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*** Special mention for Hadley because if Red is to be believed, [[spoiler: he cried like a little girl when he got arrested. What exactly did Hadley beat Fatass to death for doing again?]]
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** It's especially effective as Captain Hadley is played by ClancyBrown.
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** It's especially effective as Captain Hadley is played by ClancyBrown.Creator/ClancyBrown.
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Changed line(s) 30,31 (click to see context) from:
** The movie adds further explanation as to where Andy hid his rock hammer while in prison [[spoiler:Andy hides the hammer in his prison issue bible in the book of Exodus]]. As with most of Frank Darbont's adaptations to King's work this change is subtly brilliant.
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** The movie adds further explanation as to where Andy hid his rock hammer while in prison [[spoiler:Andy hides the hammer in his prison issue bible in the book of Exodus]]. As with most of Frank Darbont's Darabont's adaptations to King's work this change is subtly brilliant.
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Changed line(s) 82 (click to see context) from:
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Warden Norton and Tommy Elwood. In the book, Norton quits Shawshank a broken man instead of committing suicide (the bit where Andy exposes his crimes is absent), and Tommy is bribed with a transfer ot a minimum security prison instead of being murdered.]]
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* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Warden Norton and Tommy Elwood. In the book, Norton quits Shawshank a broken man instead of committing suicide (the bit where Andy exposes his crimes is absent), and Tommy is bribed with a transfer ot to a minimum security prison instead of being murdered.murdered. Also Brooks, who commits suicide when he gets out in the film, but goes to an old folks' home in the book.]]
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** Averted in the novella: Norton and Hadley both simply retire and are never heard from again.
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** Averted in the novella: Norton and Hadley both simply retire and are never heard from again (although it's established that Norton is a broken man by the end of it all).
** And, as noted under KarmaHoudini, the man who really killed Andy's wife is never heard from again.
** And, as noted under KarmaHoudini, the man who really killed Andy's wife is never heard from again.
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** The scene in which Hadley beats Fat-Ass to death is lit in such that both men appear as silhouettes, more or less amounting to this trope.
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** The scene in which Hadley beats Fat-Ass to death is lit in such a way that both men appear as silhouettes, more or less amounting to this trope.
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* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Captain Hadley might have just been an unusually harsh prison guard (a job that pretty much requires at least a little harshness) until he [[spoiler:beats a prisoner to death for crying]].
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* EstablishingCharacterMoment: EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** Captain Hadley might have just been an unusually harsh prison guard (a job that pretty much requires at least a little harshness) until he [[spoiler:beats a prisoner to death forcrying]].crying]].
** Against everyone's expectations, Andy makes it through his first night in prison without losing his cool. The next morning, he's the only one who bothers to [[spoiler: ask the name of the inmate that Hadley beat to death]].
** When he first meets the new inmates, Warden Norton's sums up his philosophy as, "I believe in two things: discipline and The Bible." Soon after saying this, he snidely tells the inmates that they now belong to him, and he looks on with a straight face as Hadley beats a prisoner in front of him.
** Captain Hadley might have just been an unusually harsh prison guard (a job that pretty much requires at least a little harshness) until he [[spoiler:beats a prisoner to death for
** Against everyone's expectations, Andy makes it through his first night in prison without losing his cool. The next morning, he's the only one who bothers to [[spoiler: ask the name of the inmate that Hadley beat to death]].
** When he first meets the new inmates, Warden Norton's sums up his philosophy as, "I believe in two things: discipline and The Bible." Soon after saying this, he snidely tells the inmates that they now belong to him, and he looks on with a straight face as Hadley beats a prisoner in front of him.
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* PoliceBrutality: Taken UpToEleven by Hadley
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* PlayingAgainstType: Oddly enough, MorganFreeman as Red counts, even though it's one of Freeman's best-known roles. Though Red is a generally good-natured guy, he's a far cry from the kindly old authority figures and [[AlmightyJanitor humble mentors]] that Freeman is best known for playing. Instead, he's a cynical murderer who [[TheAtoner deeply regrets the mistakes of his past]], and ultimately has his life saved by following someone else's example.
* PoliceBrutality: Taken UpToEleven byHadleyHadley.
* PoliceBrutality: Taken UpToEleven by
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correcting minor mistake
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* RecordNeedleScratch: Literally, when Hadley busts into Norton's office and puts an end to Andy's playing of ''Le Nozzi di Figaro''. "On your feet!"
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* RecordNeedleScratch: Literally, when Hadley busts into Norton's office and puts an end to Andy's playing of ''Le Nozzi Nozze di Figaro''. "On your feet!"
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'''Andy:''' Wasn't planning on it.\\
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'''Andy:''' Wasn't planning Hadn't planned on it.\\
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Bogs\' name is spelled with only one G.
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* AssholeVictim: Boggs.
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* AssholeVictim: Boggs.Bogs.
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-->'''Boggs:''' Where do you learn this shit?\\
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Changed line(s) 106 (click to see context) from:
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Captain Hadley. After Andy tells him he can help with his money problems, Hadley returns the favor by letting both the guards and the tar crew (consisting of the inmates Andy and Red knows) drink beer on the rooftop of the building they were tarring. He even steps this further in the very moment Boggs stepped into his cell (after Boggs unleashes his NoHoldsBarredBeatDown on Andy), and Hadley unleashes his own no holds barred beat down on him.
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* EvenEvilHasStandards: Captain Hadley. After Andy tells him he can help with his money problems, Hadley returns the favor by letting both the guards and the tar crew (consisting of the inmates Andy and Red knows) drink beer on the rooftop of the building they were tarring. He even steps this further in the very moment Boggs Bogs stepped into his cell (after Boggs Bogs unleashes his NoHoldsBarredBeatDown on Andy), and Hadley unleashes his own no holds barred beat down on him.
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** Hadley gets in his first few licks on Boggs onscreen, but the beating clearly continues long after the cutaway.
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** Hadley gets in his first few licks on Boggs Bogs onscreen, but the beating clearly continues long after the cutaway.
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* KickTheSonOfABitch: Hadley, the leader of the guards, ambushes and severely beats Boggs, who screams and cries for help the whole time. Seeing as ambushing and severely beating people was what Boggs took sadistic pleasure in, one can't help but feel satisified when Red sums up the end result...
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* KickTheSonOfABitch: Hadley, the leader of the guards, ambushes and severely beats Boggs, Bogs, who screams and cries for help the whole time. Seeing as ambushing and severely beating people was what Boggs Bogs took sadistic pleasure in, one can't help but feel satisified when Red sums up the end result...
Changed line(s) 159 (click to see context) from:
** Climax nothing, some characters get what was coming to them earlier on. [[spoiler:Boggs will swallow what they give him to swallow from now on.]]
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** Climax nothing, some characters get what was coming to them earlier on. [[spoiler:Boggs [[spoiler:Bogs will swallow what they give him to swallow from now on.]]
Changed line(s) 173 (click to see context) from:
** The Sisters repeatedly administered these to Dufresne, driving him deeper and deeper into despair [[spoiler:until he becomes useful to Byron and Norton as a tax accountant. The Sisters administer one more beatdown that nearly kills Andy, Byron administers a huge dose of Boggs' own medicine to him (see LaserGuidedKarma above), and the Sisters finally let him alone.]]
to:
** The Sisters repeatedly administered these to Dufresne, driving him deeper and deeper into despair [[spoiler:until he becomes useful to Byron and Norton as a tax accountant. The Sisters administer one more beatdown that nearly kills Andy, Byron administers a huge dose of Boggs' Bogs' own medicine to him (see LaserGuidedKarma above), and the Sisters finally let him alone.]]
Changed line(s) 232 (click to see context) from:
* YouGotSpunk: ''Sister'' Boggs is encouraged by Andy's spurn and resistance; "Good, you fight. It's better that way."
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* YouGotSpunk: ''Sister'' Boggs Bogs is encouraged by Andy's spurn and resistance; "Good, you fight. It's better that way."
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** In Poland it's ''Skazani na Shawshank'' (Sentenced to Shawshank).
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* YouGotSpunk: ''Sister'' Boggs is encouraged by Andy's spurn and resistance; "Hard to get, I like that"
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* YouGotSpunk: ''Sister'' Boggs is encouraged by Andy's spurn and resistance; "Hard to get, I "Good, you fight. It's better that way."
** In the novella it's averted - Andy does get assaulted sometimes, but Red notes that the Sisters prefer easier prey and Andy fights likethat"a badger every single time.
** In the novella it's averted - Andy does get assaulted sometimes, but Red notes that the Sisters prefer easier prey and Andy fights like
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--> '''Andy:''' I killed her, Red. I didn't pull the trigger, but I drove her away. And that's why she died: because of me. The way I am.
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** Norton asking Tommy whether he'd be willing to testify that Andy is innocent leads to a result that some might find unexpected.
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** Norton asking Tommy whether he'd be willing to testify that Andy is innocent leads to a result that some might find unexpected.
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** Norton asking Tommy whether he'd be willing to testify that Andy is innocent leads to a result that some might find unexpected.
Changed line(s) 109,112 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Hadley:'''You speak english, buttsteak?
-->'''Hadley:'''You got that, you maggot-dick motherfucker?
-->'''Hadley:'''What is your malfunction, you fat barrel of monkey-spunk?
-->'''Hadley:'''You tell me, fuckstick! They're all addressed to you!
-->'''Hadley:'''You got that, you maggot-dick motherfucker?
-->'''Hadley:'''What is your malfunction, you fat barrel of monkey-spunk?
-->'''Hadley:'''You tell me, fuckstick! They're all addressed to you!
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Changed line(s) 109,112 (click to see context) from:
-->''''''You speak english, buttsteak?
-->''''''You got that, you maggot-dick motherfucker?
-->''''''What is your malfunction, you fat barrel of monkey-spunk?
-->''''''You tell me, fuckstick! They're all addressed to you!
