Brubaker (1980) Movie Script
- What do you got?
- Man with a little rabbit in him.
Throw him on.
Those guys with the guns.
- Convicts.
- What the hell are you talking about?
- Wakefield prisoners.
Same as us.
He's not gonna make it.
Take these boys on back.
I'll talk to you later.
One of you cons trying for parole?
Come on. Up. Up.
You guys hit bottom.
Here you go.
In there.
Follow me.
In there.
That's it for you.
Okay, next man.
Let's just take a little off
around the ears.
Cost five to get you
no haircut, Zaranska.
- Two only gets you a crew cut.
- I'll tell you when. You.
Fuck it, I can use this on a bed.
It'll all come off then.
Maybe an ear with it.
Hey, man, what happened
to that guy on the bus?
You don't talk to me unless I tell you to.
You hear?
Yeah.
BARBER:
What's it be, my man?
Leave the ears.
I'm getting ready to come on in.
Fresh meat coming in.
Where in the hell's Lamar at?
He don't have the job no more?
What's it look like?
I'm the man in here.
Come on, I'll show you where you sleep.
Rest of you men, grab a blanket,
find some room on the floor.
We talk about beds when somebody
gets out of here or dies.
- Come here.
- Move it down.
Let's go, every other one.
Come on down here.
Let's go, move it on down.
- What the hell you looking at?
- Move on down there.
Come on, let's go.
Come on, move it down.
Come on, move it on down.
Fucking showers.
These goddamn showers
ain't got no hot water.
Let me go! No!
You're over there, buddy. Eat all that.
Come on, boy. What is the matter?
You playing hard to get?
Let go.
No, stop it.
Get your own soap, you understand?
Mr. Caldwell.
Lord, you're getting fat, aren't you?
Stay out of my face, motherfucker.
- Hey, Huey.
- Floyd.
Hey, Huey, how's about that game?
I'm getting ready to be angry, Abraham.
I'm getting ready to be real angry.
Oh, look at her go.
Yeah, she goes up on the inside.
She's still behind her.
And look out. She threw
a left hand at her. Back again.
Tried to lift the bigger gal off her feet.
I'm going up to the house.
New people came in today.
I think they need to go to school,
so run upstairs...
...and show them what the picture is.
When this is over.
Now, Eddie.
Where's my boots?
And she scores two points.
That makes 40.
Walter.
Coming in, Otis.
Man gonna ride the hide, Otis.
Hey, man, I told you
I ain't have no match, man.
Spivey, they want you
down at the bars, boy.
- Down at the bars, captain?
- You heard me. Now move.
- The bars?
- Goddamn it, I said move!
I ain't got all fucking night! Now move!
Why the bars, captain?
I didn't do nothing.
I didn't do nothing, captain.
I didn't do nothing.
Now drop them pants and get
on that gate.
But I didn't do nothing.
I didn't do nothing.
Damn.
- How many licks you recollect that is?
- That's three.
- Three what?
- Three, cap.
- And what's that?!
- Four, cap!
- And what's that?!
- Five!
- Can't hear you!
- Six, cap! Seven, cap!
Eight, cap! Nine, cap!
That's 10, cap! Eleven, cap!
That's 12, cap!
- Hang him up.
- Open the gate, Otis.
What the hell are you looking at?
Pick it up.
Pick it up. Pick it up.
- Moving out.
- Move out.
Let's see you swing them hoes.
All right, you boys, swing them hoes.
Now get in between.
You coming down
to the office today, Captain Renfro?
Because I wrote them letters like you
wanted. Maybe you wanna look at them.
What are we gonna do about my brother?
Give your brother a call.
Tell him I'll send ten boys over.
Wash out his milk machinery
on Tuesday.
Get yourself cleaned up, boy.
- Hey, baby.
- You coming to see me tonight, sweetie?
I think he's blushing.
- Why, you....
Beat him up, J.B.
Sucker, you're in trouble,
you know that? You're in trouble.
Beat him up, J.B. Beat him up.
What's going on over here?!
Bullen, Elwood, over here.
Come on, come on.
You're fixing to get yourself
over to Camp Five.
Thanks, man.
- You're the dumbest asshole yet.
- Ain't you got enough shit on you?
- Put him down on the ground.
Do it, Bullen.
Now put the gun on him. Do it, boy.
- Get him down and hold him down.
- That's what I'm doing, Birdwell.
You all look here now.
Shut up.
All right, that's it.
We got a long night together...
...and I don't want to hear
nothing but snoring.
Well, you know you can't win them all.
No, I'll give you another shot. I promise.
Nope. All right, now.
We'll see you later.
- If my hospital calls, you ain't seen me.
- You got it, doc. Hey, what about him?
- I'll see him next week.
- Want me to do anything to him?
I'll take care of you in a minute.
No, sign says four today for blood.
Yeah? Don't believe
everything you read, Zaranska.
- Hey, give me a sandwich.
- Fifty cents.
Man, I know what it is.
Man, give me a sandwich.
Give me a sandwich, buddy.
Sandwich.
Fresh out this morning.
Why don't you have a look around?
Are you finished with that,
Mr. Caldwell?
Two bits.
- Fifty cents.
- Seventy-five.
What?
Sold.
You just cost me 50 cents
that was needed elsewhere.
Go ahead. It's protein.
No, don't. Stop it.
No, come on.
Wait! No, please don't!
Stop it! Let me go!
No!
No, let me go! Let me go! Stop it!
- Climb in the truck.
- Hey, Rauch. Rauch!
Where you going with those boys?
I gotta get this stuff milled today.
I gotta tell my insurance company
what my inventory is.
Mr. Woodward,
I gave you 20 people today...
...and I'm down on my count.
I got people all over.
- I don't care other people's problems.
- All right, I almost forgot this.
I got you a nice sirloin tip here.
Warden Renfro's gonna hear direct
you don't come through on this.
Now, sir, don't you worry.
This one, up it. Let's go.
Hey, I'll take it.
Thanks, man.
Hey, I do that. I do that.
- Where's my meat?
- It's coming in the back there.
What? You told me two steers.
That ain't two steers.
- Sorry, I couldn't do it this week.
- Hey, don't tell me couldn't.
Suppose I can't spare you
no beer this week.
I'll make it up to you. All right?
Where's Carol at?
Back at the house.
RAUCH:
Back to truck.
For another 20, I'll give you the
name of a stoolie who knows cannons.
- You give me back my dough.
- Who told you to ask me?
- The pin boy in the bowling alley.
- Who told you to ask him?
A fella that works
at the Houston Street auction shop.
- Oh, shit!
- Wash your mouth out.
- What time you coming up there tonight?
- I can't, my brother's got me working.
- Your brother's got you working?
- Mm-hmm.
No, he doesn't, because I just
bought you the night off.
What are you doing?
Get on those logs and start moving them.
- You move them, asshole.
- You're asking for it, boy.
Floyd!
Yeah, Huey?
What do you got them doing?
Taking a nap?
What are you doing?
Get back to work now.
- Huey, don't get excited-
- Floyd!
Hey, Huey, take it easy now.
Let me explain-
Floyd, shut up, will you?
All right, just for that
it went up to six bits. Six bits.
They want you up at the bars, Bullen.
All right, who wants it, man?
The last peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Half a rock. Who wants it?
You got yourself a phone call.
Fuck.
Look here, Eddie. Why a phone call?
- Let's go.
- A phone call?
Why a fucking phone call?!
Hey. Psst. What's-?
What's with the phone call?
I'm getting ready to say
something important now.
I wanna know that when
I talk I'm being listened to.
I'm getting ready to give out the detail.
Leonard, I want you to go to kitchen.
Collins.
- Boiler house.
- Sanitation detail.
You too, Bullen.
Wait a minute. This man is hurt-
You just deal with colored.
I'll take care of the white folks, okay?
Besides, I don't think Bullen's
got much more than...
...refried shit for brains this morning.
Now what about your boy
Boyd for clerical?
Come on, come on.
We ain't got all day.
Hey!
I got me a convict here!
I'll rip this cat's head off!
You get me the man!
I wanna see the man, now!
I can hear his neck snapping.
Shit. I want some respect.
You sons of bitches hear me out there?
I want some respect!
Yeah, we hear you, Walter. We hear you.
I want to see the man!
I hear his neck snapping. I do!
- Open this.
- Where are you at?
- You want in?
- Open- Yeah.
Some fucking respect around here.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
- Stand still.
- Hey!
We talk?
Who the fuck are you? I want the man!
I am. I am the man.
I'm the new warden here.
My name's Henry Brubaker.
Man, don't be fucking with my head.
- New warden, my ass.
- It's true. I swear it.
- Then how come you look like a scumbag?
- Because I'm fooling those guys out there.
- When you gonna paint this place?
- What color?
Yellow.
- Yellow.
- Yellow.
And I want a picture window in my place.
This yours? This one?
One of them high-low pinto shag rugs...
...and some liquor and a TV
like them fucking trusties all got.
Some fresh air.
Which wall?
- Which wall what?
- The picture window.
Come on, show me exactly.
Maybe I want a skylight.
Yeah, I want a- I want a skylight.
How you doing?
- Open this.
- Do what?
Open it up. Get this man
some medical attention.
Get this place dried out and painted up.
What color?
- Any fucking color he wants.
- Everybody crazy around here.
- Where you going now?
- My office.
Mess with me now,
you're gonna regret it later.
We don't work this out fast,
you won't be around later.
Do you want ID?
Listen, if I raise my right hand,
that tower guard will blow you out.
Or you can continue walking with me,
like the smart escort I figure you to be.
Hey! Hey!
- Hold it right there.
- I'm sorry. I'm replacing you.
Coombes, give me a hand.
Call Lillian Gray,
assistant to the governor.
- Who is this asshole?
- Beats the shit out of me.
- The name is Brubaker.
- He thinks he's the new warden.
I didn't want it this way,
but that's the way it is.
What is?
What is?
You're Willets? Earl?
- Burl.
- Burl, right.
State employee, purchasing agent.
You've been here, uh, uh,
three years, uh, next May.
Five years in Ju- July.
Government service ranking is seven.
You're due for an ingrade raise in May.
Yes, sir. That part's all true.
- Captain?
- Yeah?
This is a hell of a note,
that's all I've got to say.
- I mean it.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'll make sure all your magazines
get forwarded. Don't worry.
You know something, Mr. Brubaker?
Smartest thing you ever done
was come in here incognizant.
Dumbest was stepping forward.
You want it? You got it. Bye.
Can you hear me-?
Can you hear me?
The name is Henry Brubaker.
I'm what the new governor promised.
A reform warden.
That sneaks in like
James-fucking-Bond!
Purcell? Here, give me that.
See this? This thing is gone.
Any trusty wants to go back
to raking rocks...
...just get caught using this
on one of your charges.
If an inmate is to attempt an escape,
should we just sort of wave so long or-
- Shoot him.
- We can't hear you over here.
He asked me what happens if an inmate
tries to escape. I said, "Shoot him. "
Wound him because nobody's
getting paroled...
...for trying to kill escaping inmates.
Let's get something straight.
I figure most of you guys belong here.
I figure basically you don't have any
respect for other people or yourselves.
You want more from me,
you're gonna have to earn it.
We're gonna figure out some way to make
this run like a 20th century farm.
You're gonna stop selling blood
to buy decent food.
You'll go in those fields
and plant vegetables.
What you got your bubbles on for,
Cleaves?
Mr. Deach, ain't no woman
can come in here.
It's all right, Ruben.
From now on, no more 15-hour shifts.
The beef you raise on this farm...
...is gonna be eaten on this farm
by everyone.
What the-?
He was an army lieutenant.
He ran a military stockade in Maryland.
- to enforce the laws of this state.
This is ridiculous.
I found him teaching penology at
Price University three years-
Hold on. How old are you?
- Forty.
- Forty.
To enforce the laws of this state
and of the United States.
- This is ridiculous.
- "To enforce the laws-"
- We've got-
- I understand your problem.
- prison without taking a loyalty oath.
- I stressed to the governor
the promise that he clean up the prisons...
...if he got elected,
and he always delivers on his promises.
- To be respectful to my superiors.
- A couple of weeks.
Yeah, Brubaker was in as a rankman
for a couple weeks.
- No publicity on how I came in here.
- You got some good men on your side.
- Hey, it's good, strong stuff.
- I know what I'm saying.
- No publicity.
- I quite agree.
Kill that last part.
I don't know how you pulled this off...
...but I can't be kept in the dark
on something like this.
And Lillian knows that now.
Chairman of the Prison Board...
...must approve everything
pertaining to the prison.
I hope you're not one of those people
gonna start screaming...
...for free-world guards.
I don't know. How long have
you been on the Prison Board?
- Did I say that? Brilliant.
- Seventeen years this summer.
Print it. Credit the governor. Bye-bye.
Well, John, what do you think
of our new warden?
I'm trying to get a fix on what his first
order of business here is gonna be.
Blow the place up. Start from scratch.
You're making a joke, of course.
Of course.
Yes.
- Learn much?
- Not enough.
- I've never seen anything like this place.
- There isn't anything like it.
Understand the problem's
not just inside the prison.
I do. That's why
I have to move so fast.
Carefully.
- It's the same thing, Lillian.
- Henry, this is very important to me.
No kidding.
You're one of the strangest individuals
I've ever laid my eyes on.
I've got an 11:00, Lillian.
What's the problem?
She was saying you're one of the most
punctual individuals she's worked with.
- I'll call you later in the week.
- I know you will.
- Man, this is pathetic.
- That's it.
- This just don't cut it.
