These goofs, cameos, and Easter eggs make The Shawshank Redemption that much greater. For more awesome content, check out: whatculture.com/ Follow us on Facebook at: / whatculture Catch us on Twitter: / whatculture
This movie has one of the greatest overlooked moments of foreshadowing. When Andy is speaking to Red about Zihuatanejo beach later in the film, red says “Andy that’s just sh***y pipe dreams” (paraphrase). And what did Andy crawl out of to reach his dreams.....
I noticed it the first time I saw it in college when my roommate was watching it. I laughed when he was crawling through the pipe and turned to the roommate and said “That’s funny, shitty pipe dream.” He was kind of upset I noticed that right away and he had seen it a bunch of times and never noticed it. He mostly was upset because he was an A student and I was about to drop out.
The "Redemption" is not Andy's, it is Red's. Andy never lost hope, Red had. To redeem is to give value to something that no longer has any. Red's life was redeemed by Andy. Andy gave him hope, and it eventually paid off. Redemption indeed!
You forget to mention that Red said there is no sense in playing the harmonica in prison because it symbolizes having hope. The music when Red is looking for the rock wall is symphonic UNTIL red sees the rock wall and the tree and you'll hear the harmonica start to play symbolizing that hope is beginning to grow in Red.
I thought it was interesting the way that the movie shifts from Andy being the main character to Red in the last few scenes after his escape. I recall Benicio Del Toro speaking about how unsure he was that the film Sicario would work because it transitions from Emily Blunt being the main character to his character during the climax scenes. But I think it worked nicely for both!
"Forrest Gump" was a very popular movie and despite the BP nomination, a lot of people didn't discover Shawshank until AFTER the Oscars. Still, I can't say it should have won Best Picture, because there was ANOTHER nominee (not "Forrest Gump") that was not only better, but was in my opinion the best film of the 1990's, and possibly of all time. Need a hint? "I love you, Honey Bunny." "I love you Pumpkin." "Everybody be cool; this is a robbery!" "ANY OF YOU F***ING PRICKS *MOVE*, AND I'LL EXECUTE EVERY MOTHER F***ING LAST ONE OF YOU!!!!" *roll opening credits*
@@TreantmonksTemple "Game Show" was a good film, but I wouldn't say it was robbed of an Oscar. Over the years, people keep talking about "Pulp Fiction" and "Shawshank". Also "Forrest Gump" (and I'm not counting gripes about "Why did this film win instead of...") But "Game Show"? Not so much.
Yeah I actually thought that when the film came out . More specifically the shoes. The suit did look a little short though but before the days of social media no one would have really cared. Movie magic.
The old man holding on to to the bar in front of him on the bus after he gets out is the same thing they are made to do while in transit while incarcerated. He is still doing it after he is out. Truly institutionalized.
I did literally watch it every day for almost two years. My girlfriend could not go to sleep without something on the television, so we would put on Shawshank Redemption every night at bedtime. The end credits were my lullaby, lol.
It was great, but the best? I’m sure the director would give that honor to the shot behind Fred Derry looking out of the B-17 bomber in Best Years of our Lives … Or the opening shot from The Searchers.
Also surprised you didn’t call out the quote Morgan Freeman’s Red says in regards to why people call him “red”, “Maybe it’s because I’m Irish”. In the book the character was a red headed Irishman. The quote in the movie is a nod to that.
Plumber here. Most waste pipe works on gravity. This means that the pipe would be empty unless somebody flushed. Also I’d imagine the pipe would be open to the atmosphere thus not under pressure so wouldn’t splurge out when Andy smashes it.
Dude aside from that how in the hell did even fit into that pipe to begin with? You can clearly see the hole is barely big enough for him to stick his head through lol yet he manages to fit his entire body through that hole? Unless he's houdini its just not possible. Thats why after that scene, it cuts to him already crawling though the pipe.