-->''''''You got that, you maggot-dick motherfucker?
-->''''''What is your malfunction, you fat barrel of monkey-spunk?
-->''''''You tell me, fuckstick! They're all addressed to you!
to:
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Changed line(s) 109,112 (click to see context) from:
-->:You speak english, buttsteak?
-->:You got that, you maggot-dick motherfucker?
-->:What is your malfunction, you fat barrel of monkey-spunk?
-->:You tell me, fuckstick! They're all addressed to you!
-->:You got that, you maggot-dick motherfucker?
-->:What is your malfunction, you fat barrel of monkey-spunk?
-->:You tell me, fuckstick! They're all addressed to you!
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-->:You speak english, buttsteak?
-->:You got that, you maggot-dick motherfucker?
-->:What is your malfunction, you fat barrel of monkey-spunk?
-->:You tell me, fuckstick! They're all addressed to you!
-->:You got that, you maggot-dick motherfucker?
-->:What is your malfunction, you fat barrel of monkey-spunk?
-->:You tell me, fuckstick! They're all addressed to you!
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Changed line(s) 199 (click to see context) from:
* RunningGag: Apparently everyone at Shawshank is "innocent", and just had "a lawyer fuck them".
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* RunningGag: Apparently everyone at Shawshank is "innocent", and just had "a lawyer fuck them". Red is in fact the only prisoner in Shawshank we ever hear admit guilt.
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* YourMom: After the inmates go fishing in the beginning of the movie:
--> '''New inmate:''' I want my momma
--> '''Other inmate:''' I had your momma, she wasn't that good!
--> '''New inmate:''' I want my momma
--> '''Other inmate:''' I had your momma, she wasn't that good!
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** And Don't do ANYTHING to, near or with Captain Hadley. The guy has more of a berserk Hair-Trigger.
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** And Don't do ANYTHING to, near or with Captain Hadley. The guy has more of a berserk Hair-Trigger.
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** Many to TheCountOfMonteCristo ("by Alexandree [[{{Malaproper}} Dumbass]]").
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** Many to TheCountOfMonteCristo Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo ("by Alexandree [[{{Malaproper}} Dumbass]]").
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* DramaticDrop: Invoked by Tommy.
--> '''Tommy''': So I'm backing out the door, right, and I got the TV, like this; it was a big old thing, I couldn't see shit; suddenly I hear this voice, "Police, kid, hands in the air." You know, I was standing there, holdin' on to that TV, so finally the voice says, "You hear what I said, boy?" And I say, "Yes sir, I sure did, but if I drop this fucking thing you got me on destruction of property too."
--> '''Tommy''': So I'm backing out the door, right, and I got the TV, like this; it was a big old thing, I couldn't see shit; suddenly I hear this voice, "Police, kid, hands in the air." You know, I was standing there, holdin' on to that TV, so finally the voice says, "You hear what I said, boy?" And I say, "Yes sir, I sure did, but if I drop this fucking thing you got me on destruction of property too."
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fixed da namespace
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''The Shawshank Redemption'' is a 1994 drama film based on StephenKing's novella ''Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption''; it stars Tim Robbins and MorganFreeman.
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''The Shawshank Redemption'' is a 1994 drama film based on StephenKing's Creator/StephenKing's novella ''Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption''; it stars Tim Robbins and MorganFreeman.
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* AdaptationExpansion: The scene where Andy plays "Sull'aria" from ''The Marriage of Figaro'' over the prison loudspeakers was not written into the novella by StephenKing. After seeing it for himself, King said he wished he had.
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* AdaptationExpansion: The scene where Andy plays "Sull'aria" from ''The Marriage of Figaro'' over the prison loudspeakers was not written into the novella by StephenKing.Creator/StephenKing. After seeing it for himself, King said he wished he had.
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* BaitAndSwitch: Andy finds a grub of some sort in his first prison meal. As he's examining it, he has the following conversation with a crusty old con who's been in prison 50 years and may or may not have a few screws loose:
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* BaitAndSwitch: Andy finds a grub of some sort in his first prison meal. As he's examining it, he has the following conversation with a crusty old con who's been in prison 50 years and may or may not have a few screws loose: loose:
Changed line(s) 80 (click to see context) from:
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Warden Norton and Tommy Elwood. In the book, Norton quits Shawshank a broken man instead of committing suicide (the bit where Andy exposes his crimes is absent), and Tommy is bribed with a transfer ot a minimum security prison instead of being murdered.]]
to:
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Warden Norton and Tommy Elwood. In the book, Norton quits Shawshank a broken man instead of committing suicide (the bit where Andy exposes his crimes is absent), and Tommy is bribed with a transfer ot a minimum security prison instead of being murdered.]] ]]
Changed line(s) 82 (click to see context) from:
* DepravedHomosexual: The Sisters are a nasty prison gang with a particular love of raping new inmates. As Red puts it when Andy remarks to their gaze that he's not homosexual:
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* DepravedHomosexual: The Sisters are a nasty prison gang with a particular love of raping new inmates. As Red puts it when Andy remarks to their gaze that he's not homosexual: homosexual:
Changed line(s) 102 (click to see context) from:
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Captain Hadley. After Andy tells him he can help with his money problems, Hadley returns the favor by letting both the guards and the tar crew (consisting of the inmates Andy and Red knows) drink beer on the rooftop of the building they were tarring. He even steps this further in the very moment Boggs stepped into his cell (after Boggs unleashes his NoHoldsBarredBeatDown on Andy), and Hadley unleashes his own no holds barred beat down on him.
to:
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Captain Hadley. After Andy tells him he can help with his money problems, Hadley returns the favor by letting both the guards and the tar crew (consisting of the inmates Andy and Red knows) drink beer on the rooftop of the building they were tarring. He even steps this further in the very moment Boggs stepped into his cell (after Boggs unleashes his NoHoldsBarredBeatDown on Andy), and Hadley unleashes his own no holds barred beat down on him.
Changed line(s) 135,136 (click to see context) from:
--> '''Red:''' You're gonna fit right in. Everyone in here is innocent, you know that? Heywood, what you in here for?
--> '''Heywood:''' Didn't do it. Lawyer fucked me.
--> '''Heywood:''' Didn't do it. Lawyer fucked me.
to:
--> '''Red:''' You're gonna fit right in. Everyone in here is innocent, you know that? Heywood, what you in here for?
for?
--> '''Heywood:''' Didn't do it. Lawyer fucked me.
--> '''Heywood:''' Didn't do it. Lawyer fucked me.
Changed line(s) 145 (click to see context) from:
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Heywood.
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* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Heywood.
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** Averted in the novella: Norton and Hadley both simply retire and are never heard from again.
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** Averted in the novella: Norton and Hadley both simply retire and are never heard from again.
Changed line(s) 165 (click to see context) from:
* NominalImportance:
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* NominalImportance: NominalImportance:
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** Played straight of course, as traditionally in films, with many others, including Mrs. Dufresne and her golfer boyfriend.
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** Played straight of course, as traditionally in films, with many others, including Mrs. Dufresne and her golfer boyfriend.
Changed line(s) 174 (click to see context) from:
* OhCrap: Several in a row on [[spoiler:warden Samuel Norton's]] part.
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* OhCrap: Several in a row on [[spoiler:warden Samuel Norton's]] Norton]]'s part.
Changed line(s) 180 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Brooks''': The world went and got itself in a big damned hurry.
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-->'''Brooks''': The world went and got itself in a big damned hurry.
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* RefugeInAudacity: In the novella, Red discusses several inmates he knew who successfully broke out of Shawshank, most of them by employing this trope. [[spoiler: Andy's]] plan probably qualifies as well.
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* RefugeInAudacity: In the novella, Red discusses several inmates he knew who successfully broke out of Shawshank, most of them by employing this trope. [[spoiler: Andy's]] Andy]]'s plan probably qualifies as well.
Changed line(s) 198 (click to see context) from:
* ShoutOut:
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* ShoutOut: ShoutOut:
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** It's direct and extremely brutal in the scene itself. [[spoiler: Warden Norton's exchange with Tommy STRONGLY suggests that he's willing to move on Andy's innocence. As soon as Tommy makes Norton "sure", Hadley shoots and kills him from a guard tower. Right afterward, Norton visits Andy in solitary, in one incredibly nasty KickTheDog scene.]]
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* HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook: The trope-naming example is done for reasons the audience can sympathize with. Andy is secretly planning to escape from prison and [[FramingTheGuiltyParty "expose" the warden]] [[PullingTheThread as a crook.]] The warden would have him break the law anyway.. He says he never broke the law before going to jail, and we see nothing to contradict him.
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* HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook: The trope-naming example is done for reasons the audience can sympathize with. Andy is secretly planning to escape from prison and [[FramingTheGuiltyParty "expose" the warden]] [[PullingTheThread as a crook.]] The warden would have him break the law anyway..anyway. He says he never broke the law before going to jail, and we see nothing to contradict him.
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* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Elmo Blatch, the man who really murdered Andy's wife and her lover, is never spoken of again after Tommy's story.
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[[quoteright:312:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Shawshank_Redemption.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:312:Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.]]
-> ''"[[{{Koan}} Get busy living... or get busy dyin']]."''
''The Shawshank Redemption'' is a 1994 drama film based on StephenKing's novella ''Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption''; it stars Tim Robbins and MorganFreeman.
In 1947, young banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is found guilty of the murder of his wife and her lover; he is sentenced to life in prison, and his sentence is to be served at Maine's Shawshank penitentiary. The conditions are terrible, many of his fellow prisoners are sadistic, and many of the guards are even worse -- but life begins to look up as Dufresne becomes acquainted with an old black con, Ellis Redding (MorganFreeman, the character also serves as the movie's narrator), commonly referred to as Red. A friendship begins after Red, "the man who knows how to get things", procures a rock hammer for Dufresne, an object he wishes to own in order to carve a soapstone chess set. The friendship will only strengthen over the coming years.
