The Shawshank Redemption (1994) on Netflix
A Portland banker, Andy Dufresne, is sentenced in 1947 to two life terms for murders he denies committing. At Shawshank he meets Red, a long-serving inmate who smuggles contraband.
- Netflix4.5/5
- IMDb9.3/103,239,053 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes89%
Trailer
Plot summary
Sentenced to two consecutive life terms for murdering his wife and her lover, Portland banker Andy Dufresne arrives at Shawshank State Prison in 1947, maintaining that he did not commit the crime. Red, an inmate who supplies contraband to the men inside, obtains a rock hammer and a poster of Rita Hayworth for him. Andy is put to work in the prison laundry, where a gang called the Sisters targets him. Two years in, he hears Captain Hadley complain about the tax owed on an inheritance and offers to shelter the money for him. Warden Norton then assigns Andy to the library beside the elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen and puts his financial expertise to use, while Andy begins writing weekly letters asking the state legislature for funding.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Stephen King never cashed the $5,000 check from Darabont. He later framed it and returned it to him with a note that read, "In case you ever need bail money. Love, Steve".
- Rob Reiner, who had previously adapted King's 1982 novella The Body into the 1986 film Stand by Me, offered Darabont between $2.4 million and $3 million to let him direct it himself, planning to cast Tom Cruise as Andy and Harrison Ford as Red.
- Frank Darabont first collaborated with Stephen King in 1983 on a short film of the Night Shift story "The Woman in the Room", buying the rights for $1 - a Dollar Deal King used to help new directors build a resume by adapting his short stories.
- The scene in which Andy first approaches Red to procure a rock hammer took nine hours to film, with Freeman throwing and catching a baseball throughout. So many takes were shot that Freeman turned up to filming the following day with his arm in a sling.
- The tree seen in the film was split by lightning on July 29, 2011, damage reported by US and international publications. Strong winds felled it completely around July 22, 2016, and its remaining vestiges were cut down in April 2017.
- Brad Pitt was cast initially as the young convict Tommy but passed because of scheduling difficulties with Legends of the Fall, following his sudden post-Thelma and Louise fame. The role went instead to the newcomer Gil Bellows.
SPOILER
For the escape through the sewer pipe the film describes as a "river of shit", Robbins crawls through a mixture of water, chocolate syrup and sawdust.
