Factual error: When Red is sitting under the oak tree in 1967 and pulls the money out of the envelope, the top bill is signed by Nicholas F. Brady, who was Secretary of the Treasury September 1988 - January 1993. It's less about reading the handwriting as noting the different appearance of different signatures from different eras. (02:14:40)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Frank Darabont
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Clancy Brown, Tim Robbins, William Sadler, Bob Gunton, Gil Bellows
While laundering Warden Norton's (Bob Gunton) bribe money, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) meets Tommy, a young punk who's in prison for theft; Tommy tells him and Red (Morgan Freeman) that he knew the real killer of Dufresne's wife and is willing to testify for Dufresne's innocence. When Norton realises that his money is at stake, he orders Cpt. Hedley (Clancey Brown) to shoot Tommy. Once Tommy is dead, Dufresne can never prove his innocence. One night, he enters his cell with fancy clothes and a rope; the next day, he's not there. Warden Norton Calls Red, his friend, and together they find out the truth... For 20 years, Andy has been digging his way out with a tiny rock hammer; the hole in the wall was right behind Rita Hayworth's poster all along. Once he swam the sewer pipe, he left the prison with fancy clothes. He entered the bank, took all of Norton's bribe money with the name he sat up for him and told the police about his deeds. Captain Hedley is arrested for murder and Norton kills himself. Red finally wins his parole after 40 years in prison; he finds money Andy has left for him under a rock in a field and sets off to the sunny coast of Zihuatanejo, Mexico, where he finds his old friend Andy, starting a business for boat-renting. The two men approach each other and hug.
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Red: There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit.
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Chosen answer: In the original novella it is revealed that Andy smuggled $500 into the prison inside of his rectum. During an interview in 2004 Robbins incorrectly quoted the amount as being $100. The narration up until Red's release is provided as Red writes his account of the events while still in prison, and employs the same method to smuggle the story out. But since the issue of Andy smuggling in $500 into the prison isn't addressed in the movie, we should assume that he smuggled it in. In addition to this, the wardens scams are described as "near slave labor." From this we can assume that it is possible the inmates are getting paid (an incredibly small) wage. Perhaps Andy, with his financial knowledge, knows how to haggle, barter and stretch a dollar. One last (but not as likely) scenario is that Red allows some sort of lay by system to inmates.