Twenty years pass within the prison walls, showing the growth and strength of Andy and Red's friendship, Andy's various attempts to better the life of his fellow inmates through education (facilitated by the financial advice he gives the prison's corrupt warden and guards), the quest to prove his innocence, and the attempt to remain mentally free and hopeful even when surrounded by the crushing gray of prison walls.
This movie exemplifies the potential gap between [[VindicatedByHistory initial box office success and ultimate popularity]]. Back in 1994, it earned just over $28 million at the US box office; it was only the 52nd most successful film of its year. Despite the lukewarm box office reception (mainly due to its WordSaladTitle and the distinct [[SexSells lack of female cast members]]), ''Shawshank'' received favorable reviews from critics and has since enjoyed a remarkable life on cable television and home video. Media magnate Ted Turner loved the film so much that he purchased the TV rights and showed it on one of his cable stations literally every weekend for years, which helped the film earn back its budget and give it the mainstream recognition it never received while in theaters. ''Shawshank'' continues to be hailed by critics and audiences alike even today -- it is often ranked amongst the greatest films of all time, and it is often found leading the [[{{IMDB}} Internet Movie Database's]] poll of top 250 films (it also has the highest number of votes) -- but this has lead to some HypeAversion. The film is definitely worth seeing at least once, though (and it's on TNT practically every other weekend).
''Shawshank'' has since been adapted for the stage. The producers insist they adapted the novella and not the film, but this claim is doubtful, since the character of Red is a black man instead of the red-haired Irishman of the book.
----
!!The film is the TropeNamer for:
* HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook: The trope-naming example is done for reasons the audience can sympathize with. Andy is secretly planning to escape from prison and [[FramingTheGuiltyParty "expose" the warden]] [[PullingTheThread as a crook.]] The warden would have him break the law anyway.. He says he never broke the law before going to jail, and we see nothing to contradict him.
----
!!The film has examples of:
* AbilityOverAppearance: traditionally, guys called "Red" are redheads. Initial casting calls had that in mind. The role is played by MorganFreeman, who would not pick up that nickname naturally but owns the role anyway. It's explained in the film (though not in the novella), that Red's nickname comes from his name, Ellis Redding.
* AdaptationDistillation: The movie makes several changes that keep the story moving.
** The timeframe is cut from thirty years to twenty. (An actor's age range can only be stretched so far)
** Only one warden is dealt with.
** The movie decides to [[spoiler: [[DeathByAdaptation kill off Tommy]]]], while the novella [[spoiler: simply sees him transferred]].
** In the novella, [[spoiler:Andy sold off his assets before going into prison and invested them with the help of a friend on the outside]]. This subplot is eliminated in the movie, in which [[spoiler:Andy simply steals all the money he'd laundered for Norton, making the revenge that much sweeter (both for him and the audience)]].
** Several characters are [[CompositeCharacter combined]].
** Normaden, the Indian inmate who Andy briefly shared a cell with in the book, was cut from the movie.
* AdaptationExpansion: The scene where Andy plays "Sull'aria" from ''The Marriage of Figaro'' over the prison loudspeakers was not written into the novella by StephenKing. After seeing it for himself, King said he wished he had.
** The movie adds further explanation as to where Andy hid his rock hammer while in prison [[spoiler:Andy hides the hammer in his prison issue bible in the book of Exodus]]. As with most of Frank Darbont's adaptations to King's work this change is subtly brilliant.
* AffablyEvil: Norton initially comes across as stern and harsh, but well-meaning. Not for long, however..
* AssholeVictim: Boggs.
* AssShove: In the novella, Andy smuggles five hundred dollars into the prison by this method. Taken UpToEleven by Red at the end, in which he smuggles out [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis the pages on which he is writing the manuscript]] with the same trick. The novella is nearly one hundred pages long.
* {{Badass}}: Hadley. Though it's apparently subverted in the end, when [[spoiler: Red says he heard he "cried like a little girl" when arrested.]]
* BadassBookworm: Andy Dufresne himself, of course, [[spoiler: using his knowledge of biology to explain to one of The Sisters why he wouldn't be able to help it if he "bit" after they hit him in the head, and his knowledge of geology to figure out from the weakness of the wall that he could tunnel his way out.]]
-->'''Boggs:''' Where do you learn this shit?\\
'''Andy:''' Read it. You know how to read? You ignorant [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]]?
** He's no slouch in hand-to-hand as well, it's obvious that it's only superior numbers that let the Sisters get the better of him, and even then he manages to fight them off a number of times.
* BaitAndSwitch: Andy finds a grub of some sort in his first prison meal. As he's examining it, he has the following conversation with a crusty old con who's been in prison 50 years and may or may not have a few screws loose:
-->'''Brooks:''' Are you going to eat that?\\
'''Andy:''' Wasn't planning on it.\\
'''Brooks:''' ''[holds his hand out]'' Do you mind?\\
''[Andy hands it over skeptically]''\\
'''Brooks:''' ''[with a satisfied smile]'' Ahh, that's nice and ripe.\\
''[He opens his jacket and feeds it to a baby raven in his pocket]''\\
'''Brooks:''' Jake says "Thank you."
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:Andy played the warden for a chump!]]
* BerserkButton: Do '''not''' mention money when talking to Warden Norton.
** Or call him obtuse.
** To be on the safe side, don't talk to Hadley about his wife.
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Warden Norton in the final act.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Warden Norton
* BookSafe: [[spoiler:Andy keeps his rock hammer in his Bible.]]
* BrickJoke: The library sequence. Amusing when the joke is introduced, but hilarious in hindsight. See the [[Funny/TheShawshankRedemption Funny Moments]] section for the dialogue.
* BrutalHonesty: Towards the end, once he's lost his best friend, Red has become so tired and bitter of the endless cycle of his parole hearings and so inured to prison life that he finally tells the parole board exactly what he thinks of both them and himself. It's {{implied}} this candor is what finally gets him paroled.
* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: A non-military example in the forms of Warden Norton and Captain Hadley, made most apparent during the dressing-down of the new inmates.
** It's especially effective as Captain Hadley is played by ClancyBrown.
* CatchPhrase: Hadley: "On your feet!"
* ChekhovsArmoury: Andy's "one-bunk Hilton" prison cell, starting with...
** The Rock Hammer
--> '''Red:''' I remember thinking it would [[spoiler: take a man six hundred years to tunnel through the wall with it. Old Andy did it in less than twenty.]]
** The Bible, in which Warden Norton nearly takes it from Andy and gives it back to him [[spoiler:never knowing that it contained said rock hammer]].
** The Chess Set [[spoiler: Andy takes it with him during his escape, and mentions it to Red in his final letter before the latter heads to Mexico]].
** The posters on Andy's wall.
* ChekhovsGun: See the items in Chekhov's Armoury above. One of the items not in the Armoury is "Randall Stevens".
* ChekhovsGunman: Tommy Williams. [[spoiler: He once shared a cell with the man who ''really'' killed Andy's wife, and he finally makes it clear to the audience that Andy is innocent. When Warden Norton has him assassinated to keep him quiet, Andy's anger galvanizes him into finally making his escape]].
** And the silent partner. The one with the bank account and the social security number.
* ChekhovsSkill: Had Andy picked up any other hobby than rock-collecting, he might not have gotten too far.
** Also Chess.
* CacophonyCoverUp
* CaptivityHarmonica: Both lampshaded AND subverted. Andy gets Red a harmonica as a gift, and he blows a little on it, but doesn't play.
* TheChessmaster: Andy.
** Complete with a Chess Motif [[spoiler: Though mostly in retrospect [[ChekhovsSkill when you realize that the same hobby that allowed Andy to make a chess board helped cover his escape.]]]]
* ClusterFBomb: The movie in general has abundant swearing throughout it, but most of the swearing seems to come from Byron Hadley.
* CompositeCharacter: In the novella, the prison goes through several wardens and guard captains. [[PragmaticAdaptation To save time]] and [[AdaptationDistillation improve story flow]], they are combined into Norton and Hadley for the movie, though it does bring up some FridgeLogic when you realize they've both had their respective positions for fifteen years or so without apparently aging, aside from some slightly graying hair.
** Brooks is also a composite of several characters mentioned in passing in the novella.
* CompressedAdaptation: The novella took place over thirty years, compressed to twenty in the film. Other small examples pop up besides this: for example, Red spends several months hunting for the volcanic glass rock in the novella, but in the film appears to find it after only a few hours.
* CoversAlwaysLie: The back cover of the VHS tape for ''The Shawshank Redemption'' features an embrace between the sexy Mrs. Dufresne and her lover... two characters who are out of the picture within the film's first five minutes.
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Warden Norton and Tommy Elwood. In the book, Norton quits Shawshank a broken man instead of committing suicide (the bit where Andy exposes his crimes is absent), and Tommy is bribed with a transfer ot a minimum security prison instead of being murdered.]]
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The prosecuting attorney admits that the killing of Dufresne's adulterous wife and her lover, could, if it had been a 'hot-blooded crime of passion' be 'understood ''if not condoned'' '.
* DepravedHomosexual: The Sisters are a nasty prison gang with a particular love of raping new inmates. As Red puts it when Andy remarks to their gaze that he's not homosexual:
---> "Neither are they. You'd have to be human first. They don't qualify."
** In the DVD commentary the director details how the Sisters are supposed to represent the depravity of rape in general rather than homosexuality being wrong, seeing as rape in prison is more about domination than physical attraction the Sisters are especially disgusting in this regard.
** In the book, Stephen King is careful to draw a distinction between heterosexuals who just 'come to an arrangement', actual homosexuals and the 'sisters' who are just depraved rapists.
* {{Determinator}}: Andy.
