Question about Andy's escape

Don't forget that that the cops and civilians were looking for an escaped double murder lifer named Andy Dufresne. They weren't looking for a clean, articulate, professional businessman named Randall Stevens who, by the way, had proper identification.

And he needn't have worried about time; he now had plenty. He would have bought his car and taken a nice leisurely drive to Buxton, then head south.

Is very bad to steal Jobu's rum. Is very bad.

Sorry, but in terms of good filmmaking, none of your questions matter since the suspension of disbelief is not interrupted in those scenes.

Even if it was announced that same day, information didn't travel as fast as it does now.

How many of us would instantly recognize an escaped prisoner? Especially if he was dressed in a suit just going about his business.

Seize the moment, 'cause tomorrow you might be dead.

The responses are solid, and explain Andy's escape pretty well, but I still agree with the OP that the issue is dubious. After all, look at what happened to Warden Norton once Andy mailed the evidence to the papers. The story got printed, the DA issued indictments, and arrests were made (and brains blown out). Boom.

Andy Dufresne was a notorious criminal who escaped from Maine's maximum security prison. His face would have been very quickly plastered on all the papers and on TV. This was the 1960s after all. It would have been a huge story and Maine is a small (population-wise) state. It's hard to believe, for example, that the banks didn't figure it out. He went to a dozen banks in a single day. These tellers and bank managers would have remembered Randall Stevens and the instant they saw Andy's photo they would have recognized him as the guy they'd never before seen who walked into their bank and cleaned out a huge account.

Then Andy goes to Buxton and takes the time to bury a package for Red under a tree, so he's hanging around the area for awhile. It's easy to believe that he escaped, but it's easy to picture somebody capturing him, too.

You buy egg roll!

1). The Warden & company likely limited the spread of info to avoid looking bad in the public eye. I don't think Andy's escape was announced the same day

2). The film shows that Andy had proper ID for the Randall Stevens name. If he got pulled over by police or something, he would just show his ID and be on his way

3). As stated, he looked like a well-grommed businessman, not an ex-convict