Couple more: - The wooden pillars in the apartment that Brooks hangs himself from resemble prison bars, further illustrating his institutionalization. - When Red is out of prison and finds Andy’s money/note in the field, he looks over his shoulder twice to make sure no one sees him, despite the fact that he is in the middle of nowhere (i.e., another subtle nod to the lingering effects of institutionalization).
The bird call that makes Red wary enough to check his surroundings for prying eyes is highly effective at instilling that sort of chilling feeling as though you're being watched. I did a little research and found out that the bird sound heard is the cactus wren, native to the southwestern US and Mexico. I don't know if that's just the sound production folks being lazy (it's used a *lot* in movie scenes set in a desert) or are they being rather clever...after all, a bird from Mexico (where "jailbird" Andy has escaped to) has no earthly business being in a Maine hayfield (any more than a chunk of black volcanic glass does).
“I am constantly analysing movies” *fails to understand that The Shawshank Redemption isn’t Andys redemption but Reds* Andy doesn’t change, he doesn’t have a character arc, he’s there to change the characters around him. Things come close to changing Andys beliefs that hope is a good thing and we all need hope (boggs, the warden) however it’s Red who has the 3 act character arc - he goes from not believing in hope as he’s stuck in prison to finally believing in hope as he gets out of prison
Andy also did change. Before prison his wife said he was hard to read. He opened up a lot in prison. He really let people in and gave back. He broke the rules when before he had never committed a crime. He also got redemption in the form of financial freedom and the ability to reclaim his life.
So sad that the ASPCA is worried about the suffering of a maggot, but never gives a thought to suffering children,or the suffering babies go through when being aborted. .f@ck them
I'd say 18 things you somehow missed, 2 things you probably didn't know. How many of us really took the time to learn about the taxman or the organization he works for?
There's a reason why I keep this in arm's length on my DVD Shelf. I don't know the best part is either when Andy escapes behind the tunnel he created using the poster or when the warden blows his brains out to avoid arrest. Either way, I know I must have watched it hundreds of times by now, and I'm still not sick and tired of the movie. It doesn't hurt that the narrator is Morgan Freeman , and he has a role in the movie as well.
This is the only movie, out of the hundreds that I have seen, that I remember where in the theater I was sitting after watching the trailer when I thought, I've got to see this movie. I even remember where I was sitting. It is the only movie of which I have three legal copies. It is and, I suspect, will always be the best movie I have ever seen.
As a plumber the problem in the sewer pipe scene isn't the level of sewage he is crawling though. The problem is that sewer pipes don't hold liquid under pressure, (unless there is a pump which didn't happen in that era) so the shit fountain would not happen, but the internal level would be accurate. Also the pipes tend to get bigger as you get closer to the end.
Yeah spot on bud. The reason for the shit fountain is just for effect. Since it is a movie it would be boring if something didn't happen when he broke the pipe. Mostly reality goes through the window when a cool shot happens.
Well I guess that depends on whether the "sewer" was also taking rainwater away from the roof? But either way, the gasses in a pipe that narrow would've suffocated Andy long before he made the distance.
The smart thing they did from changing this from the book was not to tell what Red did to land in prison (he killed his wife when he was in his 20's) and kill Tommy (It was more impactful and made the Warden that much more evil). Also I think this is one of the few movies where the happy ending was earned. In the book Red is just one the bus going to Mexico (it is a well know joke that King never know how to end his stories, he liked the change). This movie was robbed at The Oscars (yes it was and is better then Forest Gump)
Yes, it is better than Forest Gump but this is a problem with the Oscars - great movies often take time to fully take in and appreciate while the Oscars are awarded in March to movies most of which were released in Nov and Dec of the prior year.