* DisproportionateRetribution: After Warden Norton tells Andy that [[spoiler: the man who actually killed Andy's wife and lover is probably gone from the penal system and isn't worth chasing]], Andy makes the mistake of saying something about it, calling the warden "obtuse", and then bringing up the money laundering scheme:
--> '''Andy''': Look, if it's the squeeze, don't worry. I'd never say what goes on in here. I'd be just as indictable as you for laundering the money.\\
'''Norton''': [[BerserkButton Don't you ever mention money to me again,]] [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch you sorry son of a bitch!]] Not in ''this'' office! Not ''anywhere!'' ''[Slaps intercom]'' Get in here! Now!\\
'''Andy''': I was just trying to set your mind at ease, that's all...\\
''[Guard enters]''\\
'''Norton''': ''[To guard] ''Solitary! ''A '''month'''''!
** As if that's not enough, when Andy's unprecedented month-long stay in the hole is almost up, Norton shows up to [[spoiler: tell him about Tommy's murder and how he will never let Andy leave the prison, and threaten to ruin the rest of his life if he doesn't keep working for him]]. Followed by the icing on the cake:
--> '''Norton''': ''[To guard]'' Give him another month to think about it.
* DoubleTake: Heywood gives a nonverbal version of this to Red saying, "[[BadassBookworm Guy likes to play chess.]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext Let's get him some rocks.]]" (Andy expressed interest in making his own chess set out of rocks he didn't have.) Heywood nods agreeingly, then turns to look at Red confused.
* DownTheDrain: Andy's escape through a Shawshank sewer pipe to freedom.
* TheDragon: Captain Hadley.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Norton and Brooks.]]
** [[spoiler: Andy]] subverts this, and arguably [[ExploitedTrope exploits]] it by deliberately acting as though he is suicidally depressed, in an effort to mislead the other characters as to his ''real'' plan.
* EarnYourHappyEnding
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Captain Hadley might have just been an unusually harsh prison guard (a job that pretty much requires at least a little harshness) until he [[spoiler:beats a prisoner to death for crying]].
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Captain Hadley. After Andy tells him he can help with his money problems, Hadley returns the favor by letting both the guards and the tar crew (consisting of the inmates Andy and Red knows) drink beer on the rooftop of the building they were tarring. He even steps this further in the very moment Boggs stepped into his cell (after Boggs unleashes his NoHoldsBarredBeatDown on Andy), and Hadley unleashes his own no holds barred beat down on him.
* EverybodySmokes: Played straight with most of the prison population, but makes sense given the time period.
* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Red (moreso in the novella than the film).
* FloweryInsults: Byron Hadley is a master of these.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Red describing Andy's dreams of getting out as "nothing but a shitty pipe dream." [[spoiler: Andy escapes by crawling through a pipe full of excrement.]]
* FriendInTheBlackMarket: Red.
* GoodbyeCruelWorld: Played straight with Brooks' postcard, subverted by Red's.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Happens when [[spoiler:Norton shoots himself. He is shown placing the gun under his chin before the camera quickly cuts away to a shot of his blood splattering onto the window behind him (and the bullet breaking the glass). His corpse is shown afterwards, though.]]
** [[spoiler:The warden's suicide is a particularly well-executed example of this trope. At no point do we see the bullet enter or exit the head, but Darabont has commented (in the publication of his shooting script) that just by using sound and general ''atmosphere'', one could make the audience think they saw something they didn't.]]
** The scene in which Hadley beats Fat-Ass to death is lit in such that both men appear as silhouettes, more or less amounting to this trope.
** Hadley gets in his first few licks on Boggs onscreen, but the beating clearly continues long after the cutaway.
* GreatEscape
* GuileHero: Andy
* HairTriggerTemper/ PsychoForHire: Capt. Byron Hadley.
* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: [[spoiler: Tommy's murder at the hands of Captain Hadley and Warden Norton]]. Even though the other prisoners know about [[spoiler:Andy's innocence]], they have no power to tell anyone outside of the prison.
* HeHadAName: "What was his name?"
* HeKnowsTooMuch: A double example: Andy knew too much about Norton's corruption to be allowed to leave the prison, so Norton [[spoiler:had Tommy killed because Tommy knew too much about Andy's innocence]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Andy and Red
* HiddenInPlainSight: How Andy makes off with Warden Norton's [[spoiler: shoes.]]
--> '''Red''': The guards just didn't notice it. Can't say I did either. I mean seriously, how often do you notice a man's [[spoiler: shoes]]?
** [[spoiler: Unfortunately, we as the audience weren't allowed to even notice the man's shoes since it was off camera for Andy's walk to his cell the night he escaped]]
* HopeIsScary: Red objects to hope on these grounds.
* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:Tommy's story about a cellmate who may have killed his wife and her lover suggests Andy can [[ClearMyName clear his name]]. Unfortunately, Warden Norton has other ideas...]]
* HopeSpringsEternal: The subtitle of the novella. It's found in ''Different Seasons,'' a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin collection of season-themed stories]].
* {{Hypocrite}}: Along with being a hypocrite in general, the Warden has a very subtle moment of this [[spoiler:after Andy's escape]]. Compare this line from Andy's arrival at the prison...
-->'''Warden Norton:''' Rule number one: no blasphemy. I will not have the Lord's name taken in vain in my prison.
** ...to this one near the end.
-->'''Warden Norton:''' ''[Very sarcastically]'' Lord! It's a miracle! [[spoiler: The man up and vanished like a fart in the wind!]]
*** That isn't even the start of it. His "[[VillainousBreakdown IT'S A CONSPIRACY]]" rant at the end is obviously a case of projecting his own conspiring nature onto everyone else.
* IncriminatingIndifference: Andy comes off as an icy and remorseless killer at his trial. [[spoiler:This is because he is in fact innocent.]]
* InventedIndividual: Andy creates "Randall Stevens" to be the fall guy in case his shady financial transactions for the Warden are detected by authorities. [[spoiler: Andy ''becomes'' Randall Stevens after he breaks out, and takes all the warden's ill-gotten money.]]
* IronicEcho: After Andy claims he's innocent, this exchange happens:
--> '''Red:''' You're gonna fit right in. Everyone in here is innocent, you know that? Heywood, what you in here for?
--> '''Heywood:''' Didn't do it. Lawyer fucked me.
** Later this exchange,
--> '''Tommy Williams:''' Yeah, well, what the hell do you know about it Capone? What are you in for?
--> '''Andy Dufresne:''' Me? My lawyer fucked me. Everybody's innocent in here. Didn't you know that? ''(Everybody else starts laughing)''.
** A sort of almost-echo occurs a bit later, after Tommy has revealed what he knows.
--> '''Heywood:''' Wait, you mean Andy's innocent? Like, for-real innocent?
** At one point, Norton hands Andy back his Bible, assuring him that "Salvation lies within". Just before [[spoiler: escaping]], Andy leaves the Bible in Norton's safe: when Norton opens the Bible, he finds a [[BadassBoast note]] from Andy assuring Norton that salvation did indeed lie within - [[spoiler: Andy had hollowed out the Bible to hide his rock hammer]].
*** The Boast here was twofold - [[spoiler: the hollowed-out pages where the hammer was stored begin on the first page of the Book of Exodus]].
* ItsAllMyFault: Tommy blaming himself for [[spoiler:Andy being placed in solitary confinement]], and Andy blaming himself for [[spoiler:his wife leaving him]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Heywood.
* KarmaHoudini: The actual murderer of Andy's wife. [[spoiler: He was apparently locked up in another prison for an unrelated crime when he confessed to doing it. We don't find out what became of him afterwards.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Hadley, the leader of the guards, ambushes and severely beats Boggs, who screams and cries for help the whole time. Seeing as ambushing and severely beating people was what Boggs took sadistic pleasure in, one can't help but feel satisified when Red sums up the end result...
-->'''Red''': To my knowledge, he lived out the rest of his life drinking his food through a straw.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Everybody gets their share in the climax.
** Climax nothing, some characters get what was coming to them earlier on. [[spoiler:Boggs will swallow what they give him to swallow from now on.]]
** Averted in the novella: Norton and Hadley both simply retire and are never heard from again.
* LuxuryPrisonSuite: Andy's cell is no nicer than the rest, but he gets a private cell and some leeway as far as contraband goes. Norton later refers to it as his "one-bunk Hilton," so it's presumably a sweeter setup than most prisoners have.
* MagicalNegro: An unusual race inversion of this trope, as it is pure, angelic Andy that changes Red's life.
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: A variation: [[spoiler:Norton sets up Tommy's murder to look not like an accident, but like a justified shooting during an escape attempt.]]
* ManlyTears: Averted. We don't see it but We are told that Hadley "Sobbed like a little girl when They took him away".
* MeaningfulEcho: Some of Andy's final words to the Warden.
* MoodWhiplash: When we see Norton having a polite conversation with a young inmate who wants to testify on Andy's behalf, it seems like Norton might be willing to give the guy a chance after all. [[spoiler:Then suddenly a guard shoots said young inmate dead, [[MoralEventHorizon apparently on Norton's orders]].]]
* MoralDissonance: Subverted. At first, Andy's [[spoiler:assistance with money laundering]] may seem like a case of this, but [[spoiler:it turns out that [[{{chessmaster}} he had a plan all along for getting said money launderer busted in the long run]].]]
* MusicForCourage: Andy plays an opera record over the prison's PA system.
* MythologyGag: In one scene, Andy asks Red (played by Morgan Freeman) how he got his nickname. He thinks for a moment and replies with an ironic grin, [[SureLetsGoWithThat "Maybe it's because I'm Irish."]] In the novella, Red was indeed a red-haired Irishman.
* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: [[WordOfGod 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''.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown
** What Byron administers to the pudgy new immate that "wins" the New Fish Crying Lottery. [[spoiler:He doesn't survive, and his death is Dufresne's first hard lesson about life in prison: it's pretty cheap.]]
