and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. It is ranked #1 in IMDb's "Top 250" list and

is considered one of the best movies of all time.

Adapted from the Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the film

tells the story of Andy Dufresne, a banker who spends 19 years in Shawshank State Prison

for the murder of his wife and her lover despite his claims of innocence. During his time at

the prison, he befriends a fellow inmate, Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, and finds himself

protected by the guards after the warden begins using him in his money laundering operation.

Despite a lukewarm box office reception that barely recouped its budget, the film received

multiple award nominations and outstanding reviews from critics for its powerful acting

and realism. It has since been successful on cable television, VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray.

It was included in the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Movies 10th Anniversary Edition.

Plot In 1947, banker Andy Dufresne is convicted

of murdering his wife and her lover and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences at the fictional

Shawshank State Penitentiary in the state of Maine. Andy quickly befriends contraband

smuggler Ellis "Red" Redding, an inmate serving a life sentence. Red procures a rock hammer

and later a large poster of Rita Hayworth for Andy. Working in the prison laundry, Andy

is regularly assaulted by the "bull queer" gang "the Sisters" and their leader, Bogs.

In 1949, Andy overhears the brutal captain of the guards Byron Hadley complaining about

being taxed on an inheritance and offers to help him legally shelter the money. After

a vicious assault by the Sisters nearly kills Andy, Hadley beats Bogs severely. Bogs is

sent to another prison and Andy is never attacked again. Warden Samuel Norton meets with Andy

and reassigns him to the prison library to assist elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen. Andy's

new job is a pretext for him to begin managing financial matters for the prison employees.

As time passes, the warden begins using Andy to handle matters for a variety of people

including guards from other prisons and the warden himself. Andy begins writing weekly

letters to the state government for funds to improve the decaying library.

In 1954, Brooks is paroled, but cannot adjust to the outside world after fifty years in

prison and hangs himself. Andy receives a library donation that includes a recording

of The Marriage of Figaro. He plays an excerpt over the public address system, resulting

in his receiving solitary confinement. After his release from solitary Andy explains that

hope is what gets him through his time, a concept that Red dismisses. In 1963, Norton

begins exploiting prison labor for public works, profiting by undercutting skilled labor

costs and receiving kickbacks. He has Andy launder the money using the alias Randall

Stephens. In 1965, Tommy Williams is incarcerated for

burglary. He joins Andy's and Red's circle of friends, and Andy helps him pass his G.E.D.

exam. In 1966, Tommy reveals to Red and Andy that an inmate at another prison claimed responsibility

for the murders Andy was convicted of, implying Andy's innocence. Andy approaches Warden Norton

with this information, but the warden refuses to listen and sends Andy back to solitary

when he mentions the money laundering. Norton then has Captain Hadley murder Tommy under

the guise of an escape attempt. Andy refuses to continue the money laundering, but relents

after Norton threatens to burn the library, remove Andy's protection from the guards,

and move him out of his cell into worse conditions. Andy is released from solitary confinement

and tells Red of his dream of living in Zihuatanejo, a Mexican coastal town. Red feels Andy is

being unrealistic, but promises Andy that if he is ever released he will visit a specific

hayfield near Buxton, Maine and retrieve a package Andy buried there. Red becomes worried

about Andy's state of mind, especially when he learns Andy asked another inmate to supply

him with six feet of rope. The next day at roll call the guards find

Andy's cell empty. An irate Warden Norton throws a rock at the poster of Raquel Welch

hanging on the wall, and the rock tears through the poster. Removing the poster, the warden

discovers a tunnel that Andy dug with his rock hammer over the previous two decades.

The previous night, Andy escaped through the tunnel and used the prison's sewage pipe to

reach freedom. Andy escapes with Norton's suit, shoes, and the ledger containing details

of the money laundering. While guards search for him the following morning, Andy poses

as Randall Stephens and visits several banks to withdraw the laundered money. Finally,

he mails the ledger and evidence of the corruption and murders at Shawshank to a local newspaper.

The police arrive at Shawshank and take Hadley into custody, while Norton commits suicide

to avoid arrest. After serving 40 years, Red is finally paroled.

