MovieChat Forums > The Shawshank Redemption (1994) Discussion > In real life, the Warden and Hadley woul...

In real life, the Warden and Hadley would not get arrested.

posted 2 years ago by WarrenPeace (2267)
8 replies | jump to latest

And Andy would have died in the sewer pipe.

This is just a movie. A fairy tale. (Sorry Red. But your wrong. This prison is a fairy tale.)
And of course, magical things will happen. The hero gets away, villains get caught and we get our redemption as promised in the title. Our happy ending. Especially since we suspend our disbelief and take it in.
But let's not suspend that disbelief for the moment.
By some miracle Andy survives the methane gas in the pipe, survives and does what we see.
So the newspaper gets the evidence, turns it over to the DA who would then do an investigation who then goes after the Warden and head guard in a dramatic raid.
But would they really?
Nope. Not in real life.

First of all, they would have to interview or find the witness who sent in this evidence.
But where is he? He is an escaped convicted felon who is gone.
So even if they know it's Andy who sent it in, doubtful they would give it any thought.
1) He's a convicted escaped felon.
2) They may think he just fabricated it all for revenge.
Since they have no key witness, the person who sent it in, they are missing a key piece of convicting evidence. Therefore, no case.
And even if they find Andy, why should they believe an escaped convicted con?
They would just laugh at him and throw him back in the slammer.

Second, they would have to find witnesses to corroborate the evidence sent in.
And among those, would be the ones who bribed the Warden.
They are not going to speak up.
And no one was a witness to Tommy's murder. Hadley gets away with it. Not arrested.

Third, another key piece of evidence is gone. Long gone.
The money.
It just up and disappeared like a fart in the wind with Randall Stevens. A phantom.
Without that, they have nothing. Just a bunch of numbers in a book, which again, could be all made up.

If you disagree, then what would they have left that would have them go and raid the prison like that?
No jury would convict since there is so much doubt without those key pieces of evidence.

So there you have it.
And don't get me started on how a human can survive a crawl through a pipe full of crap without a gas mask and somehow be immune to the deadly methane gas in there.

Andy died in the pipe.
Red told off the parole board but was rejected.
It is all just fantasies of Red.

Good movie but full of so many plot holes.

[–] Moonglum9 (11309) 2 years ago

Plothole? To me it's just a made up word. A politician's word. So young fellas like yourself can wear a suit, and tie, and have a job.

[–] [deleted] a year ago

[deleted]

[–] Moonglum9 (11309) a year ago

APPROVED

[–] strntz (12467) a year ago

We don't know exactly what information Andy sent to the newspaper beyond the cooked books and his story, which might have had more specifics about the Warden and Hadley including more evidence that we aren't privy to. In any case, even though the warden made night deposits, he made a metric shitload of them and did so over many years. Someone surely saw him several times at one or more of the dozen banks making the night drop.

They don't actually need Andy in person to believe his story. He sent in a detailed story and evidence that included detailed ledgers and bank deposits. Sure, first blush might have been figuring it was a sour-grapes escaped con trying a scorched earth policy. But a simple phone call to one bank would lead to another call to another bank and another. If they were interested, the evidence would avalanche. The more they check, the more Andy's story checks out.

Further, there was no timeframe shown from the time that Andy escaped to the time the police came for Norton - it could have been many months or even a year or more. Between a skilled investigative reporter and a crack internal affairs plus state investigators, they might have pieced together an exhaustive and strong case against Norton. Who knows how many other guards who didn't like Hadley assisted the investigation and provided direct testimony that matched each other's.

Yes, the money (evidence) is gone, but the bank records going back many years and the bank drafts that Andy took show the money existed even if Andy stole it. They weren't coming after warden Norton for withdrawing the deposited money, but for taking bribes and hiding the money. That his stolen money was stolen from him doesn't absolve him.

Past and retired screws and maybe even the guys he was working with at the time of Andy's escape would likely have rolled over on Hadley - like the guy who told Andy about Tommy's GED when Andy was stuck in solitary - he seemed decent. Andy did a lot of accounting and perhaps investing work for the guards - several or more may have become fond of him. Not all guards are dicks - some of them may have just bit their lip during Hadley's reign of terror, but if one of them admitted to investigators that Hadley killed inmates (like the fat boy), he would have been in deep do do.

It was early in the morning when Andy escaped, not much shit in the pipe, and if the laundry shut down late in the day, it might even smell springtime fresh.

[–] FarmerTed (186) 8 months ago

Your posts are typically the best because you use logic instead of raw emotions to make your case.

[–] PaladinNJ (21528) 6 months ago

Correct. And Red provided another key piece in his monologue. "He blew town with 370,000 of Warden Norton's money" Andy mentioned earlier that the Warden would be a millionaire by the time he retired. So there may have been much more that he left alone. Combined with the ledgers, the resulting investigation would have tied up nicely.

As for the pipe, thanks to Andy breaking through, it was vented on both sides so he could have made it out.

[–] Callahan7 (1168) 10 months ago

Andy could have survived crawling through that pipe. Maybe. Half a mile is a long way.

How did Andy punch a hole in that pipe with a rock? That looked like a thick iron pipe.

[–] FarmerTed (186) 8 months ago

The pipe was most likely concrete as that would have been a less expensive material to use for a drainage line. Even if it was made of metal it would have been cast iron which would have corroded from the waste put through it. Like another poster said most likely all the liquid waste from the prison would have gone through it with the waste water from the laundry being of a much larger quantity versus feces and urine. There was also the waste from the prison showers and cafeteria that most likely was mostly water. The description of the inside of the pipe was Red's who never actually investigated it but instead assumed. Also, to get good flow the drain was most likely vented like many houses do with their internal drainage.