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159 INT -- WOOD SHOP -- DAY (1961) 159
Red is making a sign, carefully routing letters into a long plank
of wood. It turns out to be --
160 INT -- PRISON LIBRARY -- DAY (1963) 160
-- the varnished wood sign over the archway: "Brooks Hatlen
Memorial Library." TILT DOWN to reveal the library in all
its completed glory: shelves lined with books, tables and chairs,
even a few potted plants. Heywood is wearing headphones, listening
to Hank Williams on the record player.
RED (V.O.)
By the year Kennedy was shot, Andy had transformed a broom closet
smelling of turpentine into the best prison library in New England.
161 EXT -- SHAWSHANK PRISON -- DAY (1963) 161
FLASHBULBS POP as Norton addresses MEMBERS OF THE PRESS:
RED (V.O.)
That was also the year Warden Norton instituted his famous "Inside-Out"
program. You may remember reading about it. It made all the papers
and got his picture in LIFE magazine.
NORTON
...a genuine, progressive advance in corrections and rehabilitation.
Our inmates, properly supervised, will be put to work outside
these
walls performing all manner of public service. Cutting pulpwood,
repairing bridges and causeways, digging storm drains...
ANGLE TO Red and the boys listening from behind the fence.
NORTON
These men can learn the value of an honest day's labor while providing
a valuable service to the community -- and at a bare minimum of
expense to Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Taxpayer!
HEYWOOD
Sounds like road-gangin', you ask me.
RED
Nobody asked you.
162 EXT -- HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION SITE -- DAY (1963) 162
A ROAD-GANG is grading a culvert with picks. There's dust and
the smell of sweat in the air. GUARDS patrol with sniper rifles,
A pushy WOMAN REPORTER in an ugly hat bustles up the grade,
trailed by a PHOTOGRAPHER.
WOMAN REPORTER
You there! You men! We're gonna take your picture now!
HEYWOOD
Give us a break, lady.
WOMAN REPORTER
Don't you know who I am? I'm from LIFE magazine! I was told I'd
get some co-operation out here! You want me to report you to your
warden? Is that what you want?
HEYWOOD
(sighs)
No, ma'am.
WOMAN REPORTER
That's more like it! Now I want you all in a row with big bright
smiles
on your faces! Grab hold of your tools and show 'em to me!
She turns, motioning her photographer up the grade. Heywood glances
around at the other men.
HEYWOOD
You heard the lady.
Heywood unzips his pants, reaches inside. The others do likewise.
The woman turns back and is greeted by the sight of a dozen men
displaying their penises and smiling brightly. Her legs go wobbly
and she sits heavily down on the dirt grade.
HEYWOOD
C'mon! We're showin' our tools and grinnin' like fools! Take the
damn
picture!
163 INT -- SOLITARY CONFINZMENT -- NIGHT (1963) 163
Heywood sits alone in the dark. He sighs.
RED (V.O.)
None of the inmates were invited to express their views...
164 EXT -- WOODED FIELDS -- DAY (1965) 164
A ROAD-GANG is pulling stumps, bogged down in mud.
RED (V.O.)
'Course, Norton failed to mention to the press that "bare
minimum of
expense" is a fairly loose term. There are a hundred different
ways to skim off the top. Men, materials, you name it. And, oh
my Lord, how the money rolled in...
Norton strolls into view with NED GRIMES at his heels.
NED
This keeps up, you're gonna put me out of business! With this
pool of slave labor you got, you can underbid any contractor in
town.
NORTON
Ned, we're providing a valuable community service.
NED
That's fine for the papers, but I got a family to feed. The State
don't pay my salary. Sam, we go back a long way. I need this new
highway contract. I don't get it, I go under. That's a fact.
(hands him a box)
Now you just have some'a this fine pie my missus baked specially
for
you, and you think about that.
Norton opens the box. Alongside the pie is an envelope. He runs
his thumb across the thick stack of cash it contains.
IN THE BACKGROUND, a winch cable SNAPS and whips through the
air, damn near severing a man's leg. He goes down, screaming in
mud and blood, pinned by a fallen tree stump. Men rush over to
help him. Norton barely takes notice.
NORTON
Ned, I wouldn't worry too much over this contract. Seems to me
I've
already got my boys committed elsewhere. You be sure and thank
Maisie for this fine pie.
165 INT -- NORTON'S OFFICE -- NIGHT (1965) 165
ANGLE on Maisie's pie. Several pieces gone.
RED (V.O.)
And behind every shady deal, behind every dollar earned...
TILT UP to Andy at the desk, munching thoughtfully as he totals
up figures on an adding machine.
RED (V.O.)
...there was Andy, keeping the books.
Andy finishes preparing two bank deposits. Norton hovers near
the desk, keeping a watchful eye.
ANDY
Two deposits, Casco Bank and New England First. Night drop, like
always.
Norton pockets the envelopes. Andy crosses to the wall safe and
shoves the ledger and sundry files inside. Norton locks the safe,
swings his wife's framed sampler back into place. He cocks his
thumb at some laundry and two suits in the corner.NORTON
Get my stuff down t'laundry. Two suits for dry-clean and a bag
of
whatnot. Tell 'em if they over- starch my shirts again, they're
gonna hear about it from me.
