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The Shawshank Redemption
Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.
1994 · Directed by Frank Darabont · 142 min · Drama · Crime · Screenplay in the scene database · 47 frames
Tagline
Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.
Plot
In 1947, Portland, Maine, banker Andy Dufresne arrives at Shawshank State Prison to serve two consecutive life sentences for murdering his wife and her lover. He is befriended by Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, a contraband smuggler serving a life sentence, who procures for him a rock hammer and a large poster of Rita Hayworth. Assigned to work in the prison laundry, Andy is frequently raped by "the Sisters" gang, led by Bogs Diamond.
In 1949, Andy overhears the captain of the guards, Byron Hadley, complaining about being taxed on an inheritance and offers to help him shelter the money legally. After the Sisters beat Andy to near-death, Hadley cripples Bogs, who is subsequently transferred to a minimum-security hospital; Andy is not attacked again. Warden Samuel Norton assigns Andy to the prison's decrepit library, ostensibly to assist elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen, but in reality, to use Andy's financial expertise in managing the warden's and other prison staff's finances. Andy also starts writing weekly letters to the state legislature, requesting funding to improve the library.
Brooks is paroled in 1954 after serving 50 years, but cannot adjust to the outside world and eventually hangs himself. After years of Andy's ceaseless letters, the legislature sends a library donation that includes a recording of The Marriage of Figaro; Andy plays an excerpt over the public address system, experiencing a moment of personal freedom before he is punished with solitary confinement. After his release, Andy explains to a dismissive Red that hope is what gets him through his sentence. In 1963, Norton begins exploiting prison labor for public works, profiting by undercutting skilled labor costs and receiving bribes. Andy launders the money using the alias "Randall Stephens".
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Frank Darabont
- Cinematography: Roger Deakins
- Edited by: Richard Francis-Bruce
- Music: Thomas Newman
- Production design: Terence Marsh
- Produced by: Niki Marvin
Cast
- Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne
- Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding
- Bob Gunton as Warden Norton
- William Sadler as Heywood
- Clancy Brown as Captain Byron T. Hadley
- Gil Bellows as Tommy
- James Whitmore as Brooks Hatlen
- Mark Rolston as Bogs Diamond
- Jeffrey DeMunn as 1946 D.A.
- Larry Brandenburg as Skeet
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Castle Rock Entertainment
- Budget: $25,000,000
- Box office: $28,341,469
- Themes: prison, friendship, police brutality, corruption, based on novel or book, freedom, hope, prison cell, delinquent, redemption
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