** The Sisters repeatedly administered these to Dufresne, driving him deeper and deeper into despair [[spoiler:until he becomes useful to Byron and Norton as a tax accountant. The Sisters administer one more beatdown that nearly kills Andy, Byron administers a huge dose of Boggs' own medicine to him (see LaserGuidedKarma above), and the Sisters finally let him alone.]]
* NominalImportance:
** PlayedWith the rest of the 8-man band bar [[TheHero Andy]] and [[TheLancer Red]] were never introduced and we only see them as "those guys Andy and Red hang out with" (with the exception of Heywood, which serves as something of a comic relief). They actually ''do'' have names, though mentioned only in the credits and if you analyse the throwaway conversations. Ranked in order of relative importance after Andy, Red, and Heywood:
*** The big guy who looks like TomWaits and speaks in an authoritative voice is Floyd.
*** The serious-looking one (who told [[spoiler:Brooks]] to "calm the fuck down") is Jigger.
*** The calm-looking one usually sporting a denim jacket is Ernie. He's the one who wanted a pool table.
*** The big guy with vaguely Italian look is Snooze. He's the one who accused Heywood of soiling his trousers when confronted with [[spoiler:Brooks]].
*** And the one with the glasses is Skeet.
** Played straight of course, as traditionally in films, with many others, including Mrs. Dufresne and her golfer boyfriend.
** Ironically, "Fat Ass" (the one Hadley beat up to death) is never actually named. "What was his name?" Nobody knows, Andy. And one can argue that [[SubvertedTrope he's actually quite an important character]]. Surely more so than, say, Skeet above.
* OhCrap: Several in a row on [[spoiler:warden Samuel Norton's]] part.
** The way he looks out the window when [[spoiler:hearing the sirens go off, likely realizing a prisoner is missing]].
** The way he looks at [[spoiler:the tunnel he discovers by accident when throwing a rock at a poster]].
** The look on his face when he sees a newspaper saying [[spoiler:"corruption, murder at Shawshank."]]
** Also, the look on his face when [[spoiler:he sees a bible with a hole in it [[BookSafe in which Andy hid the rock hammer with which he dug his way out, likely implying that Norton realized the connection between Andy having escaped and himself being busted]]. Bonus points for being so shocked that he dropped his bible.]]
* TheOldConvict: Red, to an extent, but more certainly Brooks, an elderly man who finds he is unable to adjust to life outside prison walls. Brooks was in prison for so long, since 1905, that when he's released in the '50's, it's a world he can't recognize. For one thing Brooks remarks that when he went in, he'd only seen one car, when he was a boy.
-->'''Brooks''': The world went and got itself in a big damned hurry.
* OnceMoreWithClarity: When Andy leaves the warden's office, it seems like [[spoiler: he's given up hope and planning to kill himself.]] A few minutes later you see the same sequence of events with a few more details [[spoiler: showing how he was putting his escape plan into action.]]
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Red.
* PerpetualTourist: [[spoiler:Andy]] does this after breaking out of prison.
* PetTheDog: Hadley agreeing to Andy's request for the beers could be interpreted as such, Red going so far as to describe his behaviour as "magnaminous". It's made particularly explicit in the novella, where Red points out that there was nothing stopping Hadley from throwing Andy off the roof and accepting his advice anyway.
** In the movie at least, Andy did point out that he could set up the tax-free gift for what presumably is cheaper than the "ball-washing bastard" lawyers would charge. So Hadley had a reason to keep him alive.
* PoliceBrutality: Taken UpToEleven by Hadley
* PrisonRape: The "Sisters".
* TheQuietOne: Andy.
* RaceLift: Red is Irish in the book (hence the nickname), but played by Morgan Freeman in the movie. See MythologyGag, above.
* RapeDiscretionShot: The camera shows "The Sisters" beating up Dufresne, but pans away from the actual rape.
* RecordNeedleScratch: Literally, when Hadley busts into Norton's office and puts an end to Andy's playing of ''Le Nozzi di Figaro''. "On your feet!"
* RedHerring: The parts leading to [[spoiler:the escape. Dufresne, whose innocence was kind of proven was just betrayed by the warden: his witness was assassinated and he was forced to labour under the corrupt prison top brass to launder money. This way he had no chance of being bailed out of prison, and just when the audience is shown that he is innocent. Sad music was played. He got himself a rope. Go figure.]] By morning, [[spoiler:he did not respond to the roll call, and Red was surely already thinking that he took his own life.]] Instead, [[spoiler:he escaped. He decided that he had had enough and used his tunnel, which he presumably kept ''just in case'', and immediately assumed the false identity he had been forging for years. He sent the story to newspapers, had the entire Shawshank Prison corruption case exposed, and cashed in $370,000 of the warden's money before fleeing to a picturesque beach in Mexico. The rope, of course, was to hold his stuff while he was escaping.]] The fact that, up until that point, the audience was never informed in any way that [[spoiler:Dufresne was planning an escape]] made the TwistEnding (which by today's standards is [[ItWasHisSled not a twist at all]]) all the more glorious. All the RedHerring'ed scenes [[OnceMoreWithClarity were played back]] during this revelation, highlighting the subtle details which we got wrong earlier.
* RedemptionInTheRain: [[TropeCodifier The Canonical One]].
* RefugeInAudacity: In the novella, Red discusses several inmates he knew who successfully broke out of Shawshank, most of them by employing this trope. [[spoiler: Andy's]] plan probably qualifies as well.
* RoadApples: Or horse apples. Either way, not rocks.
* RunningGag: Apparently everyone at Shawshank is "innocent", and just had "a lawyer fuck them".
--> "Wait, he's innocent-innocent?" [[spoiler: Heywood after hearing [[HopeSpot Tommy's story]] ]]
* ShoutOut:
** Many to TheCountOfMonteCristo ("by Alexandree [[{{Malaproper}} Dumbass]]").
** Two of Red's friends in prison are named 'Heywood' and 'Floyd'. Heywood Floyd was one of the main characters in ''TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''.
** The dirt disposal method is one of the used in ''TheGreatEscape''.
** The Rita Hayworth movie watched by the prisoners is ''{{Gilda}}''
** Many to ''EscapeFromAlcatraz'' and ''TheBirdmanOfAlcatraz''
* SmugSnake: Blatch, the only criminal in the movie to [[EvilGloating gloat to others about killing people]]. [[spoiler:In his conversation with Tommy, Blatch mentions the very murders that get pinned on Andy.]] [[GenreSavvy You'd think this would be the kind of thing that would]] [[TemptingFate backfire]], and yet [[spoiler:because of the warden's desire to keep this secret, Blatch gets away with this in spite of said gloating.]] For contrast, most inmates claim innocence, Red claims guilt but also remorse, and even [[spoiler:Norton himself]], though obviously remorseless, doesn't go as far as to actually GLOAT about murder.
* SuspiciousSpending: Averted -- Norton runs his scams for years, but has a separate identity set up to receive the proceeds of his crimes. Judging by the amount that's there by the end of the movie, it appears he hasn't spent much.
* SweetandSourGrapes: Played straight when Red goes for his parole hearing and is rejected when he says he's been rehabilitated, and when he all but tells them to piss off the third time around [[spoiler:they let him go.]]
* TantrumThrowing: [[spoiler:Norton, towards the end.]]
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Red hears that Captain Hadley "sobbed like a little girl" when [[spoiler: they sent him to Shawshank as an inmate,]] and considering the way he treated the prisoners under his care, he had every reason to.
* TokenMinority: A possible reason for Red's RaceLift. There are literally two other non-white characters with speaking parts. It's particularly noticeable given the setting, as American prisons have had disproportionately large black populations for much of the twentieth century (although Maine, the state in which the film is set, does have a black population well below the national average).
* TriumphantReprise: The same melody played when Andy is led through the prison doors is played again later when [[spoiler:Red finds out that Andy managed to get past the border]].
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Warden Norton]] gets a severe one before even being [[spoiler:busted on his crimes]]. He freaks out at the fact that [[spoiler:Andy was missing from his cell]], going into an intense rant about how it's a conspiracy that everyone's in on. After THAT, [[spoiler:word gets out about Norton's corruption. Then, instead of going into another rant or anything like that, he just shoots himself before the police can get into his office door.]]
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: The warden keeps his safe [[spoiler: and all the damning evidence therein]] under a needlepoint that reads "His judgment cometh and that Right Soon..."
** Andy keeps [[spoiler: the rock hammer that facilitates his escape hidden in the Bible, in the book of Exodus.]]
* WordSaladTitle: One of the main reasons the movie had poor box office. To even vaguely understand it, you have to know that Shawshank is a prison... but it's a fictional one, so the only way you'd know that is by seeing the movie or reading the book in the first place.
** That's why it's averted in Russian translation, where both the original book and the movie were titled ''Escape from Shawshank''
** The same goes for the Latin American versions, since the movie was named ''Sueños de Fuga'' (Dreams about Escaping) in Spanish and ''Um Sonho de Liberdade'' (A Dream of Freedom) in Brazil.
** In Spain it was just "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Life Imprisonment]]". Funny thing, the following year's ''DeadManWalking'' was called just "Death Penalty" too...
** In Italy it was titled ''Le ali della libertà'' (The Wings of Freedom).
** In Sweden it was ''Nyckeln till frihet'' (The key to freedom).
* WronglyAccused: Andy.
* YouGotSpunk: ''Sister'' Boggs is encouraged by Andy's spurn and resistance; "Hard to get, I like that"
----
[[caption-width-right:312:Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.]]
-> ''"[[{{Koan}} Get busy living... or get busy dyin']]."''
''The Shawshank Redemption'' is a 1994 drama film based on StephenKing's novella ''Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption''; it stars Tim Robbins and MorganFreeman.
