.) Two things never happened again after that. The Sisters never laid a finger on Andy again...
7B EXT -- PRISON YARD/LOADING DOCK -- DAY (1949) 78
Bogs, wheelchair-bound and wearing a neck brace, is loaded onto an ambulance for transport. Behind the fence stand Red and his friends, watching.
RED (V.O.) ...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.
RED I'm thinkin' Andy could use a nice welcome back when he gets out of the infirmary.
HEYWOOD Sounds good to us. Figure we owe him for the beer.
RED Man likes to play chess. Let's get him some rocks.
79 EXT -- FIELD -- DAY (1949) 79
A HUNDRED CONS at work. Hoes rise and fall in long waves. GUARDS patrol on horseback. Heywood turns up a rocky chunk, quickly shoves it down his pants. He maneuvers to Red and the others, pulls out the chunk and shows it to them.
FLOYD That ain't quartz. Nor limestone.
HEYWOOD What are you, fuckin' geologist?
SNOOZE He's right, it ain't.
HEYWOOD What the hell is it then?
RED Horse apple.
HEYWOOD Bullshit.
RED No, horse shit. Petrified.
Cackling, the men go back to work. Heywood stares at the rock. He crumbles it in his hands.
RED (V.O.) Despite a few hitches, the boys came through in fine style...
80 INT -- PRISON LAUNDRY -- BACK ROOM -- DAY (1949) 80
A huge detergent box is filled with rocks, hidden in the shadows behind a boiler furnace.
RED (V.O.) ...and by the week Andy was due back, we had enough rocks saved up to keep him busy till Rapture.
ANGLE SHIFTS to Red as he plops a bag of "laundry" on the floor. Leonard and Bob toss a few more down. Red starts pulling out contraband, giving them their commissions.
RED (V.O.) Also got a big shipment in that week. Cigarettes, chewing gum, shoelaces, playing cards with naked ladies on 'em, you name it... (pulls a cardboard tube) ...and, of course, the most important item.
81 INT -- CELLBLOCK FIVE -- NIGHT (1949) 81
Andy, limping a bit, returns from the infirmary. Red watches from his cell as Andy is brought up and locked away.
82 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1949) 82
Andy finds the cardboard tube lying on his bunk.
GUARD (O.S.) Lights out!
The lights go off. Andy opens the tube and pulls out a large rolled poster. He lets it uncurl to the floor. A small scrap of paper flutters out, landing at his feet. The poster is the famous Rita Hayworth pin-up -- one hand behind her head, eyes half closed, sulky lips parted. Andy picks up the scrap of paper. It reads: "No charge. Welcome back." Alone in the dark, Andy smiles.
83 INT -- CELLBLOCK FIVE -- MORNING (1949) 83
The BUZZER SOUNDS, the cells SLAM OPEN. Cons step from their cells. Andy catches Red's eye, nods his thanks. As the men shuffle down to breakfast, Red glances into Andy's cell --
84 RED'S POV -- DOLLYING PAST 84
-- and sees Rita in her new place of honor on Andy's wall. Sunlight casts a harsh barred shadow across her lovely face.
85 INT -- CELLBLOCK FIVE -- NIGHT (1949) 85
Ernie is mopping the floor. He glances back and sees Warden Norton approach the cellblock with an entourage of a DOZEN GUARDS. Still mopping, Ernie mutters to the nearest cell:
ERNIE Heads up. They're tossin' cells.
Word travels fast from cell to cell. Cons scramble to tidy up and hide things. Norton enters, nods to his men. The guards pair off in all directions, making their choices at random.
GUARD What kind'a contraband you hiding in there, boy?
Cells are opened, occupants displaced, items scattered, mattresses overturned. Whatever contraband is found gets tossed out onto the cellblock floor. Mostly harmless stuff.
A GUARD pulls a sharpened screwdriver out of a mattress, shoots a nasty look at the CON responsible.
NORTON Solitary. A week. Make sure he takes his Bible.
CON Too goddamn dark to read down there.
NORTON Add another week for blasphemy.
The man is taken away. Norton's gaze goes up.
NORTON Let's try the second tier.
86 2ND TIER 86
Norton arrives, makes a thin show of picking a cell at random. He motions at Andy on his bunk, reading his Bible. The door is unlocked. Norton enters, trailed by his men. Andy rises.
ANDY Good evening.
Norton gives a curt nod. Hadley and Trout start tossing the cell in a thorough search. Norton keeps his eyes on Andy, looking for a wrong glance or nervous blink. He takes the Bible out of Andy's hand.
NORTON I'm pleased to see you reading this. Any favorite passages?
ANDY Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh.
NORTON (smiles) Luke. Chapter 13, verse 35. I've always liked that one. (strolls the cell) But I prefer: "I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
ANDY John. Chapter 8, verse 12.
NORTON I hear you're good with numbers. How nice. A man should have a skill.
HADLEY You wanna explain this?
Andy glances over. Hadley is holding up a rock blanket, a polishing cloth roughly the size of an oven mitt.
ANDY It's called a rock blanket. It's for shaping and polishing rocks. Little hobby of mine.
Hadley glances at the rocks lining the window sill, turns to Norton.
HADLEY Looks pretty clean. Some contraband here, nothing to get in a twist over.
Norton nods, strolls to the poster of Rita.
NORTON I can't say I approve of this... (turns to Andy) ...but I suppose exceptions can always be made.
Norton exits, the guards follow. The cell door is slammed and locked. Norton pauses, turns back.
NORTON I almost forgot.
He reaches through the bars and returns the Bible to Andy.
NORTON I'd hate to deprive you of this. Salvation lies within.
Norton and his men walk away.
RED (V.O.) Tossin' cells was just an excuse. Truth is, Norton wanted to size Andy up.
87 INT -- PRISON LAUNDRY -- DAY (1949) 87
Andy is working the line. Hadley enters and confers briefly with Bob. Bob nods, crosses to Andy, taps him. Andy turns, removes an earplug. Bob shouts over the machine noise:
BOB DUFRESNE! YOU'RE OFF THE LINE!
88 INT -- WARDEN NORTON'S OFFICE -- DAY (1949) 88
Andy is led in. Norton is at his desk doing paperwork. Andy's eyes go to a framed needle-point sampler on the wall behind him that reads: "HIS JUDGMENT COMETH AND THAT RIGHT SOON."
NORTON My wife made that in church group.
ANDY It's very pretty, sir.
NORTON You like working in the laundry?
ANDY No, sir. Not especially.
NORTON Perhaps we can find something more befitting a man of your education.
89 INT -- MAIN BUILDING -- STORAGE ROOMS -- DAY (1949) 89
A series of bleak rooms stacked high with unused filing cabinets, desks, paint supplies, etc. Andy enters. He hears a FLUTTER OF WINGS. An adult crow lands on a filing cabinet and struts back and forth, checking him out. Andy smiles.
