Scenes 181-190
181 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1965) 181
Andy chalks the alphabet on a blackboard.
RED (V.O.)
So Andy took Tommy under his wing.
Started walking him through his
ABCs...
182 INT -- MESS HALL -- DAY (1965) 182
TRACK the table to Tommy and Andy. Discussing a book.
RED (V.O.)
Tommy took to it pretty well, too.
Boy found brains he never knew he
had.
183 EXT -- EXERCISE YARD BLEACHERS -- DAY (1965) 183
TOMNY
The cat sh--shh--shimmied up the
tree and crept st--stel--stealthily
out on the limb...
184 INT -- WOOD SHOP -- DAY (1965) 184
Tommy intent on a paperback, mouthing the words. Behind him,
wood is piling up on the conveyor belt.
RED (V.O.)
After a while, you couldn't pry
those books out of hands.
RED
Ass in gear, son! You're putting us
behind!
Tommy shoves the book in his back pocket and hurries over.
185 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1965) 185
Tommy writes a sentence on the blackboard. Andy steps in,
shows him how to reconstruct it.
RED (V.O.)
Before long, Andy started him on
his course requirements. He really
liked the kid, that was part of it.
Gave him a thrill to help a
youngster crawl off the shitheap.
But that wasn't the only reason...
186 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1966) 186
TIGHT ANGLE on chessboard. Most of the pieces complete. PAN TO
Andy lying in his bunk, carefully polishing...
RED (V.O.)
Prison time is slow time. Sometimes
it feels like stop-time. So you do
what you can to keep going...
...and we keep going past Andy in a SLOW PAN of the cell.
Sink. Toilet. Books. Outside the window bars, we hear another
TRAIN passing in the night...
RED (V.O.)
Some fellas collect stamps. Others
build matchstick houses. Andy built
a library. Now he needed a new project.
Tommy was it. It was the same reason
he spent years shaping and polishing
those rocks. The same reason he hung
his fantasy girlies on the wall...
...STILL PANNING, past a chair, a sweater on a hook...and
finally to the place of honor on the wall...
RED (V.O.)
In prison, a man'll do most
anything to keep his mind occupied.
...where the latest poster turns out to be Racquel Welch ins
fur bikini. Gorgeous. "One Million Years, B. C. " SLOW PUSH IN,
RED (V.O.)
By 1966...right about the time
Tommy was getting ready to take his
exams...it was lovely Racquel.
187 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1966) 187
Tommy's taking the big test. Andy's monitoring the time. Deep
silence, save for Tommy's pencil-scribbling. A few old-timers
are browsing the shelves, sneaking looks their way. Tommy
tries to ignore them. Concentrate.
Andy clears his throat. Time's up. Tommy puts his pencil down,
ANDY
Well?
TOMMY
Well. It's for shit.
(gets up in disgust)
Wasted a whole fuckin' year of my
time with this bullshit!
ANDY
May not be as bad as you think.
TOMMY
It's worse! I didn't get a fuckin'
thing right! Might as well be in
Chinese!
ANDY
We'll see how the score comes out.
TOMMY
I'll tell you how the goddamn
score comes out...
Tommy grabs the test, wads it, slam-dunks it into the trash.
TOMMY
Two points! Right there! There's
your goddamn score!
(storms out)
Goddamn cats crawlin' up trees, 5
times 5 is 25, fuck this place,
fuck it!
Tommy is gone. Red and others stare. Andy gets up, pulls the
test from the trash, smoothes it out on the desk.
188 INT -- WOOD SHOP -- DAY (1966) 188
Rest break. Tommy and Red sipping Cokes.
TOMMY
I feel bad. I let him down.
RED
That's crap, son. He's proud of
you. Proud as a hen.
(off Tommy's look)
We been friends a long time. I know
him as good as anybody.
TOMMY
Smart fella, ain't he?
RED
Smart as they come. Used to be a
banker on the outside.
TOMMY
What's he in for anyway?
RED
Murder.
TOMMY
The hell you say.
RED
You wouldn't think, lookin' at him.
Caught his wife in bed with some
golf pro. Greased 'em both. C'mon,
boy, back to work...
SMASH! Red turns back. Tommy's Coke has slipped from his hand
and shattered on the floor. The kid's gone white as a sheet.
TOMMY
(bare whisper)
Oh my God...
189 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1966) 189
Tommy sits before Andy and Red:
TOMMY
'Bout four years ago, I was in
Thomaston on a 2 to 3 stretch.
Stole a car. Dumbfuck thing to do.
(beat)
Few months left to go, I get a new
cellmate in. Elmo Blatch. Big
twitchy fucker. Crazy eyes. Kind of
roomie you pray you don't get, know
what I'm sayin'? 6 to 12 for armed
burglary. Said he done hundreds of
jobs. Hard to believe, high-strung
as he was. Cut a loud fart, he'd go
three feet in the air. Talked all
the time, too, that's the other
thing. Never shut up. Places he'd
been, jobs he pulled, women he
fucked. Even people he killed.
People that gave him shit, that's
how he put it. One night, like a
joke, I say: "Yeah? Who'd you
kill?" So he says...
BLATCH
...I got me this job one time
bussin' tables at a country club.
So I could case all the big rich
pricks that come in. I pick out
this guy, go in one night and do
his place. He wakes up and gives
me shit. So I killed him. Him and
the tasty bitch he was with.
(starts laughing)
That's the best part! She's fuckin'
this prick, see, this golf pro, but
she's married to some other guy!
Some hotshot banker. He's the one
they pinned it on! They got him
down-Maine somewhere doin' time for
the crime! Ain't that choice?
He throws his head back and ROARS with laughter.