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turning to page one
High stone walls topped with snaky concertina wire, set off at intervals by looming guard towers. Over a hundred CONS are in the yard. Playing catch, shooting craps, jawing at each other, making deals. Exercise period. RED emerges into fading daylight, slouches low-key through the activity, worn cap on his head, exchanging hellos and doing minor business. He's an important man here.
RED (V.O.)
There's a con like me in every
prison in America, I guess. I'm the
guy who can get it for you.
Cigarettes, a bag of reefer if
you're partial, a bottle of brandy
to celebrate your kid's high school
graduation. Damn near anything,
within reason.
He slips somebody a pack of smokes, smooth sleight-of-hand.
RED (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Yes sir, I'm a regular Sears &
Roebuck.
TWO SHORT SIREN BLASTS issue from the main tower, drawing everybody's attention to the loading dock. The outer gate swings open...revealing a gray prison bus outside.
RED (V.O.) (CONT'D)
So when Andy Dufresne came to me in
and asked me to smuggle Rita
Hayworth into the prison for him, I
told him no problem. And it wasn't.
CON
Fresh fish! Fresh fish today!
Red is joined by HEYWOOD, SKEET, FLOYD, JIGGER, ERNIE, SNOOZE. Most cons crowd to the fence to gawk and jeer, but Red and his group mount the bleachers and settle in comfortably.