Corrected entry: Andy Dufresne was the vice-president of a large Portland bank before his high profile murder conviction. After escape, he visited nearly a dozen banks in the Portland area. Banking is a close-knit industry know for honest people working long careers. It is unbelievable that even after 20 years, Andy could avoid being recognized as Andy in local Portland area banks. He removed an average of almost 30 thousand per bank (in 1966 dollars)- a fortune. To receive cashiers checks in that amount, he would have to deal with senior bank officials. Even though the Portland area is a fairly loose term, the banks must have been close, as he visited them before word of the escape became public knowledge. In the 1960's, Portland had a population of about 75 thousand, indicating that Warden Norton had money in almost every available bank in the area. It is inconceivable that Andy could have avoided detection of his true identity under these circumstances, even with false identification. He would have been recognized by an employee in one of the dozen banks.
Tailkinker
7th Apr 2011
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
29th Oct 2010
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Corrected entry: When Andy finally leaves Shawshank and leaves through the tunnel emerging after crawling through near half a mile of horrible slimy stuff he does not have the case with him containing the exchanged documents he switched when the warden opened the safe and when he switched bibles in the office. But we see him later after the escape in a town handing over documents which confirm his new identity.
Correction: Andy's dragging a plastic bag filled with his stuff behind him, using a rope tied to his leg, so that it doesn't get in his way. It can be seen throughout his escape, as he climbs down from the tunnel leading from his cell, coming out of the sewer pipe immediately behind him, and is visible floating behind him as he runs through the river.
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Correction: Entirely speculative. It's been twenty years, Andy has aged significantly and is believed to be serving a life sentence behind bars - as you yourself observe, his visits all occur before word of his escape gets out. Even with, as you say, banking typically being a long career, most senior officials at the time of Andy's original offence will likely have retired, with their places filled by people who would be less familiar with him. And finally, he possesses impeccable paperwork identifying him as Randall Stevens, who is a rich and therefore likely a powerful individual. It's entirely possible that some employees that he encountered that day might find him familiar, even vaguely connect that familiarity to Dufresne, but there's a long way between "familiarity" and "suspicion", and nobody would be so stupid to risk offending a powerful individual by suggesting that he might be a convicted murderer. Once word of his escape got out, of course, likely a number of people were kicking themselves, but, at the time, there's no reason for any of them to suspect that he wasn't exactly who his paperwork said he was.
Tailkinker ★