- That's all I've got.
Well, you're out of luck.
Look, I needs a supervisor's
desk job like you.
Anyway, you's overworked.
Hey, man, it ain't up to me alone.
- Purcell, can I see you a minute?
- Yeah, sure.
Oh, I gotta-
I love what you did
with old John Deach out there.
A lot of people gonna get
a kick out of that.
- The day that-
- Who was that lady out there, by the way?
The day that I came in on the bus,
trusties put a man on. Gunshot wound.
Mm-hmm.
Is he okay?
- What do you mean?
- I mean how is he?
Is he okay? Is he back in the barracks?
Is he a security risk? I mean, how is he?
Well, I imagine we shipped him
on off to the county hospital, don't you?
Find out.
And could you get me
a dozen pair of sunglasses, please?
All right.
You want them polarized or tinted?
You want the kind that have the mirrors?
People can't see in,
makes them nervous as hell.
Just the regular glasses.
You got them.
- Look, captain-
- Don't call me captain.
Mr. Brubaker, I know you're
probably getting ready...
...to make some new job assignments
around here.
You'll probably even name
your own warden's clerk.
Well, if you got a minute, I'd like to take
a shot at making a case for myself.
Hey, I know I'm not the smartest guy
in the world...
...but I do know this job.
And I know this damn place better
than any man here. And that's a fact.
I've been the warden's clerk here
for eight years. I know it.
What you got here mainly are rural people.
You know what I mean?
Well, they're not much at paperwork.
No sophistication. They....
I'm not trying to put anybody down,
don't get me wrong.
I'm just telling you the way it is.
And that is the way it is.
What are you in for, Purcell?
- Nothing really. I-
- Nothing?
Well, I held up a card game,
if you're ready. Pretty stupid, huh?
Undoubtedly, they were cheating you.
Absolutely.
That's a fact.
Anyway, you need something,
I'm your man, okay?
Well, just the sunglasses for now.
You got them.
- They all for you?
- None for me.
Gotcha.
What is you gonna do about my parakeet?
Abraham, come on, will you?
Tell your story walking.
- Take a hike.
- They let him out on purpose.
Yeah, I know, your poor bird. Jesus!
- Roy, Roy.
- What?
Do I get the desk job?
You want a desk job, huh?
Well, I got a desk job for you.
Spell "ophthalmology. "
Say what?
Come on, come on.
From now on these men get out
once a day, not every six months.
All right, sir.
Purcell, I wanna see Bullen
at the house tonight.
Now, let's take a look at that boiler.
You say come in?
Look, I don't like being here.
Looks like I'm sucking up to the man,
you know what I mean?
- You're a lifer.
- Habitual criminal. The big bitch.
You don't wanna get on my bad side.
Word is that I'm dangerous.
How about you setting that weapon aside?
How about you take off them glasses?
Now, it says here that they put you
away for breaking a toilet.
- Says you quit school in the 3rd grade.
- I ain't never quit nothing in my life.
Born Louisiana, twin brother run over
by a train at 15.
You were both trying to escape
the Hartsville Reformatory in Texas.
Yeah, well, they shot Hollis
and laid him on the tracks...
...so the train would squash him up
and make it look like an accident.
Kind of soured me, you know?
I got away, got arrested for stealing
a '65 Pontiac sedan.
Got two years for that, and I done them.
I got arrested for stealing
a '69 Pontiac convertible.
You big on Pontiacs?
Bone white,
leather, oxblood upholstery...
...big, huge, chrome fender skirts.
How'd they compare?
They fucked up the engine in '69,
if you ask me.
- Anyway, I got three years for that.
- Another felony.
Then come the toilet.
I got picked up for vagrancy,
misdemeanor.
The next morning,
the toilet's broke off the wall.
There's six men in the cell. They stick me
with destruction of city property over $50.
Felony number three.
Habitual.
- Judge gives you life for the toilet.
- Yeah, or give me the toilet for life.
Same difference.
Anyhow, here I am, shoveling shit
for dead men.
Instead, how'd you like to be a trusty...
...and run my motor pool?
Mr. Brubaker, I been studying
you since you first come in...
...and it's come clear to me that you
are one weird fucking individual.
I ain't got you figured out yet,
whether you're a good thing or a bad one.
Does that mean you'll run my motor pool?
Wear them khakis?
Get me a guitar?
Be the warden's new boy?
No, you're smarter than that.
The whole world's fucked up,
Mr. Brubaker.
Yeah.
There ain't no use.
Tower number three.
Who am I looking at?
He's looking at me.
Up there you got Douglas Mizell.
- Who the hell is Doug Mizell?
- A forger. Three times grand theft.
I want a rundown
on everybody that's got tower duty.
I do believe that's Purcell's job, sir.
I want only murderers up there,
one-time impulse killers.
Well, aren't you taking kind of
a chance doing that? Aren't you?
It's the habituals you can't trust.
Murderers, most of them...
...already have it out of their systems.
Guys like you, right?
- There's nobody around here like me.
- Oh.
On death row, why'd you let me go?
You tell me. You're the man.
You're trying to cover yourself
both ways, right?
- You're in for murder, aren't you?
- I thought that you...
- ...asked me to come here so you could-
- All this good land, all this acreage...
...livestock, and everybody's starving.
Except guys like you.
- Did you eat?
- I don't eat that shit you eating.
Oh. You know a lot about nutrition?
I know about hungry.
Do you like being a trusty?
Better than being a rankman.
I suppose you're getting used
to reform wardens, seen a lot of them.
Every warden is a reform warden.
Not Renfro.
- Not Renfro?
- No.
Where you think those clothes
came from the rankmen's wearing?
You think we got some special factory
that makes rags?
Renfro got those clothes brand-new,
just like the ones you'll bring in.
- How do you know-?
- The same rags...
- ...the next reform warden will throw out.
- Let me ask you...
...something about being a trusty.
When you're out in the fields,
sitting on your horse...
...and you're holding your gun,
holding all the cards...
...what keeps you from taking off?
Mr. Brubaker, sir...
...I wouldn't go around and be putting
these ideas in nobody's head.
One day we could just lay down
all the shovels and our gun...
...and stop playing the man's game.
Pick up and run off.
Hello. Brubaker.
Yeah. Hang on.
Coombes. Coombes?
- Yeah?
- For you.
Yeah?
What?
How many hurt?
What about security?
Okay, I'll be right there.
- What's-?
- Are we finished with-?
- Yeah. What's wrong?
- The rank barrack's roof just caved in.
Hey, you boys get back
to your bunks over there!
You're taking a chance going in there,
you know that?
Somebody kill the current
in this building.
Help!
Get off of me!
Give me a hand.
Give me a hand, Coombes!
Holy Christ!
How do we get through that?
Get these men out of here, now!
What are you gonna do with them?
Put them in your house?
What do you mean, call the state hospital?
You're 20 miles closer.
It's raining like hell outside.
I've got one station wagon.
I can't put them in open trucks.
What?
Listen to me. These are injured men.
No, don't lay down.
Hey, don't lay down.
Put this here. Give me your hand.
Put some pressure on it.
An hour?!
Why?
Why?
All right, now, I'm counting on that.
Two ambulances.
Yeah, thanks a lot.
We got a bleeder over here!
You gotta get this man to a hospital!
- They all gotta be.
- I said I can't afford no more.
Shut up!
What did he say?
Nothing.
Brubaker, I can't afford no more.
- Shut up!
- Wait a minute.
What's going on here?
I said, nothing.
- What's the matter with you?
- You charge for medical attention?
- Who?
- You!
What are you so excited about?
We been doing it this way for years.
Get your hands off me! Don't!
You call yourself a doctor?
Get your ass off this farm!
Crazy man! You're a crazy man!
Crazy fool!
Zaranska, this is your hospital now.
- What? Hell, I-
- You're in charge...
...until we get a real doctor.
I don't know about hospital-
You know a lot more about it than I do.
Work with me.
Looking good, warden.
Willets.
We just took delivery on 300 cases
of chili con carne last week.
Where are they now? I wonder.
No, I just looked in the locker.
Boys gobble it up?
Not the rankmen.
And there's only 50 trusties.
Now, that comes to 7200 cans.
Divided by 50 trusties,
that comes to 144 cans.
And you correct me if I'm wrong.
You okay?
You're going too fast for me.
Divided by seven days...
...that comes to 20.5 cans of chili
per trusty per day.
Now, does that tell you anything?
Willets?
- Are you alive, Willets?
- No, sir.
Great.
Excuse me. The roof just fell in.
People are starving to death.
I'd like you to find out
where all the food is going here.
Purcell, I want this-
You'll do that, Willets?
I want this posted:
Only regulation outfits now...
...are prison-issue pants,
boots and shirts.
- We don't have any boots.
- Well, order them.
- But that's Willets' area, acquisitions.
- Roy, no, you order them, would you?
And I'm gonna need about 700 pairs.
And no more shaved heads.
Yeah, but sizes. How am I gonna
figure out how many nines?
You know that. Come on.
Goddamn, look at you.
New blood.
Now, that's what this place needing.
You're Brubaker, am I right?
- That's right.
- Don't look like no warden.
Chocolate prune cake in there.
My missis baked it up special
for you.
I hate prunes. They cloud my mind.
- I say my name?
- No, but I know who you are.
C.P. Woodward. Call me Woody.
Now, you saying we met?
- What can I do for you, Mr. Woodward?
- Roof.
- What?
- Roof. I came about the roof.
Purcell gave me a yell, said you declared
a state of emergency or something.
I thought you just sell lumber.
Oh, I sell it, I grow it,
I mill it, I hammer it.
I got wood in my veins.
You just give me
your John Hancock there.
We'll fix things up tight.
No. No, hold it now.
Don't you wanna go up there
and see what the size of the problem is?
Whatever we find, we'll fix.
See, the damn thing of it is...
...you get one little pinprick hole
in that tar paper from the factory-
This isn't a question of pinpricks
or tar paper. You built that thing wrong.
You know it.
You built it two years ago...
...and I want you to rebuild it.
Of course you do.
And don't you worry.
I can help you out on the cost. I'll bill
only my materials full this time around.
This isn't gonna cost me anything.
- You guarantee your work, don't you?
- Of course!
Look, you gotta get on top
of this shit pile, Henry...
...and then the job's
not just a ball-buster.
I mean, you'll be happier then.
Well, I'm not complaining.
Are you unhappy?
It sure sounds like it to me.
I'm not in
the construction business for my health.
Or anybody else's, it seems.
I am in the middle of my inventory. It's
a pain in the ass, but I rushed over here.
Ain't been anybody coming
from Wakefield to give me a hand lately.
We're not sending any convicts
to you anymore, Mr. Woodward.
- That's slave labor.
- No. It is not.
No, no. You got it all backwards.
See, because this is a community.
The people around here don't ostracize
this prison. We accept it.
We cooperate.
It's a two-way street.
Now, you gonna be seeing
a lot of nice things...
...from people
in the farm-supply business...
- ...clothing business-
- Lumber business?
Take that cake. Now, the point
ain't whether you like prune.
- It's the thought that counts.
- Exactly.
It's only smart to accept the stuff,
keep your mouth shut...
...and let things run like they've been
going for 100 years.
Before we was born even, you and me.
I'm talking about tradition.
Don't fuck with tradition.
Count your own woodpile, Woody.
I'll fix my own roof.
- People are gonna be disappointed in you.
- It won't be the first time.
And I hope you're right. Take this.
Take it.
Purcell, get me all the contracts
and insurance policies on that roof.
I want everything you got.
Whose team are you on, Purcell?
What can I say?
He's the coach for now.
Short season.
Oh, no. It's no secret.
Write it all down.
We got prison lumber, prison labor
building motels for people in town...
...building people's swimming pools.
That's right.
And my kitchen-rider, my trusty,
is loading our food into state police cars.
State police? It runs that deep?
We're gonna be stepping
on more toes than I imagined.
What's that?
I'm just warning you, because
you're likely to start hearing some things.
All right, I'll be ready
to run some interference for you.
No, no. I'll talk to the governor.
Let me do that.
Lilly, can I call you back?
Uh-huh.
Bye.
There you go.
There you go.
There you go.
Put some down on there.
Give me some of that stuff there.
Hey, wait a minute, man.
There you go.
Where's Huey Rauch?
I haven't seen him around.
Smell this.
- I'm a city boy.
- Purcell?
That smells like kerosene.
This animal's been shot.
Do you know anything about it?
That truck out there, you don't know
anything about that either, I suppose.
Looked like a free-worlder.
Now, what are these?
I don't know.
Shacks.
Are they on our property?
Let me think.
Honestly...
...yeah, I think.
Oh, shit.
I don't know who's in there,
I don't know what you're up to.
But we got the new warden from the
prison here, and we're probably coming in.
Right?
Probably nobody home.
Fuck you, Huey. I ain't hiding
in the dark like no human insect.
Yeah? What?
- Good morning.
- Morning.
Would you please get your ass out here
and take care of this?
Excuse me. I have a tight schedule.
- With one thing on his mind.
- Don't make it sound like that.
Everything has to be learned.
Even kids have had sex.
Is that what you're going
to practice at your next party?
- How many out there?
- I don't know. Three, four.
I don't want you
to get a reputation for-
Pull that up.
I already have one, the wrong kind.
And at the proper time,
to marry a man who respects you.
- I want you to have a good name. I want-
- You want! You want!
Is that all you can say?
Uh....
You want-?
You want a beer or something?
Don't you ever let me
hear you say anything like that again.
Popeil's improved
Veg-O-Matic stretches food dollars.
