Most-quoted character in The Shawshank Redemption (1994): in 35 of its 68 quotes
Most scenes with: Andy Dufresne (11), Heywood (4), Floyd (3)
Andy crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of shit-smelling foulness I can't even imagine. Or maybe I just don't want to. Five hundred yards. That's the length of five football fields, just shy of half a mile.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding 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.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding Andy came to Shawshank Prison in early 1947 for murdering his wife and the fella she was bangin'. On the outside, he'd been vice-president of a large Portland bank. Good work for a man as young as he was.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding I must admit, I didn't think much of Andy first time I laid eyes on him. Looked like a stiff breeze would blow him over. That was my first impression of the man.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding The first night's the toughest, no doubt about it. They march you in naked as the day you were born, skin burning and half blind from that delousing shit they throw on you, and when they put you in that cell, when those bars slam home, that's when you know it's for real. Old life blown away in the blink of an eye. Nothing left but all the time in the world to think about it. Most new fish come close to madness the first night. Somebody always breaks down crying. Happens every time. The only question is, who's it gonna be? It's as good a thing to bet on as any, I guess. I had my money on Andy Dufresne. I remember my first night. Seems like a long time ago.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding His first night in the joint, Andy Dufresne cost me two packs of cigarettes. He never made a sound.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding I could see why some of the boys took him for snobby. He had a quiet way about him, a walk and a talk that just wasn't normal around here. He strolled, like a man in a park without a care or a worry in the world. Like he had on an invisible coat that would shield him from this place. Yeah, I think it would be fair to say I liked Andy from the start.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding Things went on like that for a while. Prison life consists of routine, and then more routine. Every so often, Andy would show up with fresh bruises. The Sisters kept at him. Sometimes he was able to fight 'em off, sometimes not. And that's how it went for Andy. That was his routine.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding And that's how it came to pass, that on the second-to-last day of the job, the convict crew that tarred the plate factory roof in the spring of '49 wound up sitting in a row at ten o'clock in the morning, drinking icy cold Bohemia-style beer, courtesy of the hardest screw that ever walked a turn at Shawshank State Prison...The colossal prick even managed to sound magnanimous. We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men. Hell, we could have been tarring the roof of one of our own houses. We were the Lords of all Creation. As for Andy, he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer...You could argue he'd done it to curry favor with the guards, or maybe make a few friends among us cons. Me? I think he did it just to feel normal again, if only for a short while.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding He's just institutionalized...The man's been in here fifty years, Heywood, fifty years. This is all he knows. In here, he's an important man, he's an educated man. Outside he's nothin' - just a used-up con with arthritis in both hands. Probably couldn't get a library card if he tried...these walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, it gets so you depend on 'em. That's 'institutionalized'...They send you here for life and that's exactly what they take, the part that counts anyway.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are better left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and it makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a grey place dares to dream. It was as if some beautiful bird had flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding All they found of him was a muddy set of prison clothes, a bar of soap, and an old rock-hammer damn near worn down to the nub. I remember thinking it would take a man six hundred years to tunnel through a wall with it. Old Andy did it in less than twenty.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure and time. That and the big god-damn poster. Like I said, in prison, a man'll do most anything to keep his mind occupied. It turns out Andy's favorite hobby was totin' his wall out into the exercise yard a handful at a time.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding I like to think the last thing that went through his head - other than that bullet - was to wonder how the hell Andy Dufresne ever got the best of him.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding Andy Dufresne, who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side. Andy Dufresne, headed for the Pacific. Those of us who knew him best talk about him often. I swear the stuff he pulled. Sometimes it makes me sad, though, Andy being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright and when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice, but still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding Rehabilitated? Well now, let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means...I know what you think it means. To me, it's just a made-up word, a politician's word so that young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did?...There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. And 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. This old man is all that's left. I gotta live with that. 'Rehabilitated?' That's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your forms, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding All I do anymore is think of ways to break my parole so maybe they'd send me back. Terrible thing to live in fear. Brooks Hatlen knew it. Knew it all too well. All I want is to be back where things make sense. Where I won't have to be afraid all the time. Only one thing stops me. A promise I made to Andy.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'. That's god-damn right. For the second time in my life, I am guilty of committing a crime. Parole violation. Of course, I doubt they'll toss up any roadblocks for that. Not for an old crook like me.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding Brooks ain't no bug. He's just institutionalized.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding Oh, Andy loved geology. I imagine it appealed to his meticulous nature. An ice age here, million years of mountain building there. Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure, and time. That and a big damn poster. Like I said, in prison, a man will do almost anything to keep his mind occupied. Turns out Andy's favorite hobby was totin' his wall out into the exercise yard, a handful at a time. I guess after Tommy was killed, Andy decided he'd been here just about long enough.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding There's harsh truth to face. No way I'm gonna make it on the outside. All I do in remorse is to think a way to break my parole, so they may send me back. Terrible thing to live in fear. Brooks Hatlen knew it. All I want is to be back where things make sense, where I won't have to be afraid all the time. Only one thing stops me. A promise I made to Andy.
You feel you've been rehabilitated?
Red Oh, yes sir. Absolutely, sir. Yeah, I've learned my lesson. I can honestly say that I'm a changed man. I'm no longer a danger to society. That's the God's honest truth.
Red Why'd you do it?
I didn't, since you ask.
Red You're gonna fit right in. Everybody in (here) is innocent. Didn't you know that? (to Heywood) Hey Heywood, what you in for?
Didn't do it. Lawyer **** me.
Red Rumor has it you're a real cold fish. You think your shit smells sweeter than most. Is that right?
What do you think?
Red I'll tell ya the truth. I haven't made up my mind.
