The Shawshank Redemption · written by Frank Darabont · 1994

At night, Andy carves his name into the wall and begins chipping at it.

Scene 52 of 249 · ≈ 1 min on screen · First scene of act two

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 35 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 52

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.
Just before
Scene 49
The men haul a cooler of beer to the roof.
Scene 50
The crew drinks cold beer in the sun, a brief taste of freedom.
Scene 51
Andy and Red play checkers; Andy argues that chess is a game of kings.
Scene 52
This scene

52INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1949)

Andy lies in his bunk after lights out, polishing a fragment of quartz by the light of the moon.

He pauses, glancing at all the names scratched in the wall. He rises, makes sure the coast is clear, and starts scratching his name into the cement with his rock-hammer, adding to the record.

RAY MILLAND 63

fills the screen in glorious (and scratchy) black & white, suffering a bad case of DT's...