The Shawshank Redemption/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

 * Family Guy criticized the concept of Norton being the bad guy even though he's "the only non-criminal character in this movie." Norton is a criminal, however, as are most (if not all) characters in this movie; even Andy, who's wrongfully convicted of the crime he's in for, commits some major crimes while in prison. And there is the brilliance of this movie; everyone's a criminal in this movie, just as to an albeit lesser extent everyone's a criminal in real life. Think about it; aren't there moments in your life where you've done things that are against the law?
 * "Maybe because I'm Irish". Red's evasive answer when asked directly how he came by his nickname on the heels of asserting that everybody in prison claims innocence becomes unspokenly chilling when spoken by Morgan Freeman. Hint- he's a murderer.
 * Hint- his full name, as shown on his parole form, is Ellis Boyd REDDING. So where do you think that nickname came from? Then again, for the real reason behind his nickname, see Mythology Gag.
 * In the Stephen King novella the movie was based on, Red was in fact a red-haired Irish-American. The line in the movie is a kind of cheeky way of addressing the fact that his ethnicity has been changed in the film to African American. (Of course, it's possible for an African American to have Irish ancestry, but I don't think that was the point here.)
 * Red tells Andy that escaping from prison is just a "shitty pipe dream."
 * As an extension of that,
 * How Andy gets past the Guards re-entering the cell-block after stealing the Warden's shoes.
 * How is this Fridge? They say that in the movie!
 * That said, if his logic was, "How often do you look at a man's shoes?" wouldn't it be safer to hope that one bank manager fails to notice the prison shoes, which might cause a bit of awkwardness, than risk that a guard would notice Norton's polished work shoes, which would result in the failure of his escape attempt and massive retribution? (Yes, Andy visited a dozen banks, but after the first he could have taken some cash and bought himself some proper shoes.)
 * The sequence of Andy carving his name, which was cut halfway to show him, in a seemingly non-connected manner, asking Red for a Rita Hayworth poster. When they're revealing The Fridge Brilliance comes in when you realise that the two scenes are actually connected and not a change of subjects.
 * This also subtly explains his vague dismay when Red said the poster's arrival could take some time.
 * And why the poster is mentioned right in one of Red's first voiceovers.
 * The new fish who was slaughtered by Hadley. "What was his name?" "What do you care?" Look at the credits. Obviously, He's also not named; credited only as "Fat Ass".
 * After seeing the climax, you realize just how close Andy came to being totally screwed when Norton came into his cell. The Warden pointed disapprovingly at the racy poster and almost walked off with Andy's bible.
 * Anyone else interpret warden Samuel Norton's "it's a conspiracy" rant seems as a case of psychological projection? Given that he's rather corrupt himself, perhaps that would explain why he sees a conspiring nature in others?

