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216 REVERSE ANGLE 216
reveals the cell is empty. Everything neat and tidy. Even the
bunk is stowed. They wrench the door open and rush in, tossing
the cell in a panic as if Andy might be lurking under the Kleenex
or the toothpaste. CAMERA ROCKETS IN on Haig as he spins toward
us, bellowing at the top of his lungs:
HAIG
WHAT THE FUCK!
217 INT -- NORTON'S OFFICE -- MORNING (1966) 217
Norton is kicking back with the morning paper. He notices how
dingy his shoes are. He glances at the shoebox on the desk. kicks
his shoes off, opens the box -- and gulls out Andy's o grimy work
shoes. He stares blankly. What the fuck indeed.
An ALARM STARTS BLARING throughout the prison. He looks up.
218 EXT -- PRISON -- DAY (1966) 218
Norton and Hadley stride across the grounds, ALARM BLARING.
NORTON
I want every man on that cellblock questioned! Start with that
friend
of his!
HADLEY
who?
219 INT -- CELLBLOCK FIVE -- RED'S CELL -- DAY (1966) 219
Red watches as Norton storms up with an entourage of guards.
NORTON
Him.
Red's eyes widen. Guards yank him from his cell.
220 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- DAY (1966) 220
Norton steps to the center of the room, working himself up into
a fine rage:
NORTON
What do you mean "he just wasn't here?" Don't say that
to me, Haig!
Don't say that to me again!
HAIG
But sir! He wasn't! He isn't!
NORTON
I can see that, Haig! You think I'm blind? Is that what you're
saying?
Am I blind, Haig?
HAIG
No sir!
Norton grabs the clipboard and thrusts it at Hadley.
NORTON
What about you? You blind? Tell me what this is!
HADLEY
Last night's count.
NORTON
You see Dufresne's name? I sure do! Right there, see? "Dufresne."
He was in his cell at lights out! Stands to reason he'd still
be here this morning! I want him found! Not tomorrow, not after
breakfast! Now!
Haig scurries out, gathering men. Norton spins to Red.
NORTON
Well?
RED
Well what?
NORTON
I see you two all the time, you're thick as thieves, you are!
He must'a said something!
RED
No sir, he didn't!
Norton spreads his arms evangelist-style, spins slowly around.
NORTON
Lord! It's a miracle! Man up and vanished like a fart in the wind!
Nothin' left but some damn rocks on the windowsill and that cupcake
on the wall! Let's ask her! Maybe she knows! What say there, Fuzzy-
Britches? Feel like talking? Guess not. Why should you be different?
Red exchanges looks with the guards. Even they're nervous. Norton
scoops a handful rocks off the sill. He hurls them at the wall
one at a time, shattering them, punctuating his words:
NORTON
It's a conspiracy! (SMASH) That's what this is! (SMASH) It's one
big damn conspiracy! (SMASH) And everyone's in on it! (SMASH)
Including her!
He sends the last rock whizzing right at Racquel. No smash.
It takes a moment for this to sink in. All eyes go to her. The
rock went through her. There's a small hole in the poster where
her navel used to be.
You could hear a pin drop. Norton reaches up, sinks his finger
into the hole. He keeps pushing...and his entire hand disappears
into the wall.
221 ANGLE FROM BEHIND POSTER 221
as Norton rips the poster from before our eyes. Stunned faces
peer in. CAMERA PULLS SLOWLY BACK...to reveal the long crumbling
tunnel in the wall.
222 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- MINUTES LATER (1966) 222
RORY TREMONT, a guard barely out of his teens, tries not to look
nervous as they lash a rope around his chest. He's getting instructions
from six different people at once.
RED (V.O.)
They got this skinny kid named Rory Tremont to go in the hole.
He wasn't much in the brains department, but he possessed the
one most important qualification for the job...
(they slap a flashlight in his hands)
...he was willing to go.
223 INT -- TUNNEL -- DAY (1966) 223
Rory squeezes down the tunnel on his belly.