I always felt since the first time I saw it that the story was intended to end with Red on his way to a new adventure with an uncertain future but hope filling his heart, and that the reunion scene was sort of slapped on. It doesn't ruin the ending, it's just a little incongruent. Darabont made some similar changes to The Green Mile. Eduard Delacroix seems far more worthy of sympathy when they don't tell you he's on the Mile for raping a girl, killing her, then trying to cover his crime by dousing the body with coal oil and setting it on fire...which ends up burning down a building and killing several others in the process. I will also put forth that this edit very slightly puts things out-of-kilter with the themes in the story; much like how John Coffey pulls death and disease from people (and mice) and releases them to disperse like a sinister cloud of shadowy insects, King also treats whatever drove Del to commit his crimes as something that infected/possessed him but vacated and moved on afterward, leaving just a meek little Cajun man incapable of such evil to pay the price. This makes Coffey pulling the tumor out of Melinda Moores and then using whatever shadowy force comprised it to prompt Percy Whetmore to murder William Wharton make a little bit more sense.
Also, when the picture is shown of the police holding up the articles that Andy leaves behind in the creek, the guy holding the stick was Tim Robbins's stunt double.
What a classic film. If I'm switching channels and seeing it's playing I almost always stop and watch. "Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."
My favorite little nod is the reading of the rights when the police come for the guard and warden. You'll see the arresting officer reading the rights off a piece of paper. That is because it was a new procedure at the time of the arrest.
Red tells Andy that his thoughts of escaping are just shitty pipe dreams. Then Andy escapes, literally, through a shitty pipe. Mind blown. Took me probably over 100 view of this film (my favorite BTW) to notice that.
I have to disagree with the aging part. They may have *underdone* it depending on how old the characters are supposed to be, but there are definitely indicators that they have aged. Andy's eyesight, for one. Red's hair starts greying. Even the other guys are given some aging effects.
Correct, especially the scene where Warden Norton is telling Andy to shine his shoes the night when he escapes. Dufresne has many visible gray hairs he didn’t have when arriving.
Right. People age at different rates depending on their stage in life. I am 59 years old. I do not look any older than when I was 40. (I have old ID photos to prove it.)
My theory on why they don’t age is because Red and Andy are now in Mexico and Red is telling it as a story. Because there was no way Red could have known Andy called through the sewer without Andy telling him it’s his memories of him being in Shawshank
There’s A deleted scene in the movie where a guard goes through the whole Andy Dug and goes into the pipe he calls out and discovers that it’s a sewage pipe and he screaming in terror that he is in shit and red is laughing hysterically at this. So red knows that’s how he got out through the sewage pipe
My explanation is that the not-aging is metaphorical. Andy walks through the yard like a man strolling in the park. He doesn't let this place get to him. He doesn't let it kill the spirit inside him. And so he stays young. Doesn't explain why none of the other characters age, though.
He always said 'Smokes or coins, betters' choice'. While everyone else in the gang (except for that younger guy) seems to be smoking, Red, Andy and Brooks seem to be nonsmokers.
The main thing that stands out to me is how INCREDIBLY lucky Andy was, that his cell was located at the end of a block, and that he didn't just end up tunnelling into the adjacent cell. You might say he earned this luck given the massive miscarriage of justice!
I'd say those anachronisms were deliberately done on the audiences behalf as IRS and tax return filing date are what a modern audience would expect them to be.
I saw it at the cinema back in the day when it was first released. A moving experience that's for sure and although it didn't do so well in terms of box office takings (here in the UK at least) I'm glad I saw this masterpiece on the big screen. And I'll never forget my mate's girlfriend shouting out "BASTARD!" when the Warden Norton had Tommy shot 😮😁
I’ll never forget how I’d think of this movie when I was dealing with depression. I think a lot of people view this movie that way. As an escape plan from certain woes in life. I learned to appreciate its themes and it’s characters. It’s a simple story but a relatable one in some ways. The music is what fucking gets me every time. That last shot as Andy is flying down the coast in a convertible and the piano twinkles and you can hear wind chimes. Fucking hits me every damn time. “I hope I get to see my friend.”
Obviously loyalty to friends is a theme in this movie. However, that reminds me of the line in Stand by Me where (paraphased) the narrator asks whether we ever have friends like the ones we have when we're kids? I think it's possible to make great friends as an adult, so don't despair if you're feeling lonely.
