The Shawshank Redemption

You may download a PDF of the script here.

Of the 5 we've read so far, I've seen this movie the most times. I was tempted to skim the screenplay a little, thinking that I wouldn't get as much reading a screenplay of a movie I've seen so many times- but I didn't. I probably got the most out of this reading.

Like Scott mentioned, there were a couple of scenes that didn't make the movie. It really made me think about why they were cut. I really liked Red's ending scene after he was released and he was commenting on the world and how it's changed. But I can seen why it was cut. Pace. He still had to find Andy's letter and then find Andy. The movie was already wrapping up and it would've dragged if that scene had remained in.

I've mentioned before the challenge conveying a character's thoughts through playable action instead of just saying what the character's thinking. Shawshank had several good examples of telling us what the characters are thinking without really telling us, if that makes sense. Here's an example (after Norton notices the dirty shoes Andy left behind):

"He stares blankly. What the f*** indeed."

It's almost saying what the reader is thinking, not just what the character is thinking. I liked it a lot.

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One part that has always bugged me is the young kid (Tommy) who comes to Shawshank. It's not his character, but rather his revelation that bugs me.

C'mon. We've been talking about coincidences and how sometimes we let them slide. But Tommy rooming with the guy who really killed Andy's wife and the golf pro? (Okay, I'll accept that coincidence...even though the killer's monologue is so contrived: "she's banging some golf pro but she's married to some hotshot banker"----- who would really say it like that? I'm surprised he didn't just say Andy's name so we all knew for sure it was the same murder.)

But the biggest coincidence, and the one that anchors the whole story of Andy being in prison for a crime he didn't commit, is Andy sitting in the car with a gun the night that Elmo actually kills the wife and the golf pro. There's no freaking way. I agree with the lawyer: a fantastic coincidence.