ANDY Hey, Jake. Where's Brooks?
Brooks Hatlen pokes his head out of the back room.
BROOKS Andy! Thought I heard you out here!
ANDY I've been reassigned to you.
BROOKS I know, they told me. Ain't that a kick in the ass? Come on in, I'll give you the dime tour.
90 INT -- SHAWSHANK PRISON LIBRARY -- DAY (1949) 90
Brooks leads Andy into the bleakest back room of all. Rough plank shelves are lined with books. Brooks' private domain.
BROOKS Here she is, the Shawshank Prison Library. Along this side, we got the National Geographics. That side, the Reader's Digest Condensed books. Bottom shelf there, some Louis L'Amours and Erle Stanley Gardners. Every night I pile the cart and make my rounds. I write down the names on this clipboard here. Well, that's it. Easy, peasy, Japanesey. Any questions?
Andy pauses. Something about this doesn't make any sense.
ANDY Brooks? How long have you been librarian?
BROOKS Since 1912. Yuh, over 37 years.
ANDY In all that time, have you ever had an assistant?
BROOKS Never needed one. Not much to it, is there?
ANDY So why now? Why me?
BROOKS I dunno. Be nice to have some comp'ny down here for a change.
HADLEY (O.S.) Dufresne!
91 ANDY STEPS BACK INTO THE OUTER ROOMS AND FINDS HADLEY WITH 91 another GUARD, a huge fellow named DEKINS.
HADLEY That's him. That's the one.
Hadley exits. Dekins approaches Andy ominously. Andy stands his ground, waiting for whatever comes next. Finally:
DEKINS I'm Dekins. I been, uh, thinkin' 'bout maybe settin' up some kinda trust fund for my kids' educations.
Andy covers his surprise. Glances at Brooks. Brooks smiles.
ANDY I see. Well. Why don't we have a seat and talk it over?
BROOKS Pull down one'a them desks there.
Andy and Dekins grab a desk standing on end and tilt it to the floor. They find chairs and settle in. Brooks returns with a tablet of paper and a pen, slides them before Andy.
ANDY What did you have in mind? A weekly draw on your pay?
DEKINS Yuh. I figured just stick it in the bank, but Captain Hadley said check with you first.
ANDY He was right. You don't want your money in a bank.
DEKINS I don't?
ANDY What's that gonna earn you? Two and a half, three percent a year? We can do a lot better than that. (wets his pen) So tell me, Mr. Dekins. Where do you want to send your kids? Harvard? Yale?
92 INT -- MESS HALL -- DAY (1949) 92
FLOYD He didn't say that!
BROOKS God is my witness. And Dekins, he just blinks for a second, then laughs his ass off. Afterward, he actually shook Andy's hand.
HEYWOOD My ass!
BROOKS Shook his fuckin' hand. Just about shit myself. All Andy needed was a suit and tie, a jiggly little hula girl on his desk, he would'a been Mister Dufresne, if you please.
RED Makin' yourself some friends, Andy.
ANDY I wouldn't say "friends." I'm a convicted murderer who provides sound financial planning. That's a wonderful pet to have.
RED Got you out of the laundry, didn't it?
ANDY Maybe it can do more than that. (off their looks) How about expanding the library? Get some new books in there.
HEYWOOD How you 'spect to do that, "Mr. Dufresne-if-you-please?"
ANDY Ask the warden for funds.
LAUGHTER all around. Andy blinks at them.
BROOKS Son, I've had six wardens through here during my tenure, and I have learned one great immutable truth of the universe: ain't one of 'em been born whose asshole don't pucker up tight as a snare drum when you ask for funds.
93 INT -- MAIN BUILDING HALLWAY -- DAY (1949) 93
DOLLYING Norton and Andy up the hall:
NORTON Not a dime. My budget's stretched thin as it is.
ANDY I see. Perhaps I could write to the State Senate and request funds directly from them.
NORTON Far as them Republican boys in Augusta are concerned, there's only three ways to spend the taxpayer's hard-earned when it come to prisons. More walls. More bars. More guards.
ANDY Still, I'd like to try, with your permission. I'll send a letter a week. They can't ignore me forever.
NORTON They sure can, but you write your letters if it makes you happy. I'll even mail 'em for you, how's that?
94 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1949) 94
Andy is on his bunk, writing a letter.
RED (V.O.) So Andy started writing a letter a week, just like he said.
95 INT -- GUARD DESK/NORTON'S OUTER OFFICE -- DAY (1949) 95
Andy pops his head in. The GUARD shakes his head.
RED (V.O.) And just like Norton said, Andy got no answers. But still he kept on.
96 INT -- PRISON LIBRARY/ANDY'S OFFICE -- DAY (1950) 96
Andy is doing taxes. Mert Entwhistle is seated across from him. Other off-duty guards are waiting their turn.
RED (V.O.) The following April, Andy did tax returns for half the guards at Shawshank.
97 INT -- PRISON LIBRARY -- ONE YEAR LATER (1951) 97
Tax time again. Even more guards are waiting.
RED (V.O.) Year after that, he did them all... including the warden's.
98 EXT -- BASEBALL DIAMOND -- DAY (1952) 98
A BATTER in a "Noresby Marauders" baseball uniform WHACKS the ball high into left field and races for first.
RED (V.O.) Year after that, they rescheduled the start of the intramural season to coincide with tax season...
99 INT -- PRISON LIBRARY/ANDY'S OFFICE -- DAY (1952) 99
The Batter sits across from Andy. The line winds out the door.
RED (V.O.) The guards on the opposing teams all remembered to bring their W-2's.
ANDY Moresby Prison issued you that gun, but you actually had to pay for it?
THE BATTER Damn right, and the holster too.
ANDY See, that's all deductible. You get to write that off.
RED (V.O.) Yes sir, Andy was a regular H&R Block. In fact, he got so busy at tax time, he was allowed a staff.
ANGLE SHIFTS to reveal Red and Brooks doing filing chores.
ANDY Say Red, could you hand me a stack of those 1040s?
RED (V.O.) Got me out of the wood shop a month out of the year, and that was fine by me.
100 INT -- GUARD DESK/NORTON'S OUTER OFFICE -- DAY (1953) 100
Andy enters and drops a letter on the outgoing stack.
RED (V.O.) And still he kept sending those letters...
101 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1953) 101
Dark. Andy's in his bunk, polishing a four-inch length of quartz. It's a beautifully-crafted chess piece in the shape of a horse's head, poise and nobility captured in gleaming stone.
He puts the knight on a chess board by his bed, adding it to four pieces already there: a king, a queen, and two bishops. He turns to Rita. Moonlight casts bars across her face.
102 EXT -- EXERCISE YARD -- DAY (1954) 102
Floyd runs into the yard, scared and winded. He finds Andy and Red on the bleachers.