In 1947, young banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is found guilty of the murder of his wife and her lover; he is sentenced to life in prison, and his sentence is to be served at Maine's Shawshank penitentiary. The conditions are terrible, many of his fellow prisoners are sadistic, and many of the guards are even worse -- but life begins to look up as Dufresne becomes acquainted with an old black con, Ellis Redding (MorganFreeman, the character also serves as the movie's narrator), commonly referred to as Red. A friendship begins after Red, "the man who knows how to get things", procures a rock hammer for Dufresne, an object he wishes to own in order to carve a soapstone chess set. The friendship will only strengthen over the coming years.
Twenty years pass within the prison walls, showing the growth and strength of Andy and Red's friendship, Andy's various attempts to better the life of his fellow inmates through education (facilitated by the financial advice he gives the prison's corrupt warden and guards), the quest to prove his innocence, and the attempt to remain mentally free and hopeful even when surrounded by the crushing gray of prison walls.
This movie exemplifies the potential gap between [[VindicatedByHistory initial box office success and ultimate popularity]]. Back in 1994, it earned just over $28 million at the US box office; it was only the 52nd most successful film of its year. Despite the lukewarm box office reception (mainly due to its WordSaladTitle and the distinct [[SexSells lack of female cast members]]), ''Shawshank'' received favorable reviews from critics and has since enjoyed a remarkable life on cable television and home video. Media magnate Ted Turner loved the film so much that he purchased the TV rights and showed it on one of his cable stations literally every weekend for years, which helped the film earn back its budget and give it the mainstream recognition it never received while in theaters. ''Shawshank'' continues to be hailed by critics and audiences alike even today -- it is often ranked amongst the greatest films of all time, and it is often found leading the [[{{IMDB}} Internet Movie Database's]] poll of top 250 films (it also has the highest number of votes) -- but this has lead to some HypeAversion. The film is definitely worth seeing at least once, though (and it's on TNT practically every other weekend).
''Shawshank'' has since been adapted for the stage. The producers insist they adapted the novella and not the film, but this claim is doubtful, since the character of Red is a black man instead of the red-haired Irishman of the book.
----
!!The film is the TropeNamer for:
* HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook: The trope-naming example is done for reasons the audience can sympathize with. Andy is secretly planning to escape from prison and [[FramingTheGuiltyParty "expose" the warden]] [[PullingTheThread as a crook.]] The warden would have him break the law anyway.. He says he never broke the law before going to jail, and we see nothing to contradict him.
----
!!The film has examples of:
* AbilityOverAppearance: traditionally, guys called "Red" are redheads. Initial casting calls had that in mind. The role is played by MorganFreeman, who would not pick up that nickname naturally but owns the role anyway. It's explained in the film (though not in the novella), that Red's nickname comes from his name, Ellis Redding.
* AdaptationDistillation: The movie makes several changes that keep the story moving.
** The timeframe is cut from thirty years to twenty. (An actor's age range can only be stretched so far)
** Only one warden is dealt with.
** The movie decides to [[spoiler: [[DeathByAdaptation kill off Tommy]]]], while the novella [[spoiler: simply sees him transferred]].
** In the novella, [[spoiler:Andy sold off his assets before going into prison and invested them with the help of a friend on the outside]]. This subplot is eliminated in the movie, in which [[spoiler:Andy simply steals all the money he'd laundered for Norton, making the revenge that much sweeter (both for him and the audience)]].
** Several characters are [[CompositeCharacter combined]].
** Normaden, the Indian inmate who Andy briefly shared a cell with in the book, was cut from the movie.
* AdaptationExpansion: The scene where Andy plays "Sull'aria" from ''The Marriage of Figaro'' over the prison loudspeakers was not written into the novella by StephenKing. After seeing it for himself, King said he wished he had.
** The movie adds further explanation as to where Andy hid his rock hammer while in prison [[spoiler:Andy hides the hammer in his prison issue bible in the book of Exodus]]. As with most of Frank Darbont's adaptations to King's work this change is subtly brilliant.
* AffablyEvil: Norton initially comes across as stern and harsh, but well-meaning. Not for long, however..
* AssholeVictim: Boggs.
* AssShove: In the novella, Andy smuggles five hundred dollars into the prison by this method. Taken UpToEleven by Red at the end, in which he smuggles out [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis the pages on which he is writing the manuscript]] with the same trick. The novella is nearly one hundred pages long.
* {{Badass}}: Hadley. Though it's apparently subverted in the end, when [[spoiler: Red says he heard he "cried like a little girl" when arrested.]]
* BadassBookworm: Andy Dufresne himself, of course, [[spoiler: using his knowledge of biology to explain to one of The Sisters why he wouldn't be able to help it if he "bit" after they hit him in the head, and his knowledge of geology to figure out from the weakness of the wall that he could tunnel his way out.]]
-->'''Boggs:''' Where do you learn this shit?\\
'''Andy:''' Read it. You know how to read? You ignorant [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]]?
** He's no slouch in hand-to-hand as well, it's obvious that it's only superior numbers that let the Sisters get the better of him, and even then he manages to fight them off a number of times.
* BaitAndSwitch: Andy finds a grub of some sort in his first prison meal. As he's examining it, he has the following conversation with a crusty old con who's been in prison 50 years and may or may not have a few screws loose:
-->'''Brooks:''' Are you going to eat that?\\
'''Andy:''' Wasn't planning on it.\\
'''Brooks:''' ''[holds his hand out]'' Do you mind?\\
''[Andy hands it over skeptically]''\\
'''Brooks:''' ''[with a satisfied smile]'' Ahh, that's nice and ripe.\\
''[He opens his jacket and feeds it to a baby raven in his pocket]''\\
'''Brooks:''' Jake says "Thank you."
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:Andy played the warden for a chump!]]
* BerserkButton: Do '''not''' mention money when talking to Warden Norton.
** Or call him obtuse.
** To be on the safe side, don't talk to Hadley about his wife.
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Warden Norton in the final act.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Warden Norton
* BookSafe: [[spoiler:Andy keeps his rock hammer in his Bible.]]
* BrickJoke: The library sequence. Amusing when the joke is introduced, but hilarious in hindsight. See the [[Funny/TheShawshankRedemption Funny Moments]] section for the dialogue.
* BrutalHonesty: Towards the end, once he's lost his best friend, Red has become so tired and bitter of the endless cycle of his parole hearings and so inured to prison life that he finally tells the parole board exactly what he thinks of both them and himself. It's {{implied}} this candor is what finally gets him paroled.
* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: A non-military example in the forms of Warden Norton and Captain Hadley, made most apparent during the dressing-down of the new inmates.
** It's especially effective as Captain Hadley is played by ClancyBrown.
* CatchPhrase: Hadley: "On your feet!"
* ChekhovsArmoury: Andy's "one-bunk Hilton" prison cell, starting with...
** The Rock Hammer
--> '''Red:''' I remember thinking it would [[spoiler: take a man six hundred years to tunnel through the wall with it. Old Andy did it in less than twenty.]]
** The Bible, in which Warden Norton nearly takes it from Andy and gives it back to him [[spoiler:never knowing that it contained said rock hammer]].
** The Chess Set [[spoiler: Andy takes it with him during his escape, and mentions it to Red in his final letter before the latter heads to Mexico]].
** The posters on Andy's wall.
* ChekhovsGun: See the items in Chekhov's Armoury above. One of the items not in the Armoury is "Randall Stevens".
* ChekhovsGunman: Tommy Williams. [[spoiler: He once shared a cell with the man who ''really'' killed Andy's wife, and he finally makes it clear to the audience that Andy is innocent. When Warden Norton has him assassinated to keep him quiet, Andy's anger galvanizes him into finally making his escape]].
** And the silent partner. The one with the bank account and the social security number.
* ChekhovsSkill: Had Andy picked up any other hobby than rock-collecting, he might not have gotten too far.
** Also Chess.
* CacophonyCoverUp
* CaptivityHarmonica: Both lampshaded AND subverted. Andy gets Red a harmonica as a gift, and he blows a little on it, but doesn't play.
* TheChessmaster: Andy.
** Complete with a Chess Motif [[spoiler: Though mostly in retrospect [[ChekhovsSkill when you realize that the same hobby that allowed Andy to make a chess board helped cover his escape.]]]]
* ClusterFBomb: The movie in general has abundant swearing throughout it, but most of the swearing seems to come from Byron Hadley.
* CompositeCharacter: In the novella, the prison goes through several wardens and guard captains. [[PragmaticAdaptation To save time]] and [[AdaptationDistillation improve story flow]], they are combined into Norton and Hadley for the movie, though it does bring up some FridgeLogic when you realize they've both had their respective positions for fifteen years or so without apparently aging, aside from some slightly graying hair.
** Brooks is also a composite of several characters mentioned in passing in the novella.
* CompressedAdaptation: The novella took place over thirty years, compressed to twenty in the film. Other small examples pop up besides this: for example, Red spends several months hunting for the volcanic glass rock in the novella, but in the film appears to find it after only a few hours.
* CoversAlwaysLie: The back cover of the VHS tape for ''The Shawshank Redemption'' features an embrace between the sexy Mrs. Dufresne and her lover... two characters who are out of the picture within the film's first five minutes.
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Warden Norton and Tommy Elwood. In the book, Norton quits Shawshank a broken man instead of committing suicide (the bit where Andy exposes his crimes is absent), and Tommy is bribed with a transfer ot a minimum security prison instead of being murdered.]]
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The prosecuting attorney admits that the killing of Dufresne's adulterous wife and her lover, could, if it had been a 'hot-blooded crime of passion' be 'understood ''if not condoned'' '.
* DepravedHomosexual: The Sisters are a nasty prison gang with a particular love of raping new inmates. As Red puts it when Andy remarks to their gaze that he's not homosexual:
---> "Neither are they. You'd have to be human first. They don't qualify."