Fridge Logic

 * How do you suppose Andy
 * Andy could have easily lifted the poster up and then let it drop behind him when he went through the hole. So long as the top portion of the poster had tape on it then it wasn't going to fall down after he went through the tunnel.
 * Wasn't it convenient that Andy had a corner cell--or that never in 19 years did he get moved to another cell--or that lightning struck at just the right moment? How much oxygen would there have been in that sewer pipe? How likely is it, even in 1966, that a large sewer pipe would have dumped directly into a creek? Even presuming he had a suit wrapped up and protected in that bag, how did Andy manage to present himself spic and span and dry at a faraway bank a few hours later? And most puzzling, why did Andy even consider clearing his name legally when the new convict showed up? What was he going to tell the next occupant of that cell--never tear down the Raquel Welch poster? It's best not to think too hard about Andy's escape.
 * Why would the next occupant of the cell tell anyone about the hole in the wall? One would think the next occupant would rather make use of said hole...
 * You mean the person who moves into the cell after prison authorities find the hole? One would think that repairs to the wall would be considered rather urgent before putting a new inmate in that cell.
 * Although to be fair the novella does take account of some of these issues. In the book Andy did have a cellmate for a while, and he was forced to . Andy's presence, solo, in the cell for that period of time and with no other cellmates was part of the price for doing the wardens' dirty work - it was a privilege given to him in return for cooking the books. Bear in mind also that Shawshank itself is an old facility -- it had been around for ages before Andy turned up there -- and some of the plumbing had more or less been forgotten about after it had been built on and over so many times. The lightning storm and bashing open the sewer pipe, though, are Dramatic Licence and designed to keep some suspense going; Andy can't make his bid for freedom until the night of a suitably loud thunderstorm.
 * Corner cell: that's just pure convenience. Andy got lucky there. Thunderstorm: Nothing saying he couldn't wait around for a storm to happen. He waited nearly twenty years, surely he could wait another couple days/weeks/months (depending on the season). Sewage pipe: I really don't know enough about 1960's plumbing, but it doesn't seem THAT far-fetched. At least it wasn't an Absurdly Spacious Sewer. Cleanliness post sewage pipe: They showed that he had a bar of soap among his stuff. That and a rain storm could get someone reasonably clean. If he had some money, he could have bought a bottle of cologne or something on his way to the bank, too. Clearing his name / hole in his cell: In most US states, it is a felony to attempt to escape if you were incarcerated for a felony (which Andy obviously was); however, a prerequisite for that is that the prisoner was being lawfully imprisoned. If Andy's case went back to trial and he was let off, his lawyer might have reasonably been able to argue that his client was not being lawfully held (depending on the facts of the case). The state's attorney or whoever might not even want to bring a case against him for that; I mean, what jury would convict someone for trying to escape when they were innocent?? Also, I have no idea what the penalty for a conviction on attempting to escape from jail is but I have a feeling that it's no where near the penalty for double homicide (and thus, an easy tradeoff).
 * I know in the book Red mention's that the sewerage system of his particular block was the last to be changed over to a more up to date system, and also, i believe the novel is actually set considerably earlier (1930's initially) and thus it stands to reason that the prison itself would have been probably built before the turn of the century and any sort of pollution laws.
 * Did really need to ? If anything, that would only draw more attention to his role in this thing and create more incentives to catch him.
 * Seems to me that him being an "escaped murderer" would be all they needed to put all resources into catching him. His part in the fraud schemes is negligible compared to the crime he was convicted of.
 * There's another piece of Fridge Logic that Family Guy commented on; how did Andy know that same oak tree and box would be there after decades? So much could have changed since then.
 * He didn't,it was a story he told Red to give him the information he needed without telling him he ws going to escape. He put the box there after he escaped.
 * Again this is mentioned in the Novella, red specifically mentions that He wouldn't have been able to cope with the worry about something happening to the stone in the field, but Andy had always been much cooler and calmer than him.
 * The point of making up Mr. Stevens in the first place is to provide a kind of fictitious human shield just in case the money is traced. By becoming Stevens, wouldn't Andy's position become a little bit uncomfortable? Not to mention he actually gave the ledger to the press/police.
 * What do you mean, gave the ledger to the press/police? Care to clarify? . . . Anyway, he only "became" Mr. Stevens temporarily, so that he could get the money, and so that he could use that money to flee to Mexico. He is going to be on the run from the law anyway, so I think the idea was to get the money so that he could be further from the US and enjoy that spot he had longer to go to.
 * We don't really know how much of the evidence really led to "Randall Stevens" at the time of Andy's escape in 1966. Andy tells Red that the idea behind Randall Stevens is to make up a fictitious person to assign guilt to, but Andy himself was in charge of the operation and could have rearranged things to cover Randall Stevens' tracks. Also, as noted above, he only needed to be Randall Stevens long enough to steal Warden Norton's stolen money--a few hours of bank visits. He could well have created another fake identity to go to ground with.
 * If you notice, he only tells the woman to "place this in your outgoing mail" once he's gotten his check. I always assumed that was the last bank he had visited. That way, he has plenty of time (a day or two depending on how fast the mail works) to make a run for it.

Fridge Horror

 * Yes, Andy got out of Shawshank and got back at Norton and Hadley, and Red got released, reuniting with Andy, but Elmo Blatch, the psychopath who destroyed Andy's life in the first place, is still out there. As Gil mentions in his story, Elmo was back in jail for a lesser crime (robbery, if I remember correctly), so he's probably out again. Considering how amused Elmo was at seeing Andy pay for his crime, how likely is it that's he's going to destroy someone else's life?
 * Truth in Television?
 * If Andy wrote at length about the Warden's other offenses, it's quite possible he wrote about his own innocence, Tommy's testimony, and Blatch himself. Granted, it'd be highly unlikely that any investigation into this would occur, but given that Andy is owning up to the Warden's schemes, there's a chance they'd look up Blatch's involvement as well.