An Introduction: Shawshank Redemption Drive-it-Yourself Trail

About Shawshank Redemption:
Screenplay by Frank Darabont is based on the short story "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King.

Tim Robbins stars as Andy Dufresne, a soft spoken respected banker from Maine, who is wrongly convicted of murdering both his wife and her lover. He is sentenced to two life sentences and is sent to the notoriously harsh Shawshank Prison, Maine's toughest maximum security penitentiary. He befriends fellow prisoner Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman). Red, "the man who knows how to get things", obtains a rock hammer for Dufresne, an object he wishes to own in order to pursue a hobby in rock collecting.

Years later, Andy comes up missing from his cell one morning. It becomes clear that he escaped the prison by tunneling through the walls with the rock hammer given to him shortly after his arrival.

When Red is finally released from prison, he follows the instructions given to him by Andy to find a further note hidden beneath a tree, which eventually leads him to meet Andy on the coast of Mexico.

The majority of the movie was filmed in Mansfield, Ohio with scenes from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Ashland, Ohio, Butler, Ohio, Upper Sandusky, Ohio and Portland, Maine.

Awards and Nominations:
The original story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption was written by Stephen King.

Roger Ebert, a respected film critic, listed The Shawshank Redemption on his "Great Movies" list in 1999.

Although The Shawshank Redemption was only a modest box office hit, it has become one of the most successful video and DVD rentals of all time.

Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor in a leading role- Morgan Freeman.

Golden Globe Nomination for Best Peformance by an actor in a motion picture (Drama)- Morgan Freeman.

Though nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, this fan favorite did not find its audience until it was released on home video just shy of the Academy Awards ceremony.

Cast

• Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne
• Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding
• Bob Gunton as Warden Samuel Norton
• William Sadler as Heywood
• Clancy Brown as Capt. Byron Hadley
• Gil Bellows as Tommy Williams
• Mark Rolston as Bogs Diamond
• James Whitmore as Brooks Hatlen
• Jeffrey DeMunn as 1946 DA
• David Proval as Snooze
• Jude Ciccolella as Guard Mert
• Paul McCrane as Guard Trout
• Scott Mann as Glenn Quentin

Please note that some of the sites are on private property and are not available for tours. Photographs may be taken where indicated at each location's description.

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