From subtle references to Stephen King's other work to the use of
baby food for an unexpected special effect,
there are plenty of things you probably failed to notice in "The Shawshank Redemption".
"The Shawshank Redemption" is full of small references and clues that hardly anyone would
notice on first viewing, but on subsequent rewatches, you'll be wondering how they
passed you by. One of these is a very early hint about exactly how Andy would escape the prison.
At one point, the contents of Andy's cell are being tossed around by Captain
Hadley and Warden Norton as they check for contraband. The room is completely trashed,
with Andy's belongings on the floor, the bed flipped over, and the pair coming close to
discovering the secret tunnel he's been digging in the wall. When the warden finds Andy's Bible,
the two discuss their faith and then talk about their favorite verses from the good book.
"I almost forgot. I'd hate to deprive you of this. Salvation lies within."
This turns out to be foreshadowing the fact that Andy has in fact hidden his
rock hammer inside the Bible. As well as the words being found in the Bible,
Andy's salvation — the tool he will use to escape — also lies hidden within the pages.
Escaping from Shawshank State Penitentiary is never far from
Andy's mind, and there is another brief quote from a character in "The Shawshank
Redemption" that offers a clue to the way he eventually breaks out.
While having a conversation just before his escape attempt, Andy talks to Red about his
plans for when he gets out of prison. The two prisoners speak about the future and Andy
reveals that he wants to travel to Mexico and live in the country when he's on the outside.
But Red tells him he shouldn't waste his time dreaming of things that will never happen.
"I don't think you oughta be doing this to yourself,
Andy. These are just s----y pipe dreams."
When Andy does escape from the prison it is, of course, via a method that is referenced
in Red's dialogue. He crawls through hundreds of yards of human excrement in a sewage pipe,
and his pipe dream of escaping does come true after all.
Red, of course, is played by the great Morgan Freeman. Red becomes fast friends with Andy and
the two grow closer and closer throughout the film. However, the character is a bit
different in the original Stephen King novella. In that story, while Red is still the prison
fixer who sources the rock hammer for Andy, he's also a white Irish man with red hair.
The character's name makes sense in the story, but Red doesn't match quite as well for the depiction
of him in the film. The movie reveals at one point that his real name is actually Ellis Boyd Redding,
giving a clear reason for why he uses Red as a nickname. However,
when Andy asks him about his moniker, Red simply replies:
"Maybe it's because I'm Irish"
This cheeky joke would be lost on the vast majority of viewers,
but if you know about the original story then it's a really fun reference.
Of the more than 80 novels that Stephen King has written over the course of his career,
there is usually one main constant: The vast majority of them are set in the state of Maine,
the place of the author's birth and the area where he still lives. It's perfectly understandable,
then, that the original story "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" takes place in Maine just
like most of his other stories. And when it came to adapting the novella for film,
director Frank Darabont chose to keep the setting the same.
However, if you have watched "The Shawshank Redemption" multiple times then something
could have jumped out as unusual. That's because none of the characters in the film speak with a
Maine accent, despite the fact that a good deal of the characters in the prison should be from
Maine. The only character with the hint of an accent is the warden — but even that is only
very slight. There should be a lot more people speaking as if they are actually from Maine,
but luckily this oversight doesn't really detract from the story.
Even those who have seen "The Shawshank Redemption" just once
might notice that there is a distinct lack of women throughout the entire film. In many ways,
it shouldn't be all that surprising that most of the characters in "The Shawshank Redemption"
are men since the vast majority of the action takes place in Shawshank State Penitentiary — a
prison for male inmates. This means that all of the prisoners are men, and the staff are also
male to ensure that they stay safe, leaving very little opportunity for speaking roles for women.
There are just two female speaking roles in "The Shawshank Redemption" for those who are
looking closely. One is the bank teller — played by Claire Slemmer — who speaks to
Andy after he escapes from prison and requests some cash. The other is a customer — played by
Dana Snyder — who tells Brooks to double bag her shopping when he is working in the store.
Even Andy's wife — who is shown during a flashback sequence at the start of
the movie — doesn't talk during the brief time she is on screen.
Brooks is one of the few prisoners in "The Shawshank Redemption" — outside of Andy and
Red — who is given significant screen time. One of the oldest inmates in Shawshank State
Penitentiary, he is put in charge of the library and later befriends Andy when he's transferred
to work with the books as well. The two bond over their love of fiction and the fact they
are both highly educated. When Andy finds a maggot in his prison food, Brooks asks
if he can have the insect so he can feed it to Jake, an injured bird he is secretly caring for.
However, it wasn't a real maggot. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
objected to an insect being fed to the bird entirely for filming purposes as they don't
allow any living creatures to be killed for a movie. According to Humane Hollywood,
this maggot was actually fashioned from baby food to give it the appearance of an insect larva and
make it edible for the crow, which was carefully placed in the actor's pocket by an animal handler.
