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Andy Dufresne: I understand you're a man who knows how to get things.

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Trivia

There are many references to the number 237 in the movie. For instance, this is the number of Red's cell, and these digits are on Andy's prison I.D. This number makes appearances throughout Steven King stories, the most famous one being the room where the murders take place in "The Shining". See more...

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The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - 34 mistakes

Directed by Frank Darabont, starring Bob Gunton, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins, William Sadler (add more)

Genres: Crime, Drama

Where is The Shawshank Redemption ranked on the ultimate best to worst list? Cast your vote and find out!

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Factual error: Near the end of the movie, in the shot where the marked patrol cars are racing towards the prison to arrest the warden, you hear them using electronic sirens. Those sirens were not in law enforcement use until the mid to late seventies.

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Factual error: In the scene where the guys are drinking beer on the roof, the bottles have "ribbed" tops. Beer bottles did not have twist-off's in the late 40's.

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Continuity: When Norton prepares for his suicide you see on the desk a photograph and, a bit away, a lamp. After he has shot himself the photograph is leaning against the lamp (it was too far away in the previous shot to have fallen against it). There's some sort of card open on his desk on some paperwork which suddenly moves onto bare desk as well.

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Continuity: When Brooks has the knife to Heywood's throat, in one shot there is blood visible on his neck, yet in the next shot the blood is gone.

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Continuity: In the scene where the warden is tossing cells and comes to "size up" Andy, it shows all of the chess pieces on the window being knocked over while one is in the guard's hands. After a short time one of the pieces is upright again, without anyone touching them.

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Continuity: During the scene where Andy and Red meet for the first time (baseball scene) the sun is in Red's face and so, Andy shouldn't have the sun in his face. But in fact, sometimes Andy has the sun in his face and Red doesn't anymore. Either they move very quickly between scenes or (probably) the whole scene were filmed at least two times.

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Factual error: Chess is played with a white square at the right end of the first row. You see the chess board with the stone figures in Andy's cell, and every time there is a black square on the right. Andy would have known better.

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Plot hole: When the warden comes into the cell the morning after the escape, the poster covering the hole is fastened down on all four corners - impossible to do after squeezing into that small hole. [On the DVD commentary, the director confirms that this was a movie "cheat".]

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Factual error: When the warden offers Tommy a Marlboro, the pack has Marlboro Miles on the side. Not in 1965 or '66.

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Factual error: At the end of the film following Andy's escape from Shawshank there is a scene of him driving along the cliff edge in a red car. This car is a red Pontiac GTO from 1969. The year in the film is 1966, 3 years before the car was made. Confirmed in commentary.

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Factual error: In the courtroom scene there is a microphone - a 1955 Shure SM55. The courtroom scene was set in 1947.

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Factual error: In the scene where Red is working in the Food-Way shortly after his release in 1967, there are cartons of "More" and "Newport" brand cigarettes visible on the shelf to his right. "More" was not released until 1975.

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Revealing: In the scene where Warden Norton is loading his pistol, as he dumps out the bullets and loads them the primers are dimpled. Unfired bullets would not have the dimples from the gun's hammer (even if they were home made reloads, the primer would have been replaced).

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Continuity: As Norton kills himself, the glass that blows out behind him is quite large and about half of the frame gets blown out. There are a few specs of blood on the window as well. A couple of shots later as the camera pulls back and shows Norton you can see the hole in the window is quite small and shaped differently and a smear of blood above the hole now.

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Continuity: When Red finds the metal box he takes out an envelope in a plastic bag, folded up on the right side. When he opens it the crease is on the left side. He hasn't turned it over.

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Continuity: When Red is walking along the beach before he meets Andy his hat flies off and almost lands in the water. In the next wide shot the hat is lying a few meters inland against the direction of the wind.

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Continuity: When Andy is talking to Red for the first time in the yard, Red is playing catch with a few guys. Towards the end of the conversation Red catches the ball twice without throwing it back the first time.

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Continuity: The sweat disappears from Red's white shirt as he approaches the oak tree at the end.

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Factual error: In the library, Heywood is listening to Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues." He is playing the double LP "Hank Williams 24 Greatest Hits," which was originally released by MGM in 1970. "Lovesick Blues" was recorded long before this, but it is not possible for him to have acquired that particular 1970 double LP.

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Continuity: Andy plays Mozart over the public address system of the prison. When Hadley finally breaks through the door after the aria is over the needle is still in the first groove.

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