The Shawshank Redemption · written by Frank Darabont · 1994

A reporter interviews a road gang about the program while guards supervise.

Scene 128 of 249 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Woman Reporter
Heywood

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:07 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 128

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 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
Norton announces his Inside-Out prison labor program to the press.
Scene 128
This scene

128EXT -- HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION SITE -- DAY (1963)

A ROAD-GANG is grading a culvert with picks. There's dust and the smell of sweat in the air. GUARDS patrol with sniper rifles, A pushy WOMAN REPORTER in an ugly hat bustles up the grade, trailed by a PHOTOGRAPHER.

WOMAN REPORTER

You there! You men! We're gonna

take your picture now!

HEYWOOD

Give us a break, lady.

WOMAN REPORTER

Don't you know who I am? I'm from

LIFE magazine! I was told I'd get

some co-operation out here! You

want me to report you to your

warden? Is that what you want?

HEYWOOD

(sighs)

No, ma'am.

WOMAN REPORTER

That's more like it! Now I want you

all in a row with big bright smiles

on your faces! Grab hold of your

tools and show 'em to me!

She turns, motioning her photographer up the grade. Heywood glances around at the other men.

HEYWOOD

You heard the lady.

Heywood unzips his pants, reaches inside. The others do likewise. The woman turns back and is greeted by the sight of a dozen men displaying their penises and smiling brightly. Her legs go wobbly and she sits heavily down on the dirt grade.

HEYWOOD (CONT'D)

C'mon! We're showin' our tools and

grinnin' like fools! Take the damn

picture!