(adjusts his tie)
How do I look?
ANDY
Very nice.
NORTON
Big charity to-do up Portland way. Governor's gonna be there.
(indicates pie)
Want the rest of that? Woman can't bake worth shit.
166 INT -- PRISON CORRIDOR -- NIGHT (1965) 166
Andy trudges down the corridor with Norton's laundry, the pie
box under his arm.
167 INT -- LIBRARY -- DAY (1965) 167
TILT UP FROM PIE to find Red munching away as he helps Andy
sort books on the shelves.
RED
Got his fingers in a lot of pies, from what I hear.
ANDY
What you hear isn't half of it. He's got scams you haven't dreamed
of. Kickbacks on his kickbacks. There's a river of dirty money
flowing through this place.
RED
Money like that can be a problem. Sooner or later you gotta explain
where it came from.
ANDY
That's where I come in. I channel it, funnel it, filter it...stocks,
securities, tax free municipals... I send that money out into
the big
world. And when it comes back...
RED
It's clean as a virgin's whistle?
ANDY
Cleaner. By the time Norton retires, I will have made him a millionaire.
RED
Jesus. They ever catch on, he's gonna wind up wearing a number
himself.
ANDY
(smiles)
I thought you had more faith in me than that.
RED
I'm sure you're good, but all that paper leaves a trail. Anybody
gets
too curious -- FBI, IRS, whatever -- that trail's gonna lead to
somebody.
ANDY
Sure it will. But not to me, and certainly not to the warden.
RED
Who then?
ANDY
Peter Stevens.
RED
Who?
ANDY
The silent, silent partner. He's the guilty one, your Honor. The
man
with the bank accounts. That's where the filtering process starts.
They trace it back, all they're gonna find is him.
RED
Yeah, okay, but who the hell is he?
ANDY
A phantom. An apparition. Second cousin to Harvey the Rabbit.
(off Red's look)
I conjured him out of thin air. He doesn't exist...except on paper.
RED
You can't just make a person up.
ANDY
Sure you can, if you know how the system works, and where the
cracks are. It's amazing what you can accomplish by mail. Mr.
Stevens has a birth certificate, social security card, driver's
license.
They ever track those accounts, they'll wind up chasing a figment
of my imagination.
RED
Jesus. Did I say you were good? You're Rembrandt.
ANDY
It's funny. On the outside, I was an honest man. Straight as an
arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.
168 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- DUSK (1965)
RED
Does it ever bother you?
ANDY
I don't run the scams, Red, I just process the profits. That's
a fine
line, maybe. But I've also built that library, and used it to
help a dozen guys get their high school diplomas. Why do you think
the warden lets me do all that?
RED
To keep you happy and doing the laundry. Money instead of sheets.
ANDY
I work cheap. That's the trade-off.
TWO SIREN BLASTS draw their attention to the main gate. It swings
open, revealing a prison bus waiting outside.
169 INT -- PRISON BUS -- DUSK (1965) 169
Among those on board is TOMMY WILLIAMS, a damn good-looking kid
in his mid-20's. The bus RUMBLES through the gate.
170 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- DUSK (1965) 170
The new fish disembark, chained together single-file. The old-timers
holler and shake the fence. A deafening gauntlet.
171 INT -- CELLBLOCK EIGHT -- NIGHT (1965) 171
Tommy and the others are marched in naked and shivering, covered
with delousing powder, greeted by TAUNTS and JEERS.
172 INT -- TOMMY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1965) 172
The bars slam with a STEEL CLANG. Tommy and his new CELLMATE
take in their new surroundings.
TOMMY
Well. Ain't this for shit?
173 INT -- PRISON CORRIDOR -- DAY (1965) 173
DOLLYING Tommy as he struts along, combing his ducktail,
cigarette behind his ear. (We definitely need The Coasters or
Del Vikings on the soundtrack here. Maybe Jerry Lee Lewis.)
RED (V.O.)
Tommy Williams came to Shawshank in 1965 on a two year stretch
for B&E. Cops caught him sneakin' TV sets out the back door
of a JC Penney.
174 INT -- WOOD SHOP -- DAY (1965) 174
A SHRIEKING BUZZSAW slices ten-foot lengths of wood. Red runs
the machine while some other OLD-TIMERS feed the wood.
RED (V.O.)
Young punk, Mr. Rock n' Roll, cocky as hell...
Tommy is hauling the cut wood off the conveyor and stacking it,
It's a ball-busting job, but the kid's a blur.
TOMMY
(slapping his gloves)
C'mon there, old boys! Movin' like molasses! Makin' me look bad!
The old guys just grin and shake their heads.
RED (V.O.)
We liked him immediately.
175 INT -- MESS HALL -- DAY (1965) 175
Tommy regales the old boys with his exploits:
TOMMY
...so I'm backin' out the door, right? Had the TV like this...
(mimes his grip)
Big ol' thing. Couldn't see shit. Suddenly, here's this voice:
"Freeze kid! Hands in the air!"
Well I just stand there holdin' on to that TV, so the voice says:
"You
hear what I said, boy?" And I say, "Yes sir, I sure
did! But if I drop
this fuckin' thing, you got me on destruction of property too!"
The whole table falls about laughing.
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