How Shawshank Redemption Is Different From The Book

When you finally get to see a beloved book adapted into a movie, it can be an incredibly bittersweet experience. There are always at least a few literary moments you longed to watched play out onscreen that didn't make the cinematic cut. Sure, it's always great to see some creative liberties, but there's a delicate balance to be struck between preserving the spirit of the original and breathing new theatrical life into the story for a sense of familiarity and discovery.

In many ways, the 1994 film adaptation of Stephen King's 1982 novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption hit the sweet spot. For the most part, the film impeccably preserves the dialogue that made Stephen King's story such a classic to begin with. But in many ways, it improves on the original tale in a few heartwarming moments. It combines disparate characters from the book into consummate players onscreen, rather than entirely omit the personality quirks that captured life in its smallest, most strangely intimate moments. Plus, it offers more closure for a handful of characters, for better or for worse.

So even though the film is aligned with the book almost minute for minute — with both taking about 2 hours and 20 minutes to complete — there are some crucial differences that separate the two. From character deaths to the ending itself, here's how The Shawshank Redemption is different from the book.

(Warning — there are spoilers below.)

The warden's memorable movie ending makes a bit more sense when you consider how much more significant the character is in the film than in the book. In a way, he earns his drama. In the book, three wardens serve in the position at different times through the decades, making any individual warden much less integral to the plot. But the presence of the same warden throughout Andy's entire tenure at Shawshank in the movie — and the relationship that develops between the two — much more convincingly calls for a dramatic demise.

Though he's certainly an adversarial force in the book, Warden Norton is the main antagonist in the film, and his actions drive much of the plot and the development of Andy's character during his time in prison. Ultimately, the warden isn't being genuinely kind to Andy, only rewarding him when he complies and punishing him viciously when he steps out of line. He intimidates and manipulates Andy and even sacrifices the lives of others in order to keep Andy in prison, using the former banker's expertise to cover up hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of corruption. Of course, it's this directive that allows Andy to create the fake identity he eventually uses after he escapes from prison.

While the Shawshank film strayed remarkably little from its source material, it did include some extra moments that were uniquely suited to the medium and wouldn't have played nearly as well on paper. It's hard to imagine how one could add much of consequence to the original story, but director Frank Darabont managed it beautifully several times.

In one of these scenes, Andy has just received a slew of responses and donations regarding his request for funding for an expanded prison library. The new materials — funds, used books, vinyl records, and more — have piled up in the prison's office, and Andy has been directed to empty it out before the warden returns. Instead, he locks himself in and places a classical music record on the vinyl player, turning on the prison intercom to blast it over the loudspeaker for the other inmates.

The entire prison stops what they're doing in order to listen, and "for the briefest of moments," Red says that "every last man in Shawshank felt free." Andy later explains that music is so significant because it exists inside your head and can never be taken from you. The unique advantage of film, which Darabont used to great advantage in this moment in particular, is that it can be a conduit for this special gift that can never be taken away.

The closeness of the film to its source material was counterbalanced by some of the casting choices. Like Red, who was cast as Black rather than Irish, Andy himself looks a little different onscreen than fans of the book might expect. In the novel, Andy is written as a more diminutive man — short, well-kept, and exacting.

His fastidious nature, at least, is evident in his behaviors and interactions, from his hobby of collecting and whittling rocks to his success as an accountant of sorts for the entire prison staff. He even creates a seamless fake identity for himself out of thin air with the limited resources available to him in prison.

But in terms of stature, Andy as played by the 6'5" Tim Robbins looks a lot different from the way he's described in the book, and sticklers can certainly argue over any metaphorical significance to his character. Less of a literal underdog, perhaps? It's undoubtedly fascinating to think of a small and unassuming man raging against his own helplessness (both by tunneling through a prison wall and by allegedly murdering his wife and her lover). 

However, the fact remains that, while the story maintains a remarkably large part of its integrity in the film, more liberty (no pun intended) was taken with the casting because it was more about who could best portray these compelling characters and less about what they looked like while they did it.

The novella is entitled Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, and this title is significant partly because Rita Hayworth's is the first poster Red gives Andy in the novel, and they become friends afterward. In the film, however, the poster of Rita Hayworth is requested by Andy after the two are already friends.

It may not seem like that big of a deal, but the actress is featured in the novella's title for a reason. She represents the beginning of the friendship that forms the foundation of the story. Changing the order of events in a seemingly inconsequential way nonetheless slightly undercuts this meaning. The actress is so significant to the original story that Darabont actually received audition materials from some hopefuls for the part of Rita Hayworth (which didn't exist), despite removing her name from the title of the adaptation.

It's also interesting to note that in Andy's multiple decades at Shawshank, the poster on his wall changes only twice in the film, from Rita Hayworth to Marilyn Monroe and finally Raquel Welch as the sole witness to Andy's escape. The poster changes multiple times in the novel. The pin-up women featured in the novel include Rita Hayworth, as well as Hazel Court and Jayne Mansfield and, at the time of Andy's escape, Linda Ronstadt.

As with characters like Boggs, Brooks is only mentioned in passing in the book, and his inclusion and expansion in the film speaks to Darabont's eye for the quirks and moments that define what it is to be human (which is what Andy and his fellow inmates themselves are trying so hard to cling to). The baby crow in his pocket is one such quirk, and we get to see him blossom into a full-fledged character. We're allowed to get invested in his story.

And that's why seeing him finally get released in old age and take his own life, unable to adapt to the strange and "hurried" world that has moved on without him on the outside, hits so hard. That's especially true when compared to his death from old age in the book. We get to know Brooks so much more intimately in the film, and through him, we also get a glimpse into just how ingrained the prison way of life becomes and how great a leap it can be from rehabilitation to reintegration.

If Warden Norton's looming presence throughout the decades wasn't enough to cement his antagonism in the audience's eyes, what he does to Tommy (Gil Bellows) in the movie seals the deal tenfold. But fans of the movie may not be aware that Tommy actually lives the book. They just transfer him to another prison in order to prevent him from revealing his sensitive information.

What information? Well, as luck or coincidence or hope would have it, Tommy has been incarcerated all over the Northeast, and one night, one of his former cellmates was bragging about how he did a robbery job on some fancy golf pro who put up a fight, so he killed him and the girl he was with. And best of all, the authorities pinned the murder on the woman's distraught husband! This is, of course, Andy Dufresne, and the tale is the key to his innocence.

The only problem is that Andy has become a tremendous asset to Warden Norton. All of the corrupt man's schemes rest on Andy's "accounting" expertise. If Andy were to be exonerated and released, the warden would have a much harder time running his scams. So, the warden lures him outside and then has him shot under the pretense that he was trying to escape. It's the cold and calculating move of a real villain, not a minor antagonist. Tommy was sacrificed to create the film's more compelling villain.