He struggles to adapt to life outside prison and fears he never will. Remembering his promise

to Andy, he visits Buxton and finds a cache containing money and a letter asking him to

come to Zihuatanejo. Red violates his parole and travels to Fort Hancock, Texas to cross

the border to Mexico, admitting he finally feels hope. On a beach in Zihuatanejo he finds

Andy, and the two friends are happily reunited. Cast

Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding,

Andy's best friend and the film's narrator; convicted of murder in 1927. Before Freeman

was cast, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Paul Newman, and Robert Redford were each considered

for the role. Although written as a middle-aged Irishman with greying red hair, Darabont cast

Freeman for his authoritative presence and demeanor; he could not see anyone else as

Red. The short dialogue with Andy is a jest towards this casting decision, as when asked

about the origin of his nickname, Red answers, "Maybe it's because I'm Irish."

Bob Gunton as Warden Samuel Norton. He is well versed in the Bible and presents himself

as a pious, devout Christian and reform-minded administrator, while his actions reveal him

to be corrupt, ruthless, and remorseless. William Sadler as Heywood, a member of Red's

gang of long-serving convicts. Clancy Brown as Capt. Byron Hadley, chief

of the guards. Hadley is a sadistic guard who thinks nothing of delivering beatings

to the inmates to keep them in line. When cast for the role, Brown declined the offer

to study real-life prison guards as preparation for his role, because he did not want to base

it on any one person. Gil Bellows as Tommy Williams, a young convict

whose experiences in a previous prison hold the truth about Andy's innocence.

Mark Rolston as Bogs Diamond, the head of "The Sisters" gang and a prison rapist.

James Whitmore as Brooks Hatlen, prison librarian/trustee and one of the oldest convicts at Shawshank,

having been in prison since 1905. Darabont cast Whitmore because he was one of his favorite

character actors. Jeffrey DeMunn as the prosecuting attorney

in Andy Dufresne's trial. Themes

Chicago Sun-Times film reviewer Roger Ebert suggested that The Shawshank Redemption is

an allegory for maintaining one's feeling of self-worth when placed in a hopeless position.

Andy Dufresne's integrity is an important theme in the story line, especially in prison,

where integrity is lacking. Isaac M. Morehouse suggests that the film

provides a great illustration of how characters can be free, even in prison, or unfree, even

in freedom, based on one's outlook on life. Production

Frank Darabont secured the film adaptation rights from author Stephen King after impressing

the author with his short film adaptation of The Woman in the Room in 1983. Although

the two had become friends and maintained a pen-pal relationship, Darabont did not work

with him until four years later in 1987, when he optioned to adapt Shawshank. This is one

of the more famous Dollar Deals made by King with aspiring filmmakers. Darabont later directed

The Green Mile, which was based on another work about a prison by Stephen King, and then

followed that up with an adaptation of King's novella The Mist.

Rob Reiner, who had previously adapted another King novella, The Body, into the film Stand

by Me, offered $2.5 million in an attempt to write and direct Shawshank. He planned

to cast Tom Cruise in the part of Andy and Harrison Ford as Red. Darabont seriously considered

and liked Reiner's vision, but he ultimately decided it was his "chance to do something

really great" by directing the film himself. Though the film is set in Maine, the Ohio

State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, served as the fictional Shawshank Prison. Though

a large portion of the prison was torn down after filming, the main administration building

and two cell blocks remained; the site was revisited later for filming parts of the film

Air Force One. Several of the interior shots of the specialized prison facilities, such

as the admittance rooms and the warden's office, were shot in the reformatory. The interior

of the boarding room used by Brooks and Red was located in the administration building,

though exterior shots were made elsewhere. The prison site is a tourist attraction. Internal

scenes in the prison cellblocks were actually filmed on a soundstage built inside the nearby

shuttered Westinghouse factory. Downtown scenes were also filmed in Mansfield, as well as

neighboring Ashland, Ohio. The oak tree under which Andy buries his letter to Red is located

at 40°39′14″N 82°23′31″W, near Malabar Farm State Park, in Lucas, Ohio. The tree

was heavily damaged by straight-line winds in a thunderstorm on July 29, 2011; officials

were unsure if the tree would survive. However, thanks to rally groups and inspections by

forestry organizations, the tree was found to be alive and well and still stands to this

day. The beach at Zihuatanejo made famous by the

film has recently been closed to the public due to a health warning as a result of high

levels of pollution in the water. The film was dedicated to Allen Greene, an

agent and a close personal friend of the film's director, Frank Darabont. Greene died shortly

before the film was released due to complications of HIV/AIDS.