Millions bought at 7. 77.
Now it's yours for only 5. 77.
You save two dollars!
Where's your wallet at?
That's my personal property.
I'm going.
Save two dollars
from the former price.
Get one today for only 5. 77.
- Let me give you-
- I got it. I got it.
Hot dog, look what we got here.
That'd be Warden Renfro's
monthly supply, I imagine.
Man took baths in that stuff.
Hey, Willets?
Try and stay with me on this one,
will you?
Now, the rankmen have been working
sunrise to sunset, growing produce...
...so the warden and trusties
could sell it below market value...
...to some local cannery...
...where the proceeds could
go to buying more chili and soda...
...which in turn could be resold
to some supermarket chain...
...at an even greater profit.
- You think so?
- Do I think so?
What did you do with this chili?
You've been signing it out.
- How about that?
- I signed what Capt. Renfro told me to.
You can sign your own severance check,
because you're fired.
- I'm civil service.
- Fired.
Hey, this is chaos.
How can we handle purchasing
without Willets?
They're gonna do it.
- Who?
- They're gonna have an election.
Pick an inmate council.
That's a hell of an idea.
- What?
- I said, that's a hell of an idea!
Put it down over there.
Huey! Glad to see you back.
- Something funny about that, is there?
- I can't wait till you bring Carol here.
We all get dibs on that.
That's funny as hell.
Floyd.
Brubaker be turning this place
into a damn jailhouse.
Yeah. Well, he just doesn't know
who's running the place.
- Deach will set him straight on that.
- I hope so.
- Floyd?
- Yeah?
Get out of here.
- What?
- Get out of here.
I live here, Huey.
Get your stuff and get out of here, Floyd.
I gotta move in here. This is mine now.
All right.
Get my bird and come back
for the rest of my stuff.
Let's go.
Spivey, you take that shack
over there.
Bullen, take that one.
It'd be a lot smarter
to do this during the daylight hours.
Not so many people
would see the flames.
Maybe that's just exactly why he's doing
it now, you ever think of that?
He's crazy.
No, he's not.
- He's dangerous.
- Somebody needs to stop him.
Put a bullet in him.
There's a disease growing
in there, Henry.
Hostile to your health.
I know that.
You ought to get yourself some
paper cups or plates or something.
You ought to get yourself someone
to look after you around here.
That doesn't sound like the kind of advice
I'd expect from you.
No, I meant....
I meant one of those convicts.
So how's it going?
If the Chinese invade us...
...I got insurance.
If we have a landslide, earthquake,
a volcano erupts, I'm covered.
If a roof caves in, nothing.
No insurance.
- What are you gonna do?
- We're gonna rebuild it ourselves.
- Terrific!
- Terrific?
Yes. The governor's been wanting to come
down here for a while. It's a perfect time.
He'll actually see
something happening.
Have a few pictures taken, shake a few
hands, put his arm around an inmate.
It's what you call
a photo opportunity.
That was uncalled for.
Tom's not like that and you know it.
- I don't know Tom.
- He hired you, didn't he?
But I need a doctor here,
not a governor.
You need both.
- I know what I need here.
- No, I know what you need here.
It's a very complex world
out there, Henry.
I'm dealing with a lot of people who would
rather not see that prison change at all.
And they're sure letting me know about it.
I've been hit from all sides.
I got people out there trying
to shoot my cattle.
Got trusties inside here sabotaging
my crops and there's not a thing I can do.
Why not?
Do you know what happens if I rank
a man, if I send a trusty into the barracks?
- What?
- He's dead. Other men will kill him.
Can't you work with them?
Change their attitude?
I'm trying.
But I gotta deliver.
I can't come in here
and just paint this place.
Lillian...
...a permanent doctor.
Yeah, yeah. I know.
I am getting you one. I am.
Look, there's a prison board meeting
on Tuesday night.
I want you there.
The great diplomat.
I'll take that risk.
They're bringing
in some deputy warden...
...who's gonna give us a nice little talk
on prison reform.
I see, and you want me there
to defend myself.
No, I want a second opinion
in that room, Henry.
State your case!
They need to meet you.
I mean, you do make an impression, right?
All right!
Damn, this is like sitting
on top of the world, ain't it?
God almighty.
Hey, you know what I'd like
to do with her?
Yeah, I know what you'd like to do.
Well, you're wrong.
Do you ever just want to talk?
Shit. You've been whacking
it so long, Bullen...
...your mind's starting
to collapse in on itself.
- Brubaker.
- Yeah?
You know something? That's the first
I've heard those guys laugh in 15 years.
It doesn't bother you, does it?
Oh, man, I tell you,
we gotta hang in together.
We gotta put men on that council that
got their heads screwed on...
...because Brubaker will use the council
to take away your power completely!
He already took away
my refrigerator and my locker.
I hear he's putting
a new lock on the gate.
There. You see?
My name is Jerome L. Boyd.
And I got what is called
a sociopathic personality.
A sociopathic personality.
That means I ain't got no feeling
for my fellow man...
...because of how my parents
fucked me up.
Now hold on a minute now. Listen.
- I deem it an honor...
- How much you gonna pay us?
...to throw aside all my hatred for all you
dumb assholes and try and help you.
Let there be a hush on the land.
Gentlemen, Jesus come over down
to my bunk here, Tuesday a week.
And he hovered up there, kind of hovered.
You know what he said?
- What'd he say?
- Say what?
- What'd he say?
- Oh, well, he said:
"Frank, many is called,
but damn few is chosen.
I'm gonna put you on my first team.
And I want you to put these
boys underneath your wing...
...and see to it that they get
any subscriptions...
...to any damn magazines they want
in their barracks! "
All right!
Now, I am corrupt.
That's right.
Just like the rest of you.
But I am honest about it.
Now, you vote for Mr. Clarence...
...know exactly what you get.
- Zaranska?
- Yes?
- One vote, now. One vote.
- One vote. One vote.
Don't be such an old woman, Duane.
One vote, one vote.
Oh, feel the power!
- Feel mysterious wonders working within.
- Hallelujah! Can I get witness?
The Lord-
I believe the Lord is with us!
Name?
- What about the doctor?
- Be here this afternoon.
They said he was gonna be here
three days ago.
- Said he's coming about 1.
- Would you double-check that?
Yeah. One more.
What are you waiting for?
We're waiting on you.
You are the inmate council.
You know how it works. Go on ahead.
I'll be with you in a minute.
Now, wait a minute.
Because that's not the way I understood it.
Lillian Gray got authorization...
...for you people to go out and get bids
on that new boiler right away.
Well, how long does his lunch take?
Well, when will he be back
from his haircut?
Yes. Would you, please?
Definitely. Yes, today.
Thanks.
Something wrong?
Um....
Don't know exactly where to start here,
Mr. Brubaker.
One man, one vote. It's up to you.
You drop the hammer
on what you don't like.
No.
All right, then...
...I make a motion
that we consider a movement...
...to discuss the shitty plumbing
in the barracks. How many say aye?
- Aye.
- Thanks.
Uh, somebody should be taking notes
about this.
How about Pavitch?
There's a rumor he can write.
Yeah, Pavitch. Take a note.
This coffee tastes like Zaranska
washed his feet in it.
Only you'd know about that special
flavor, Larry Lee, you old sock-sucker.
Sir, this is looking like
a damn waste of time.
All right, Caldwell,
then why don't you resign?
We can find a replacement
for you fast.
Yeah.
The living facilities are
important. Toilets and beds and such-like.
I think we ought to start there.
It's a good place to start.
Can we get a contractor in
or somebody to redo the toilets?
Mr. Spivey, can I see the warden?
Well, the council's in session and
these men got appointments afterwards.
Probably not gonna get in
on account of Mr. Brubaker's...
...got a prison board meeting
tonight he maybe got to be at.
But I want to see him.
Birdwell, if a trusty escapes
off of minimum security...
- ...then he can't be a trusty.
Damn straight.
If you can't trust a trusty,
who can you trust?
Well, sure. But I'm talking
about extenuating circumstances.
For instance, a man escapes.
Then realizing the error of his ways,
gives himself up voluntarily.
- That's horseshit.
- So put him in the hole for 10 days.
I agree. And take away
all his visiting privileges for a month.
What are you talking about,
visiting privileges?
Don't let him mail
more than a letter a week.
I like it.
And send him up to his room and don't let
him watch no TV for a whole damn week.
I don't know where you
get your ideas of criminal justice.
Up your ass, I believe.
Wanna know something, Zaranska?
- Sure, Birdy, I'd love to know something.
- About your mama?
Hey, hey, hey, come on!
Come on, Abraham. Let's go.
You get your goddamn hands
off him, Purcell!
I got to clean my conscience.
I got something I've got
to tell you about in private.
Listen, Abraham, you don't have
to go explain anything to anybody.
Why don't you come into my office?
Come on.
I got guys waiting outside
that have appointments.
Well, tell them a story, Roy.
You guys can manage.
You're right.
I come to Wakefield
before World War ll.
Take a walk, Purcell.
This ain't open to the public.
Yeah.
We used to make corn liquor
out of this.
Growed it at the Camp Five field.
What happened...?
What happened to your eye?
Oh, got hit.
With what?
With a baseball bat, a trace chain...
...and a rope with knots in it.
You're doing time for manslaughter?
Yes, sir.
I killed my baby brother with a rock.
How much time?
How much time?
Thirty-five year.
How long have you been in here,
Mr. Cooke?
- Hell, I don't know.
- Well, I do.
Thirty-eight years, six months,
according to this.
Yeah.
New doctor's here.
He's out here waiting to say hello.
Great. Tell him just a minute,
would you?
There were lots of other guys.
The yard man say, "Abraham,
chop them up in tiny little pieces...
...and take them for a walk down
in them shadows. "
What?
I gave Jake's clothes to the laundry.
Come Christmas Day,
I stuck him in close...
...at the fence, where all them other
boys are dead and buried at now.
Must be over 200
of them out there now.
Wait. Wait a minute.
Are you talking about the bodies that are
supposed to be buried here on this farm?
Yes, sir.
Where?
There's 15,000 acres out there.
I know exactly where they lay.
Camp Five pasture.
How?
Abraham, how do you know?
I was the coffin maker.
Mr. Brubaker, this is Dr. Campbell.
Yeah. Oh.
Will you show me exactly
where tomorrow morning?
Yes, sir.
That board meeting ought to break up by
10:00, so I should be home by midnight.
We'll hold the fort.
I need five guys you can trust
with shovels right after breakfast.
I got them, coach.
- What you gonna do about Abraham?
- I got Purcell filling out forms.
- And I'm gonna get him released-
- Why you wanna go and do that?
Do what?
Why don't you just leave him be?
I mean, all he knows is this place.
You knew that he'd been in here
as long as he'd been in here. Didn't you?
Just leave him alone.
He's not bothering nobody.
You can't hide in prison forever,
Coombes.
Stir up some hell, Henry.
How you doing, Abraham?
Let me take that from you.
You got an appointment.
- What? What?
- A little business.
Well, where we going?
Doc wanna see you, Abe.
I ain't sick.
Hello, Abe.
Abe, we got some questions
that have to be answered.
Then you can get some sleep,
all right?
Eddie, get that stuff off there.
Up on this table here, Abe.
Hell, I know Captain Brubaker
is an expert at penology...
...but I think he's been
out of the mainstream too long.
There are 13 states,
my own included...
...that still rely on a leather strap
to control the convicts.
Because other people do it that way
doesn't per se make it right.
Oh, the hell it doesn't.
Cuts down on your time lost due to
convicts sitting in the hole, degenerating.
And it's a simple fact we have to face...
...that crop production at Wakefield's
down nearly 40 percent...
...this last quarter, since you-
But revenues are up 20 percent.
If you would just give me a year...
...leave us alone,
and let us eat the food that we grow...
...and sell the rest on the open market,
I'll show you a profit.
I'll show you a cash surplus.
Fine. All we're saying is,
give us some warning, Mr. Brubaker.
So when you go doubling
the price of corn-
Out of the clear blue sky,
you cancel an age-old contract...
- ...with C.P. Woodward Lumber.
- There wasn't any contract.
He was using prisoners
for slave labor.
As far as corn,
we're still a dollar below market.
How much potential cash surplus
are you talking about here, Mr. Brubaker?
In farm accounting alone...
- ...a hundred and fifty thousand.
- Dollars?
- Yes, sir.
- Good Lord.
Sounds like we're gonna need some
high-powered Wall Street types...
...to help us figure out
where to put it all.
Well, I'd like to put it all
back into the facility.
The place is literally falling apart.
You've got dry rot, disease, rats all over,
not enough place for the men to sleep.
You've got a boiler that your own state
inspectors condemned six years ago.
We authorized a bid on a new boiler.
Am I wrong?
- Why won't your purchasing take my calls?
- I'm looking into that.
While we're at it,
let's look into things like...
...assaulting a doctor,
firing a state employee...
...who's been keeping the books
for years.
- Because he wasn't worth a-
- Well.
You're letting inmates take over the place,
inmates with fourth-grade educations.
They don't all have
fourth-grade education.
You're not gonna tell me
that's gonna work.
The point is these men have
to at least...
...feel like they're taking responsibility.
They'll change this place, not me.
- Well, what the hell are we paying you for?
- All right. Hold it.
The bottom line here is that you want
to make life real easy for those men.
- Don't you, Mr. Brubaker?
- No. Not at all.
I think it is.
I think you kind of like men
like that.
Maybe because they're reckless,
same as you.
They see something they don't like,
they shoot it up or burn it down.
Make up their own laws
as they go along.