RED (V.O.)
Probably thought he'd win a Bronze Star or something.
224 INT -- VERTICAL SHAFT -- DAY (1966) 224
Dark as midnight. Concrete walls rise on both sides. If you imagine
them as two huge slices of bread, the meat of this particular
sandwich is about three feet of airspace and a dark tangle of
pipes between the cellblocks. Rory's appears, shining his flashlight
down the shaft. Somewhere, a rat SQUEAKS.
RED (V.O.)
It was his third day on the job.
RORY
Warden? There's a space here between the walls 'bout three feet
across! Smells pretty damn bad!
NORTON (O.S.)
I don't care what it smells like!
HADLEY (O.S.)
Go on, boy! We got a hold of you!
Looking none too happy about it, Rory squeezes from the tunnel
and dangles into the shaft. He gets lowered, shining his light,
smothered by darkness. Not having a good time.
RORY
Hoo-whee! Smell's gettin' worse!
NORTON (O.S.)
Never mind, I said! Just keep going!
RORY
Smells pretty damn bad, Warden! In fact, it smells just like shit.
His feet touch the ground -- or what he assumed was the ground.
It's not. In fact, it's just what it smells like. He sinks in
past his ankles. He slips and sits heavily in it.
RORY
Oh God, that's what it is, it's shit. oh my God it's shit. pull
me out 'fore I blow my groceries, oh shit it's shit, oh my Gawwwwwwd!
225 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- DAY (1966) 225
Red and others listen to violent barfing from below.
RED (V.O.)
And then came the unmistakable sound of Rory Tremont losing his
last few meals. The whole cellblock heard it. I mean, it echoed.
That's it for Red. He starts laughing. Laughing, hell, he's bellowing
laughter, laughing so hard he has to hold himself, laughing so
hard tears are pouring down his cheeks. The look of rage on Norton's
face makes him laugh all the harder.
226 INT -- SOLITARY WING -- NIGHT (1966) 226
Abrupt silence. LOW ANGLE on steel door.
RED (V.O.)
I laughed myself right into solitary. Two week stretch.
227 INT -- SOLITARY -- NIGHT (1966) 227
RED
It's shit, it's shit, oh my God it's shit...
He starts laughing all over again, fit to split.
RED (V.O.)
Andy once talked about doing easy time in the hole. Now I knew
what he meant.
228 EXT -- SHAWSHANK PRISON -- WIDE SHOT -- DAY (1966) 228
Virgin landscape. Charming rural road. Suddenly, State Police
cruisers rocket up the road with SIRENS AND LIGHTS.
RED (V.O.)
In 1966, Andy Dufresne escaped from Shawshank Prison.
229 EXT -- FIELD -- DAY (1966) 229
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:
230 A BLACK AND WHITE STILL PHOTO 230
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.
231 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1949) 231
Once again, we see Andy using the rock-hammer to scratch his
name into the cement. Suddenly, a palm-sized chunk of cement pops
free and hits the floor. He stares down at it.
232 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1949) 232
Andy lies in the dark, studying the chunk of concrete in his
hands. Considering the possibilities. Wrestling with hope.
RED (V.O.)
Andy loved geology. I imagine it appealed to his meticulous nature.
An ice age here, a million years of mountain-building there, plates
of
bedrock grinding against each other over a span of millennia...
233 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1949) 233
Andy stands peering at the small hole left by the fallen chunk.
Carefully runs his fingertip over it.
RED (V.O.)
Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes,
really. Pressure and time.
234 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1951) 234
Rita is now on the wall, hanging down over Andy's back.
RED (V.O.)
That and a big damn poster.
TRACK IN to reveal Andy scraping patiently at the concrete.
RED (V.O.)
Like I said. In prison, a man'll do most anything to keep his
mind
occupied.
He hears FOOTSTEPS approaching. He smoothes the poster down and
dives into bed. A GUARD strolls by a moment later, shining his
flashlight into the cell.
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