re: Shawshank Redemption theory **CONTAINS SPOILERS**

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How did Andy know that the prisons sewage discharge pipe just dumped into a creek instead of leading to a waste water treatment plant?

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Between the cops and inmates that got to work outside the prison, I'm assuming he asked..

Be weird for a prison basically in the middle of no where to lead to a plant, too

This is my only real complaint in an otherwise perfect movie. The circumstances surrounding the escape stretch credulity in an otherwise perfectly plausible story.

19 years is almost 7,000 days. We know about surprise cell tossings and we know Andy isn't above breaking the rules here and there (Marriage of Figaro) and being subject to corrective action. In ~7,000 days there wasn't a single occasion, even happenstance, of someone (staff or inmates) finding out about the big arse hole in his cell wall, or the rock hammer? This is also a world in which inmates don't seem to move cells (Red is pretty clearly shown to be in the same cell the entire time too), and where there's no turnover on staff (guards or warden) that could potentially mess up Andy's plans.

Even given all this, you'd think the warden would want to keep an exceptionally close eye on the guy who's the engine for his whole illegal operation, and who could probably pretty easily bring the whole thing down with a letter (with the postage cheerfully paid for by the warden himself, as is shown in the movie). Maybe the warden made concessions enough to let his guard down all those years. It would explain "how the hell Andy got the best of him" I guess.

Still a top ten movie all time for me.

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I never understood why the sewage exploded in his face as if it was under pressure, but when he crawled out at the end there way barely a trickle.

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Was dumping raw sewage directly into a local creek a normal thing back then?

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What are the odds that Andy Dufresne’s tunnel was completed long before his escape?

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I figure we have to define "long", then. Certainly it was complete and he had to make additional preparations before using it. He also had to wait for a storm to cover the noise. It was a detailed plan 2 decades in the making. He might have had the tunnel complete for some weeks, but I doubt much longer. You wouldn't want that sitting there - waiting to be discovered and all that work get lost.

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I have a different sort of question. How did Andy know that the prisons sewage discharge pipe just dumped into a creek instead of leading to a waste water treatment plant?

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Didn't they tar the roof and routinely do work outside the prison?

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Heck, he may have finished the tunnel and then started his plan for getting the money under his made up persona

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And risk it being found or his cell moved. No way.

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The circumstances surrounding the escape stretch credulity in an otherwise perfectly plausible story.

19 years is almost 7,000 days. We know about surprise cell tossings and we know Andy isn't above breaking the rules here and there (Marriage of Figaro) and being subject to corrective action. In ~7,000 days there wasn't a single occasion, even happenstance, of someone (staff or inmates) finding out about the big arse hole in his cell wall, or the rock hammer? This is also a world in which inmates don't seem to move cells (Red is pretty clearly shown to be in the same cell the entire time too), and where there's no turnover on staff (guards or warden) that could potentially mess up Andy's plans.

Even given all this, you'd think the warden would want to keep an exceptionally close eye on the guy who's the engine for his whole illegal operation, and who could probably pretty easily bring the whole thing down with a letter (with the postage cheerfully paid for by the warden himself, as is shown in the movie). Maybe the warden made concessions enough to let his guard down all those years. It would explain "how the hell Andy got the best of him" I guess.

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This nearly perfectly states the one criticism of the movie that always gnaws at me.

Remember that Red, and his group, had an "in" with the guards. His group got picked to do the roof work so I find it plausible for them to get certain perks. Looked like they got their cells tossed but I can buy they let them stay in their one bunk Hilton.

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Was dumping raw sewage directly into a local creek a normal thing back then?

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No doubt this was part of what is called a "combined system". Pipes that carry sewage to a treatment plant (or some type of septic tank) are the same pipes that carry rainwater drainage. During large storm events, the mixed rainwater and sewage water are too much to handle, and a lot of it goes directly into outfalls for rainwater-- creeks, rivers, etc.

These type of systems were more common in the old days, especially up north. So an old prison in Maine would likely have it.

You'd be surprised at how many places STILL have a combined sewer system instead of a modern sanitary sewer system, which is separate:

What tunnel? From the movie, it looked like he only needed to get through the wall in his cell, which lead to crawl spaces and then engineering spaces that housed the sewer pipe. He then entered the pipe and crawled out. I really didn't see a tunnel.