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59 EXT -- LICENSE PLATE FACTORY -- DAY (1949) 59
As before, an object is hauled up the side of the building by
rope -- only this time, it's a cooler of beer and ice.
RED (V.O.)
And that's how it came to pass, that on the second-to-last day
of the job, the convict crew that tarred the plate factory roof
in the spring of '49...
60 EXT -- ROOF -- SHORTLY LATER (1949) 60
The cons are taking the sun and drinking beer.
RED (V.O.)
...wound up sitting in a row at ten o'clock in the morning, drinking
icy
cold Black Label beer courtesy of the hardest screw that ever
walked
a turn at Shawshank State Prison.
HADLEY
Drink up, boys. While it's cold.
RED (V.O.)
The colossal prick even managed to sound magnanimous.
Red knocks back another sip, enjoying the bitter cold on his
tongue and the warm sun on face.
RED (V.O.)
We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders, and felt like
free men. We could'a been tarring theroof of one of our own houses.
We
were the Lords of all Creation.
He glances over to Andy squatting apart from the others.
RED (V.O.)
As for Andy, he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange
little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer.
HEYWOOD
(approaches with a beer)
Here's a cold one, Andy.
ANDY
No thanks. I gave up drinking.
Heywood drifts back to others, giving them a look.
RED (V.O.)
You could argue he'd done it to curry favor with the guards. Or
maybe make a few friends among us cons. Me, I think he did it
just to
feel normal again...if only for a short while.
61 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- THE BLEACHERS -- DAY (1949) 61
Andy and Red play checkers. Red makes his move.
RED
King me.
ANDY
Chess. Now there's a game of kings.
Civilized...strategic...
RED
...and totally fuckin' inexplicable. Hate that game.
ANDY
Maybe you'll let me teach you someday. I've been thinking of getting
a board together.
RED
You come to the right place. I'm the man who can get things.
ANDY
We might do business on a board. But the pieces, I'd like to carve
those myself. One side done in quartz... the opposing side in
limestone.
RED
That'd take you years.
ANDY
Years I've got. What I don't have are the rocks. Pickings here
in the
exercise yard are pretty slim.
RED
How's that rock-hammer workin' out anyway? Scratch your name on
your wall yet?
ANDY
(smiles)
Not yet. I suppose I should.
RED
Andy? I guess we're gettin' to be friends, ain't we?
ANDY
I suppose we are.
RED
I ask a question? Why'd you do it?
ANDY
I'm innocent, remember? Just like everybody else here.
Red takes this as a gentle rebuff, keeps playing.
ANDY
What are you in for, Red?
RED
Murder. Same as you.
ANDY
Innocent?
RED
The only guilty man in Shawshank.
62 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1949) 62
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.
63 RAY MILLAND 63
fills the screen in glorious (and scratchy) black & white,
suffering a bad case of DT's...
64 INT -- PRISON AUDITORIUM -- NIGHT (1949) 64
...while a CONVICT AUDIENCE hoots and catcalls, talking back
to the screen. We find Red slouched in a folding chair, watching
the movie. Andy enters, backlit by the flickering glare of the
projector, and takes a seat next to him.
RED
Here's the good part. Bugs come out of the walls to get his ass.
ANDY
I know. I've seen it three times this month already.
Ray Milland starts SCREAMING. The entire audience SCREAMS with
him, high-pitched and hysterical. Andy fidgets.
ANDY
Can we talk business?
RED
Sure. What do you want?
ANDY
Rita Hayworth. Can you get her?
RED
No problem. Take a few weeks.
ANDY
Weeks?
RED
Don't have her stuffed down my pants this very moment, sorry to
say. Relax. What are you so nervous about? She's just a woman.
Andy nods, embarrassed. He gets up and hurries out. Red grins,
turns back to the movie.
65 INT -- AUDITORIUM CORRIDOR -- NIGHT (1949) 65
Andy exits the theater and freezes in his tracks. Two dark figures
loom in the corridor, blocking his path. Rooster and Pete. Andy
turns back -- and runs right into Bogs. Instant bear hug. The
Sisters are on him like a flash. They kick a door open and drag
him into --
66 THE PROJECTION BOOTH 66
-- where they confront the startled PROJECTIONIST, an old con
blinking at them through thick bifocals.
BOGS
Take a walk.
PROJECTIONIST
I have to change reels.
BOGS
I said fuck off.
Terrified, the old man darts past and out the door. Pete slams
and locks it. Bogs shoves Andy to the center of the room.
ANDY
I know. I've seen it three times this month already.
Ray Milland starts SCREAMING. The entire audience SCREAMS witt
him, high-pitched and hysterical. Andy fidgets.
ANDY
Can we talk business?
RED
Sure. What do you want?
ANDY
Rita Hayworth. Can you get her?
RED
No problem. Take a few weeks.
ANDY
Weeks?
RED
Don't have her stuffed down my pants this very moment, sorry to
say. Relax. What are you so nervous about? She's just a woman.
Andy nods, embarrassed. He gets up and hurries out. Red grins,
turns back to the movie.
65 INT -- AUDITORIUM CORRIDOR -- NIGHT (1949) 65
Andy exits the theater and freezes in his tracks. Two dark figures
loom in the corridor, blocking his path. Rooster and Pete. Andy
turns back -- and runs right into Bogs. Instant bear hug. The
Sisters are on him like a flash. They kick a door open and drag
him into --
66 THE PROJECTION BOOTH 66
-- where they confront the startled PROJECTIONIST, an old con
blinking at them through thick bifocals.
BOGS
Take a walk.
PROJECTIONIST
I have to change reels.
BOGS
I said fuck off.
Terrified, the old man darts past and out the door. Pete slams
and locks it. Bogs shoves Andy to the center of the room.
BOGS
Ain't you gonna scream?
Andy sighs, cocks his head at the projector.
ANDY
They'd never hear me over that. Let's get this over with.
Seemingly resigned, Andy turns around, leans on the rewind bench
-- and curls his fingers around a full 1.000 foot reel of 35mm
film. Rooster licks his lips, pushes past the others.
ROOSTER
Me first.
ANDY
Okay.
Andy whips the reel of film around in a vicious arc, smashing
it into Rooster's face and bouncing him off the wall.
ROOSTER
Fuck! Shit! He broke my nose!
Andy fights like hell, but is soon overpowered and forced to
his knees. Bogs steps to Andy, pulls out an awl with a vicious
eight-inch spike, gives him a good long look at it.
BOGS
Now I'm gonna open my fly, and you're gonna swallow what I give
you to swallow. And when you d mine, you gonna swallow
Rooster's. You done broke his nose, so he ought to have somethin'
to show for it.
ANDY
Anything you put in my mouth, you're going to lose.
BOGS
You don't understand. You do that, I'll put all eight inches of
this steel ii your ear.
ANDY
Okay. But you should know that sudden serious brain injury causes
the victim to bite down. Hard. (faint smile) In fact, I understand
the bite-reflex is so strong the victim's jaws have to be pried
open with a crowbar.
The Sisters consider this carefully. The film runs out of the
projector, flapping on the reel. The screen goes white.
BOGS
You little fuck.
Andy gets a bootheel in the face. The Sisters start kicking and
beating the living shit out of him with anything they can get
their hands on. In the theater, the convicts are CHANTING AND
CLAPPING for the movie to come back on.
RED (V.O.)
Bogs didn't put anything in Andy's mouth, and neither did his
friends. What they did do is beat him within an inch of his life...
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