History Film / TheShawshankRedemption

** [[spoiler:After ordering the murder of Tommy Williams due to [[HeKnowsTooMuch his knowledge of who actually killed Andy's wife and her lover]], Warden Norton visits Andy Dufresne in solitary confinement, where he threatens to not only have him [[PrisonRape "cast down with the sodomites"]] if he pulls out of his money-laundering scheme, but also threatens to destroy everything that Andy had made to make Shawshank a better place, which included threatening to close down the prison library and subsequently burn all the books.]]

** [[spoiler:After ordering the murder of Tommy Williams due to [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowledge of who actually killed Andy's wife and her lover]], Warden Norton visits Andy Dufresne in solitary confinement, where he threatens to not only have him [[PrisonRape "cast down with the sodomites"]] if he pulls out of his money-laundering scheme, but also threatens to destroy everything that Andy had made to make Shawshank a better place, which included threatening to close down the prison library and subsequently burn all the books.]]

** [[spoiler:After ordering the murder of Tommy Williams due to [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowledge of who actually killed Andy's wife and lover]], Warden Norton visits Andy Dufresne in solitary confinement, where he threatens to not only have him [[PrisonRape "cast down with the sodomites"]] if he pulls out of his money-laundering scheme, but also threatens to destroy everything that Andy had made to make Shawshank a better place, which included threatening to close down the prison library and subsequently burn all the books.]]

* SmallRoleBigImpact: Elmo Blatch - [[OneSceneWonder less than a minute of screen time]], [[TheOner his only line in a single take]] and yet he holds the key [[IncrediblyLamePun (so to speak)]] to the main plotline.

** This was Andy's stock in trade for his whole stint in prison. He dropped his mop and walked up to ''Hadley'' to ask "Do you trust your wife?" in order to offer his services as an accountant, only asking for beer in return. He bates Boggs into [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil merely almost murdering him]]. He demands a library and finally gets one. He badgers Tommy into bettering himself. He [[spoiler:''escapes from prison '''and takes down Norton and Hadley.''''']].

* AndStarring: "And Creator/JamesWhitmore As Brooks".

* SceneryPorn: The cinematography goes to lengths to make a bleak and oppressive prison look warm and inviting.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Brooks is one of the most gentle prisoners at Shawshank (relatively speaking, at least). That doesn't stop him from holding a knife to Heywood's neck and even breaking the skin, all just to avoid leaving Shawshank.

* CacophonyCoverUp: [[spoiler:Andy's strikes against the sewage pipe]] are synchronized with thunderstorms during a heavy rain.

* DesperatePleaForHome: Early in the film, the seasoned convicts "go fishing" for new arrivals, placing bets on which one of the "new fish" will break down crying over their first night in prison. Heywood eventually manages to badger the man next-door to him into a breakdown, prompting the poor guy to start screaming that he wants to go home; before long, he's crying for his mother as well. The breakdown ends with Captain Hadley storming onto the cellblock, dragging the man out of his cell, and delivering a fatal beating.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Andy goes to prison for a crime he didn't commit and is stuck there for 19 years (while the guy who actually did it gets away with it), is repeatedly attacked by fellow inmates and guards alike, and then is thrown under the bus multiple times by the warden because of a perceived threat to reveal his embezzlement... but manages to escape and then follow his dream to go to the Pacific. Meanwhile, after Red has been in prison for 40 years for a crime he committed long ago and regrets, repeatedly denied parole, he is finally granted it and follows Andy, where they reunite in Zihuatanejo for possibly the most well-earned and most-deserved victory in cinematic history]].

-->'''Red:''' This is the part I really like, when she does that shit with her hair.
-->'''Andy:''' Oh, yeah, I know. I've seen it three times this month.

* HumiliationConga:
** The guards deliberately subject new convicts to this, marching them in freshly hosed down and deloused, naked and carrying their clothes, in front of all the other prisoners.
** Andy subjects his tormentors to these in the end. [[spoiler: Norton kills himself rather than go down for his crimes, and "They say Hadley cried like a baby when they came for him."]]