FLOYD Red? Andy? It's Brooks.
103 INT -- PRISON LIBRARY/ANDY'S OFFICE -- DAY (1954) 103
Floyd rushes in with Andy and Red at his heels. They find Jigger and Snooze trying to calm Brooks, who has Heywood in a chokehold and a knife to his throat. Heywood is terrified.
JIGGER C'mon, Brooksie, why don't you just calm the fuck down, okay?
BROOKS Goddamn miserable puke-eatin' sons of whores!
He kicks a table over. Tax files explode through the air.
RED What the hell's going on?
SNOOZE You tell me, man. One second he was fine, then out came the knife. I better get the guards.
RED No. We'll handle this. Ain't that right, Brooks? Just settle down and we'll talk about it, okay?
BROOKS Nothing left to talk about! It's all talked out! Nothing left now but to cut his fuckin' throat!
RED Why? What's Heywood done to you?
BROOKS That's what they want! It's the price I gotta pay!
Andy steps forward, rivets Brooks with a gaze. Softly:
ANDY Brooks, you're not going to hurt Heywood, we all know that. Even Heywood knows it, right Heywood?
HEYWOOD (nods, terrified) Sure. I know that. Sure.
ANDY Why? Ask anyone, they'll tell you. Brooks Hatlen is a reasonable man.
RED (cuing nods all around) Yeah, that's right. That's what everybody says.
ANDY You're not fooling anybody, so just put the damn knife down and stop scaring the shit out of people.
BROOKS But it's the only way they'll let me stay.
Brooks bursts into tears. The storm is over. Heywood staggers free, gasping for air. Andy takes the knife, passes it to Red. Brooks dissolves into Andy's arms with great heaving sobs.
ANDY Take it easy. You'll be all right.
HEYWOOD Him? What about me? Crazy old fool! Goddamn near slit my throat!
RED You've had worse from shaving. What'd you do to set him off?
HEYWOOD Nothin'! Just came in to say fare-thee-well. (off their looks) Ain't you heard? His parole came through!
Red and Andy exchange a surprised look. Andy wants to understand. Red just motions to let it be for now. He puts his arm around Brooks, who sobs inconsolably. Softly:
RED
Ain't that bad, old hoss. Won't be long till you're squiring pretty young girls on your arm and telling 'em lies.
104 EXT -- PRISON YARD BLEACHERS -- DUSK (1954) 104
ANDY I just don't understand what happened in there, that's all.
HEYWOOD Old man's crazy as a rat in a tin shithouse, is what.
RED Heywood, enough. Ain't nothing wrong with Brooksie. He's just institutionalized, that's all.
HEYWOOD Institutionalized, my ass.
RED Man's been here fifty years. This place is all he knows. In here, he's an important man, an educated man. A librarian. Out there, he's nothing but a used-up old con with arthritis in both hands. Couldn't even get a library card if he applied. You see what I'm saying?
FLOYD Red, I do believe you're talking out of your ass.
RED Believe what you want. These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. After long enough, you get so you depend on 'em. That's "institutionalized."
JIGGER Shit. I could never get that way.
ERNIE (softly) Say that when you been inside as long as Brooks has.
RED Goddamn right. They send you here for life, and that's just what they take. Part that counts, anyway.
105 EXT -- SHAWSHANK PRISON -- DAWN (1954) 105
The sun rises over gray stone.
106 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- DAWN (1954) 106
ANGLE ON RITA POSTER. Sexy as ever. The rising sun sends fingers of rosy light creeping across her face.
107 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAWN (1954) 107
Brooks stands on a chair, poised at the bars of a window, cradling Jake in his hands.
BROOKS I can't take care of you no more. You go on now. You're free.
He tosses Jake through the bars. The crow flaps away.
108 EXT -- SHAWSHANK PRISON -- MAIN GATE -- DAY (1954) 108
TWO SHORT SIREN BLASTS herald the opening of the gate. It swings hugely open, revealing Brooks standing in his cheap suit, carrying a cheap bag, wearing a cheap hat.
Brooks walks out, tears streaming down his face. He looks back. Red, Andy, and others stand at the inner fence, seeing him off. The massive gate closes, wiping them from view.
109 INT -- BUS -- DAY (1954) 109
Brooks is riding the bus, clutching the seat before him, gripped by terror of speed and motion.
BROOKS (V.O.) Dear Fellas. I can't believe how fast things move on the outside.
110 EXT -- STREET -- PORTLAND, MAINE -- DAY (1954) 110
Brooks looks like a kid trying to cross the street without his parents. People and traffic a blur.
BROOKS (V.O.) I saw an automobile once when I was young. Now they're everywhere.
111 EXT -- BREWSTER HOTEL -- DAY (1954) 111
Brooks comes trudging up the sidewalk. He glances up as a prop-driven airliner streaks in low overhead.
BROOKS (V.O.) The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry.
He arrives at the Brewster. It ain't much to look at.
112 INT -- BREWSTER HOTEL -- DAY (1954) 112
A WOMAN leads Brooks up the stairs toward the top floor. He has trouble climbing so many stairs.
WOMAN No music in your room after eight p.m. No guests after nine. No cooking except on the hotplate...
BROOKS (V.O.) People even talk faster. And louder.
113 INT -- BROOKS' ROOM -- DAY (1954) 113
Brooks enters. The room is small, old, dingy. Heavy wooden beams cross the ceiling. An arched window affords a view of Congress Street. Traffic noise drifts in. Brooks sets his bag down. He doesn't quite know what to do. He just stands there, like a man waiting for a bus.
BROOKS (V.O.) The parole board got me into this halfway house called the Brewster, and a job bagging groceries at the Foodway...
114 INT -- FOODWAY MARKET -- DAY (1954) 114
Loud. Jangling with PEOPLE and NOISE. Brooks is bagging groceries. Registers are humming, kids are shrieking.
WOMAN Make sure he double-bags. Last time your man didn't double-bag and the bottom near came out.
MANAGER You double-bag like the lady says, understand?
BROOKS Yes sir, double-bag, surely will.
BROOKS (V.O.) It's hard work. I try to keep up, but my hands hurt most of the time. I don't think the store manager likes me very much.
115 EXT -- PARK -- DAY (1954) 115
Brooks sits alone on a bench, feeding pigeons.
BROOKS (V.O.) Sometimes after work I go to the park and feed the birds. I keep thinking Jake might show up and say hello, but he never does. I hope wherever he is, he's doing okay and making new friends.
116 INT -- BROOKS' ROOM -- NIGHT (1954) 116
Dark. Traffic outside. Brooks wakes up. Disoriented. Afraid. Somewhere in the night, a LOUD ARGUMENT is taking place.