I didn't make up those laws. You did.
Because they've held up
our businesses.
They've raped our daughters
and murdered our sons.
And so we make them wards
of the state...
...which means we accept responsibility
to feed them, to clothe them...
...give them medical attention.
Not to starve them, not to torture them,
not to humiliate them.
And if you don't like the laws,
then change them.
In the meantime, it's my job-
It's your job to listen
to the people who pay you.
No, sir, it is my job
to reform a prison.
I'm not here to work
for a political party...
- ...or the state or a governor.
- May I butt in a second?
Let the record show that State Senator
Charles Hite desires to comment.
Mr. Brubaker, I think you owe it to yourself
to face some hard facts.
The people in this state have got
themselves a whole lot of problems...
...getting jobs, paying rent,
insurance premiums.
Now, come election time, they might
vote for your prison-reform thing...
...but that's just a reflex.
They don't want to hear
their taxes are being raised...
...to take care of murderers
and rapists.
That farm wasn't costing
anybody anything...
...before you got your hands on it.
You follow what I'm saying?
Why don't we go and build
them a putting green or a clubhouse?
Or a miniature golf course with
a hot, whirly, bubbly bath in it?
Why don't we build them a roof
that won't cave in on them?
That's enough.
- An insured roof this time.
- What do you mean?
The collapsed roof isn't covered at all,
that's what.
But we do have coverage
for thrashing machines...
...bailers, swatters, a tractor.
Sounds sensible to me to have the
things insured. I approved those policies.
You did more than that.
Your company sold us the policies.
The only trouble is, we don't have that
equipment on our farm. It doesn't exist.
What you have got, Mr. Brubaker,
is a piss-poor attitude.
I don't like you,
but that's beside the point.
No, it's not.
And still I'm telling you this
as a favor to Lillian Gray...
...who, for some unknown reason,
believes in you.
Do not- I repeat:
Do not come marching in here
from wherever the hell she found you...
...and presume to lecture us about
how to treat our fellow man.
We're all sitting here for free tonight,
except you.
We all got better places we could be.
So do I.
I think we all better have
a little food and calm down.
Brubaker!
How long you gonna last
pulling stunts like this?
What do you want to hear?
That I know exactly what I'm doing?
I'm sorry I don't have
all the right answers for you.
Then make some up.
Because what you've got to understand...
...is that they'll pull the plug
on all this.
And if you're not in the system,
you can't change it.
Give them something. Let them think
they control you. That's the secret.
You know who the real obstacles
to prison reform are?
It's not John Deach
or Senator Whatever-His-Name-Is.
- Hite.
- Hite. It's prison reformers...
...pseudo-reformers.
People that want to say the right thing,
be at the right place...
...get in the paper,
and get nothing done.
You see everything
from Brubaker's point of view.
Everything you do is right,
everyone else is absurd.
I don't know what's right or
wrong. Everybody's got their own version.
I'm just interested in what works.
There's no way
to beat guys like that.
You can't toe the line
because it keeps changing.
You have to be smarter than they are.
I've locked the goddamn keys
in the car.
God!
For the first time, it's occurring to those
prisoners that they don't have to take...
...everything shoved at them,
because they're still human beings.
So maybe someday,
when they do get out...
...they won't rape John Deach's daughter
or murder his son.
Bravo, but you're full of shit.
Just not enough to make things
work in that prison.
- The real problem is out here.
- Out here they don't want to hear you.
And they don't want to see me.
So why do you bother?
Why do you spend day after day sitting
in rooms with people like that...
...and let them make a fool
out of you?
Because sometimes you don't lose.
And if you can't figure out
how to play these people...
...you are gonna self-destruct.
And then you'll be of no use to me.
Turn on the lights.
I just got the call from the tower.
Find out why the man on duty
in Tower One didn't report anything.
Those guys at night, they....
Find out!
You had to listen to him, huh?
- What?
- What?
Oh, I don't believe men like you.
You're dangerous men.
You start wars
and let other people fight them.
You come and talk about,
"Do this, do that.
Think this way. Be this way. "
You stick a sign in a fool's hand
and say, "Follow me.
I got the thing figured out.
We can change things for the better. "
Well, that's a lot of bullshit!
There's only one thing you do.
And that's get people killed!
Maybe you're right.
- You don't wanna go in there now.
- But I have-
Not now.
- Warden.
- Yeah?
There's a Lillian Gray on the phone.
She's saying it's urgent.
I'm through talking.
I can't figure out how you found out.
Nothing happens at that prison
that doesn't get out.
- Now you're sounding paranoid.
- I'm not paranoid.
The enemy's real.
All right. You know the fairgrounds?
- The auction house where we sell cattle?
- I'll find it.
- What time in the morning?
- Eight o'clock.
I'll meet- No.
Make it earlier, 7.
I have to be back.
I'll see you at 7.
I said alone.
He's a friend.
You haven't actually
found anything yet, have you?
- No.
- Doesn't matter. It's having its effect.
- You called him?
- Didn't have to.
The senator called Lillian
last night himself.
Well, let me put this as simple as I can,
Mr. Brubaker.
You've gotta stop digging.
Why?
Because you have been salaried...
...to run one of the best-conceived prisons
in this country, sir.
Because although Wakefield
is admittedly an imperfect institution...
...much like America herself...
...she is nonetheless a grand experiment.
A government of the man,
for the man...
...by the man.
Plus the fact that it's the only prison
in the United States that's shown a profit.
- What is this horseshit?
- Listen to what he's saying, Henry.
I think the senator's
exhibiting uncommon foresight.
We're gonna try and salvage something
here today.
We're gonna work with you on this,
Mr. Brubaker.
Release funds.
You can hire people.
Get you that...boiler.
We'll sit down and draw up some plans
for some more barracks.
Get yourself a couple new tractors.
How many men are buried out there?
You wouldn't even know, would you?
That field was an old paupers' graveyard
when my granddaddy was alive.
- It's a matter of historical record.
- I'm talking about murder.
It's time to cut through the bull.
Grave robbery's a felony in this state.
You don't want to wind up
in your own prison, Mr. Brubaker.
- He means it.
- I'm calling the governor.
The governor already knows.
Nobody's asking you to stop digging.
We're ordering you to.
I don't like being put in a corner.
Listen, Edwards, stay out of this.
You're just another token liberal...
...that doesn't know shit.
I was hired to reform this prison.
If that means putting the prison board
behind bars, I'll do it.
Already been behind bars, Brubaker.
Two years in Atlanta for real,
another few days in disguise.
So you listen to this nice token liberal
for a minute.
Because you got a high opinion
of yourself.
Most of it I actually agree with.
But you don't really understand
inmate mentality.
If you did...
...you'd know that asshole is ready to
offer you anything you need for those men.
It's not enough.
Henry...
...stop the digging.
Concentrate on the men who are still alive.
We are winning.
We have leverage now.
- I've got a prison to run.
- I hope so.
Bullen!
Come over here and bring some guys.
Zaranska! Elwood!
Romeo! Beasley!
Start digging right here.
Over there, you see that?
Hey, Brubaker!
I believe we've got us one.
Brubaker!
Got one in this hole!
Hold it. Hold it.
Careful.
Okay, careful.
Scoop it out, handful at a time.
Easy.
Spoon it out if you have to!
- Careful.
Don't mess up evidence.
- Got one over here, boss!
- Easy, guys, easy.
Just carefully pry this off.
Don't touch anything you find inside.
Don't touch anything inside.
Zaranska!
- All I got is this.
- Here. Hold it.
- I can't get it! When I move it, it cracks.
- Careful. Careful.
- Now, don't touch it.
- All right.
Whole goddamn place has gone crazy.
They got those guys digging up...
...diseased carcasses of men
dead and rotting for 30 years.
That is because the man
took away the reason to be smart...
...and have some self-respect.
Turning the whole damn place
upside down.
- Prison board will stop him.
- Bullshit, Floyd!
They already tried to buy
the dumb bastard, but....
So...
...what do we do?
What about it, Dickie?
You got the man's ear.
He want to wake up dead?
There's talk around here.
I can't control it anymore.
You know, you're the only one
doing all the talking, Huey.
Yeah, that's great. And all because
one old, damn deaf fool starts-
Um....
Eddie, come here.
It's time to go.
It's time to check out.
- Why?
- Why?
What do you mean?
It's too loose. It's crazy.
They're digging up bodies.
It's too late to look up the answer.
Well, I figure I'm gonna stick around.
Take my chances here.
Skull lying under the left arm.
Both lower leg bones severed from thighs
and stacked in beside the knees.
The legs appear to have been cut off.
Why?
It's easier to shorten the man
than it is to lengthen the box.
How long has he been in the ground?
Well, I'm just not a pathologist,
not a coroner-
Doc, I need some answers fast.
- Causes of death, dates of death.
- If I took them to the state hospital.
Do it. Purcell, call the TV stations,
newspapers.
Tell them we just found
four murdered bodies in our pasture.
There's probably more.
- You're gonna start a stampede.
- Exactly.
Mr. Brubaker!
Hey, Mr. Brubaker!
We got a runaway vehicle.
- And Huey Rauch is in it.
- Huey?
- Yes, sir.
- Why?
Well, tell him!
He killed Abraham.
Where would he be?
Where would he go?
Pinky's.
Maybe.
Alive.
I want him alive.
Try over there.
I ain't open yet.
Ain't open for business.
Hey.
What the hell's going on here?
You guys crazy?
- Who you making the sandwiches for?
- Nobody!
- Where's Huey Rauch?
- Who?
- Where's your sister at, Pinky?
- What, Carol?
- Where does that door go?
- My house.
Open it.
Door's locked.
Ain't been used for years.
I'll go around to the front.
Hey! This is my castle!
You can't walk all over me!
I'm calling the law!
- Then call them.
- I will!
For now, shut up.
Hold it!
He's dead.
He's dead.
You've examined all the remains
in what? A laboratory environment?
Yes, I have.
Dr. Gregory, what about
all these broken bones?
They may be due to a blunt trauma.
But you need to temper that...
...with the knowledge those fractures
could have occurred...
...several years after death as a result
of a cave-in of the grave walls.
You don't have to be in practice 20 years
to recognize a skull...
...violently crushed
to the size of a grapefruit.
Son, I have got the forensic expert's report
sitting in front of me here.
According to all my scientific friends,
who are very knowledgeable in this area...
...it's not all that clear on that point.
You've got a couple of dozen or so
indigent inmates...
...buried in an old paupers' graveyard.
Anything else I think is pure speculation.
Paupers don't die in pieces, do they,
Dr. Gregory?
I'm gonna put it to you,
Mr. Partridge, that this board...
...is quite capable
of questioning its witnesses.
And that this whole procedure-
This whole procedure could just as easily
have been a closed hearing.
What would be in the best interest
of all concerned and people of this state...
...might be if we could get
Mr. Brubaker's thoughts on his firing.
Our primary responsibility
at this point in time...
...is, number one, to facilitate the decent
Christian re-interment of the remains.
Two, to regain control over this institution
that our warden has relinquished!
We don't go having any more gunfights
in our streets.
How about that, Mr. Brubaker?
Any comment on what your thoughts
might be on priority?
Priority?
I tried to reach the governor
and give him my thoughts.
But we all know what a busy man he is.
I think the board can handle this.
I was going to suggest that the best way
in the future to prevent any trouble...
...or confusion or a waste
of the taxpayers' time and money...
...would be next time
a man's sentenced to Wakefield...
...take him out and shoot him.
All right, that's enough! You stay here
and answer to those remarks, mister!
Miss Gray can explain them.
I believe you speak the same language.
- You want me to bring him back?
- No.
Nobody touches him.
I figured I hadn't heard the last from you.
I want to know why
you always think you can just walk out.
That's murder they're talking about.
If they condone it, you can't turn around
and tell these men why they're locked up.
It's one standard for everybody.
And you don't see any options?
No middle ground?
No. I don't see playing politics
with the truth, Lillian.
No way to compromise?
Oh, on strategy maybe,
but not on principle.
But that's what I-
- Goddamn it, I agree with you!
- No, you don't.
Not really.
The business
of this here prison is farming.
Not digging up good pastureland
looking for old graveyards.
What's done is done.
We got ourselves plenty
to think about today.
Never mind dwelling about yesterday.
We all gotta get back
to the basics at hand.
And that's why I'm standing up here,
saying to you convicts...
...straight out, how Rory Poke
is gonna run this here prison.
So we won't be wasting any more time
misunderstanding each other.
I am a firm believer in discipline.
A convict does his fair share of work...
...and he's not gonna have anything
to worry about.
But I know that that ain't been happening
around here lately.
And there ain't no crop...
...in no field...
...at no prison that I'm in charge of...
...that's gonna die in the fields.
The trusties will divide you up
into work groups.
You listen now.
Give them trouble,
and they've got my permission...
...to see to it that the troublemaker
is punished.
Hard.
Fair, but hard.
I packed up all
your personal things I could find.
If I've missed anything
or you have any mail, I'll take care of it.
Don't worry.
Hey, Brubaker.
I'm getting ready to tell you something.
You were right.
POKE:
I don't believe it makes no sense...
...having some convicts
looking more important than others.
Trusties is the only kind of men
that's earned...
That's what you're gonna discover
Rory Poke is all about.
Earning your privileges.
There ain't gonna be no more warden
playing favorites at Wakefield.
Ain't gonna be no more inmate council.
You've gotta earn privileges from now on.
That convict in the rear there.
Get back in line!
Get back into formation!
You men! You-! Get back in line!
Get back into formation!
You'll get a taste of the strap!
