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".
Trivia: When Andy Dufresne makes his escape, and he crawls through the sewer pipe, the sludge in the pipe was made from a mixture of chocolate syrup, sawdust and water. Even today the pipes still smell like cocoa. (Confirmed by the Mansfield, OH Tourism Dept).
Trivia: The photo of the young Red on his "Approval" document is a photo of Morgan Freeman's son. It was a police photo of him after he was convicted for joyriding.
Trivia: The Humane Society had to be present for the scene when the maggot is feed to the bird, Jake. The Society said it was cruel to the maggot, so it had to get a maggot that died of natural causes before the crew could shoot it.
Suggested correction: Tim Robbins said this on a 1997 interview on the Tonight Show, but he really seemed to be joking.
Trivia: The $370,000 that Andy Dufresne steals from the Warden in 1966 may not seem like a huge amount for 20 years in prison, but adjusted for inflation to 2024, Andy stole about $3.6 million.
Trivia: Andy and Red's opening chat in the prison yard, in which Red is pitching a baseball, required nine hours to shoot. Morgan Freeman pitched the baseball back and forth for the entire nine hours of shooting without a single word of complaint. He came back to the set the next day with his left arm in a sling.
Trivia: Whenever there is a shot of just Andy Dufresne's hands, they are actually the hands of director Frank Darabont, who prefers to use his own hands in these types of "insert shots." (Confirmed by Darabont during a 2008 Shawshank reunion).
Trivia: The character of Andy Dufresne has a cameo in another Stephen King adaptation, "Apt Pupil." Andy Dufresne handled the investments for Dussander, the Nazi in hiding.