BROOKS (V.O.) I have trouble sleeping at night. The bed is too big. I have bad dreams, like I'm falling. I wake up scared. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember where I am.
117 INT -- FOODWAY -- DAY (1954) 117
BROOKS (V.O.) 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.
118 INT -- BROOKS' ROOM -- DAY (1954) 118
Brooks is packing his worldly possessions into the carry bag. Undershirts, socks, etc.
BROOKS (V.O.) But I guess I'm too old for that sort of nonsense anymore.
119 INT -- BROOKS' ROOM -- SHORTLY LATER (1954) 119
Brooks is dressed in his suit. He finishes knotting his tie, puts his hat on his head. The letter lies on the desk, stampe3 and ready for mailing. His bag is by the door.
BROOKS (V.O.) I don't like it here. I'm tired of being afraid all the time. I've decided not to stay.
He takes one last look around. Only one thing left to do. He steps to a wooden chair in the center of the room, pulls out s pocketknife, and glances up at the ceiling beam.
He steps up onto the chair. It wobbles queasily. Now facing the beam, he carves a message into the wood: "Brooks Hatlen was here." He smiles with a sort of inner peace.
BROOKS (V.O.) I doubt they'll kick up any fuss. Not for an old crook like me.
120 TIGHT ON CHAIR 120
His weight shifts on the wobbly chair -- and it goes out from under him. His feet remain where they are, kicking feebly in mid-air. His hat falls to the floor.
ANGLE WIDENS. Brooks has hanged himself. He swings gently, facing the open window. Traffic noise floats up from below.
121 EXT -- EXERCISE YARD -- SHAWSHANK -- DAY (1954) 121
Andy reads the letter to Red and the others:
ANDY P.S. Tell Heywood I'm sorry I put a knife to his throat. No hard feelings.
A long silence. Andy folds the letter, puts it away. Softly:
RED He should'a died in here, goddamn it.
122 INT -- PRISON LIBRARY -- DAY (1954) 122
Andy is sorting books on the cart. He replaces a stack on the shelf -- and pauses, noticing a line of ants crawling up the wood. He glances up. The ants disappear over the top. He pulls a chair over and stands on it, peers cautiously over.
ANDY Red!
Red steps in with an armload of files. Andy gingerly reaches in, grabs a black feathered wing, and pulls out a dead crow.
RED (softly) Is that Jake?
123 INT -- WOOD SHOP -- DAY (1954) 123
Red is making something at his bench, sanding and planing.
RED (V.O.) It never would have occurred to us, if not for Andy. It was his idea. We all agreed it was the right thing to do...
124 EXT -- FIELDS -- DAY (1954) 124
Low hilly terrain all around. A HUNDRED CONS are at work in the fields. GUARDS patrol with carbines, keeping a sharp eye. We find Andy, Red, and the boys working with picks and shovels. They glance over to the pickup truck. Hadley's chewing the fat with Mert and Youngblood. A WHISTLE BLOWS.
GUARD Water break! Five minutes!
The work stops. Cons head for the pickup truck, where water is dispensed with dipper and pail. Red and the boys look to Andy. Andy nods. Now's the time. The group moves off through the confusion, using it as cover. They head up the slope of a nearby hill and quickly decide on a suitable spot. The guards haven't noticed.
Jigger and Floyd start swinging picks into the soft earth, quickly ripping out a hole. Red reaches into his jacket and pulls out a beautiful wooden box, carefully stained and varnished. He shows it around to nods of approval.
ANDY That's real pretty, Red. Nice work.
HEYWOOD Shovel man in. Watch the dirt.
124 CONTINUED 124 Heywood jumps in and starts spading out the hole.
125 BY THE TRUCK 125
Youngblood glances up and sees the men on the slope.
YOUNGBLOOD What the fuck.
HADLEY (follows his gaze) HEY.' YOU MEN UP THERE.' GET YOUR ASSES OFF THAT SLOPE! (works his rifle bolt) YOU HAPPY ASSHOLES GONE DEAF? YOU GOT FIVE SECONDS 'FORE I SHOOT SOMEBODY!
Suddenly, other cons start breaking away in groups, dozens of them heading toward the slope. The guards look around.
HADLEY What am I, talkin' to myself?
126 ON THE SLOPE 126
Andy pulls a towel-wrapped bundle from his jacket and unfolds it. Jake. Andy lays him in the box, followed by Brook's letter. Red places the casket in the hole. A moment of silence. Andy gives Red with an encouraging nod.
RED Lord. Brooks was a sinner. Jake was just a crow. Neither was much to look at. Both got institutionalized. See what you can do for 'em. Amen.
Muttered "amens" all around. The boys shovel dirt onto the small grave and tamp it down.
127 INT -- SHAWSHANK CORRIDORS -- DAY (1955) 127
RAPID DOLLY with Hadley. He's striding, pissed-off, a man on e mission. He straight-arms a door and emerges onto --
128 EXT -- SHAWSHANK PRISON WALL -- DAY (1955) 128
-- the wall overlooking the exercise yard. He leans on the railing, scans the yard, sees Andy chatting with Red.
HADLEY Dufresne! What the fuck did you do? (Andy looks up) Your ass, warden's office, now!
Andy shoots a worried look at Red, then heads off.
129 INT -- GUARD DESK/WARDEN'S OUTER OFFICE -- DAY (1955) 129
Dozens of parcel boxes litter the floor. WILEY, the duty guard, picks through them. Hadley enters, trailed by Andy.
ANDY What is all this?
HADLEY You tell me, fuck-stick! They're addressed to you, every damn one!
Wiley thrusts an envelope at Andy. Andy just stares at it.
WILEY Well, take it.
Andy takes the envelope, pulls out a letter, reads:
ANDY Dear Mr. Dufresne. In response to your repeated inquiries, the State Senate has allocated the enclosed funds for your library project... " (stunned, examines check) This is two hundred dollars.
Wiley grins. Hadley glares at him. The grin vanishes.
ANDY In addition, the Library District has generously responded with a charitable donation of used books and sundries. We trust this will fill your needs. We now consider the matter closed. Please stop sending us letters. Yours truly, the State Comptroller's Office.
Andy gazes around at the boxes. The riches of the world lay at his feet. His eyes mist with emotion at the sight.
HADLEY I want all this cleared out before the warden gets back, I shit you not.
Hadley exits. Andy touches the boxes like a love-struck man touching a beautiful woman. Wiley grins.
WILEY Good for you, Andy.
ANDY Only took six years. (beat) From now on, I send two letters a week instead of one.
WILEY (laughs, shakes his head) I believe you're crazy enough. You better get this stuff downstairs like the Captain said. I'm gonna go pinch a loaf. When I get back, this is all gone, right?