Release The Shawshank Redemption received a limited

release on September 23, 1994 in North America. During its opening weekend, the film earned

$727,000 from 33 theaters—an average of $22,040 per theater. It received a wide release

on October 14, 1994, expanding to a total of 944 theaters to earn $2.4 million—an

average of $2,545 per theater—finishing as the number 9 film of the weekend. The film

left theaters in late November 1994, after 10 weeks with an approximate total gross of

$16 million. It was later re-released in February 1995,

during the Oscar season, and made an additional $9 million. In total the film made approximately

$28.3 million in North American theaters, making it the number 51 highest grossing film

of 1994 and the number 21 highest grossing R-rated film of 1994.

Critical response The Shawshank Redemption garnered widespread

critical acclaim from critics. Entertainment Weekly reviewer Owen Gleiberman praised the

choice of scenery, writing that the "moss-dark, saturated images have a redolent sensuality"

that makes the film very realistic. While praising Morgan Freeman's acting and oratory

skills as making Red appear real, Gleiberman felt that with the "laconic-good-guy, neo-Gary

Cooper role, Tim Robbins is unable to make Andy connect with the audience."

The film garnered a 91% approval rating from 64 critics—an average rating of 8.2 out

of 10—on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic provides a score of 80

out of 100 from 19 critics, which indicates "generally favorable" reviews. The film has

been critically acclaimed for depicting Jean-Paul Satre's ideas about existentialism more fully

than any other contemporary movie. Accolades

The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1994 without winning any: Best Picture,

Best Actor for Freeman, Best Adapted Screenplay for Frank Darabont, Best Cinematography for

Roger Deakins, Best Editing for Richard Francis-Bruce, Best Original Score for Thomas Newman, and

Best Sound Mixing for Robert J. Litt, Elliot Tyson, Michael Herbick and Willie D. Burton.

It received two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion

Picture for Freeman, and Best Screenplay for Darabont. Robbins and Freeman were both nominated

for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the inaugural Screen

Actors Guild Awards in 1995. Darabont was nominated for a Directors Guild of America

award in 1994 for Best Director for a feature film, while cinematographer Roger Deakins

won the American Society of Cinematographers award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography.

Home media Despite its disappointing box office return,

Warner Bros. shipped 320,000 rental video copies throughout the United States, and it

became one of the top rented films of 1995. The film's home viewing success was considered

to be based on positive recommendations and repeat customers. The film's Academy Award

nominations enabled it to fare well in the video sales and cable TV viewings. In June

1997, TNT, an American cable network, showed the film for the first time. The film was

the first feature in TNT's Saturday Night New Classics. A 2004 Sunday Times article

suggested that TNT aired the film frequently from then on, about once every two months.

TV airings of the film accrued record breaking numbers.

Music

The score was composed by Thomas Newman and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best

Original Score in 1994, which was his first Oscar nomination. Much of the score consists

of faint piano music, and pizzicato strings during the more active or humorous moments.

The scores two main themes only occur two or three times. The prison theme, first heard

in the beginning is a four note ascending line in the bass, which is developed and reaches

its climax when Andy is standing in the river in the rain. The second theme represents freedom,

and is first heard when the inmates are sharing beer, feeling like 'free men.' This theme

doesn't reoccur until the final credits, this time grander, with more filled out orchestration.

Like Zimmer's score to the "Thin Red Line" the track is often played in trailers during

their most dramatic moments. Zimmer himself has credited the score as the one "that has

influenced everything the most" and that Newman opened up the harmonic palette of film scores.

A central scene in the film features the "Letter Duet" from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

Legacy In 1998, Shawshank was not listed in AFI's

100 Years...100 Movies, but nine years later, it was #72 on the revised list, outranking

both Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction, the two most critically acclaimed movies from the

year of Shawshank's release. In 1999, film critic Roger Ebert listed Shawshank on his

"Great Movies" list. It has been #1 on IMDb's user-generated Top 250 since 2008, when it

surpassed The Godfather. Readers of Empire magazine voted the film

as the best film of the 1990s, and it placed number 4 on Empire's list of "The 500 Greatest