What the hell-?
- Man with a little rabbit in him.
Throw him on.
Those guys with the guns.
- Convicts.
- What the hell are you talking about?
- Wakefield prisoners.
Same as us.
He's not gonna make it.
Take these boys on back.
I'll talk to you later.
One of you cons trying for parole?
Come on. Up. Up.
You guys hit bottom.
Here you go.
In there.
Follow me.
In there.
That's it for you.
Okay, next man.
Let's just take a little off
around the ears.
Cost five to get you
no haircut, Zaranska.
- Two only gets you a crew cut.
- I'll tell you when. You.
Fuck it, I can use this on a bed.
It'll all come off then.
Maybe an ear with it.
Hey, man, what happened
to that guy on the bus?
You don't talk to me unless I tell you to.
You hear?
Yeah.
BARBER:
What's it be, my man?
Leave the ears.
I'm getting ready to come on in.
Fresh meat coming in.
Where in the hell's Lamar at?
He don't have the job no more?
What's it look like?
I'm the man in here.
Come on, I'll show you where you sleep.
Rest of you men, grab a blanket,
find some room on the floor.
We talk about beds when somebody
gets out of here or dies.
- Come here.
- Move it down.
Let's go, every other one.
Come on down here.
Let's go, move it on down.
- What the hell you looking at?
- Move on down there.
Come on, let's go.
Come on, move it down.
Come on, move it on down.
Fucking showers.
These goddamn showers
ain't got no hot water.
Let me go! No!
You're over there, buddy. Eat all that.
Come on, boy. What is the matter?
You playing hard to get?
Let go.
No, stop it.
Get your own soap, you understand?
Mr. Caldwell.
Lord, you're getting fat, aren't you?
Stay out of my face, motherfucker.
- Hey, Huey.
- Floyd.
Hey, Huey, how's about that game?
I'm getting ready to be angry, Abraham.
I'm getting ready to be real angry.
Oh, look at her go.
Yeah, she goes up on the inside.
She's still behind her.
And look out. She threw
a left hand at her. Back again.
Tried to lift the bigger gal off her feet.
I'm going up to the house.
New people came in today.
I think they need to go to school,
so run upstairs...
...and show them what the picture is.
When this is over.
Now, Eddie.
Where's my boots?
And she scores two points.
That makes 40.
Walter.
Coming in, Otis.
Man gonna ride the hide, Otis.
Hey, man, I told you
I ain't have no match, man.
Spivey, they want you
down at the bars, boy.
- Down at the bars, captain?
- You heard me. Now move.
- The bars?
- Goddamn it, I said move!
I ain't got all fucking night! Now move!
Why the bars, captain?
I didn't do nothing.
I didn't do nothing, captain.
I didn't do nothing.
Now drop them pants and get
on that gate.
But I didn't do nothing.
I didn't do nothing.
Damn.
- How many licks you recollect that is?
- That's three.
- Three what?
- Three, cap.
- And what's that?!
- Four, cap!
- And what's that?!
- Five!
- Can't hear you!
- Six, cap! Seven, cap!
Eight, cap! Nine, cap!
That's 10, cap! Eleven, cap!
That's 12, cap!
- Hang him up.
- Open the gate, Otis.
What the hell are you looking at?
Pick it up.
Pick it up. Pick it up.
- Moving out.
- Move out.
Let's see you swing them hoes.
All right, you boys, swing them hoes.
Now get in between.
You coming down
to the office today, Captain Renfro?
Because I wrote them letters like you
wanted. Maybe you wanna look at them.
What are we gonna do about my brother?
Give your brother a call.
Tell him I'll send ten boys over.
Wash out his milk machinery
on Tuesday.
Get yourself cleaned up, boy.
- Hey, baby.
- You coming to see me tonight, sweetie?
I think he's blushing.
- Why, you....
Beat him up, J.B.
Sucker, you're in trouble,
you know that? You're in trouble.
Beat him up, J.B. Beat him up.
What's going on over here?!
Bullen, Elwood, over here.
Come on, come on.
You're fixing to get yourself
over to Camp Five.
Thanks, man.
- You're the dumbest asshole yet.
- Ain't you got enough shit on you?
- Put him down on the ground.
Do it, Bullen.
Now put the gun on him. Do it, boy.
- Get him down and hold him down.
- That's what I'm doing, Birdwell.
You all look here now.
Shut up.
All right, that's it.
We got a long night together...
...and I don't want to hear
nothing but snoring.
Well, you know you can't win them all.
No, I'll give you another shot. I promise.
Nope. All right, now.
We'll see you later.
- If my hospital calls, you ain't seen me.
- You got it, doc. Hey, what about him?
- I'll see him next week.
- Want me to do anything to him?
I'll take care of you in a minute.
No, sign says four today for blood.
Yeah? Don't believe
everything you read, Zaranska.
- Hey, give me a sandwich.
- Fifty cents.
Man, I know what it is.
Man, give me a sandwich.
Give me a sandwich, buddy.
Sandwich.
Fresh out this morning.
Why don't you have a look around?
Are you finished with that,
Mr. Caldwell?
Two bits.
- Fifty cents.
- Seventy-five.
What?
Sold.
You just cost me 50 cents
that was needed elsewhere.
Go ahead. It's protein.
No, don't. Stop it.
No, come on.
Wait! No, please don't!
Stop it! Let me go!
No!
No, let me go! Let me go! Stop it!
- Climb in the truck.
- Hey, Rauch. Rauch!
Where you going with those boys?
I gotta get this stuff milled today.
I gotta tell my insurance company
what my inventory is.
Mr. Woodward,
I gave you 20 people today...
...and I'm down on my count.
I got people all over.
- I don't care other people's problems.
- All right, I almost forgot this.
I got you a nice sirloin tip here.
Warden Renfro's gonna hear direct
you don't come through on this.
Now, sir, don't you worry.
This one, up it. Let's go.
Hey, I'll take it.
Thanks, man.
Hey, I do that. I do that.
- Where's my meat?
- It's coming in the back there.
What? You told me two steers.
That ain't two steers.
- Sorry, I couldn't do it this week.
- Hey, don't tell me couldn't.
Suppose I can't spare you
no beer this week.
I'll make it up to you. All right?
Where's Carol at?
Back at the house.
RAUCH:
Back to truck.
For another 20, I'll give you the
name of a stoolie who knows cannons.
- You give me back my dough.
- Who told you to ask me?
- The pin boy in the bowling alley.
- Who told you to ask him?
A fella that works
at the Houston Street auction shop.
- Oh, shit!
- Wash your mouth out.
- What time you coming up there tonight?
- I can't, my brother's got me working.
- Your brother's got you working?
- Mm-hmm.
No, he doesn't, because I just
bought you the night off.
What are you doing?
Get on those logs and start moving them.
- You move them, asshole.
- You're asking for it, boy.
Floyd!
Yeah, Huey?
What do you got them doing?
Taking a nap?
What are you doing?
Get back to work now.
- Huey, don't get excited-
- Floyd!
Hey, Huey, take it easy now.
Let me explain-
Floyd, shut up, will you?
All right, just for that
it went up to six bits. Six bits.
They want you up at the bars, Bullen.
All right, who wants it, man?
The last peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Half a rock. Who wants it?
You got yourself a phone call.
Fuck.
Look here, Eddie. Why a phone call?
- Let's go.
- A phone call?
Why a fucking phone call?!
Hey. Psst. What's-?
What's with the phone call?
I'm getting ready to say
something important now.
I wanna know that when
I talk I'm being listened to.
I'm getting ready to give out the detail.
Leonard, I want you to go to kitchen.
Collins.
- Boiler house.
- Sanitation detail.
You too, Bullen.
Wait a minute. This man is hurt-
You just deal with colored.
I'll take care of the white folks, okay?
Besides, I don't think Bullen's
got much more than...
...refried shit for brains this morning.
Now what about your boy
Boyd for clerical?
Come on, come on.
We ain't got all day.
Hey!
I got me a convict here!
I'll rip this cat's head off!
You get me the man!
I wanna see the man, now!
I can hear his neck snapping.
Shit. I want some respect.
You sons of bitches hear me out there?
I want some respect!
Yeah, we hear you, Walter. We hear you.
I want to see the man!
I hear his neck snapping. I do!
- Open this.
- Where are you at?
- You want in?
- Open- Yeah.
Some fucking respect around here.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
- Stand still.
- Hey!
We talk?
Who the fuck are you? I want the man!
I am. I am the man.
I'm the new warden here.
My name's Henry Brubaker.
Man, don't be fucking with my head.
- New warden, my ass.
- It's true. I swear it.
- Then how come you look like a scumbag?
- Because I'm fooling those guys out there.
- When you gonna paint this place?
- What color?
Yellow.
- Yellow.
- Yellow.
And I want a picture window in my place.
This yours? This one?
One of them high-low pinto shag rugs...
...and some liquor and a TV
like them fucking trusties all got.
Some fresh air.
Which wall?
- Which wall what?
- The picture window.
Come on, show me exactly.
Maybe I want a skylight.
Yeah, I want a- I want a skylight.
How you doing?
- Open this.
- Do what?
Open it up. Get this man
some medical attention.
Get this place dried out and painted up.
What color?
- Any fucking color he wants.
- Everybody crazy around here.
- Where you going now?
- My office.
Mess with me now,
you're gonna regret it later.
We don't work this out fast,
you won't be around later.
Do you want ID?
Listen, if I raise my right hand,
that tower guard will blow you out.
Or you can continue walking with me,
like the smart escort I figure you to be.
Hey! Hey!
- Hold it right there.
- I'm sorry. I'm replacing you.
Coombes, give me a hand.
Call Lillian Gray,
assistant to the governor.
- Who is this asshole?
- Beats the shit out of me.
- The name is Brubaker.
- He thinks he's the new warden.
I didn't want it this way,
but that's the way it is.
What is?
What is?
You're Willets? Earl?
- Burl.
- Burl, right.
State employee, purchasing agent.
You've been here, uh, uh,
three years, uh, next May.
Five years in Ju- July.
Government service ranking is seven.
You're due for an ingrade raise in May.
Yes, sir. That part's all true.
- Captain?
- Yeah?
This is a hell of a note,
that's all I've got to say.
- I mean it.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'll make sure all your magazines
get forwarded. Don't worry.
You know something, Mr. Brubaker?
Smartest thing you ever done
was come in here incognizant.
Dumbest was stepping forward.
You want it? You got it. Bye.
Can you hear me-?
Can you hear me?
The name is Henry Brubaker.
I'm what the new governor promised.
A reform warden.
That sneaks in like
James-fucking-Bond!
Purcell? Here, give me that.
See this? This thing is gone.
Any trusty wants to go back
to raking rocks...
...just get caught using this
on one of your charges.
If an inmate is to attempt an escape,
should we just sort of wave so long or-
- Shoot him.
- We can't hear you over here.
He asked me what happens if an inmate
tries to escape. I said, "Shoot him. "
Wound him because nobody's
getting paroled...
...for trying to kill escaping inmates.
Let's get something straight.
I figure most of you guys belong here.
I figure basically you don't have any
respect for other people or yourselves.
You want more from me,
you're gonna have to earn it.
We're gonna figure out some way to make
this run like a 20th century farm.
You're gonna stop selling blood
to buy decent food.
You'll go in those fields
and plant vegetables.
What you got your bubbles on for,
Cleaves?
Mr. Deach, ain't no woman
can come in here.
It's all right, Ruben.
From now on, no more 15-hour shifts.
The beef you raise on this farm...
...is gonna be eaten on this farm
by everyone.
What the-?
He was an army lieutenant.
He ran a military stockade in Maryland.
- to enforce the laws of this state.
This is ridiculous.
I found him teaching penology at
Price University three years-
Hold on. How old are you?
- Forty.
- Forty.
To enforce the laws of this state
and of the United States.
- This is ridiculous.
- "To enforce the laws-"
- We've got-
- I understand your problem.
- prison without taking a loyalty oath.
- I stressed to the governor
the promise that he clean up the prisons...
...if he got elected,
and he always delivers on his promises.
- To be respectful to my superiors.
- A couple of weeks.
Yeah, Brubaker was in as a rankman
for a couple weeks.
- No publicity on how I came in here.
- You got some good men on your side.
- Hey, it's good, strong stuff.
- I know what I'm saying.
- No publicity.
- I quite agree.
Kill that last part.
I don't know how you pulled this off...
...but I can't be kept in the dark
on something like this.
And Lillian knows that now.
Chairman of the Prison Board...
...must approve everything
pertaining to the prison.
I hope you're not one of those people
gonna start screaming...
...for free-world guards.
I don't know. How long have
you been on the Prison Board?
- Did I say that? Brilliant.
- Seventeen years this summer.
Print it. Credit the governor. Bye-bye.
Well, John, what do you think
of our new warden?
I'm trying to get a fix on what his first
order of business here is gonna be.
Blow the place up. Start from scratch.
You're making a joke, of course.
Of course.
Yes.
- Learn much?
- Not enough.
- I've never seen anything like this place.
- There isn't anything like it.
Understand the problem's
not just inside the prison.
I do. That's why
I have to move so fast.
Carefully.
- It's the same thing, Lillian.
- Henry, this is very important to me.
No kidding.
You're one of the strangest individuals
I've ever laid my eyes on.
I've got an 11:00, Lillian.
What's the problem?
She was saying you're one of the most
punctual individuals she's worked with.
- I'll call you later in the week.
- I know you will.
- Man, this is pathetic.
- That's it.
- This just don't cut it.
- That's all I've got.
