Hot take: Shawshank should've ended with Andy in prison

I keep seeing people say the escape ending was perfect, but I got into a fight about this at a watch party last week. Andy's whole arc was about hope inside the walls, not getting out. If he had stayed and built the library while the warden got caught another way, it would've showed that justice can happen without running. Am I the only one who thinks the rooftop beer scene was the real payoff anyway? What ending would you give it instead of the tunnel crawl?

1 comments

1 Comment

kim.nancy7h ago

Did your watch party people actually sit through the whole three hours? My buddy once fell asleep during the tunnel scene and woke up thinking Andy drowned, he was so mad he missed the point. He still brings it up every time we watch anything with a prison break. Honestly the roof beer scene was the best part for me too, that moment of them being human again beats any escape. Would you have kept the warden getting caught too, or just let the system slowly fall apart on its own?