The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
R | 2h 22min | Drama, Crime | 14 October 1994 (USA)
The Shawshank Redemption is an American drama film released in 1994, written and directed by Frank Darabont. Based on the Stephen King Novel, Rita Hayworth, and Shawshank Redemption, the movie lead the story of banker Andy Dufresne’s (Tim Robbins) journey in the prison over two decades and his friendship with a fellow prisoner contraband smuggler Ellis “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman). Although Andy claims that he is innocent, he has been sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murders of his wife and her lover. Being a banker, Andy further plays a substantial role in a money-laundering operation led by the prison warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton).
Although the movie did not turn out to be a huge success on the box office, it went on to receive multiple award nominations that included seven Academy Award nominations. The movie was critically acclaimed for the story and especially the excellent performances of Robbins and Freeman which gave true justice to the overall movie.
Storyline/Plot
Andy Dufresne has been sentenced to two consecutive life sentences at the Shawshank State Penitentiary for murdering his wife and her lover. As he arrives at the prison, he becomes a good friend of Ellis ‘Red’ Redding, a fellow inmate and contraband smuggler who is also serving a life sentence who later procures a rock hammer along with a large poster of Rita Hayworth for Andy. In the initial years, as Andy works for the prison laundry, he encounters constant sexual assault by the group names sisters.
As the two years pass, Andy working on the prison roof overhears Captain Byron Hadley complaining about a sudden inheritance that he had received and how the government is taking a tax for the same. However, knowing a thing or two about finances, Andy offers him to shelter the money legally. This help pays off Andy as the Hadley beats and cripple Bog (Leader of Group the Sisters) who nearly kills Andy in an attempt of assaulting him.
After helping a lot of guards and officers, Andy becomes a favorite in the prison and he further helps the warden to launder the money keeping the prison library as a front. He further expands his reach and not only he helps Shawshank guards and prison staff to manage their financial matters but also expands his reach to other prisons. While doing this, Andy begins writing weekly letters to the state legislature requesting funds to improve the prison’s decaying library. Norton further exploits prison labor for public works through which he profits by undercutting the labor costs, receiving bribes from contractors. Noticing all this, Andy starts laundering the money through the alias “Randall Stephens”.
Followed by a lot of events in prison, exploitation from prison staff, and an un-successful attempt to prove himself not guilty although there was evidence proving the same as the warden arises the witness by killing him so that Andy could not leave the prison as he has ben the key aspect of his money-laundering scheme.
One fine day, Andy suddenly disappears from his prison cell without any hint of where he vanished. However, the guards search Andy’s cell only to find that he has tunneled himself out of the prison cell which he has been digging with his rock hammer for the past 19 years. They realise that Andy has used a rope to escape through the tunnel and prison sewage pipe and he has taken Norton’s suit, shoes, and ledger, containing proof of the money laundering.
As everyone searching for Andy, he turns up at the bank posing Randall Stephens and withdraws over $370,000 which he has laundered money from several banks over his tenure in the prison. He further mails the ledger and other evidence of the corruption and murders done at the Shawshank Penitentiary to a local newspaper which leads to a raid at Shawshank by state police to take Hadley into custody whereas Norton commits suicide to avoid arrest.
On the other hand, Red finally gets his parole after serving 40 years of the sentence. As he tries to settle outside the prison, he remembers his promise that was made to Andy that he would visit Buxton which leads him to a cache containing money and a letter from Andy asking him to come and meet him at Zihuatanejo. Red, finally finding hope to live in the world, violates his parole and travels to Fort Hancock, Texas to cross the border into Mexico only to end up finding Andy on a beach in Zihuatanejo where the two old friends reunite again.
Cast & Crew
Director: Frank Darabont
Writers: Stephen King (short story “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”), Frank Darabont (screenplay)
Cast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, Mark Rolston, James Whitmore
Music: Thomas Newman
Cinematography: Roger Deakins
Editor: Richard Francis-Bruce
Production company: Castle Rock Entertainment
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date: September 23, 1994 (United States) | Box office: $58.3 million