Factual error: Towards the end of the movie when Andy is escaping, he breaks open a sewage pipe and is covered with its contents. It is physically impossible for the sewage to shoot out of the break like it did. In order for that to happen there has to be pressure. But there is none there, because the end he crawls through is empty and the end is in the open air. (01:52:20)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Frank Darabont
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Clancy Brown, Tim Robbins, William Sadler, Bob Gunton, Gil Bellows
While laundering Warden Norton's (Bob Gunton) bribe money, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) meets Tommy, a young punk who's in prison for theft; Tommy tells him and Red (Morgan Freeman) that he knew the real killer of Dufresne's wife and is willing to testify for Dufresne's innocence. When Norton realises that his money is at stake, he orders Cpt. Hedley (Clancey Brown) to shoot Tommy. Once Tommy is dead, Dufresne can never prove his innocence. One night, he enters his cell with fancy clothes and a rope; the next day, he's not there. Warden Norton Calls Red, his friend, and together they find out the truth... For 20 years, Andy has been digging his way out with a tiny rock hammer; the hole in the wall was right behind Rita Hayworth's poster all along. Once he swam the sewer pipe, he left the prison with fancy clothes. He entered the bank, took all of Norton's bribe money with the name he sat up for him and told the police about his deeds. Captain Hedley is arrested for murder and Norton kills himself. Red finally wins his parole after 40 years in prison; he finds money Andy has left for him under a rock in a field and sets off to the sunny coast of Zihuatanejo, Mexico, where he finds his old friend Andy, starting a business for boat-renting. The two men approach each other and hug.
More mistakes in The Shawshank Redemption
Red: There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit.
More trivia for The Shawshank RedemptionMore questions & answers from The Shawshank Redemption
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Chosen answer: In a nutshell, tax evasion. He's running the prison like a company doing building work with, as its described by the builder in the movie, a pool of slave labour to allow him undercut other contractors. He is skimming profit for his own pockets, along with taking bribes, etc. that Andy's creative book keeping is hiding from the IRS.