Well, you're out of luck.
Look, I needs a supervisor's
desk job like you.
Anyway, you's overworked.
Hey, man, it ain't up to me alone.
- Purcell, can I see you a minute?
- Yeah, sure.
Oh, I gotta-
I love what you did
with old John Deach out there.
A lot of people gonna get
a kick out of that.
- The day that-
- Who was that lady out there, by the way?
The day that I came in on the bus,
trusties put a man on. Gunshot wound.
Mm-hmm.
Is he okay?
- What do you mean?
- I mean how is he?
Is he okay? Is he back in the barracks?
Is he a security risk? I mean, how is he?
Well, I imagine we shipped him
on off to the county hospital, don't you?
Find out.
And could you get me
a dozen pair of sunglasses, please?
All right.
You want them polarized or tinted?
You want the kind that have the mirrors?
People can't see in,
makes them nervous as hell.
Just the regular glasses.
You got them.
- Look, captain-
- Don't call me captain.
Mr. Brubaker, I know you're
probably getting ready...
...to make some new job assignments
around here.
You'll probably even name
your own warden's clerk.
Well, if you got a minute, I'd like to take
a shot at making a case for myself.
Hey, I know I'm not the smartest guy
in the world...
...but I do know this job.
And I know this damn place better
than any man here. And that's a fact.
I've been the warden's clerk here
for eight years. I know it.
What you got here mainly are rural people.
You know what I mean?
Well, they're not much at paperwork.
No sophistication. They....
I'm not trying to put anybody down,
don't get me wrong.
I'm just telling you the way it is.
And that is the way it is.
What are you in for, Purcell?
- Nothing really. I-
- Nothing?
Well, I held up a card game,
if you're ready. Pretty stupid, huh?
Undoubtedly, they were cheating you.
Absolutely.
That's a fact.
Anyway, you need something,
I'm your man, okay?
Well, just the sunglasses for now.
You got them.
- They all for you?
- None for me.
Gotcha.
What is you gonna do about my parakeet?
Abraham, come on, will you?
Tell your story walking.
- Take a hike.
- They let him out on purpose.
Yeah, I know, your poor bird. Jesus!
- Roy, Roy.
- What?
Do I get the desk job?
You want a desk job, huh?
Well, I got a desk job for you.
Spell "ophthalmology. "
Say what?
Come on, come on.
From now on these men get out
once a day, not every six months.
All right, sir.
Purcell, I wanna see Bullen
at the house tonight.
Now, let's take a look at that boiler.
You say come in?
Look, I don't like being here.
Looks like I'm sucking up to the man,
you know what I mean?
- You're a lifer.
- Habitual criminal. The big bitch.
You don't wanna get on my bad side.
Word is that I'm dangerous.
How about you setting that weapon aside?
How about you take off them glasses?
Now, it says here that they put you
away for breaking a toilet.
- Says you quit school in the 3rd grade.
- I ain't never quit nothing in my life.
Born Louisiana, twin brother run over
by a train at 15.
You were both trying to escape
the Hartsville Reformatory in Texas.
Yeah, well, they shot Hollis
and laid him on the tracks...
...so the train would squash him up
and make it look like an accident.
Kind of soured me, you know?
I got away, got arrested for stealing
a '65 Pontiac sedan.
Got two years for that, and I done them.
I got arrested for stealing
a '69 Pontiac convertible.
You big on Pontiacs?
Bone white,
leather, oxblood upholstery...
...big, huge, chrome fender skirts.
How'd they compare?
They fucked up the engine in '69,
if you ask me.
- Anyway, I got three years for that.
- Another felony.
Then come the toilet.
I got picked up for vagrancy,
misdemeanor.
The next morning,
the toilet's broke off the wall.
There's six men in the cell. They stick me
with destruction of city property over $50.
Felony number three.
Habitual.
- Judge gives you life for the toilet.
- Yeah, or give me the toilet for life.
Same difference.
Anyhow, here I am, shoveling shit
for dead men.
Instead, how'd you like to be a trusty...
...and run my motor pool?
Mr. Brubaker, I been studying
you since you first come in...
...and it's come clear to me that you
are one weird fucking individual.
I ain't got you figured out yet,
whether you're a good thing or a bad one.
Does that mean you'll run my motor pool?
Wear them khakis?
Get me a guitar?
Be the warden's new boy?
No, you're smarter than that.
The whole world's fucked up,
Mr. Brubaker.
Yeah.
There ain't no use.
Tower number three.
Who am I looking at?
He's looking at me.
Up there you got Douglas Mizell.
- Who the hell is Doug Mizell?
- A forger. Three times grand theft.
I want a rundown
on everybody that's got tower duty.
I do believe that's Purcell's job, sir.
I want only murderers up there,
one-time impulse killers.
Well, aren't you taking kind of
a chance doing that? Aren't you?
It's the habituals you can't trust.
Murderers, most of them...
...already have it out of their systems.
Guys like you, right?
- There's nobody around here like me.
- Oh.
On death row, why'd you let me go?
You tell me. You're the man.
You're trying to cover yourself
both ways, right?
- You're in for murder, aren't you?
- I thought that you...
- ...asked me to come here so you could-
- All this good land, all this acreage...
...livestock, and everybody's starving.
Except guys like you.
- Did you eat?
- I don't eat that shit you eating.
Oh. You know a lot about nutrition?
I know about hungry.
Do you like being a trusty?
Better than being a rankman.
I suppose you're getting used
to reform wardens, seen a lot of them.
Every warden is a reform warden.
Not Renfro.
- Not Renfro?
- No.
Where you think those clothes
came from the rankmen's wearing?
You think we got some special factory
that makes rags?
Renfro got those clothes brand-new,
just like the ones you'll bring in.
- How do you know-?
- The same rags...
- ...the next reform warden will throw out.
- Let me ask you...
...something about being a trusty.
When you're out in the fields,
sitting on your horse...
...and you're holding your gun,
holding all the cards...
...what keeps you from taking off?
Mr. Brubaker, sir...
...I wouldn't go around and be putting
these ideas in nobody's head.
One day we could just lay down
all the shovels and our gun...
...and stop playing the man's game.
Pick up and run off.
Hello. Brubaker.
Yeah. Hang on.
Coombes. Coombes?
- Yeah?
- For you.
Yeah?
What?
How many hurt?
What about security?
Okay, I'll be right there.
- What's-?
- Are we finished with-?
- Yeah. What's wrong?
- The rank barrack's roof just caved in.
Hey, you boys get back
to your bunks over there!
You're taking a chance going in there,
you know that?
Somebody kill the current
in this building.
Help!
Get off of me!
Give me a hand.
Give me a hand, Coombes!
Holy Christ!
How do we get through that?
Get these men out of here, now!
What are you gonna do with them?
Put them in your house?
What do you mean, call the state hospital?
You're 20 miles closer.
It's raining like hell outside.
I've got one station wagon.
I can't put them in open trucks.
What?
Listen to me. These are injured men.
No, don't lay down.
Hey, don't lay down.
Put this here. Give me your hand.
Put some pressure on it.
An hour?!
Why?
Why?
All right, now, I'm counting on that.
Two ambulances.
Yeah, thanks a lot.
We got a bleeder over here!
You gotta get this man to a hospital!
- They all gotta be.
- I said I can't afford no more.
Shut up!
What did he say?
Nothing.
Brubaker, I can't afford no more.
- Shut up!
- Wait a minute.
What's going on here?
I said, nothing.
- What's the matter with you?
- You charge for medical attention?
- Who?
- You!
What are you so excited about?
We been doing it this way for years.
Get your hands off me! Don't!
You call yourself a doctor?
Get your ass off this farm!
Crazy man! You're a crazy man!
Crazy fool!
Zaranska, this is your hospital now.
- What? Hell, I-
- You're in charge...
...until we get a real doctor.
I don't know about hospital-
You know a lot more about it than I do.
Work with me.
Looking good, warden.
Willets.
We just took delivery on 300 cases
of chili con carne last week.
Where are they now? I wonder.
No, I just looked in the locker.
Boys gobble it up?
Not the rankmen.
And there's only 50 trusties.
Now, that comes to 7200 cans.
Divided by 50 trusties,
that comes to 144 cans.
And you correct me if I'm wrong.
You okay?
You're going too fast for me.
Divided by seven days...
...that comes to 20.5 cans of chili
per trusty per day.
Now, does that tell you anything?
Willets?
- Are you alive, Willets?
- No, sir.
Great.
Excuse me. The roof just fell in.
People are starving to death.
I'd like you to find out
where all the food is going here.
Purcell, I want this-
You'll do that, Willets?
I want this posted:
Only regulation outfits now...
...are prison-issue pants,
boots and shirts.
- We don't have any boots.
- Well, order them.
- But that's Willets' area, acquisitions.
- Roy, no, you order them, would you?
And I'm gonna need about 700 pairs.
And no more shaved heads.
Yeah, but sizes. How am I gonna
figure out how many nines?
You know that. Come on.
Goddamn, look at you.
New blood.
Now, that's what this place needing.
You're Brubaker, am I right?
- That's right.
- Don't look like no warden.
Chocolate prune cake in there.
My missis baked it up special
for you.
I hate prunes. They cloud my mind.
- I say my name?
- No, but I know who you are.
C.P. Woodward. Call me Woody.
Now, you saying we met?
- What can I do for you, Mr. Woodward?
- Roof.
- What?
- Roof. I came about the roof.
Purcell gave me a yell, said you declared
a state of emergency or something.
I thought you just sell lumber.
Oh, I sell it, I grow it,
I mill it, I hammer it.
I got wood in my veins.
You just give me
your John Hancock there.
We'll fix things up tight.
No. No, hold it now.
Don't you wanna go up there
and see what the size of the problem is?
Whatever we find, we'll fix.
See, the damn thing of it is...
...you get one little pinprick hole
in that tar paper from the factory-
This isn't a question of pinpricks
or tar paper. You built that thing wrong.
You know it.
You built it two years ago...
...and I want you to rebuild it.
Of course you do.
And don't you worry.
I can help you out on the cost. I'll bill
only my materials full this time around.
This isn't gonna cost me anything.
- You guarantee your work, don't you?
- Of course!
Look, you gotta get on top
of this shit pile, Henry...
...and then the job's
not just a ball-buster.
I mean, you'll be happier then.
Well, I'm not complaining.
Are you unhappy?
It sure sounds like it to me.
I'm not in
the construction business for my health.
Or anybody else's, it seems.
I am in the middle of my inventory. It's
a pain in the ass, but I rushed over here.
Ain't been anybody coming
from Wakefield to give me a hand lately.
We're not sending any convicts
to you anymore, Mr. Woodward.
- That's slave labor.
- No. It is not.
No, no. You got it all backwards.
See, because this is a community.
The people around here don't ostracize
this prison. We accept it.
We cooperate.
It's a two-way street.
Now, you gonna be seeing
a lot of nice things...
...from people
in the farm-supply business...
- ...clothing business-
- Lumber business?
Take that cake. Now, the point
ain't whether you like prune.
- It's the thought that counts.
- Exactly.
It's only smart to accept the stuff,
keep your mouth shut...
...and let things run like they've been
going for 100 years.
Before we was born even, you and me.
I'm talking about tradition.
Don't fuck with tradition.
Count your own woodpile, Woody.
I'll fix my own roof.
- People are gonna be disappointed in you.
- It won't be the first time.
And I hope you're right. Take this.
Take it.
Purcell, get me all the contracts
and insurance policies on that roof.
I want everything you got.
Whose team are you on, Purcell?
What can I say?
He's the coach for now.
Short season.
Oh, no. It's no secret.
Write it all down.
We got prison lumber, prison labor
building motels for people in town...
...building people's swimming pools.
That's right.
And my kitchen-rider, my trusty,
is loading our food into state police cars.
State police? It runs that deep?
We're gonna be stepping
on more toes than I imagined.
What's that?
I'm just warning you, because
you're likely to start hearing some things.
All right, I'll be ready
to run some interference for you.
No, no. I'll talk to the governor.
Let me do that.
Lilly, can I call you back?
Uh-huh.
Bye.
There you go.
There you go.
There you go.
Put some down on there.
Give me some of that stuff there.
Hey, wait a minute, man.
There you go.
Where's Huey Rauch?
I haven't seen him around.
Smell this.
- I'm a city boy.
- Purcell?
That smells like kerosene.
This animal's been shot.
Do you know anything about it?
That truck out there, you don't know
anything about that either, I suppose.
Looked like a free-worlder.
Now, what are these?
I don't know.
Shacks.
Are they on our property?
Let me think.
Honestly...
...yeah, I think.
Oh, shit.
I don't know who's in there,
I don't know what you're up to.
But we got the new warden from the
prison here, and we're probably coming in.
Right?
Probably nobody home.
Fuck you, Huey. I ain't hiding
in the dark like no human insect.
Yeah? What?
- Good morning.
- Morning.
Would you please get your ass out here
and take care of this?
Excuse me. I have a tight schedule.
- With one thing on his mind.
- Don't make it sound like that.
Everything has to be learned.
Even kids have had sex.
Is that what you're going
to practice at your next party?
- How many out there?
- I don't know. Three, four.
I don't want you
to get a reputation for-
Pull that up.
I already have one, the wrong kind.
And at the proper time,
to marry a man who respects you.
- I want you to have a good name. I want-
- You want! You want!
Is that all you can say?
Uh....
You want-?
You want a beer or something?
Don't you ever let me
hear you say anything like that again.
Popeil's improved
Veg-O-Matic stretches food dollars.
Millions bought at 7. 77.