Red I'm known to locate certain things from time to time.
I wonder if you might get me a rock-hammer.
Red ...What is it and why?
What do you care?
Red What if it was a toothbrush? I wouldn't ask questions. I'd just quote a price. But then, a toothbrush is a non-lethal object, isn't it?
Fair enough. A rock-hammer is about six or seven inches long. Looks like a miniature pick-axe.
Red Pick-axe?
For rocks.
Red Rocks. Quartz?
Quartz. Here's some mica, shale, limestone.
Red So?
So I'm a rock-hound. At least I was, in my old life. I'd like to be again, on a limited basis.
Red Or maybe you'd like to sink your toy into somebody's skull.
No, sir. I have no enemies here.
Red No? Wait a while. Word gets around. The Sisters have taken quite a likin' to you, especially Bogs.
I don't suppose it would help any if I explained to them I'm not homosexual.
Red Neither are they. You have to be human first. They don't qualify. Bull **** take by force. That's all they want or understand. If I were you, I'd grow eyes in the back of my head.
Thanks for the advice.
Red That's free. You understand my concern.
Well, if there's any trouble, I won't use the rock-hammer. OK?
Red Then I guess you wanna escape. Tunnel under the wall, maybe? [Andy laughs] Did I miss something here? What's funny?
You'll understand when you see the rock-hammer.
I had Mr. Mozart to keep me company...[He points and taps his head] It was in here. [And he gestures over his heart] And in here. That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you. Haven't you ever felt that way about music?...Here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so we don't forget...that there are places in the world that aren't made out of stone, that there's, there's somethin' inside that they can't get to, that they can't touch. It's yours.
Red What are you talkin' about?
Hope.
Red Hope? Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It's got no use on the inside. You'd better get used to that idea.
Like Brooks did?
My wife used to say I'm a hard man to know. Like a closed book. Complained about it all the time. She was beautiful. God, I loved her. I just didn't know how to show it, that's all. I killed her, Red. I didn't pull the trigger, but I drove her away and that's why she died - because of me, the way I am.
Red That don't make you a murderer. Bad husband, maybe. Feel bad about it if you want to, but you didn't pull the trigger.
No, I didn't. Somebody else did and I wound up in here. Bad luck, I guess.
Red I don't think you ought to be doing this to yourself, Andy. This is just shitty pipedreams. I mean, Mexico is way the hell down there and you're in here, and that's the way it is.
Yeah, right. That's the way it is. It's down there and I'm in here. I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'.
Ellis Red. Name's Red.
Red. Why do they call you that?
Ellis Maybe it's because I'm Irish.
Ellis Andy, we're getting to be kind of friends, aren't we?
Yeah, I guess.
Ellis Can I ask you something? Why'd you do it?
I'm innocent, Red. Just like everybody else here. What are you in here for?
Ellis Murder. Same as you.
Innocent?
Ellis Only guilty man in Shawshank.
Was it worth it, two weeks in the hole?
Easiest time I ever did.
Skeet Bullshit. No such thing as easy time in the hole.
Jigger A week seems like a year.
Snooze Damn straight.
I had Mr. Mozart to keep me company.
So they let you tote that record player down there, huh?
It was in here. [gestures over his heart] And in here. That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you. Haven't you ever felt that way about music?
Ellis Well, I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it, though. Didn't make too much sense in here.
Well, here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget.
Ellis Forget?
That there are places in the world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside that they can't get to. that they can't touch. It's yours.
Ellis What are you talkin' about?
Hope.
Ellis Hope? Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It's got no use on the inside. You'd better get used to that idea.
Like Brooks did?
Stevenson. Fiction, "Adventure". What's next?
Ellis I got here Auto Repair and Soap Carving.
Trade skills and hobbies. Goes under "Educational", the stack right behind you.
The Count of Monte Crisco.
That's Cristo, you dumb shit.
By Alexandree... Dum-ass. Dumbass?
Uh-uh.
You'll like it. It's about a prison break.
Ellis Well, we ought to file that under "Educational" too. Oughtn't we?
A month in the hole. That's longest damn stretch I ever heard of.
It's all my fault.
Ellis Oh, bullshit. You didn't pull the trigger, and you certainly didn't convict him.
Ellis, are you saying that Andy is innocent? I mean, for real innocent?
Ellis Well, it looks that way.
Sweet Jesus. How long has he been here now?
Ellis 1947. What is that, nineteen years?
Nineteen years...
Think you'll ever get out of here?
Ellis Me? Yeah, one day when I got a long, white beard and two or three marbles rolling around upstairs, they'll let me out.
I tell you where I'd go: Zihuatanejo.
Ellis Say what?
Zihuatanejo. It's in Mexico. A little place on the Pacific Ocean. You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific?
Ellis No.
They say it has no memory. That's where I want to live the rest of my life: a warm place with no memory. Open up a little hotel, right on the beach, buy some worthless old boat, and fix it up new. Take my guests out charter fishing.
Ellis Zihuatanejo.
In a place like that, I could use a man that knows how to get things.
Ellis I don't think I could make it on the outside, Andy. I been in here most of my life. I'm an institutional man now.
Ellis In here, I'm the guy who can get things for you, sure, but outside all you need is the Yellow Pages. Hell, I wouldn't know where to begin. Pacific Ocean? Shit. Might scare me to death, something that big.
Not me. I didn't shoot my wife, and I didn't shoot her lover. Whatever mistakes I made, I've paid for them and then some. That hotel, that boat, I don't think that's too much to ask.
Ellis I don't think you ought to be doing this to yourself, Andy. This is just shitty pipe dreams. I mean, Mexico is way the hell down there and you're in here, and that's the way it is.
Yeah, right. That's the way it is. It's down there and I'm in here. I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'.