Andy nods. Wiley disappears into the toilet, Jughead Comix in hand. Alone now, Andy starts going through the boxes like a starving man exploring packages of food. He doesn't know where to turn first. He gets giddy, ripping boxes open and pulling out books, touching them, smelling them.
He rips open another box. This one contains an old phonograph player, industrial gray and green, the words "Portland Public School District" stenciled on the side. The box also contains stacks and stacks of used record albums.
Andy reverently slips a stack from the box and starts flipping through them. Used Nat King Coles, Bing Crosbys, etc. He comes across a certain album -- Mozart's "Le Nozze de Figaro." He pulls it from the stack, gazing upon it as a man transfixed. It is a thing of beauty. It is the Grail.
130 INT -- BATHROOM -- DAY (1955) 130
Wiley sits in one of the stalls, Jughead comic on his knees.
131 INT -- GUARD STATION/OUTER OFFICE -- DAY (1955) 131
Andy wrestles the phonograph player onto the guards' desk, sweeping things onto the floor in his haste. He plugs the machine in. A red light warms up. The platter starts spinning.
He slides the Mozart album from its sleeve, lays it on the platter, and lowers the tone arm to his favorite cut. The needle HISSES in the groove...and the MUSIC begins, lilting and gorgeous. Andy sinks into Wiley's chair, overcome by its beauty. It is "Deutino: Che soave zeffiretto," a duet sung by
Susanna and the Contessa.
132 INT -- BATHROOM -- DAY (1955) 132
Wiley pauses reading, puzzled. He thinks he hears music.
WILEY Andy? You hear that?
133 INT -- GUARD STATION/OUTER OFFICE -- DAY (1955) 133
Andy shoots a look at the bathroom...and smiles. Go for broke. He lunges to his feet and barricades the front door, then the bathroom. He returns to the desk and positions the P.A. microphone. He works up his courage, then flicks all the toggles to "on." A SQUEAL OF FEEDBACK echoes briefly...
134 INT/EXT -- VARIOUS P.A. SPEAKERS -- DAY (1955) 134
...and the Mozart is suddenly broadcast all over the prison.
135 INT -- BATHROOM -- DAY (1955) 135
Wiley lunges to his feet, pants tangling around his ankles.
136 INT/EXT -- SHAWSHANK PRISON -- VARIOUS LOCATIONS -- DAY (1955) 136
Cons all over the prison stop whatever they're doing, freezing in mid-step to listen, gazing up at the speakers.
137 THE STAMPING MACHINES IN THE PLATE SHOP ARE SHUT DOWN... 137
138 THE LAUNDRY LINE GOES SILENT, GRINDING TO A HALT... 138
139 THE WOOD SHOP MACHINES ARE TURNED OFF, BUZZING TO A STOP... 139
140 THE MOTOR POOL...THE KITCHEN...THE LOADING DOCK...THE EXERCISE 140 thru yard...the numbing routine of prison life itself...all grinds thru 143 TO A STUTTERING HALT. NOBODY MOVES, NOBODY SPEAKS. EVERYBODY 143
just stands in place, listening to the MUSIC, hypnotized.
144 INT -- GUARD STATION -- DAY (1955) 144
Andy is reclined in the chair, transported, arms fluidly conducting the music. Ecstasy and rapture. Shawshank no longer exists. It has been banished from the mind of men.
145 EXT -- EXERCISE YARD -- DAY (1955) 145
CAMERA TRACKS along groups of men, all riveted.
RED (V.O.) I have no idea to this day what them two Italian ladies were singin' about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I like to think they were singin' about something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it.
CAMERA brings us to Red.
RED (V.O.) I tell you, those voices soared. Higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away...and for the briefest of moments -- every last man at Shawshank felt free.
146 INT -- PRISON CORRIDOR -- DAY (1955) 146
FAST DOLLY with Norton striding up the hallway with Hadley.
RED (V.O.) It pissed the warden off something terrible.
147 INT -- GUARD STATION/OUTER OFFICE -- DAY (1955) 147
Norton and Hadley break the door in. Andy looks up with a sublime smile. We hear Wiley POUNDING on the bathroom door:
WILEY (O.S.) LET ME OUUUUT!
148 INT -- SOLITARY WING -- DAY (1955) 148
LOW ANGLE SLOW PUSH IN on the massive, rust-streaked steel door. God, this is a terrible place to be.
RED (V.O.) Andy got two weeks in the hole for that little stunt.
149 INT -- SOLITARY CONFINEMENT -- DAY (1955) 149
Andy doesn't seem to mind. His arms sweep to the music still playing in his head. We hear a FAINT ECHO of the soaring duet.
150 INT -- MESS HALL -- DAY (1955) 1 50
HEYWOOD Couldn't play somethin' good, huh? Hank Williams?
ANDY They broke the door down before I could take requests.
FLOYD Was it worth two weeks in the hole?
ANDY Easiest time I ever did.
HEYWOOD Shit. No such thing as easy time in the hole. A week seems like a year.
ANDY I had Mr. Mozart to keep me company. Hardly felt the time at all.
RED Oh, they let you tote that record player down there, huh? I could'a swore they confiscated that stuff.
ANDY (taps his heart, his head) The music was here...and here. That's the one thing they can't confiscate, not ever. That's the beauty of it. Haven't you ever felt that way about music, Red?
RED Played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost my taste for it. Didn't make much sense on the inside.
ANDY Here's where it makes most sense. We need it so we don't forget.
RED Forget?
ANDY That there are things in this world not carved out of gray stone. That there's a small place inside of us they can never lock away, and that place is called hope.
RED Hope is a dangerous thing. Drive a man insane. It's got no place here. Better get used to the idea.
ANDY (softly) Like Brooks did?
FADE TO BLACK
151 AN IRON-BARRED DOOR 151
slides open with an enormous CLANG. A stark room beyond. CAMERA PUSHES through. SEVEN HUMORLESS MEN sit at a long
table. An empty chair faces them. We are again in:
INT -- SHAWSHANK HEARINGS ROOM -- DAY (1957)
Red enters, ten years older than when we first saw him at a parole hearing. He removes his cap and sits.
MAN #l It says here you've served thirty years of a life sentence.
MAN #2 You feel you've been rehabilitated?
RED Yes sir, without a doubt. I can say I'm a changed man. No danger to society, that's the God's honest truth. Absolutely rehabilitated.
CLOSEUP -- PAROLE FORM
A big rubber stamp slams down: "REJECTED."
152 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- DUSK (1957) 152
Red emerges into fading daylight. Andy's waiting for him.
RED Same old, same old. Thirty years. Jesus. When you say it like that...
ANDY You wonder where it went. I wonder where ten years went.
Red nods, solemn. They settle in on the bleachers. Andy pulls a small box from his sweater, hands it to Red.
ANDY Anniversary gift. Open it.
Red does. Inside the box, on a thin layer of cotton, is a shiny new harmonica, bright aluminum and circus-red.