* MarketBasedTitle: Released as "''Life Sentence''" in Spain and "''Dreams of Liberty''" in the rest of Latin America.

-->'''Andy''': "What are you in for?"
-->'''Red''': "Murder. Same as you."
-->'''Andy''': "Did you do it?"
-->'''Red''': "Only guilty man in Shawshank."

* ToThePain: [[spoiler:After Tommy is killed,]] Andy refuses to continue to do Norton's work. Norton threatens to take away Andy's privileges from him, destroy the library and lock him up with the rapists if he quits.

* WhatAreYouInFor: Played with; everyone in Shawshank claims to be innocent of whatever crime got them there. There is a purpose for this, as a fellow inmate could report your confession to buy himself a reduced sentence. When Red confesses to Andy that he actually did commit the murder that landed him there, it's a sign that he trusts Andy completely to not use it against him.

* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: Darabont revealed on the DVDCommentary that in order to get this "rating" they couldn't even feed ''fish bait'' (read: worms that were already going to be skewered on a hook and fed to fish) to the baby crow. Instead, they had to find a worm that had already ''died of natural causes''.

---> "Neither are they. You'd have to be human first. They don't qualify."

* DirtyCoward: Warden Norton ''loves'' to display his authority in Shawshank Prison, but whenever his is challenged, he resorts to underhanded methods and rely on his guards to enforce his rule, especially when his money laundering scheme ''might'' be exposed (see DisproportionateRetribution below). His cowardly nature is best exemplified with [[spoiler: his suicide. At the end, his crimes are exposed and when police arrive to arrest him. As the police try to enter his office, Rather than face the consequences for his actions, Norton takes the cowards’ way out and shoots himself]].

* HollywoodNewEngland: Like many of Stephen King's novels and films, both the book and the film are set in his native Maine. Many often confuse the film's setting for Ohio, where it was filmed (despite Maine being mentioned many times in the film). The warden sports a hint of a Maine accent, but is the only character to do so.

** Tommy went from being Blanch's roommate to Andy's pupil. What are the odds? Even better, Blanch bragged about the entire incident with just enough details for Tommy to connect the dots when Red offhandedly mentions the crime.

* TheBully: Captain Hadley clearly loves the power and authority his position gives him and takes every opportunity he can to remind the inmates that he can do anything he wants. Tellingly, after inheriting $35,000 from his brother (roughly equal to $300,000 today) the thought of quitting his position never occurs to him.

* ArmorPiercingResponse: Andy cuts Red to the bone.

* BigBad: The first part of the film has minor antagonists in Hadley and Bogs, but Warden Norton establishes himself as the main villain a little over halfway through. [[spoiler:After discovering that Andy could very well be innocent, he kills the prisoner who could help prove his case, throws Andy in solitary, and threatens to do worse if he steps a toe out of line again. This is all to cover up his money-laundering scheme that Andy helped him with. And of course, because he's the warden of a prison with Hadley as [[TheDragon his attack dog]], no one will question him.]]

* ForWantOfANail:
** Andy throws away his gun at the beginning. Had he not, he would have been able to prove he didn't shoot his wife and her lover, or at least that his gun wasn't the murder weapon. The District Attorney points this out at Andy's trial.
** [[spoiler:Andy's entire escape plan]] would have gone up in smoke had Warden Norton not remembered to give Andy back his Bible, or worse yet, ''opened it.''
** In general, Andy's escape relies on many chance factors, like him being in a cell that [[spoiler:just so happens to be next to the sewage pipes, no one looking behind his posters, and keeping a Bible in which he stores his rock hammer]]. This is actually discussed extensively in the original short story, where Red muses on reasons why Andy didn't [[spoiler:escape much earlier, having the tunnel dug and ready ''years'' earlier]].

* ChekhovsGun: Norton orders Andy to get his stuff down to laundry and shine his shoes twice.