“I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.” — Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding, while riding the Trailways bus near the end of “The Shawshank Redemption”
MANSFIELD — Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding smiled out the window of the Trailways bus near the end of “The Shawshank Redemption,” the sun shining on the face of a newly freed man.
He was headed on a long journey to Zihuatanejo, Mexico, in the hopes of being reunited with his longtime prison friend, Andy Dufresne.
That famous 1960 General Motors coach, the same one used in the film, returned to Mansfield on Thursday afternoon. It will be available to fans to see on the grounds of the former Ohio State Reformatory during the 30th anniversary celebration of the movie.
Ashleigh Ramey, program director at the Ohio State Reformatory Preservation Society, said the iconic bus scene near the end of the film was one of her favorites.
“I feel like the bus is the epitome of the hope theme. You get Red, who has finally made his parole after 40 years and there he is, taking off on this bus. He is free,” Ramey said Thursday afternoon, just before the bus arrived on a trailor.
“I don’t know that there’s a scene in the movie that more closely hammers home the fact that his hope has finally come true and he’s out of there,” she said.
The bus, currently inoperable, arrived on the OSR grounds on the back of a trailer, making the 723-mile journey on loan from Alabama State University in Montgomery.
Movie fans can take photos with the bus this weekend, as well as the 1953 Buick that nearly “hit” Brooks after he was released from the prison. There will also be a replica of the police car that was used in the movie.
Ramey said she heard the bus used in the movie was just sitting in a lot in Atlanta, Ga., after the film was completed by director Frank Darabont.
“It was just sitting downtown in a yard against a building, completely uncovered, completely exposed to the elements,” she said.
“Someone realized what it was and they wanted it (in the Alabama state capitol of Montgomery) because not because of the Shawshank tie, but because of the ties to everything that happened in Selma (Ala.),” Ramey said.
She said the bus was similar to the bus used during the Rosa Parks era that began in 1955 and resulted in the 13-month bus boycott that demonstrated the potential for nonviolent mass protest to successfully challenge racial segregation and served as an example for other southern campaigns that followed.
“They wanted it (in Montgomery) for that reason and only discovered later it was the Shawshank bus,” Ramey said.
“We only discovered it about two weeks ago and we’ve been really scrambling trying to get it here,” she said.
(Photos below are of the “Shawshank Redemption” bus that was used at the end of the film to transport Red to Mexico to be reunited with his friend, Andy. The bus was transported from Montgomery, Alabama, to Mansfield, arriving on Thursday in time for the 30th anniversary of the film’s release. These photos were taken by Shari Robertson.)
Ramey said the Upper Sandusky Shawshank Woodshop has agreed to work on the 64-year-old bus while it’s back in Ohio.
“It’s going to live in their garage for a little while while they work on it. They have a historic vehicle specialist who comes in and works on not just this bus, but they have other vehicles from Shawshank, as well,” she said.
“They’ll come in and fix it all up and we’re going to give it back to the university operational,” she said.
The arrival of the bus added to the continuing excitement on the grounds of the former state prison with a weekend of activities planned. (Click here to see all of the events planned for the 30th anniversary celebration.)
“It’s definitely been exciting around here,” Ramey said. “It’s wonderful for us to be able to see all of the fans coming back to Mansfield, all of the cast coming back to Mansfield, Frank Darabont, as well.
“We’ve been working really closely with a lot of the production managers, some film teams. We’ve already done some documentary work out here.
“It’s been a lot and it’s been very exciting.”