ANDY Had to go through one of your competitors. Hope you don't mind. Wanted it to be a surprise.
RED It's very pretty, Andy. Thank you.
ANDY You gonna play something?
--
Red considers it, shakes his head. Softly:
RED Not today.
153 INT -- CELLBLOCK FIVE/ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1957) 153
Men line the tiers as the evening count is completed. The convicts step into their cells. The master switch is thrown and all the doors slam shut -- KA-THUMP! Andy finds a cardboard tube on his bunk. The note reads: "A new girl for your 10 year anniversary. From your pal. Red."
154 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- LATER (1957) 154
Marilyn Monroe's face fills the screen. SLOW PULL BACK reveals the new poster: the famous shot from "The Seven Year Itch," on the subway grate with skirt billowing up. Andy sits gazing at her as lights-out commences...
155 INT -- RED'S CELL -- NIGHT (1957) 155
...and we find Red gazing blankly as darkness takes the cellblock. Adding up the months, weeks, days...
He regards the harmonica like a man confronted with a Martian artifact. He considers trying it out -- even holds it briefly to his lips, almost embarrassed -- but puts it back in its box untested. And there the harmonica will stay...
FADE TO BLACK
156 WE HOLD IN BLACKNESS as THUMPING SOUNDS grow louder... 156
RED (V.O.) Andy was as good as his word. He kept writing to the State Senate. Two letters a week instead of one.
...and the BLACKNESS disintegrates as a wall tumbles before our eyes, revealing a WORK CREW with picks and sledgehammers, faces obscured outlaw-style with kerchiefs against the dust. Behind them are GUARDS overseeing the work.
Andy yanks his kerchief down, grinning in exhilaration. Red and the others follow suit. They step through the hole in the wall, exploring what used to be a sealed-off storage room.
RED (V.O.) In 1959, the folks up Augusta way finally clued in to the fact they couldn't buy him off with just a 200 dollar check. Appropriations Committee voted an annual payment of 500 dollars, just to shut him up.
157 INT -- PRISON LIBRARY -- DAY (1960) 157
TRACKING the construction. Walls have been knocked down. Men are painting, plastering, hammering. Lots of shelves going up. Red is head carpenter. We find him discussing plans with Andy.
RED (V.O.) Those checks came once a year like clockwork.
158 INT -- PRISON LIBRARY -- DAY (1960) 158
Red and the boys are opening boxes, pulling out books.
RED (V.O.) You'd be amazed how far Andy could stretch it. He made deals with book clubs, charity groups...he bought remaindered books by the pound...
HEYWOOD Treasure Island. Robert Louis...
ANDY (jotting) ...Stevenson. Next?
RED I got here an auto repair manual, and a book on soap carving.
ANDY Trade skills and hobbies, those go under educational. Stack right behind you.
HEYWOOD The Count of Monte Crisco...
FLOYD Cristo, you dumbshit.
HEYWOOD ...by Alexandree Dumb-ass.
ANDY Dumas. You boys'll like that one. It's about a prison break.
Floyd tries to take the book. Heywood yanks it back. I saw it first. Red shoots Andy a look.
RED Maybe that should go under educational too.
159 INT -- WOOD SHOP -- DAY (1961) 159
Red is making a sign, carefully routing letters into a long plank of wood. It turns out to be --
160 INT -- PRISON LIBRARY -- DAY (1963) 160
-- the varnished wood sign over the archway: "Brooks Hatlen Memorial Library." TILT DOWN to reveal the library in all its completed glory: shelves lined with books, tables and chairs, even a few potted plants. Heywood is wearing headphones, listening to Hank Williams on the record player.
RED (V.O.) By the year Kennedy was shot, Andy had transformed a broom closet smelling of turpentine into the best prison library in New England.
161 EXT -- SHAWSHANK PRISON -- DAY (1963) 161
FLASHBULBS POP as Norton addresses MEMBERS OF THE PRESS:
RED (V.O.) That was also the year Warden Norton instituted his famous "Inside-Out" program. You may remember reading about it. It made all the papers and got his picture in LIFE magazine.
NORTON ...a genuine, progressive advance in corrections and rehabilitation. Our inmates, properly supervised, will be put to work outside these walls performing all manner of public service. Cutting pulpwood, repairing bridges and causeways, digging storm drains...
ANGLE TO Red and the boys listening from behind the fence.
NORTON These men can learn the value of an honest day's labor while providing a valuable service to the community -- and at a bare minimum of expense to Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Taxpayer!
HEYWOOD Sounds like road-gangin', you ask me.
RED Nobody asked you.
162 EXT -- HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION SITE -- DAY (1963) 162
A ROAD-GANG is grading a culvert with picks. There's dust and the smell of sweat in the air. GUARDS patrol with sniper rifles, A pushy WOMAN REPORTER in an ugly hat bustles up the grade, trailed by a PHOTOGRAPHER.
WOMAN REPORTER You there! You men! We're gonna take your picture now!
HEYWOOD Give us a break, lady.
WOMAN REPORTER Don't you know who I am? I'm from LIFE magazine! I was told I'd get some co-operation out here! You want me to report you to your warden? Is that what you want?
HEYWOOD (sighs) No, ma'am.
WOMAN REPORTER That's more like it! Now I want you all in a row with big bright smiles on your faces! Grab hold of your tools and show 'em to me!
She turns, motioning her photographer up the grade. Heywood glances around at the other men.
HEYWOOD You heard the lady.
Heywood unzips his pants, reaches inside. The others do likewise. The woman turns back and is greeted by the sight of a dozen men displaying their penises and smiling brightly. Her legs go wobbly and she sits heavily down on the dirt grade.
HEYWOOD C'mon! We're showin' our tools and grinnin' like fools! Take the damn picture!
163 INT -- SOLITARY CONFINZMENT -- NIGHT (1963) 163
Heywood sits alone in the dark. He sighs.
RED (V.O.) None of the inmates were invited to express their views...
164 EXT -- WOODED FIELDS -- DAY (1965) 164
A ROAD-GANG is pulling stumps, bogged down in mud.
RED (V.O.) 'Course, Norton failed to mention to the press that "bare minimum of expense" is a fairly loose term. There are a hundred different ways to skim off the top. Men, materials, you name it. And, oh my Lord, how the money rolled in...
Norton strolls into view with NED GRIMES at his heels.
NED This keeps up, you're gonna put me out of business! With this pool of slave labor you got, you can underbid any contractor in town.
NORTON Ned, we're providing a valuable community service.
NED That's fine for the papers, but I got a family to feed. The State don't pay my salary. Sam, we go back a long way. I need this new highway contract. I don't get it, I go under. That's a fact. (hands him a box) Now you just have some'a this fine pie my missus baked specially for you, and you think about that.
