The Shawshank Redemption · written by Frank Darabont · 1994

Andy reads Brooks’s letter; Red grieves that Brooks could not adapt outside.

Scene 97 of 249 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 55 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 97

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.
Just before
Scene 94
Brooks imagines robbing the Foodway so he can be sent back to prison.
Scene 95
Brooks packs his few possessions and writes to his prison friends.
Scene 96
Dressed to leave, Brooks prepares to mail his letter and carry out his plan.
Scene 97
This scene

97EXT -- EXERCISE YARD -- SHAWSHANK -- DAY (1954)

Andy reads the letter to Red and the others:

ANDY

P.S. Tell Heywood I'm sorry I put a

knife to his throat. No hard

feelings.

A long silence. Andy folds the letter, puts it away. Softly:

RED

He should'a died in here, goddamn

it.