The Shawshank Redemption · written by Frank Darabont · 1994

Norton announces his Inside-Out prison labor program to the press.

Scene 127 of 249 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:06 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 127

After a banker is wrongly imprisoned for murder, he uses patience, expertise, and friendship to survive Shawshank and build a path to freedom.

Scenes 1–8
Andy’s former life and conviction frame a banker whose apparent control has vanished.
Scenes 9–10
Inside prison, Andy needs a way to survive without surrendering the inner self he is trying to protect.
Scenes 11–30
Andy enters Shawshank and confronts its violence, hierarchy, and rules.
Scene 31
Andy and Red begin the friendship that will carry the film’s argument about hope and connection.
Scene 51
Andy tells Red that prisoners retain an inner life and hope, though Red warns hope can be dangerous.
Scene 112
Andy broadcasts Mozart; the whole prison experiences a brief freedom of mind, revealing what hope can still do.
Just before
Scene 124
Red and the men unpack the new books Andy found through book clubs and donations.
Scene 125
Red carves the sign for the Brooks Hatlen Memorial Library.
Scene 126
The finished library opens, stocked with books and plants, honoring Brooks.
Scene 127
This scene

127EXT -- SHAWSHANK PRISON -- DAY (1963)

FLASHBULBS POP as Norton addresses MEMBERS OF THE PRESS:

RED (V.O.)

That was also the year Warden

Norton instituted his famous

"Inside-Out" program. You may

remember reading about it. It made

all the papers and got his picture

in LIFE magazine.

NORTON

...a genuine, progressive advance

in corrections and rehabilitation.

Our inmates, properly supervised,

will be put to work outside these

walls performing all manner of

public service. Cutting pulpwood,

repairing bridges and causeways,

digging storm drains...

ANGLE TO Red and the boys listening from behind the fence.

NORTON (CONT'D)

These men can learn the value of an

honest day's labor while providing

a valuable service to the community

-- and at a bare minimum of expense

to Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Taxpayer!

HEYWOOD

Sounds like road-gangin', you ask

me.

RED

Nobody asked you.