Norton opens the box. Alongside the pie is an envelope. He runs his thumb across the thick stack of cash it contains.
IN THE BACKGROUND, a winch cable SNAPS and whips through the air, damn near severing a man's leg. He goes down, screaming in mud and blood, pinned by a fallen tree stump. Men rush over to help him. Norton barely takes notice.
NORTON Ned, I wouldn't worry too much over this contract. Seems to me I've already got my boys committed elsewhere. You be sure and thank Maisie for this fine pie.
165 INT -- NORTON'S OFFICE -- NIGHT (1965) 165
ANGLE on Maisie's pie. Several pieces gone.
RED (V.O.) And behind every shady deal, behind every dollar earned...
TILT UP to Andy at the desk, munching thoughtfully as he totals up figures on an adding machine.
RED (V.O.) ...there was Andy, keeping the books.
Andy finishes preparing two bank deposits. Norton hovers near the desk, keeping a watchful eye.
ANDY Two deposits, Casco Bank and New England First. Night drop, like always.
Norton pockets the envelopes. Andy crosses to the wall safe and shoves the ledger and sundry files inside. Norton locks the safe, swings his wife's framed sampler back into place. He cocks his thumb at some laundry and two suits in the corner.
NORTON Get my stuff down t'laundry. Two suits for dry-clean and a bag of whatnot. Tell 'em if they over- starch my shirts again, they're gonna hear about it from me. (adjusts his tie) How do I look?
ANDY Very nice.
NORTON Big charity to-do up Portland way. Governor's gonna be there. (indicates pie) Want the rest of that? Woman can't bake worth shit.
166 INT -- PRISON CORRIDOR -- NIGHT (1965) 166
Andy trudges down the corridor with Norton's laundry, the pie box under his arm.
167 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1965) 167
TILT UP FROM PIE to find Red munching away as he helps Andy sort books on the shelves.
RED Got his fingers in a lot of pies, from what I hear.
ANDY What you hear isn't half of it. He's got scams you haven't dreamed of. Kickbacks on his kickbacks. There's a river of dirty money flowing through this place.
RED Money like that can be a problem. Sooner or later you gotta explain where it came from.
ANDY That's where I come in. I channel it, funnel it, filter it...stocks, securities, tax free municipals... I send that money out into the big world. And when it comes back...
RED It's clean as a virgin's whistle?
ANDY Cleaner. By the time Norton retires, I will have made him a millionaire.
RED Jesus. They ever catch on, he's gonna wind up wearing a number himself.
ANDY (smiles) I thought you had more faith in me than that.
RED I'm sure you're good, but all that paper leaves a trail. Anybody gets too curious -- FBI, IRS, whatever -- that trail's gonna lead to somebody.
ANDY Sure it will. But not to me, and certainly not to the warden.
RED Who then?
ANDY Peter Stevens.
RED Who?
ANDY The silent, silent partner. He's the guilty one, your Honor. The man with the bank accounts. That's where the filtering process starts. They trace it back, all they're gonna find is him.
RED Yeah, okay, but who the hell is he?
ANDY A phantom. An apparition. Second cousin to Harvey the Rabbit. (off Red's look) I conjured him out of thin air. He doesn't exist...except on paper.
RED You can't just make a person up.
ANDY Sure you can, if you know how the system works, and where the cracks are. It's amazing what you can accomplish by mail. Mr. Stevens has a birth certificate, social security card, driver's license. They ever track those accounts, they'll wind up chasing a figment of my imagination.
RED Jesus. Did I say you were good? You're Rembrandt.
ANDY It's funny. On the outside, I was an honest man. Straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.
168 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- DUSK (1965)
RED Does it ever bother you?
ANDY I don't run the scams, Red, I just process the profits. That's a fine line, maybe. But I've also built that library, and used it to help a dozen guys get their high school diplomas. Why do you think the warden lets me do all that?
RED To keep you happy and doing the laundry. Money instead of sheets.
ANDY I work cheap. That's the trade-off.
TWO SIREN BLASTS draw their attention to the main gate. It swings open, revealing a prison bus waiting outside.
169 INT -- PRISON BUS -- DUSK (1965) 169
Among those on board is TOMMY WILLIAMS, a damn good-looking kid in his mid-20's. The bus RUMBLES through the gate.
170 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- DUSK (1965) 170
The new fish disembark, chained together single-file. The old- timers holler and shake the fence. A deafening gauntlet.
171 INT -- CELLBLOCK EIGHT -- NIGHT (1965) 171
Tommy and the others are marched in naked and shivering, covered with delousing powder, greeted by TAUNTS and JEERS.
172 INT -- TOMMY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1965) 172
The bars slam with a STEEL CLANG. Tommy and his new CELLMATE take in their new surroundings.
TOMMY Well. Ain't this for shit?
173 INT -- PRISON CORRIDOR -- DAY (1965) 173
DOLLYING Tommy as he struts along, combing his ducktail, cigarette behind his ear. (We definitely need The Coasters or Del Vikings on the soundtrack here. Maybe Jerry Lee Lewis.)
RED (V.O.) Tommy Williams came to Shawshank in 1965 on a two year stretch for B&E. Cops caught him sneakin' TV sets out the back door of a JC Penney.
174 INT -- WOOD SHOP -- DAY (1965) 174
A SHRIEKING BUZZSAW slices ten-foot lengths of wood. Red runs the machine while some other OLD-TIMERS feed the wood.
RED (V.O.) Young punk, Mr. Rock n' Roll, cocky as hell...
Tommy is hauling the cut wood off the conveyor and stacking it, It's a ball-busting job, but the kid's a blur.
TOMMY (slapping his gloves) C'mon there, old boys! Movin' like molasses! Makin' me look bad!
The old guys just grin and shake their heads.
RED (V.O.) We liked him immediately.
175 INT -- MESS HALL -- DAY (1965) 175
Tommy regales the old boys with his exploits:
TOMMY ...so I'm backin' out the door, right? Had the TV like this... (mimes his grip) Big ol' thing. Couldn't see shit. Suddenly, here's this voice: Freeze kid! Hands in the air! Well I just stand there holdin' on to that TV, so the voice says: "You hear what I said, boy?" And I say, Yes sir, I sure did! But if I drop this fuckin' thing, you got me on destruction of property too!
The whole table falls about laughing.
176 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1965) 176
Poker game in progress. Tommy, Andy, Red and the boys.
HEYWOOD You did a stretch in Cashman too?
TOMMY Yeah. That was an easy ride, let me tell you. Work programs, weekend furloughs. Not like here.
SNOOZE Sounds like you done time all over New England.
TOMNY Been in and out since I was 13. Name the place, chances are I been there.
ANDY Perhaps it's time you considered a new profession. (the game stalls) What I mean is, you don't seem to be a very good thief. Maybe you should try something else.