If Andy's cell is the last one in the row,where does Brooks go after giving Andy his book ??? He keeps pushing his cart as if there's more cells past Andy's.....
Let me get this straight; The director had absolute faith in Tim Robbins ability to act for the entire movie, but was unsure if he could load a pistol? Billy Corgan complex.
They probably had finished principle photography for the film and calling Tim Robbins back to film that one scene loading the gun would have cost the studio more than the shot was worth. my guess.
Fun fact: The role of Andy Dufresne was originally offered to Tom Hanks, who couldn't accept due to scheduling conflicts with Forrest Gump (1994). Hanks did, however, work on Frank Darabont's next film, The Green Mile (1999), also an adaptation of a Stephen King novel, which takes place in a prison.
He's "The only guilty man in Shawshank" because in the short story, Red tried to murder his unfaithful wife by fixing the brakes on her car. It worked. Unfortunately, his wife had a friend and her little boy as passengers, and everyone died.
Why Shawshank Redemption is so good ? Because it has many subplots which can be turned into movies . Feelings after watching this masterpiece can't be described in words
Agreed 👍 A couple years back my then girlfriend told me she'd got tickets to see it at a local theatre. I assumed, as this isn't uncommon in my experience, it was the theatre showing the movie on a temporary big screen on the stage. When we arrived at the theatre and were waiting for drinks in the foyer I clocked several posters on the walls promoting up coming shows, and sure enough there was The Shawshank Redemption. After glancing at it for a second or two something seemed off about it. Then I thought, "hey that isn't Tim Robbins...and that isn't Morgan Freeman either". It only took a couple more seconds for the penny to drop and me figure that we were there to see a live stage production of the movie 🙄 Unfortunately I voiced a lot of this thought process and my then girlfriend thought it was hilarious that I'd got it all wrong. From that moment on I vowed to pay more attention to what she was saying!! Didn't do much good though I guess given that she's now an ex 😁
On top of all the reasons we like this movie so much, I have one more, the Bank Manager (when Andy gets some money and mails the financial records to a newspaper reporter) was my High School History teacher in the 60's. A fantastic teacher and an outstanding person, Jim Kisicki.
Live about 15 miles from Manci aka Shawshank so this was a big deal for us locally...the Bank at the end of the Movie is still here and the vault door inside the bank is quite old and is one of the coolest. The business seen out the front window is Picideli news stand.. The bus station where Red got his ticket is part of the old Myers building offices and the brand new building seen across the street DCHS had to be blurred out because of the sparkling new handrail that was in the shot. The laundry scenes we also shot in our town where most of the outside shots outside of the prison where shot in the upper eastern part of the US... Massachusetts or Maine... not sure which.
Geeeee folks..you can find faults in almost every movie...but you have to admit this is one of the best films ever made.The ending is totally amazing.CHEERS all.
The gusher from the sewer is the inaccurate part not the drained sewer. In the middle of the night the sewer would likely be almost empty. I've worked on sewers that size and seen them break. Even when full they don't splash like that unless they're plugged up and the "water" is backed up.
The movie was shot at Mansfield Ohio’s condemned max security prison. I know as I was there (the prison, not the shoot). The lunch hall, the movie theater, etc were all authentic to that prison. Where other parts were shot I do not know.
I made an appointment with my son who is 28 years old to watch shawshank redemption. He had never seen it. We spent Sunday watching the film he was moved. Today he sent me your video ❤ty
As far as the aging goes, maybe I’m seeing things, but certain shots do seem to have Andy, Red and The Warden with more grey hair and different hair styles towards the later years (about the time Tommy arrives). I don’t think it was meant to be drastic and realistic but just subtle detail to show at least some time passage. Andy is also seen wearing glasses later on which is about the same time you can notice this. Again, it could just be inconsistent make up, scenes shot out of order, or just the lighting, but it seems like it’s definitely there.
