Shawshank Redemption Page #15

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!

163INT -- 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...

164EXT -- 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.

165INT -- 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

c*cks 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 sh*t.

166INT -- PRISON CORRIDOR -- NIGHT (1965) 166

Andy trudges down the corridor with Norton's laundry, the pie

box under his arm.

167INT -- 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.

168EXT -- 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.

169INT -- 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.

170EXT -- PRISON YARD -- DUSK (1965) 170

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