The Shawshank Redemption · written by Frank Darabont · 1994

In an earlier night, Andy’s hammer knocks loose a piece of concrete.

Scene 189 of 249 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act three

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:35 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 189

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.
Scenes 31–154
He adapts through Red’s help, builds the library, and slowly earns trust while preparing for freedom.
Scenes 155–156
Tommy reveals that another inmate confessed to the murders, offering Andy a route to prove his innocence.
Scenes 157–166
Norton refuses to help and has Tommy killed, costing Andy the legal hope he had found.
Scene 176
The morning count reveals Andy is gone, confirming that the hidden plan worked.
Just before
Scene 186
In solitary, Red laughs again as he understands Andy’s escape.
Scene 187
State police race toward Shawshank after Andy’s escape is announced.
Scene 188
Troopers find a muddy prison uniform in the creek.
Scene 189
This scene

189EXT -- FIELD -- DAY (1966)

Shawshank is half a mile distant. WE TRACK ALONG a muddy creel as STATE TROOPERS and PRISON GUARDS scour the brush. A TROOPEE fishes a prison uniform out of the creek with a long stick.

RED (V.O.)

All they found of him was a muddy

set of prison clothes, a bar of

soap, and an old rock-hammer damn

near worn down to the nub.

TROOPER g2 pulls the rock-hammer from the weeds. SWISH PAN to a POLICE PHOTOGRAPHER. His FLASHBULB GLARE produces:

A BLACK AND WHITE STILL PHOTO

of the hapless cops posing with Andy's reeking uniform and the worn rock-hammer. PUSH IN on the hammer.

RED (V.O.)

I remember thinking it would take a

man six hundred years to tunnel

through the wall with it. Andy did

it in less than twenty.