The Shawshank Redemption · written by Frank Darabont · 1994

Tommy sits for his high-school equivalency test while Andy watches.

Scene 153 of 249 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Andy
Tommy

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:17 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 153

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 150
Tommy reads at the wood-shop line until work pulls him away from the book.
Scene 151
Andy teaches Tommy to write a sentence and begins his coursework.
Scene 152
Andy polishes the nearly completed chess set as Red reflects on prison time.
Scene 153
This scene

153INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1966)

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 (CONT'D)

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.