"The Shawshank Redemption" takes place over quite a long period of time. According to Red,
Andy first arrives in Shawshank State Penitentiary in the year 1947 and doesn't escape the walls of
the facility until 1966. That means that the film takes place over the course of some 19 years.
This passage of time is made perfectly clear to the audience,
so it isn't like the filmmakers are trying to disguise the fact that so many years have
passed. But despite almost two decades passing during the story, none of the
characters in "The Shawshank Redemption" show any signs of aging whatsoever. Red,
Andy, and the others all look the same near the conclusion of the film as they do right at the
start of the action. They should have aged by some 20 years in that time and at least demonstrate
some evidence that they are now much older than they were. Yet, for some reason they don't.
In Stephen King's novels, the number 217 has appeared several times. It was most
famously the number of the guest room at the Overlook Hotel where Lorraine Massey
had died by suicide — an event that played an integral part in the narrative of "The
Shining." However, when Stanley Kubrick adapted the book to the hit film in 1980,
he changed the room number to 237 seemingly at the request of the lodge where they
filmed at so that visitors would not want to avoid the room in real life.
A callback to this important number is made in "The Shawshank Redemption," although it
is only briefly mentioned and could easily be missed by anyone watching
the movie for the first time. Red's cell in Shawshank State Penitentiary is numbered 237,
revealed when the guards are searching for the missing Andy. There's little doubt that this is
no coincidence and was intended as an Easter egg for those who are big fans of King's wider work.
"Open 237!"
As "The Shawshank Redemption" progresses, we find out more about the past of some
of the characters. One consistent theme that's present throughout the film is Red
attending a parole hearing to determine whether he has rehabilitated and is fit
to re-enter society. Over the course of the two decades that are portrayed in the movie,
Red attends three different parole hearings before he's finally approved and allowed to
leave Shawshank State Penitentiary after spending 40 years behind bars.
During these hearings, a folder showing Red's prison file is on display. It shows
the "rejected" stamp mark and information about the character. This includes a photograph of
Red in his youth when he was first put in prison. The picture used isn't just a random younger man,
but someone that looks very like the actor Morgan Freeman — and there's a
very good reason for that. The person in the photograph is actually Morgan Freeman's son,
Alfonso Freeman, who also plays a convict in the prison during the early parts of the film.
It's not unusual for directors to occasionally have a role in their films, sometimes as small
as just showing their hands. For example, Quentin Tarantino famously used his hands both off camera
and on camera in "Kill Bill" and "Inglourious Basterds". Specifically, he used them in scenes
where actors needed to be choked, feeling that only he could pull off such a delicate process.
A similar thing happens in "The Shawshank Redemption," with director Frank Darabont acting
as a hand double for Tim Robbins' character. According to the DVD commentary for the film,
the director used his own hands for insert shots when Andy was handling a revolver or
any other close-ups of the character's hands as Darabont felt that he could perform the required
motions more accurately than Robbins could. It also saved time and effort to simply perform
the actions himself since only the most eagle-eyed viewers would ever notice the hands are different.
Along with the reference to "The Shining," "The Shawshank Redemption" also includes a variety
of other Easter eggs related to Stephen King novels or film and television adaptations of his
work. One of the more obvious is the alias that Andy uses while doing the taxes of the warden.
The alias, of course, is very important to the story,
as it gives Andy the opportunity not only to hide his illicit activities on behalf of
the warden but also to withdraw the hidden money from several banks after he escapes from prison.
In King's original story, the alias used is Peter Stevens, but in the movie,
Andy invents the name Randall Stevens — which is a nod to the supernatural villain Randall
Flagg from various novel series written by King, including "The Stand" and "The Dark
Tower." Frank Darabont admitted he changed the original name from Peter to Randall
in homage to the author without telling the legal team or the rest of the crew.
"Randall Stevens." "Who?"
"The silent silent partner. He's the guilty one, your Honor. The man with the bank accounts."
Few people would have complaints about Tim Robbins' performance
in "The Shawshank Redemption." In fact, it would be difficult to imagine anyone
else taking on the role of Andy in the film — especially when you
consider the other fantastic actors who are part of the movie as well.
However, having Robbins portray Andy did introduce some rather interesting problems
for director Frank Darabont. The actor is significantly taller than most people,
standing at an impressive 6 feet 5 inches. That makes him around four inches taller
than his co-star Morgan Freeman and a full head larger than most of the cast. With Andy
not meant to be an especially imposing figure, the filmmakers had to use some
movie magic to make it seem as if Robbins was actually shorter than he really is.
The way this was achieved is remarkably simple and something the audiences likely would pay
very little attention to, at least on the first viewing. Darabont just had Robbins rarely stand
up straight so that almost every scene involving Andy sees the character either sitting down or
leaning to one side. This gave the illusion that he was actually a similar height to everyone else.