Summary
We see a man, Andy Dufresne, sitting in a car at night. He takes a bottle of liquor out of a bag and takes a swig, and we see that there is also a gun in the bag. The scene shifts to a courtroom, where the lawyer questions Andy about a confrontation he had with his wife. Andy tells the lawyer that they had a bitter confrontation about the fact that his wife was having an affair and that she wanted a divorce.
The lawyer fills in the rest of the story, telling Andy that he told his wife, "I'll see you in hell before I see you in Reno," according to the testimony of his neighbors. We learn that Andy's wife was having an affair with a golf player at the local country club, that after she left the house after the confrontation, Andy followed her to the golf player's house, then went in the house and murdered them. Andy alleges that he was drunk and confused and only meant to scare them, but the lawyer insists that it was cold-blooded murder.
Here, Andy disagrees with the lawyer's account, insisting that he left before doing anything rash, and threw the gun into a nearby river. The lawyer says that the cleaning lady found the couple the next morning, shot to death, a "fantastic coincidence." The lawyer also notes that Andy's gun was never found in the river, so no comparison can be made.
We hear the lawyer in voiceover, as we see Andy walking towards the golf player's house in the night, drunk and carrying a gun. The lawyer tells the jury that the gun was fired more times than it could hold bullets, suggesting that Andy reloaded to shoot them many times. The judge sentences Andy to two life sentences, one for each of his victims, and Andy is put in jail in Maine, where the case is being conducted.
The scene shifts to another man, Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, facing a group of men, who note that he has served 20 years of a life sentence. He alleges that he is changed and rehabilitated, but they reject his plea for parole and he is sent back to the prison yard.
A few men ask Red how it went and he tells them he was rejected. In voiceover he tells us, "There must be a con like me in every prison in America. I'm the guy who can get it for you. Cigarettes, a bag of reefer if that's your thing, a bottle of brandy to celebrate your kid's high school graduation, damn near anything within reason. Yes sir, I'm a regular Sears and Roebuck. So when Andy Dufresne came to me and asked me to smuggle Rita Hayworth into the prison, I told him, no problem."
We see Andy arriving at the prison in 1947. As Red tells us in voiceover, Andy had been a vice president of a large bank in Portland. The prisoners all cheer and heckle the new arrivals as they march into the prison. The seasoned prisoners, Red among them, place bets about which of the newcomers will crack first for cigarettes.
"I must admit I didn't think much of Andy the first time I laid eyes on him," Red narrates in voiceover, "Looked like a stiff breeze'd blow him over." Red places his bet on Andy, calling him "A tall drink of water with a spoon up his ass."
The newcomers line up as Mr. Norton, the warden, introduces the captain of the guards, Byron Hadley, and greets them. Norton's first rule is to not be disrespectful to the Lord, and tells them that they will find out the other rules as they go along. When one of the newcomers asks when they will eat, Hadley walks over and yells at him that they will eat when they are told to, before punching him. "Put your trust in the Lord, your ass belongs to me," says Norton, before leaving the room.
After the welcome, the guards hose down the newcomers, then march them into a room. "The first night's the toughest," narrates Red in voiceover, as we see the prisoners being led to their cells naked. After lights out, the seasoned prisoners begin calling to the men they placed bets on, taunting them about their despair at being newly in prison. As they get rowdier and rowdier, Byron Hadley comes in and yells at one of the newcomers, who is especially upset about being in prison. Hadley pulls the newcomer out and beats him brutally with his club. In voiceover, Red says that Andy didn't make a sound on his first night in prison.
The next day, the prisoners march to the dining hall to get a meal. Andy passes a table where he is eyed by some men, then sits down to eat by himself. He is particularly disgusted to find a maggot in one dish, and an older prisoner, Brooks Hatlen, asks him if he's going to eat it. Brooks accepts the maggot, then feeds it to a baby bird in the pocket of his sweater.
The prisoner who won the bet for which newcomer would crack first, Heywood, comes over and collects his cigarettes, gloating about his victory. When Andy tries to chime in on the conversation, Heywood berates him and tells him to mind his business. Later in the shower, one of the prisoners, Bogs, comes on to Andy, suggesting they become sexual partners. Andy walks away from the interaction. "Hard to get, I like that," says Bogs.
A few months pass. We see Red and some others playing baseball outside, as Andy wanders towards them. Andy introduces himself to Red and when Red asks him why he killed his wife, Andy insists that he didn't. "I understand you're a man who knows how to get things," Andy says, and asks Red to get him a rock hammer.
Red then tells Andy that the "Sisters," the group of which Bog is a part, have taken a liking to him. When Andy suggests that he should tell them he is not homosexual, Red tells him, "Neither are they. They'd have to be human first, they don't qualify." Red advises him that Bog and the Sisters will likely try to rape him, and that he should be careful. Red then tells him that he has to be careful with the rock hammer, as the authorities regularly do random inspections and if they trace it back to him, they will never be able to do business again.
When Andy asks Red why they call him that, Red jokes that it is because he's Irish.
Analysis
The film begins with particularly heightened stakes. We meet Andy Dufresne brandishing a gun in a car parked outside his unfaithful wife's new boyfriend's house. We then see him in court testifying about his alleged murder of the couple. Not only is the case a murder case, however, but Andy claims he never did it, that he left before he did anything rash and threw the gun in a river. The discrepancy between his account and the court's accounts for the major drama of the plot.
In the early moments of the film, we also meet Red, a veteran of the prison where Andy is sent. He is a seasoned pro in the prison world, able to procure items from the outside world, knowing and earthy about the difficulties of the world inside the prison walls.
Andy Dufresne is a particularly curious criminal in that he comes from a good job in Portland and it is unclear whether he actually committed the crime he is charged with. He has an earnest quality that others in the prison do not, a mystification with the fact that he has suddenly found himself in jail, unable to live the upper-middle-class life that he pursued outside the prison.
The narrative is unfurled somewhat out of time, which gives it the tone of a fable. While we see events portrayed in the present, there are moments when we go back in time or hear narration as if from the future. For instance, Red narrates Andy's arrival at the prison as if from the perspective of years later, suggesting that their connection will be a significant one, and that there is a great deal that the viewer has yet to learn.
Andy, a particularly reticent prisoner, soon begins talking to Red, and has a mysterious desire for a rock hammer. While he suggests that he just needs it to look at rocks, Red wonders if he has more violent intentions, or intentions to escape, but ultimately agrees. In their interaction, Red also expresses concern that a violent group on the premises, "the Sisters," are intent on raping Andy. Thus, the two prisoners start an alliance, as Red looks out for the mysterious newcomer and helps him survive the difficulties of prison life.