Now it's yours for only 5. 77.
You save two dollars!
Where's your wallet at?
That's my personal property.
I'm going.
Save two dollars
from the former price.
Get one today for only 5. 77.
- Let me give you-
- I got it. I got it.
Hot dog, look what we got here.
That'd be Warden Renfro's
monthly supply, I imagine.
Man took baths in that stuff.
Hey, Willets?
Try and stay with me on this one,
will you?
Now, the rankmen have been working
sunrise to sunset, growing produce...
...so the warden and trusties
could sell it below market value...
...to some local cannery...
...where the proceeds could
go to buying more chili and soda...
...which in turn could be resold
to some supermarket chain...
...at an even greater profit.
- You think so?
- Do I think so?
What did you do with this chili?
You've been signing it out.
- How about that?
- I signed what Capt. Renfro told me to.
You can sign your own severance check,
because you're fired.
- I'm civil service.
- Fired.
Hey, this is chaos.
How can we handle purchasing
without Willets?
They're gonna do it.
- Who?
- They're gonna have an election.
Pick an inmate council.
That's a hell of an idea.
- What?
- I said, that's a hell of an idea!
Put it down over there.
Huey! Glad to see you back.
- Something funny about that, is there?
- I can't wait till you bring Carol here.
We all get dibs on that.
That's funny as hell.
Floyd.
Brubaker be turning this place
into a damn jailhouse.
Yeah. Well, he just doesn't know
who's running the place.
- Deach will set him straight on that.
- I hope so.
- Floyd?
- Yeah?
Get out of here.
- What?
- Get out of here.
I live here, Huey.
Get your stuff and get out of here, Floyd.
I gotta move in here. This is mine now.
All right.
Get my bird and come back
for the rest of my stuff.
Let's go.
Spivey, you take that shack
over there.
Bullen, take that one.
It'd be a lot smarter
to do this during the daylight hours.
Not so many people
would see the flames.
Maybe that's just exactly why he's doing
it now, you ever think of that?
He's crazy.
No, he's not.
- He's dangerous.
- Somebody needs to stop him.
Put a bullet in him.
There's a disease growing
in there, Henry.
Hostile to your health.
I know that.
You ought to get yourself some
paper cups or plates or something.
You ought to get yourself someone
to look after you around here.
That doesn't sound like the kind of advice
I'd expect from you.
No, I meant....
I meant one of those convicts.
So how's it going?
If the Chinese invade us...
...I got insurance.
If we have a landslide, earthquake,
a volcano erupts, I'm covered.
If a roof caves in, nothing.
No insurance.
- What are you gonna do?
- We're gonna rebuild it ourselves.
- Terrific!
- Terrific?
Yes. The governor's been wanting to come
down here for a while. It's a perfect time.
He'll actually see
something happening.
Have a few pictures taken, shake a few
hands, put his arm around an inmate.
It's what you call
a photo opportunity.
That was uncalled for.
Tom's not like that and you know it.
- I don't know Tom.
- He hired you, didn't he?
But I need a doctor here,
not a governor.
You need both.
- I know what I need here.
- No, I know what you need here.
It's a very complex world
out there, Henry.
I'm dealing with a lot of people who would
rather not see that prison change at all.
And they're sure letting me know about it.
I've been hit from all sides.
I got people out there trying
to shoot my cattle.
Got trusties inside here sabotaging
my crops and there's not a thing I can do.
Why not?
Do you know what happens if I rank
a man, if I send a trusty into the barracks?
- What?
- He's dead. Other men will kill him.
Can't you work with them?
Change their attitude?
I'm trying.
But I gotta deliver.
I can't come in here
and just paint this place.
Lillian...
...a permanent doctor.
Yeah, yeah. I know.
I am getting you one. I am.
Look, there's a prison board meeting
on Tuesday night.
I want you there.
The great diplomat.
I'll take that risk.
They're bringing
in some deputy warden...
...who's gonna give us a nice little talk
on prison reform.
I see, and you want me there
to defend myself.
No, I want a second opinion
in that room, Henry.
State your case!
They need to meet you.
I mean, you do make an impression, right?
All right!
Damn, this is like sitting
on top of the world, ain't it?
God almighty.
Hey, you know what I'd like
to do with her?
Yeah, I know what you'd like to do.
Well, you're wrong.
Do you ever just want to talk?
Shit. You've been whacking
it so long, Bullen...
...your mind's starting
to collapse in on itself.
- Brubaker.
- Yeah?
You know something? That's the first
I've heard those guys laugh in 15 years.
It doesn't bother you, does it?
Oh, man, I tell you,
we gotta hang in together.
We gotta put men on that council that
got their heads screwed on...
...because Brubaker will use the council
to take away your power completely!
He already took away
my refrigerator and my locker.
I hear he's putting
a new lock on the gate.
There. You see?
My name is Jerome L. Boyd.
And I got what is called
a sociopathic personality.
A sociopathic personality.
That means I ain't got no feeling
for my fellow man...
...because of how my parents
fucked me up.
Now hold on a minute now. Listen.
- I deem it an honor...
- How much you gonna pay us?
...to throw aside all my hatred for all you
dumb assholes and try and help you.
Let there be a hush on the land.
Gentlemen, Jesus come over down
to my bunk here, Tuesday a week.
And he hovered up there, kind of hovered.
You know what he said?
- What'd he say?
- Say what?
- What'd he say?
- Oh, well, he said:
"Frank, many is called,
but damn few is chosen.
I'm gonna put you on my first team.
And I want you to put these
boys underneath your wing...
...and see to it that they get
any subscriptions...
...to any damn magazines they want
in their barracks! "
All right!
Now, I am corrupt.
That's right.
Just like the rest of you.
But I am honest about it.
Now, you vote for Mr. Clarence...
...know exactly what you get.
- Zaranska?
- Yes?
- One vote, now. One vote.
- One vote. One vote.
Don't be such an old woman, Duane.
One vote, one vote.
Oh, feel the power!
- Feel mysterious wonders working within.
- Hallelujah! Can I get witness?
The Lord-
I believe the Lord is with us!
Name?
- What about the doctor?
- Be here this afternoon.
They said he was gonna be here
three days ago.
- Said he's coming about 1.
- Would you double-check that?
Yeah. One more.
What are you waiting for?
We're waiting on you.
You are the inmate council.
You know how it works. Go on ahead.
I'll be with you in a minute.
Now, wait a minute.
Because that's not the way I understood it.
Lillian Gray got authorization...
...for you people to go out and get bids
on that new boiler right away.
Well, how long does his lunch take?
Well, when will he be back
from his haircut?
Yes. Would you, please?
Definitely. Yes, today.
Thanks.
Something wrong?
Um....
Don't know exactly where to start here,
Mr. Brubaker.
One man, one vote. It's up to you.
You drop the hammer
on what you don't like.
No.
All right, then...
...I make a motion
that we consider a movement...
...to discuss the shitty plumbing
in the barracks. How many say aye?
- Aye.
- Thanks.
Uh, somebody should be taking notes
about this.
How about Pavitch?
There's a rumor he can write.
Yeah, Pavitch. Take a note.
This coffee tastes like Zaranska
washed his feet in it.
Only you'd know about that special
flavor, Larry Lee, you old sock-sucker.
Sir, this is looking like
a damn waste of time.
All right, Caldwell,
then why don't you resign?
We can find a replacement
for you fast.
Yeah.
The living facilities are
important. Toilets and beds and such-like.
I think we ought to start there.
It's a good place to start.
Can we get a contractor in
or somebody to redo the toilets?
Mr. Spivey, can I see the warden?
Well, the council's in session and
these men got appointments afterwards.
Probably not gonna get in
on account of Mr. Brubaker's...
...got a prison board meeting
tonight he maybe got to be at.
But I want to see him.
Birdwell, if a trusty escapes
off of minimum security...
- ...then he can't be a trusty.
Damn straight.
If you can't trust a trusty,
who can you trust?
Well, sure. But I'm talking
about extenuating circumstances.
For instance, a man escapes.
Then realizing the error of his ways,
gives himself up voluntarily.
- That's horseshit.
- So put him in the hole for 10 days.
I agree. And take away
all his visiting privileges for a month.
What are you talking about,
visiting privileges?
Don't let him mail
more than a letter a week.
I like it.
And send him up to his room and don't let
him watch no TV for a whole damn week.
I don't know where you
get your ideas of criminal justice.
Up your ass, I believe.
Wanna know something, Zaranska?
- Sure, Birdy, I'd love to know something.
- About your mama?
Hey, hey, hey, come on!
Come on, Abraham. Let's go.
You get your goddamn hands
off him, Purcell!
I got to clean my conscience.
I got something I've got
to tell you about in private.
Listen, Abraham, you don't have
to go explain anything to anybody.
Why don't you come into my office?
Come on.
I got guys waiting outside
that have appointments.
Well, tell them a story, Roy.
You guys can manage.
You're right.
I come to Wakefield
before World War ll.
Take a walk, Purcell.
This ain't open to the public.
Yeah.
We used to make corn liquor
out of this.
Growed it at the Camp Five field.
What happened...?
What happened to your eye?
Oh, got hit.
With what?
With a baseball bat, a trace chain...
...and a rope with knots in it.
You're doing time for manslaughter?
Yes, sir.
I killed my baby brother with a rock.
How much time?
How much time?
Thirty-five year.
How long have you been in here,
Mr. Cooke?
- Hell, I don't know.
- Well, I do.
Thirty-eight years, six months,
according to this.
Yeah.
New doctor's here.
He's out here waiting to say hello.
Great. Tell him just a minute,
would you?
There were lots of other guys.
The yard man say, "Abraham,
chop them up in tiny little pieces...
...and take them for a walk down
in them shadows. "
What?
I gave Jake's clothes to the laundry.
Come Christmas Day,
I stuck him in close...
...at the fence, where all them other
boys are dead and buried at now.
Must be over 200
of them out there now.
Wait. Wait a minute.
Are you talking about the bodies that are
supposed to be buried here on this farm?
Yes, sir.
Where?
There's 15,000 acres out there.
I know exactly where they lay.
Camp Five pasture.
How?
Abraham, how do you know?
I was the coffin maker.
Mr. Brubaker, this is Dr. Campbell.
Yeah. Oh.
Will you show me exactly
where tomorrow morning?
Yes, sir.
That board meeting ought to break up by
10:00, so I should be home by midnight.
We'll hold the fort.
I need five guys you can trust
with shovels right after breakfast.
I got them, coach.
- What you gonna do about Abraham?
- I got Purcell filling out forms.
- And I'm gonna get him released-
- Why you wanna go and do that?
Do what?
Why don't you just leave him be?
I mean, all he knows is this place.
You knew that he'd been in here
as long as he'd been in here. Didn't you?
Just leave him alone.
He's not bothering nobody.
You can't hide in prison forever,
Coombes.
Stir up some hell, Henry.
How you doing, Abraham?
Let me take that from you.
You got an appointment.
- What? What?
- A little business.
Well, where we going?
Doc wanna see you, Abe.
I ain't sick.
Hello, Abe.
Abe, we got some questions
that have to be answered.
Then you can get some sleep,
all right?
Eddie, get that stuff off there.
Up on this table here, Abe.
Hell, I know Captain Brubaker
is an expert at penology...
...but I think he's been
out of the mainstream too long.
There are 13 states,
my own included...
...that still rely on a leather strap
to control the convicts.
Because other people do it that way
doesn't per se make it right.
Oh, the hell it doesn't.
Cuts down on your time lost due to
convicts sitting in the hole, degenerating.
And it's a simple fact we have to face...
...that crop production at Wakefield's
down nearly 40 percent...
...this last quarter, since you-
But revenues are up 20 percent.
If you would just give me a year...
...leave us alone,
and let us eat the food that we grow...
...and sell the rest on the open market,
I'll show you a profit.
I'll show you a cash surplus.
Fine. All we're saying is,
give us some warning, Mr. Brubaker.
So when you go doubling
the price of corn-
Out of the clear blue sky,
you cancel an age-old contract...
- ...with C.P. Woodward Lumber.
- There wasn't any contract.
He was using prisoners
for slave labor.
As far as corn,
we're still a dollar below market.
How much potential cash surplus
are you talking about here, Mr. Brubaker?
In farm accounting alone...
- ...a hundred and fifty thousand.
- Dollars?
- Yes, sir.
- Good Lord.
Sounds like we're gonna need some
high-powered Wall Street types...
...to help us figure out
where to put it all.
Well, I'd like to put it all
back into the facility.
The place is literally falling apart.
You've got dry rot, disease, rats all over,
not enough place for the men to sleep.
You've got a boiler that your own state
inspectors condemned six years ago.
We authorized a bid on a new boiler.
Am I wrong?
- Why won't your purchasing take my calls?
- I'm looking into that.
While we're at it,
let's look into things like...
...assaulting a doctor,
firing a state employee...
...who's been keeping the books
for years.
- Because he wasn't worth a-
- Well.
You're letting inmates take over the place,
inmates with fourth-grade educations.
They don't all have
fourth-grade education.
You're not gonna tell me
that's gonna work.
The point is these men have
to at least...
...feel like they're taking responsibility.
They'll change this place, not me.
- Well, what the hell are we paying you for?
- All right. Hold it.
The bottom line here is that you want
to make life real easy for those men.
- Don't you, Mr. Brubaker?
- No. Not at all.
I think it is.
I think you kind of like men
like that.
Maybe because they're reckless,
same as you.
They see something they don't like,
they shoot it up or burn it down.
Make up their own laws
as they go along.
I didn't make up those laws. You did.