I always liked the fact that he hid the rock hammer at the book of Exodus. This is a story about the Israelites gaining freedom from slavery, just like Andy escaping from prison. I also liked how the Warden discovered that, because he would talk about the Bible, but failed to live up to it.
And small washers taped to bottom backside corners could easily act as weights to drop edges back down. I used two pennies as a child to hide things behind a poster.
One thing you definitely missed in the 18 things we somehow missed in the Shawshank redemption summary video: You ended the video saying ‘there are the 20 things you missed’, when the title is 18. Check mate.
15: well remember the movie takes place over twenty years. Many scenes don't take place in close amounts of time, so theoretically many of the background prisoners can come and go, either released/killed, and newbies come in.
Consider the piping Andy crawls through. It's obviously a storm drain, not a sanitary sewer, which most certainly would not drain into a creek. The pipe he breaks with the rock or whatever would most likely be made of clay, with is plausible, but that would be rainwater, not raw sewage gushing out.
Was it intentional that at the beginning of this episode, he says "This is 18 things you somehow missing in the Shawshank Redemption" and then at the end he says " There you have it, those are 20 things you somehow missing in the Shawshank Redemption" You owe me two more just for catching that
I can't believe how apperantly most have missed, or didn't mentioned the "biggest" hidden messages in this movie. It's when the warden realize his game is up and looks at his wallsafe, with his wife needle point "His Judgement Cometh and That Right Soon..."
@@mikespearwood3914 Well, you know how people are... My mother in law still smiles and says "thank you" despite the messages I've written so far in her pudding, during sunday dinner.
The sewer pipe is easy to explain- it is no longer used. Andy also escapes when it is raining, so a sewage pipe would not fill with sewage as water would be running through it
I’ve recommended this movie to many and they are never disappointed. Another great movie I discovered years ago while channel surfing on a snowy day was “The Man Who Would Be King” with Sean Connery,Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer.
Yea that always bothered me that 6ft 5 man at least 230 lbs crawl for 2 footballs fields thru a tiny shit pipe is beyond fictional but man was it inspiring
As someone who has actually done time, I totally understand Andy and Red not aging something about being locked up preserves you so im ok with that one, reading some of the other comments makes me sad I love the movie but damn there are of mistakes made in this film, lest just love it for what it is and don't think about the mistakes to much
Have a look at the rock hammer when they find it in the river after he escapes. Red said it was "near worn down to the nub".. look at the hammer, it is almost in perfect condition!
What's interesting about prison movies, is that the prisoners tend to be the good guys, and the Warden with his guards are the bad guys. Movies like Shawshank Redemption, Escape from Alcatraz, Lock-up (with Stallone), and the Longest Yard (both versions with Burt Reynolds and Adam Sandler). There is typically a prisoner who is the protagonist, and the Warden, the antagonist, is either mean or corrupt, while the guards are his henchmen. The protagonist prisoner typically wins in the end.
During the library scene, these guys have shown they are uneducated. So for Red to say 500 yards is just shy of half a mile, is playing on the character’s horrible math. This line is legit
As a math geek, I noticed the 500 yards error immediately. You might also point out how ridiculous it was that Brooksy thought he could release Jake the crow into the wild and it could survive after being hand- fed all its life.
About the accents... a Lot of people that live there are not from there or even live there 100% of the time. Granted there should be some accents, but not as many as you may think.
My biggest gripe is.. So he’s trying to escape by digging out and has to hide his digging with a picture, which the warden wasn’t a fan of. So why try to ruin his privileges by hijacking the wardens office to play the music over the prison speakers. I mean surely by doing so he might think the warden could react by taking his privileges away i.e. rocks and pictures in his cell. Massive risk from Andy
It wasn't a risk because the warden have to have him to launder the money. Andy knew that he would be punished, but he also knew the warden had to have him.
So you're not going to mention how small that hole was in that pipe andys head could barely fit through but he managed to fit his 6 foot 5 body frame through. One of my favorite movies
