151 AN IRON-BARRED DOOR 151

slides open with an enormous CLANG. A stark room beyond.
CAMERA PUSHES through. SEVEN HUMORLESS MEN sit at a long

table. An empty chair faces them. We are again in:

INT -- SHAWSHANK HEARINGS ROOM -- DAY (1957)

Red enters, ten years older than when we first saw him at a
parole hearing. He removes his cap and sits.

MAN #l
It says here you've served thirty
years of a life sentence.

MAN #2
You feel you've been rehabilitated?

RED
Yes sir, without a doubt. I can say
I'm a changed man. No danger to
society, that's the God's honest
truth. Absolutely rehabilitated.

CLOSEUP -- PAROLE FORM

A big rubber stamp slams down: "REJECTED."

152 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- DUSK (1957) 152

Red emerges into fading daylight. Andy's waiting for him.

RED
Same old, same old. Thirty years.
Jesus. When you say it like that...

ANDY
You wonder where it went. I wonder
where ten years went.

Red nods, solemn. They settle in on the bleachers. Andy pulls
a small box from his sweater, hands it to Red.

ANDY
Anniversary gift. Open it.

Red does. Inside the box, on a thin layer of cotton, is a
shiny new harmonica, bright aluminum and circus-red.

ANDY
Had to go through one of your
competitors. Hope you don't mind.
Wanted it to be a surprise.

RED
It's very pretty, Andy. Thank you.

ANDY
You gonna play something?

--

Red considers it, shakes his head. Softly:

RED
Not today.

153 INT -- CELLBLOCK FIVE/ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1957) 153

Men line the tiers as the evening count is completed. The
convicts step into their cells. The master switch is thrown
and all the doors slam shut -- KA-THUMP! Andy finds a
cardboard tube on his bunk. The note reads: "A new girl for
your 10 year anniversary. From your pal. Red."

154 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- LATER (1957) 154

Marilyn Monroe's face fills the screen. SLOW PULL BACK reveals
the new poster: the famous shot from "The Seven Year Itch,"
on the subway grate with skirt billowing up. Andy sits gazing
at her as lights-out commences...

INT -- RED'S CELL -- NIGHT (1957) 155

...and we find Red gazing blankly as darkness takes the
cellblock. Adding up the months, weeks, days...

He regards the harmonica like a man confronted with a Martian
artifact. He considers trying it out -- even holds it briefly
to his lips, almost embarrassed -- but puts it back in its box
untested. And there the harmonica will stay...

FADE TO BLACK

156 WE HOLD IN BLACKNESS as THUMPING SOUNDS grow louder... 156

RED (V.O.)
Andy was as good as his word. He
kept writing to the State Senate.
Two letters a week instead of one.

...and the BLACKNESS disintegrates as a wall tumbles before
our eyes, revealing a WORK CREW with picks and sledgehammers,
faces obscured outlaw-style with kerchiefs against the dust.
Behind them are GUARDS overseeing the work.

Andy yanks his kerchief down, grinning in exhilaration. Red
and the others follow suit. They step through the hole in the
wall, exploring what used to be a sealed-off storage room.

RED (V.O.)
In 1959, the folks up Augusta way
finally clued in to the fact they
couldn't buy him off with just a
200 dollar check. Appropriations
Committee voted an annual payment of
500 dollars, just to shut him up.

157 INT -- PRISON LIBRARY -- DAY (1960) 157

TRACKING the construction. Walls have been knocked down. Men
are painting, plastering, hammering. Lots of shelves going up.
Red is head carpenter. We find him discussing plans with Andy.

RED (V.O.)
Those checks came once a year like
clockwork.

158 INT -- PRISON LIBRARY -- DAY (1960) 158

Red and the boys are opening boxes, pulling out books.

RED (V.O.)
You'd be amazed how far Andy could
stretch it. He made deals with book
clubs, charity groups...he bought
remaindered books by the pound...

HEYWOOD
Treasure Island. Robert Louis...

ANDY
(jotting)
...Stevenson. Next?

RED
I got here an auto repair manual,
and a book on soap carving.

ANDY
Trade skills and hobbies, those go
under educational. Stack right
behind you.

HEYWOOD
The Count of Monte Crisco...

FLOYD
Cristo, you dumbshit.

HEYWOOD
...by Alexandree Dumb-ass.

ANDY
Dumas. You boys'll like that one.
It's about a prison break.

Floyd tries to take the book. Heywood yanks it back. I saw it
first. Red shoots Andy a look.

RED
Maybe that should go under
educational too.


159 INT -- WOOD SHOP -- DAY (1961) 159

Red is making a sign, carefully routing letters into a long
plank of wood. It turns out to be --

160 INT -- PRISON LIBRARY -- DAY (1963) 160

-- the varnished wood sign over the archway: "Brooks Hatlen
Memorial Library." TILT DOWN to reveal the library in all its
completed glory: shelves lined with books, tables and chairs,
even a few potted plants. Heywood is wearing headphones,
listening to Hank Williams on the record player.

RED (V.O.)
By the year Kennedy was shot, Andy
had transformed a broom closet
smelling of turpentine into the
best prison library in New England.