Because they've held up
our businesses.
They've raped our daughters
and murdered our sons.
And so we make them wards
of the state...
...which means we accept responsibility
to feed them, to clothe them...
...give them medical attention.
Not to starve them, not to torture them,
not to humiliate them.
And if you don't like the laws,
then change them.
In the meantime, it's my job-
It's your job to listen
to the people who pay you.
No, sir, it is my job
to reform a prison.
I'm not here to work
for a political party...
- ...or the state or a governor.
- May I butt in a second?
Let the record show that State Senator
Charles Hite desires to comment.
Mr. Brubaker, I think you owe it to yourself
to face some hard facts.
The people in this state have got
themselves a whole lot of problems...
...getting jobs, paying rent,
insurance premiums.
Now, come election time, they might
vote for your prison-reform thing...
...but that's just a reflex.
They don't want to hear
their taxes are being raised...
...to take care of murderers
and rapists.
That farm wasn't costing
anybody anything...
...before you got your hands on it.
You follow what I'm saying?
Why don't we go and build
them a putting green or a clubhouse?
Or a miniature golf course with
a hot, whirly, bubbly bath in it?
Why don't we build them a roof
that won't cave in on them?
That's enough.
- An insured roof this time.
- What do you mean?
The collapsed roof isn't covered at all,
that's what.
But we do have coverage
for thrashing machines...
...bailers, swatters, a tractor.
Sounds sensible to me to have the
things insured. I approved those policies.
You did more than that.
Your company sold us the policies.
The only trouble is, we don't have that
equipment on our farm. It doesn't exist.
What you have got, Mr. Brubaker,
is a piss-poor attitude.
I don't like you,
but that's beside the point.
No, it's not.
And still I'm telling you this
as a favor to Lillian Gray...
...who, for some unknown reason,
believes in you.
Do not- I repeat:
Do not come marching in here
from wherever the hell she found you...
...and presume to lecture us about
how to treat our fellow man.
We're all sitting here for free tonight,
except you.
We all got better places we could be.
So do I.
I think we all better have
a little food and calm down.
Brubaker!
How long you gonna last
pulling stunts like this?
What do you want to hear?
That I know exactly what I'm doing?
I'm sorry I don't have
all the right answers for you.
Then make some up.
Because what you've got to understand...
...is that they'll pull the plug
on all this.
And if you're not in the system,
you can't change it.
Give them something. Let them think
they control you. That's the secret.
You know who the real obstacles
to prison reform are?
It's not John Deach
or Senator Whatever-His-Name-Is.
- Hite.
- Hite. It's prison reformers...
...pseudo-reformers.
People that want to say the right thing,
be at the right place...
...get in the paper,
and get nothing done.
You see everything
from Brubaker's point of view.
Everything you do is right,
everyone else is absurd.
I don't know what's right or
wrong. Everybody's got their own version.
I'm just interested in what works.
There's no way
to beat guys like that.
You can't toe the line
because it keeps changing.
You have to be smarter than they are.
I've locked the goddamn keys
in the car.
God!
For the first time, it's occurring to those
prisoners that they don't have to take...
...everything shoved at them,
because they're still human beings.
So maybe someday,
when they do get out...
...they won't rape John Deach's daughter
or murder his son.
Bravo, but you're full of shit.
Just not enough to make things
work in that prison.
- The real problem is out here.
- Out here they don't want to hear you.
And they don't want to see me.
So why do you bother?
Why do you spend day after day sitting
in rooms with people like that...
...and let them make a fool
out of you?
Because sometimes you don't lose.
And if you can't figure out
how to play these people...
...you are gonna self-destruct.
And then you'll be of no use to me.
Turn on the lights.
I just got the call from the tower.
Find out why the man on duty
in Tower One didn't report anything.
Those guys at night, they....
Find out!
You had to listen to him, huh?
- What?
- What?
Oh, I don't believe men like you.
You're dangerous men.
You start wars
and let other people fight them.
You come and talk about,
"Do this, do that.
Think this way. Be this way. "
You stick a sign in a fool's hand
and say, "Follow me.
I got the thing figured out.
We can change things for the better. "
Well, that's a lot of bullshit!
There's only one thing you do.
And that's get people killed!
Maybe you're right.
- You don't wanna go in there now.
- But I have-
Not now.
- Warden.
- Yeah?
There's a Lillian Gray on the phone.
She's saying it's urgent.
I'm through talking.
I can't figure out how you found out.
Nothing happens at that prison
that doesn't get out.
- Now you're sounding paranoid.
- I'm not paranoid.
The enemy's real.
All right. You know the fairgrounds?
- The auction house where we sell cattle?
- I'll find it.
- What time in the morning?
- Eight o'clock.
I'll meet- No.
Make it earlier, 7.
I have to be back.
I'll see you at 7.
I said alone.
He's a friend.
You haven't actually
found anything yet, have you?
- No.
- Doesn't matter. It's having its effect.
- You called him?
- Didn't have to.
The senator called Lillian
last night himself.
Well, let me put this as simple as I can,
Mr. Brubaker.
You've gotta stop digging.
Why?
Because you have been salaried...
...to run one of the best-conceived prisons
in this country, sir.
Because although Wakefield
is admittedly an imperfect institution...
...much like America herself...
...she is nonetheless a grand experiment.
A government of the man,
for the man...
...by the man.
Plus the fact that it's the only prison
in the United States that's shown a profit.
- What is this horseshit?
- Listen to what he's saying, Henry.
I think the senator's
exhibiting uncommon foresight.
We're gonna try and salvage something
here today.
We're gonna work with you on this,
Mr. Brubaker.
Release funds.
You can hire people.
Get you that...boiler.
We'll sit down and draw up some plans
for some more barracks.
Get yourself a couple new tractors.
How many men are buried out there?
You wouldn't even know, would you?
That field was an old paupers' graveyard
when my granddaddy was alive.
- It's a matter of historical record.
- I'm talking about murder.
It's time to cut through the bull.
Grave robbery's a felony in this state.
You don't want to wind up
in your own prison, Mr. Brubaker.
- He means it.
- I'm calling the governor.
The governor already knows.
Nobody's asking you to stop digging.
We're ordering you to.
I don't like being put in a corner.
Listen, Edwards, stay out of this.
You're just another token liberal...
...that doesn't know shit.
I was hired to reform this prison.
If that means putting the prison board
behind bars, I'll do it.
Already been behind bars, Brubaker.
Two years in Atlanta for real,
another few days in disguise.
So you listen to this nice token liberal
for a minute.
Because you got a high opinion
of yourself.
Most of it I actually agree with.
But you don't really understand
inmate mentality.
If you did...
...you'd know that asshole is ready to
offer you anything you need for those men.
It's not enough.
Henry...
...stop the digging.
Concentrate on the men who are still alive.
We are winning.
We have leverage now.
- I've got a prison to run.
- I hope so.
Bullen!
Come over here and bring some guys.
Zaranska! Elwood!
Romeo! Beasley!
Start digging right here.
Over there, you see that?
Hey, Brubaker!
I believe we've got us one.
Brubaker!
Got one in this hole!
Hold it. Hold it.
Careful.
Okay, careful.
Scoop it out, handful at a time.
Easy.
Spoon it out if you have to!
- Careful.
Don't mess up evidence.
- Got one over here, boss!
- Easy, guys, easy.
Just carefully pry this off.
Don't touch anything you find inside.
Don't touch anything inside.
Zaranska!
- All I got is this.
- Here. Hold it.
- I can't get it! When I move it, it cracks.
- Careful. Careful.
- Now, don't touch it.
- All right.
Whole goddamn place has gone crazy.
They got those guys digging up...
...diseased carcasses of men
dead and rotting for 30 years.
That is because the man
took away the reason to be smart...
...and have some self-respect.
Turning the whole damn place
upside down.
- Prison board will stop him.
- Bullshit, Floyd!
They already tried to buy
the dumb bastard, but....
So...
...what do we do?
What about it, Dickie?
You got the man's ear.
He want to wake up dead?
There's talk around here.
I can't control it anymore.
You know, you're the only one
doing all the talking, Huey.
Yeah, that's great. And all because
one old, damn deaf fool starts-
Um....
Eddie, come here.
It's time to go.
It's time to check out.
- Why?
- Why?
What do you mean?
It's too loose. It's crazy.
They're digging up bodies.
It's too late to look up the answer.
Well, I figure I'm gonna stick around.
Take my chances here.
Skull lying under the left arm.
Both lower leg bones severed from thighs
and stacked in beside the knees.
The legs appear to have been cut off.
Why?
It's easier to shorten the man
than it is to lengthen the box.
How long has he been in the ground?
Well, I'm just not a pathologist,
not a coroner-
Doc, I need some answers fast.
- Causes of death, dates of death.
- If I took them to the state hospital.
Do it. Purcell, call the TV stations,
newspapers.
Tell them we just found
four murdered bodies in our pasture.
There's probably more.
- You're gonna start a stampede.
- Exactly.
Mr. Brubaker!
Hey, Mr. Brubaker!
We got a runaway vehicle.
- And Huey Rauch is in it.
- Huey?
- Yes, sir.
- Why?
Well, tell him!
He killed Abraham.
Where would he be?
Where would he go?
Pinky's.
Maybe.
Alive.
I want him alive.
Try over there.
I ain't open yet.
Ain't open for business.
Hey.
What the hell's going on here?
You guys crazy?
- Who you making the sandwiches for?
- Nobody!
- Where's Huey Rauch?
- Who?
- Where's your sister at, Pinky?
- What, Carol?
- Where does that door go?
- My house.
Open it.
Door's locked.
Ain't been used for years.
I'll go around to the front.
Hey! This is my castle!
You can't walk all over me!
I'm calling the law!
- Then call them.
- I will!
For now, shut up.
Hold it!
He's dead.
He's dead.
You've examined all the remains
in what? A laboratory environment?
Yes, I have.
Dr. Gregory, what about
all these broken bones?
They may be due to a blunt trauma.
But you need to temper that...
...with the knowledge those fractures
could have occurred...
...several years after death as a result
of a cave-in of the grave walls.
You don't have to be in practice 20 years
to recognize a skull...
...violently crushed
to the size of a grapefruit.
Son, I have got the forensic expert's report
sitting in front of me here.
According to all my scientific friends,
who are very knowledgeable in this area...
...it's not all that clear on that point.
You've got a couple of dozen or so
indigent inmates...
...buried in an old paupers' graveyard.
Anything else I think is pure speculation.
Paupers don't die in pieces, do they,
Dr. Gregory?
I'm gonna put it to you,
Mr. Partridge, that this board...
...is quite capable
of questioning its witnesses.
And that this whole procedure-
This whole procedure could just as easily
have been a closed hearing.
What would be in the best interest
of all concerned and people of this state...
...might be if we could get
Mr. Brubaker's thoughts on his firing.
Our primary responsibility
at this point in time...
...is, number one, to facilitate the decent
Christian re-interment of the remains.
Two, to regain control over this institution
that our warden has relinquished!
We don't go having any more gunfights
in our streets.
How about that, Mr. Brubaker?
Any comment on what your thoughts
might be on priority?
Priority?
I tried to reach the governor
and give him my thoughts.
But we all know what a busy man he is.
I think the board can handle this.
I was going to suggest that the best way
in the future to prevent any trouble...
...or confusion or a waste
of the taxpayers' time and money...
...would be next time
a man's sentenced to Wakefield...
...take him out and shoot him.
All right, that's enough! You stay here
and answer to those remarks, mister!
Miss Gray can explain them.
I believe you speak the same language.
- You want me to bring him back?
- No.
Nobody touches him.
I figured I hadn't heard the last from you.
I want to know why
you always think you can just walk out.
That's murder they're talking about.
If they condone it, you can't turn around
and tell these men why they're locked up.
It's one standard for everybody.
And you don't see any options?
No middle ground?
No. I don't see playing politics
with the truth, Lillian.
No way to compromise?
Oh, on strategy maybe,
but not on principle.
But that's what I-
- Goddamn it, I agree with you!
- No, you don't.
Not really.
The business
of this here prison is farming.
Not digging up good pastureland
looking for old graveyards.
What's done is done.
We got ourselves plenty
to think about today.
Never mind dwelling about yesterday.
We all gotta get back
to the basics at hand.
And that's why I'm standing up here,
saying to you convicts...
...straight out, how Rory Poke
is gonna run this here prison.
So we won't be wasting any more time
misunderstanding each other.
I am a firm believer in discipline.
A convict does his fair share of work...
...and he's not gonna have anything
to worry about.
But I know that that ain't been happening
around here lately.
And there ain't no crop...
...in no field...
...at no prison that I'm in charge of...
...that's gonna die in the fields.
The trusties will divide you up
into work groups.
You listen now.
Give them trouble,
and they've got my permission...
...to see to it that the troublemaker
is punished.
Hard.
Fair, but hard.
I packed up all
your personal things I could find.
If I've missed anything
or you have any mail, I'll take care of it.
Don't worry.
Hey, Brubaker.
I'm getting ready to tell you something.
You were right.
POKE:
I don't believe it makes no sense...
...having some convicts
looking more important than others.
Trusties is the only kind of men
that's earned...
That's what you're gonna discover
Rory Poke is all about.
Earning your privileges.
There ain't gonna be no more warden
playing favorites at Wakefield.
Ain't gonna be no more inmate council.
You've gotta earn privileges from now on.
That convict in the rear there.
Get back in line!
Get back into formation!
You men! You-! Get back in line!
Get back into formation!
You'll get a taste of the strap!
What the hell-?