** In the DVD commentary the director details how the Sisters are supposed to represent the depravity of rape in general rather than homosexuality being wrong, seeing as rape in prison is more about domination than physical attraction the Sisters are especially disgusting in this regard.
** In the book, Stephen King is careful to draw a distinction between heterosexuals who just 'come to an arrangement', actual homosexuals and the 'sisters' who are just depraved rapists.
* {{Determinator}}: Andy.
* DisproportionateRetribution: After Warden Norton tells Andy that [[spoiler: the man who actually killed Andy's wife and lover is probably gone from the penal system and isn't worth chasing]], Andy makes the mistake of saying something about it, calling the warden "obtuse", and then bringing up the money laundering scheme:
--> '''Andy''': Look, if it's the squeeze, don't worry. I'd never say what goes on in here. I'd be just as indictable as you for laundering the money.\\
'''Norton''': [[BerserkButton Don't you ever mention money to me again,]] [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch you sorry son of a bitch!]] Not in ''this'' office! Not ''anywhere!'' ''[Slaps intercom]'' Get in here! Now!\\
'''Andy''': I was just trying to set your mind at ease, that's all...\\
''[Guard enters]''\\
'''Norton''': ''[To guard] ''Solitary! ''A '''month'''''!
** As if that's not enough, when Andy's unprecedented month-long stay in the hole is almost up, Norton shows up to [[spoiler: tell him about Tommy's murder and how he will never let Andy leave the prison, and threaten to ruin the rest of his life if he doesn't keep working for him]]. Followed by the icing on the cake:
--> '''Norton''': ''[To guard]'' Give him another month to think about it.
* DoubleTake: Heywood gives a nonverbal version of this to Red saying, "[[BadassBookworm Guy likes to play chess.]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext Let's get him some rocks.]]" (Andy expressed interest in making his own chess set out of rocks he didn't have.) Heywood nods agreeingly, then turns to look at Red confused.
* DownTheDrain: Andy's escape through a Shawshank sewer pipe to freedom.
* TheDragon: Captain Hadley.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Norton and Brooks.]]
** [[spoiler: Andy]] subverts this, and arguably [[ExploitedTrope exploits]] it by deliberately acting as though he is suicidally depressed, in an effort to mislead the other characters as to his ''real'' plan.
* EarnYourHappyEnding
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Captain Hadley might have just been an unusually harsh prison guard (a job that pretty much requires at least a little harshness) until he [[spoiler:beats a prisoner to death for crying]].
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Captain Hadley. After Andy tells him he can help with his money problems, Hadley returns the favor by letting both the guards and the tar crew (consisting of the inmates Andy and Red knows) drink beer on the rooftop of the building they were tarring. He even steps this further in the very moment Boggs stepped into his cell (after Boggs unleashes his NoHoldsBarredBeatDown on Andy), and Hadley unleashes his own no holds barred beat down on him.
* EverybodySmokes: Played straight with most of the prison population, but makes sense given the time period.
* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Red (moreso in the novella than the film).
* FloweryInsults: Byron Hadley is a master of these.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Red describing Andy's dreams of getting out as "nothing but a shitty pipe dream." [[spoiler: Andy escapes by crawling through a pipe full of excrement.]]
* FriendInTheBlackMarket: Red.
* GoodbyeCruelWorld: Played straight with Brooks' postcard, subverted by Red's.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Happens when [[spoiler:Norton shoots himself. He is shown placing the gun under his chin before the camera quickly cuts away to a shot of his blood splattering onto the window behind him (and the bullet breaking the glass). His corpse is shown afterwards, though.]]
** [[spoiler:The warden's suicide is a particularly well-executed example of this trope. At no point do we see the bullet enter or exit the head, but Darabont has commented (in the publication of his shooting script) that just by using sound and general ''atmosphere'', one could make the audience think they saw something they didn't.]]
** The scene in which Hadley beats Fat-Ass to death is lit in such that both men appear as silhouettes, more or less amounting to this trope.
** Hadley gets in his first few licks on Boggs onscreen, but the beating clearly continues long after the cutaway.
* GreatEscape
* GuileHero: Andy
* HairTriggerTemper/ PsychoForHire: Capt. Byron Hadley.
* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: [[spoiler: Tommy's murder at the hands of Captain Hadley and Warden Norton]]. Even though the other prisoners know about [[spoiler:Andy's innocence]], they have no power to tell anyone outside of the prison.
* HeHadAName: "What was his name?"
* HeKnowsTooMuch: A double example: Andy knew too much about Norton's corruption to be allowed to leave the prison, so Norton [[spoiler:had Tommy killed because Tommy knew too much about Andy's innocence]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Andy and Red
* HiddenInPlainSight: How Andy makes off with Warden Norton's [[spoiler: shoes.]]
--> '''Red''': The guards just didn't notice it. Can't say I did either. I mean seriously, how often do you notice a man's [[spoiler: shoes]]?
** [[spoiler: Unfortunately, we as the audience weren't allowed to even notice the man's shoes since it was off camera for Andy's walk to his cell the night he escaped]]
* HopeIsScary: Red objects to hope on these grounds.
* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:Tommy's story about a cellmate who may have killed his wife and her lover suggests Andy can [[ClearMyName clear his name]]. Unfortunately, Warden Norton has other ideas...]]
* HopeSpringsEternal: The subtitle of the novella. It's found in ''Different Seasons,'' a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin collection of season-themed stories]].
* {{Hypocrite}}: Along with being a hypocrite in general, the Warden has a very subtle moment of this [[spoiler:after Andy's escape]]. Compare this line from Andy's arrival at the prison...
-->'''Warden Norton:''' Rule number one: no blasphemy. I will not have the Lord's name taken in vain in my prison.
** ...to this one near the end.
-->'''Warden Norton:''' ''[Very sarcastically]'' Lord! It's a miracle! [[spoiler: The man up and vanished like a fart in the wind!]]
*** That isn't even the start of it. His "[[VillainousBreakdown IT'S A CONSPIRACY]]" rant at the end is obviously a case of projecting his own conspiring nature onto everyone else.
* IncriminatingIndifference: Andy comes off as an icy and remorseless killer at his trial. [[spoiler:This is because he is in fact innocent.]]
* InventedIndividual: Andy creates "Randall Stevens" to be the fall guy in case his shady financial transactions for the Warden are detected by authorities. [[spoiler: Andy ''becomes'' Randall Stevens after he breaks out, and takes all the warden's ill-gotten money.]]
* IronicEcho: After Andy claims he's innocent, this exchange happens:
--> '''Red:''' You're gonna fit right in. Everyone in here is innocent, you know that? Heywood, what you in here for?
--> '''Heywood:''' Didn't do it. Lawyer fucked me.
** Later this exchange,
--> '''Tommy Williams:''' Yeah, well, what the hell do you know about it Capone? What are you in for?
--> '''Andy Dufresne:''' Me? My lawyer fucked me. Everybody's innocent in here. Didn't you know that? ''(Everybody else starts laughing)''.
** A sort of almost-echo occurs a bit later, after Tommy has revealed what he knows.
--> '''Heywood:''' Wait, you mean Andy's innocent? Like, for-real innocent?
** At one point, Norton hands Andy back his Bible, assuring him that "Salvation lies within". Just before [[spoiler: escaping]], Andy leaves the Bible in Norton's safe: when Norton opens the Bible, he finds a [[BadassBoast note]] from Andy assuring Norton that salvation did indeed lie within - [[spoiler: Andy had hollowed out the Bible to hide his rock hammer]].
*** The Boast here was twofold - [[spoiler: the hollowed-out pages where the hammer was stored begin on the first page of the Book of Exodus]].
* ItsAllMyFault: Tommy blaming himself for [[spoiler:Andy being placed in solitary confinement]], and Andy blaming himself for [[spoiler:his wife leaving him]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Heywood.
* KarmaHoudini: The actual murderer of Andy's wife. [[spoiler: He was apparently locked up in another prison for an unrelated crime when he confessed to doing it. We don't find out what became of him afterwards.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Hadley, the leader of the guards, ambushes and severely beats Boggs, who screams and cries for help the whole time. Seeing as ambushing and severely beating people was what Boggs took sadistic pleasure in, one can't help but feel satisified when Red sums up the end result...
-->'''Red''': To my knowledge, he lived out the rest of his life drinking his food through a straw.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Everybody gets their share in the climax.
** Climax nothing, some characters get what was coming to them earlier on. [[spoiler:Boggs will swallow what they give him to swallow from now on.]]
** Averted in the novella: Norton and Hadley both simply retire and are never heard from again.
* LuxuryPrisonSuite: Andy's cell is no nicer than the rest, but he gets a private cell and some leeway as far as contraband goes. Norton later refers to it as his "one-bunk Hilton," so it's presumably a sweeter setup than most prisoners have.
* MagicalNegro: An unusual race inversion of this trope, as it is pure, angelic Andy that changes Red's life.
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: A variation: [[spoiler:Norton sets up Tommy's murder to look not like an accident, but like a justified shooting during an escape attempt.]]
* ManlyTears: Averted. We don't see it but We are told that Hadley "Sobbed like a little girl when They took him away".
* MeaningfulEcho: Some of Andy's final words to the Warden.
* MoodWhiplash: When we see Norton having a polite conversation with a young inmate who wants to testify on Andy's behalf, it seems like Norton might be willing to give the guy a chance after all. [[spoiler:Then suddenly a guard shoots said young inmate dead, [[MoralEventHorizon apparently on Norton's orders]].]]
* MoralDissonance: Subverted. At first, Andy's [[spoiler:assistance with money laundering]] may seem like a case of this, but [[spoiler:it turns out that [[{{chessmaster}} he had a plan all along for getting said money launderer busted in the long run]].]]
* MusicForCourage: Andy plays an opera record over the prison's PA system.
* MythologyGag: In one scene, Andy asks Red (played by Morgan Freeman) how he got his nickname. He thinks for a moment and replies with an ironic grin, [[SureLetsGoWithThat "Maybe it's because I'm Irish."]] In the novella, Red was indeed a red-haired Irishman.
* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: [[WordOfGod 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''.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown
** What Byron administers to the pudgy new immate that "wins" the New Fish Crying Lottery. [[spoiler:He doesn't survive, and his death is Dufresne's first hard lesson about life in prison: it's pretty cheap.]]
** The Sisters repeatedly administered these to Dufresne, driving him deeper and deeper into despair [[spoiler:until he becomes useful to Byron and Norton as a tax accountant. The Sisters administer one more beatdown that nearly kills Andy, Byron administers a huge dose of Boggs' own medicine to him (see LaserGuidedKarma above), and the Sisters finally let him alone.]]
* NominalImportance:
** PlayedWith the rest of the 8-man band bar [[TheHero Andy]] and [[TheLancer Red]] were never introduced and we only see them as "those guys Andy and Red hang out with" (with the exception of Heywood, which serves as something of a comic relief). They actually ''do'' have names, though mentioned only in the credits and if you analyse the throwaway conversations. Ranked in order of relative importance after Andy, Red, and Heywood:
*** The big guy who looks like TomWaits and speaks in an authoritative voice is Floyd.
*** The serious-looking one (who told [[spoiler:Brooks]] to "calm the fuck down") is Jigger.
*** The calm-looking one usually sporting a denim jacket is Ernie. He's the one who wanted a pool table.
*** The big guy with vaguely Italian look is Snooze. He's the one who accused Heywood of soiling his trousers when confronted with [[spoiler:Brooks]].
*** And the one with the glasses is Skeet.
** Played straight of course, as traditionally in films, with many others, including Mrs. Dufresne and her golfer boyfriend.
** Ironically, "Fat Ass" (the one Hadley beat up to death) is never actually named. "What was his name?" Nobody knows, Andy. And one can argue that [[SubvertedTrope he's actually quite an important character]]. Surely more so than, say, Skeet above.
* OhCrap: Several in a row on [[spoiler:warden Samuel Norton's]] part.
** The way he looks out the window when [[spoiler:hearing the sirens go off, likely realizing a prisoner is missing]].
** The way he looks at [[spoiler:the tunnel he discovers by accident when throwing a rock at a poster]].
** The look on his face when he sees a newspaper saying [[spoiler:"corruption, murder at Shawshank."]]
** Also, the look on his face when [[spoiler:he sees a bible with a hole in it [[BookSafe in which Andy hid the rock hammer with which he dug his way out, likely implying that Norton realized the connection between Andy having escaped and himself being busted]]. Bonus points for being so shocked that he dropped his bible.]]
* TheOldConvict: Red, to an extent, but more certainly Brooks, an elderly man who finds he is unable to adjust to life outside prison walls. Brooks was in prison for so long, since 1905, that when he's released in the '50's, it's a world he can't recognize. For one thing Brooks remarks that when he went in, he'd only seen one car, when he was a boy.
-->'''Brooks''': The world went and got itself in a big damned hurry.
* OnceMoreWithClarity: When Andy leaves the warden's office, it seems like [[spoiler: he's given up hope and planning to kill himself.]] A few minutes later you see the same sequence of events with a few more details [[spoiler: showing how he was putting his escape plan into action.]]
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Red.
* PerpetualTourist: [[spoiler:Andy]] does this after breaking out of prison.
* PetTheDog: Hadley agreeing to Andy's request for the beers could be interpreted as such, Red going so far as to describe his behaviour as "magnaminous". It's made particularly explicit in the novella, where Red points out that there was nothing stopping Hadley from throwing Andy off the roof and accepting his advice anyway.
** In the movie at least, Andy did point out that he could set up the tax-free gift for what presumably is cheaper than the "ball-washing bastard" lawyers would charge. So Hadley had a reason to keep him alive.
* PoliceBrutality: Taken UpToEleven by Hadley
* PrisonRape: The "Sisters".
* TheQuietOne: Andy.
* RaceLift: Red is Irish in the book (hence the nickname), but played by Morgan Freeman in the movie. See MythologyGag, above.
* RapeDiscretionShot: The camera shows "The Sisters" beating up Dufresne, but pans away from the actual rape.
* RecordNeedleScratch: Literally, when Hadley busts into Norton's office and puts an end to Andy's playing of ''Le Nozzi di Figaro''. "On your feet!"
* RedHerring: The parts leading to [[spoiler:the escape. Dufresne, whose innocence was kind of proven was just betrayed by the warden: his witness was assassinated and he was forced to labour under the corrupt prison top brass to launder money. This way he had no chance of being bailed out of prison, and just when the audience is shown that he is innocent. Sad music was played. He got himself a rope. Go figure.]] By morning, [[spoiler:he did not respond to the roll call, and Red was surely already thinking that he took his own life.]] Instead, [[spoiler:he escaped. He decided that he had had enough and used his tunnel, which he presumably kept ''just in case'', and immediately assumed the false identity he had been forging for years. He sent the story to newspapers, had the entire Shawshank Prison corruption case exposed, and cashed in $370,000 of the warden's money before fleeing to a picturesque beach in Mexico. The rope, of course, was to hold his stuff while he was escaping.]] The fact that, up until that point, the audience was never informed in any way that [[spoiler:Dufresne was planning an escape]] made the TwistEnding (which by today's standards is [[ItWasHisSled not a twist at all]]) all the more glorious. All the RedHerring'ed scenes [[OnceMoreWithClarity were played back]] during this revelation, highlighting the subtle details which we got wrong earlier.
* RedemptionInTheRain: [[TropeCodifier The Canonical One]].
* RefugeInAudacity: In the novella, Red discusses several inmates he knew who successfully broke out of Shawshank, most of them by employing this trope. [[spoiler: Andy's]] plan probably qualifies as well.
* RoadApples: Or horse apples. Either way, not rocks.
* RunningGag: Apparently everyone at Shawshank is "innocent", and just had "a lawyer fuck them".
--> "Wait, he's innocent-innocent?" [[spoiler: Heywood after hearing [[HopeSpot Tommy's story]] ]]
* ShoutOut:
** Many to TheCountOfMonteCristo ("by Alexandree [[{{Malaproper}} Dumbass]]").
** Two of Red's friends in prison are named 'Heywood' and 'Floyd'. Heywood Floyd was one of the main characters in ''TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''.
** The dirt disposal method is one of the used in ''TheGreatEscape''.
** The Rita Hayworth movie watched by the prisoners is ''{{Gilda}}''
** Many to ''EscapeFromAlcatraz'' and ''TheBirdmanOfAlcatraz''
* SmugSnake: Blatch, the only criminal in the movie to [[EvilGloating gloat to others about killing people]]. [[spoiler:In his conversation with Tommy, Blatch mentions the very murders that get pinned on Andy.]] [[GenreSavvy You'd think this would be the kind of thing that would]] [[TemptingFate backfire]], and yet [[spoiler:because of the warden's desire to keep this secret, Blatch gets away with this in spite of said gloating.]] For contrast, most inmates claim innocence, Red claims guilt but also remorse, and even [[spoiler:Norton himself]], though obviously remorseless, doesn't go as far as to actually GLOAT about murder.
* SuspiciousSpending: Averted -- Norton runs his scams for years, but has a separate identity set up to receive the proceeds of his crimes. Judging by the amount that's there by the end of the movie, it appears he hasn't spent much.
* SweetandSourGrapes: Played straight when Red goes for his parole hearing and is rejected when he says he's been rehabilitated, and when he all but tells them to piss off the third time around [[spoiler:they let him go.]]
* TantrumThrowing: [[spoiler:Norton, towards the end.]]
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Red hears that Captain Hadley "sobbed like a little girl" when [[spoiler: they sent him to Shawshank as an inmate,]] and considering the way he treated the prisoners under his care, he had every reason to.
* TokenMinority: A possible reason for Red's RaceLift. There are literally two other non-white characters with speaking parts. It's particularly noticeable given the setting, as American prisons have had disproportionately large black populations for much of the twentieth century (although Maine, the state in which the film is set, does have a black population well below the national average).
* TriumphantReprise: The same melody played when Andy is led through the prison doors is played again later when [[spoiler:Red finds out that Andy managed to get past the border]].
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Warden Norton]] gets a severe one before even being [[spoiler:busted on his crimes]]. He freaks out at the fact that [[spoiler:Andy was missing from his cell]], going into an intense rant about how it's a conspiracy that everyone's in on. After THAT, [[spoiler:word gets out about Norton's corruption. Then, instead of going into another rant or anything like that, he just shoots himself before the police can get into his office door.]]
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: The warden keeps his safe [[spoiler: and all the damning evidence therein]] under a needlepoint that reads "His judgment cometh and that Right Soon..."
** Andy keeps [[spoiler: the rock hammer that facilitates his escape hidden in the Bible, in the book of Exodus.]]
* WordSaladTitle: One of the main reasons the movie had poor box office. To even vaguely understand it, you have to know that Shawshank is a prison... but it's a fictional one, so the only way you'd know that is by seeing the movie or reading the book in the first place.
** That's why it's averted in Russian translation, where both the original book and the movie were titled ''Escape from Shawshank''
** The same goes for the Latin American versions, since the movie was named ''Sueños de Fuga'' (Dreams about Escaping) in Spanish and ''Um Sonho de Liberdade'' (A Dream of Freedom) in Brazil.
** In Spain it was just "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Life Imprisonment]]". Funny thing, the following year's ''DeadManWalking'' was called just "Death Penalty" too...
** In Italy it was titled ''Le ali della libertà'' (The Wings of Freedom).
** In Sweden it was ''Nyckeln till frihet'' (The key to freedom).
* WronglyAccused: Andy.
* YouGotSpunk: ''Sister'' Boggs is encouraged by Andy's spurn and resistance; "Hard to get, I like that"
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