The Shawshank Redemption : He would have died crawling through the pipe of *beep*

The gas that comes out of *beep* is like methane and carbon dioxide am I right?

So with the lack of oxygen, I don't think he would have even survived crawling 50 yards how much more 500 yards?

And how did he break through that pipe with the piece of rock? It sounded like it was metal he was hitting.

Also the hole that he made to get into the pipe looked only big enough to fit his head. Even a professional contortionist wouldn't have got into that pipe with that size of a hole.

Just a few things that bothered me about the film. Which is otherwise nearly perfect.

You are making points and asking questions that have already been discussed on this board. Take the time to read all the old threads that are still here if you really are interested in that and not just making noise. I will address one

The prison's sewage system obviously would have been a flowing system and probably had more kitchen and laundry water than toilet water. So while the air in the pipes no doubt would have smelled really bad the concentration of methane would have been low enough and the oxygen high enough to allow Andy to survive.

If you're not sure then do a web search on what the level of methane would have to be in air to asphyxiate someone and you'll find it is pretty high.

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Take a risk, Take a chance, Make a change. Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway

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You are making points and asking questions that have already been discussed on this board. Take the time to read all the old threads that are still here if you really are interested in that and not just making noise. I will address one

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Why do you have to be such a arrogant prick about it? If there is other threads about it, I didn't see it obviously. Why don't you be helpful and put a link to those threads. Instead of being an *beep*

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The prison's sewage system obviously would have been a flowing system and probably had more kitchen and laundry water than toilet water. So while the air in the pipes no doubt would have smelled really bad the concentration of methane would have been low enough and the oxygen high enough to allow Andy to survive.

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It didn't look like to me that it had more kitchen, laundry water flowing in that pipe. And Red says he was crawling through *beep* smelling foulness that he can't even imagine. So that contradicts the point you were saying.

And It definitely was not water detergent he was mostly crawling through. As you can see for yourself from the color of the water and Andy reaction while crawling through it when he gags, that is not this sweet smelling laundry soap you're thinking of that overwhelms him. Plus *beep* potency will always overcome any kind of soap or laundry or dish washing scent/smell.

And you got to also consider the carbon dioxide in that pipe would be very high. It's not like the laundry soap would make more oxygen. In that small crept space you would hardly get oxygen going through. And just imagine it is 500 yards long with no other hole to release these gases or get some needed oxygen.

I am a Chemist, you probably aren't. Carbon dioxide is not poisonous, it can kill if the concentration is too high by making the resultant oxygen level too low. But carbon dioxide is a fermentation product and would not be expected to be unusually high unless the water was stagnant and it contained yeast and sugars. Or the inmates were discarding lots of dry ice by dumping it into the sewer system and there was no evidence they were doing that.

Go back and review your high school chemistry, it no doubt explains all that. You are past high school aren't you?

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Take a risk, Take a chance, Make a change. Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway

Oh wow you're a chemist. congratulations *applauds* That's the best thing you've said so far. Your mother must be proud of you.

Yes as you said, so there is no evidence of what they were dumping in the sewage. So why assume all these things that it's clean from poisonous gasses? All we know it was filthy pipe full of *beep*

And you honestly believe someone can crawl 500 yards without passing out from the overwhelming stench and lack of oxygen?

A chemist would know that raw sewage produces high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide, not carbon dioxide. And H2S is very deadly. Sewer workers have to wear H2S monitors and always work with a spotter (google "Confined Space") because H2S can easily overpower a human's sense of smell and kill them quickly.

_____________________
I'm your Huckleberry.

True, but it's only a problem usually where you've got stagnant, not flowing sewage.

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Oh wow you're a chemist. congratulations *applauds* That's the best thing you've said so far. Your mother must be proud of you.

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Bitterness is a stinky cologne.

Can't stop the signal.

It's a pretty common thing to say that anything that smells bad as smelling like *beep* *beep* smelling foulness might very well have meant that it was because of the presence of feces (and I believe it meant that) but it could also just mean that it smelled bad in there.


He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?

The OP makes several good points about the problems with the scene being discussed. And though it's been a while since I've seen the movie, I do remember Thomas Newman's score helping the scene greatly.

This is just one of the many examples where movie magic overcomes the illogical problems of any particular scene from any particular movie.

Anyway, wouldn't Andy have smelled really bad the next day when he entered that bank? Yet another problem caused by the same scene, but yet the movie's problem is overcome by the movie's excellent craftsmanship. At least in my opinion anyways.

" Anyway, wouldn't Andy have smelled really bad the next day when he entered that bank? "

Remember it was raining hard. They didn't show it all but Andy took his clothes off and washed in the rain then found a dry place to put on the clean clothes he had in the plastic bag.

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Take a risk, Take a chance, Make a change. Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway

It would have taken several days for Andy to get rid of that smell. And that sewage would have seaped through the plastic bag to the clean clothes, but I'm being technically picky about a great movie. If the movie hadn't been so good, I would be less forgiving about that scene. That's the power of a great movie.

I do believe Andy had a bar of soap with him in that bag, that with the rain would have helped get him clean.

I believe he did indeed have soap. Also lets not forget that the pipe was open at the end and that Andy made a sizable hole in the pipe. Perhaps that made for at least a little ventilation.


He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?

I believe in those times, clay pipes were the norm when things were built in the early decades of the 20th century. I might be wrong but thats what I think may have been the case.

As always, it's a fictitious movie where you have to suspend all disbelief.

Consider the following to make your next viewing of Shawshank easier to deal with: Human waste releases a variety of organic gases, all of which disperse rapidly even in a pipeline like the one Andy is crawling through; also, there's plenty of oxygen present for him to breathe, anyway, some of which is one of the gases released by fecal matter.

The pipeline must've been made of clay, as I believe they were back in those days, despite what it sounded like. After all, it couldn't have been made of any kind of metal since he was able to break through it. It must've been a clay pipeline. A piece of granite would do the job with enough blows, and Andy was an amateur geologist and could easily have gotten such a rock.

The camera doesn't need to show Andy expanding the hole to a size adequate to accommodate him.

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Also the hole that he made to get into the pipe looked only big enough to fit his head. Even a professional contortionist wouldn't have got into that pipe with that size of a hole.

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he had gotten very bendy due to the rapes

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So with the lack of oxygen, I don't think he would have even survived crawling 50 yards how much more 500 yards?

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Sounds like something mythbusters should test!