TOMMY What the hell you know about it, Capone? What are you in for?
ANDY (wry glance to Red) Everyone's innocent in here. Don't you know that?
The tension breaks. Everyone laughs.
177 INT -- VISITOR'S ROOM -- DAY (1965) 177
CAMERA TRAVELS the room. Chaotic. CONS are waiting their turn or talking to visitors through a thick plexi shield.
RED (V.O.) As it turns out, Tommy had himself a young wife and new baby girl...
Tommy's at the end of the row, phone to his ear. Other side of the glass is BETH, near tears, fussing with a BABY on her lap.
BETH ...said we can stay with them, but Joey's gettin' out of the service next month, and they barely got enough room as it is. Plus they got Poppa workin' double shifts and the baby cries half the night. I just don't know where we're gonna go...
PUSH IN on Tommy's face as he listens.
RED (V.O.) Maybe it was the thought of them on
the streets...or his child growing up not knowing her daddy...
178 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1965) 178
Tommy enters, the strut gone from his step. A little scared. He finds Andy filing library cards.
RED (V.O.) Whatever it was, something lit a fire under that boy's ass.
TOMMY I'm thinkin' maybe I should try for high school equivalency. Hear you helped some fellas with that.
ANDY I don't waste time on losers, Tommy.
TOMNY (tight) I ain't no goddamn loser.
ANDY That's a good start. If we do this, we do it all the way. One hundred percent. Nothing half-assed.
Tommy thinks about it, nods.
TOMMY Thing is, see... (leans in, mutters) ...I don't read all that good.
ANDY (smiles) Well. You've come to the right place then.
179 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1965) 179
We find Andy giving an impassioned reading:
ANDY ...and the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor...and my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor, shall be lifted nevermore! "
Andy slaps the book shut, immensely pleased with himself.
TOMMY So this raven just sits there and won't go away?
ANDY That's right.
TOMMY (beat) Why don't that fella get hisself a 12-gauge and dust the fucker?
180 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1965) 180
Tommy tries to read as Andy looks on:
TOMMY The cat sh--The cat shh... (glances up) The cat shat on the welcome mat?
Andy shakes his head. Not exactly.
181 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1965) 181
Andy chalks the alphabet on a blackboard.
RED (V.O.) So Andy took Tommy under his wing. Started walking him through his ABCs...
182 INT -- MESS HALL -- DAY (1965) 182
TRACK the table to Tommy and Andy. Discussing a book.
RED (V.O.) Tommy took to it pretty well, too. Boy found brains he never knew he had.
183 EXT -- EXERCISE YARD BLEACHERS -- DAY (1965) 183
TOMNY The cat sh--shh--shimmied up the tree and crept st--stel--stealthily out on the limb...
184 INT -- WOOD SHOP -- DAY (1965) 184
Tommy intent on a paperback, mouthing the words. Behind him, wood is piling up on the conveyor belt.
RED (V.O.) After a while, you couldn't pry those books out of hands.
RED Ass in gear, son! You're putting us behind!
Tommy shoves the book in his back pocket and hurries over.
185 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1965) 185
Tommy writes a sentence on the blackboard. Andy steps in, shows him how to reconstruct it.
RED (V.O.) Before long, Andy started him on his course requirements. He really liked the kid, that was part of it. Gave him a thrill to help a youngster crawl off the shitheap. But that wasn't the only reason...
186 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1966) 186
TIGHT ANGLE on chessboard. Most of the pieces complete. PAN TO Andy lying in his bunk, carefully polishing...
RED (V.O.) Prison time is slow time. Sometimes it feels like stop-time. So you do what you can to keep going...
...and we keep going past Andy in a SLOW PAN of the cell. Sink. Toilet. Books. Outside the window bars, we hear another TRAIN passing in the night...
RED (V.O.) Some fellas collect stamps. Others build matchstick houses. Andy built a library. Now he needed a new project. Tommy was it. It was the same reason he spent years shaping and polishing those rocks. The same reason he hung his fantasy girlies on the wall...
...STILL PANNING, past a chair, a sweater on a hook...and finally to the place of honor on the wall...
RED (V.O.) In prison, a man'll do most anything to keep his mind occupied.
...where the latest poster turns out to be Racquel Welch ins fur bikini. Gorgeous. "One Million Years, B. C. " SLOW PUSH IN,
RED (V.O.) By 1966...right about the time Tommy was getting ready to take his exams...it was lovely Racquel.
187 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1966) 187
Tommy's taking the big test. Andy's monitoring the time. Deep silence, save for Tommy's pencil-scribbling. A few old-timers are browsing the shelves, sneaking looks their way. Tommy tries to ignore them. Concentrate.
Andy clears his throat. Time's up. Tommy puts his pencil down,
ANDY Well?
TOMMY Well. It's for shit. (gets up in disgust) Wasted a whole fuckin' year of my time with this bullshit!
ANDY May not be as bad as you think.
TOMMY It's worse! I didn't get a fuckin' thing right! Might as well be in Chinese!
ANDY We'll see how the score comes out.
TOMMY I'll tell you how the goddamn score comes out...
Tommy grabs the test, wads it, slam-dunks it into the trash.
TOMMY Two points! Right there! There's your goddamn score! (storms out) Goddamn cats crawlin' up trees, 5 times 5 is 25, fuck this place, fuck it!
Tommy is gone. Red and others stare. Andy gets up, pulls the test from the trash, smoothes it out on the desk.
188 INT -- WOOD SHOP -- DAY (1966) 188
Rest break. Tommy and Red sipping Cokes.
TOMMY I feel bad. I let him down.
RED That's crap, son. He's proud of you. Proud as a hen. (off Tommy's look) We been friends a long time. I know him as good as anybody.
TOMMY Smart fella, ain't he?
RED Smart as they come. Used to be a banker on the outside.
TOMMY What's he in for anyway?
RED Murder.
TOMMY The hell you say.
RED You wouldn't think, lookin' at him. Caught his wife in bed with some golf pro. Greased 'em both. C'mon, boy, back to work...
SMASH! Red turns back. Tommy's Coke has slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor. The kid's gone white as a sheet.
TOMMY (bare whisper) Oh my God...
189 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1966) 189
Tommy sits before Andy and Red:
TOMMY 'Bout four years ago, I was in Thomaston on a 2 to 3 stretch. Stole a car. Dumbfuck thing to do. (beat) Few months left to go, I get a new cellmate in. Elmo Blatch. Big twitchy fucker. Crazy eyes. Kind of roomie you pray you don't get, know what I'm sayin'? 6 to 12 for armed burglary. Said he done hundreds of jobs. Hard to believe, high-strung as he was. Cut a loud fart, he'd go three feet in the air. Talked all the time, too, that's the other thing. Never shut up. Places he'd been, jobs he pulled, women he fucked. Even people