Since its release, The Shawshank Redemption has developed a massive following, topping IMDb's Top 250 list despite its rough start at the box office. But there's always been a niggling problem with its uplifting ending. Because The Shawshank Redemption's Raquel Welch poster created one of the biggest movie plot-hole controversies ever debated online. Famously, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) used the Barbarella poster to cover up his long-running plan to escape the Shawshank Penitentiary.
The Shawshank Redemption's greatest trick is luring the audience into thinking Dufresne's story is about a man accepting his unjust punishment when it's actually a tale about quiet resistance and unwavering determination. This led to his escape and a minor plot hole that wasn't a plot hole at all when looking at what Darabont put on the screen. But why exactly were there so many questions about Andy's poster of Raquel Welch in The Shawshank Redemption?
The Shawshank Redemption's Raquel Welch Poster Plot-Hole Explained
After earning some degree of pull with prison officials, Andy Dufresne is permitted a Raquel Welch poster for his cell and some small tools to carve sculptures from prison yard stones. The Shawshank Redemption's big twist reveals that over a span of many years, Andy Dufresne secretly used this minute rock hammer to tunnel an escape route from his cell to the sewer system. The Shawshank Redemption poster of Raquel Welch covered the hole in Andy's cell. The reveal is made when Shawshank's warden investigates Dufresne's empty lodgings and starts throwing rocks in anger. One projectile hits Ms. Welch and tears straight through, revealing the cavernous tunnel behind it.
There is one problem here. How did Andy Dufresne reattach the poster from inside the tunnel? Every night, Dufresne removed the poster, hammered away at his tunnel, returned to his cell, and then fixed Welch back to the wall once again. But on the fateful night of his actual escape, When Andy climbs into the hole in Shawshank Redemption, he couldn't have physically re-fixed his poster to the wall from within the cavity. Andy surely would've been forced to leave his escape route exposed, with the poster discarded on the cell floor. This wouldn't be as dramatic as Norton hurling the rock, and some have accused The Shawshank Redemption of prioritizing dramatic impact over storytelling logic.
Why Fans Obsess About Andy Dufresne's Poster
The Shawshank Redemption poster is a hot topic of debate among The Shawshank Redemption fans, even with its renowned reputation. As the extraordinary prison tale became more renowned in the late 1990s and early 2000s, critics and fans alike began to hail The Shawshank Redemption as a perfect movie with no weak links. The fact that such a well-rounded and intelligently constructed movie with exemplary foreshadowing and one of the greatest movie twists of all time could be undone by a simple lapse of logic is incredibly annoying. However, Andy Dufresne's escape from Shawshank is improbable by its very nature - that's what makes The Shawshank Redemption's ending so uplifting. With such a glorious ending, it wouldn't make sense for the post to upend it.
There are so many more questions outside the Shawshank Redemption poster. How did the tunnel manage to avoid pipes and other obstacles? Did none of the guards notice a draft emanating from Raquel Welch? Why didn't anyone hear Andy digging? However, these queries have plausible (albeit unspoken) explanations, ensuring Andy Dufresne's jailbreak remains at least somewhat realistic. But attaching the poster back to the wall from inside the hole appears to have no implicit explanation, unraveling all the hard work behind The Shawshank Redemption's ending. However, with all the complaints, there might be a logical explanation for this perceived plot hole.
Andy's Other Posters Offered A Huge Clue
Anyone still rankled by Andy Dufresne's logic-defying poster can rest easy. The Shawshank Redemption poster provides a suitably plausible explanation for how Raquel Welch found her way back onto Andy's cell wall following the banker's dramatic departure. In order to avert suspicion from the iconic actress and the massive hole she was hiding, Andy requests an assortment of other posters to decorate his cell, including Einstein poking out his tongue, Marilyn Monroe, and, as per Stephen King's original novella, Rita Hayworth. Crucially, at least some of these posters are affixed by their top corners only, with the bottom two hanging freely.
This is a prison, after all. As privileged as Andy might've been within Shawshank, the tape was undoubtedly hard to come by. It makes sense that the cell posters would only be attached at the top, and knowing that Andy didn't necessarily tape his pin-ups at all four corners gives a potential explanation for the Raquel Welch plot hole. It would be easy for Andy to have the top taped securely to the wall, lift the bottom to climb through, and then dig the hole. When it was time to escape, once again, he could have left his secret message for Red, pulled up the bottom, slid in, and let the Shawshank Redemption poster fall back into place, covering the hole.
How Andy Refastened The Poster After He Escaped
The movie showed how the Raquel Welch poster was still on the wall. When the red mist descends and Norton begins his tirade in Andy's empty cell, the camera gives a brief shot of the Shawshank Redemption poster. It's clear the image is only taped to the wall on its right-hand side, whereas the left is hanging loose like Andy's other posters. This means Andy could've slipped into the tunnel through the open corner without removing any of the three corners attached to the wall. The movie had him safely escape behind Raquel Welch. The poster would then flap back down, covering his exit route, and buy him more time before the guards began their search. It was the same as the novella where Andy disappeared behind Rita Hayworth
During the escape, it seems Andy lifted the single unfixed corner. Meanwhile, the three taped sides would've created enough tension for the poster to rip when Norton launched a rock at it. This scenario remains fairly improbable. How did a grown man squeeze behind the poster without damaging it, and would it really just flop back down into position? But as with every other unanswered question about Andy's escape, the audience can at least imagine their own potential answers, and unlike reattaching the poster from the inside, possible explanations do exist. The explanation just requires a little digging beneath the surface.
The escape of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption remains incredibly far-fetched, but as long as the breakout sits within the realm of reality, the movie's ending works. Andy didn't re-tape the poster back to the wall after climbing into his hand-made tunnel. The important part is that he escaped and then went on to live out his life in freedom, showing that good men can find salvation if they just work hard enough. The Shawshank Redemption can go back to being considered a flawless cinematic masterpiece.