The Shawshank Redemption is in many people’s top films of all time. The adaptation of the Stephen King story has garnered praise time and time again. It’s one of those films that, when you catch it on cable television, you stop and watch it, or when you scroll past it on a streaming platform, you contemplate putting it on. It’s a film with that kind of effect on people.
The film tells the story of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), as told by his inmate and friend Red (Morgan Freeman). The pair bond at Shawshank prison, as Andy is doing life for a crime he believes he didn’t commit.
Many call The Shawshank Redemption a perfect film, holding a top spot on IMDb’s rankings for some time. Oddly, it was overlooked upon its release in 1994 but gained traction as one of the greatest films ever made over the years. However, like many films, especially ones on a high pedestal, the Frank Darabont-directed movie has its flaws; some of them you have to have a keen eye for, others are right there in front of you.
9 Typos in the End Credits
End credits have to be a hard thing to do. Whoever has the job of producing the scrolling text of everyone who worked on the movie, whether it be the crew, office P.A., or someone from accounting who never stepped foot on set, God bless them. With a task like that, there is always a chance that there may be a typo here and there. Writing can be a hard job. Heck, there might even be a typo in this entry too.
ADR Typo
No person who sits through the end credits of movies out of respect for all who worked on a film would even spot this one, but IMDB did. Apparently, when the credits reach the sound department as the beautiful closing shot of the beach fades to black, the title for Additional ADR Recordist is spelled “Aditional ADR Recordist.
8 Andy’s Bible
The word “Redemption” is in the title of the film, so, of course, there were going to be a lot of religious undertones in terms of the protagonist having a redemptive tale about being able to survive prison. Andy’s Bible is a standout prop throughout the film, and it is something that plays a pivotal part in his escape in the third act of the movie. However, there are some continuity issues with it.
Dirty and Clean
Maybe we’re being too hard on the movie, as things get worn out over time, especially a book, but throughout the film, Andy’s Bible seems brand new, and then in other scenes it has some wear and tear, then in a later scene it looks brand new again. These feel like small details that a prop master on set should be on top of.
The condition of the Bible even changes in one scene. When Andy’s cell is being searched, it’s a clean blue bible. When the Warden asks him about his favorite bible verse, it’s dirty and older-looking.
7 JFK and the .44 Cent Stamp
Andy is given tasks from The Warden that end up burning the Warden in the film’s climax after his escape. He’s close to the paperwork that shows the corruption at the prison, and he uses it to his advantage when he makes his escape. However, there is another small detail that, when paying close attention, can catch your eye when Andy is dealing with mail.
JFK Continuity Error
The Shawshank Redemption takes place over the course of 19 years. He arrives at the prison in 1947 and escapes in the mid-1960s. Andy’s first order of business is to send out some mail when he gets to a bank the morning after he escapes prison. On the .44 cent stamp is what looks like President John F. Kennedy.
We are not stamp experts, but based on IMDb’s list of goofs in the film, JFK was never on that stamp. The stamps are also not perforated, meaning they are not real stamps.
6 Warden Norton’s Hand
Warden Norton (Bob Gunton) is one of the more pivotal supporting roles in The Shawshank Redemption. He’s the perfect bad guy and one of the more hated characters in movie history. However, in a pivotal scene after Andy’s escape, there is a continuity error that shows up for a quick second in the film that is easy to spot.
Norton Points at Red
The day after Andy escaped, we have a scene that shows Warden Norton and his guards investigating the disappearance of Andy in his cell. The discovery of the hole in the wall that Andy crawled through is a shock to the Warden and his guards. They then call in Red (Morgan Freeman) to interrogate him to see if he knew anything about Andy’s escape. Red, being that he was very close with Andy, knows nothing of it.
In one shot, Norton points at Red with his left hand. Then, when the angle changes to a wider shot, Norton is pointing at Red with his right hand.
5 Red’s Window on His Bus Ride to Freedom
Red, played by Morgan Freeman, is the storyteller behind The Shawshank Redemption. We get to know all that is happening through his narration and even his point of view. All the while, he too has a character arc that pays off big in the end. Red finally gets his freedom after years of his potential parole being rejected. The look on Red’s face as he gets a taste of freedom is, in essence, the theme of the whole movie.
Red’s Window on the Bus Has a Continuity Error
It’s a beautiful moment in the film, as Red now tastes and feels freedom on the bus ride out of Shawshank. He has his arm out to dangle from the window. Every window on the bus is open. However, when cut to a different angle of the bus making its way down the road from afar, we see that the bus now has all the windows shut and nobody has their arms dangling out of them.
4 Brooks Walking Down the Aisle
Brooks, played by James Whitmore, is a perfect example of a smaller character in a movie that has a lasting impact. Brooks is an older man who has been locked up in prison for many years. His life outside the walls of Shawshank does not last long, as he struggles to cope with the outside world. He ends up killing himself tragically, leaving behind the famous word “Brooks Was Here” carved into the wall of his halfway house.
Brooks’ Cart
In prison, Brooks was known as the man who delivered books and knick-knacks to the inmates. In one scene where he pushes his cart down the aisle and stops at Andy’s cell to give him a hammer, he keeps going further down the aisle. The interesting thing is that Andy’s cell was at the end of the aisle, and there was a wall there. Brooks could not have kept going forward; he would have needed to turn around.
3 The Warden’s Suicide
As mentioned prior, Warden Norton, played brilliantly by character actor Bob Gunton, is one of the greatest villains of all time. A character that feels all too real that only Stephen King could craft in his head. After Andy Dufresne has escaped, Shawshank Prison and its warden are exposed for their wrongdoing, and Norton decides to shoot himself before the law can have their way with him.
The Bullet Hole
We never see Warden Norton shoot himself. We see him put the gun to his chin, and then we hear the gunfire, and his dead body is revealed to authorities. However, the bullet hole where he shot himself does not seem to line up with where the gun was. All of this appears in the original cut of the movie. Director Frank Darabont went back in and fine-tuned the scene ten years later, so that the continuity error was fixed.
2 Andy Never Ages
Tim Robbins’ performance in The Shawshank Redemption as Andy Dufresne is a role he will always be known for. Dufresne is meticulous as he goes through his journey of nearly two decades behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit. He’s quiet, thoughtful, and refuses to fall into the culture of dehumanizing a person, something that prison can do to someone. There is something about Andy that goes over people’s heads, though.
Everyone Gets Older
Andy Dufresne never ages. All the other characters who spend time at Shawshank show signs of physical change, even if its minor. The Warden is much older by the time he meets his demise, and Red’s hair is much grayer when you reach the third act of the film. However, Andy keeps his looks very intact throughout what is a life sentence that he decides to cut short.
1 A Flashback Where the Dialogue Doesn’t Match Up
Flashbacks that show a different point of view of an earlier event in the movie are a dime a dozen. They are meant to show you a plot twist or explain a character’s big surprise they pull off. The Shawshank Redemption perfectly backtracks to show you Andy Dufresne’s escape. It’s the best part of the movie, but it still has its flaws.
The Scene Replays With Different Dialogue
When we go back step by step to see how Andy escaped Shawshank, a lot of scenes are replayed with Red’s narration over them to show us how Andy pulled off what he did. Andy’s shoes, and the bible he owned all played a big part in his escape.
But rather than it just being the same scene replayed, we see re-shot scenes where the dialogue is different. Case in point: when Andy discusses the deposit with an office worker, the original line is “three deposits, sir,” and in the scene later on, he says, “three deposits tonight.” They could have just replayed the scene again.
