Midnight Express (1978) Movie Script
Excuse me.
- Nervous?
- No.
- I hate flying.
- It's something I ate.
Maybe you're just excited
about getting home.
- I've got to go to the john again.
- I'll wait.
- No, I'll catch up to you. Okay?
- Okay.
Passport.
Basket.
It's a frisbee.
You throw it and catch it.
It's a game.
A game...
- Are you okay?
- Yeah, great. Want a piece of gum?
Thank you.
See this?
Janis Joplin died yesterday.
Overdose.
There never was anyone like Janis.
- There never was anyone like you.
- Knock it off.
- You never take anything seriously.
- Nothing.
- What's he saying?
- I don't know.
They always have everything
ass backwards in Turkey.
- Billy, what's the matter?
- Passport. Susan, get on the plane.
- What's wrong, are you sick?
- Get on the plane. Go.
I'm looking for my passport.
Harry, you'd better
get rid of those grenades.
Get down.
- Name?
- William Hayes.
- William...
- Hayes.
Hayes.
- American?
- That's right.
Yes, American. United States.
American.
- Name?
- Jesus... William Hayes.
- Name?
- Hayes. H-A-Y-E-S.
Howdy, Billy.
How are you doing? Okay?
I think these gentlemen
have finished for the time being.
If you'd like
to put your clothes on.
The officer wants to know
if you're afraid.
No, I'm not afraid.
The officer said
there's nothing to be afraid of.
Co-operate,
and you'll be on the plane home.
- Where did you get the hashish?
- From a cab driver.
In the playing shop at the bazaar.
- Would you recognise him again?
- I think so.
You decided to fly at a bad time.
Guerrillas all over the place,
blowing up planes...
Four planes in four days.
Don't you read the newspapers?
There's been a shit storm
over the flow of heroin from Turkey.
- I didn't have heroin.
- A drug is a drug.
It was my first time.
It was only two kilos.
It doesn't matter
if it was 2 or 200 kilos.
Catching you shows the world
Turkey is fighting the drug trade.
- Are you with the Consulate?
- Something like that. Cigarette?
- What did you pay this cab driver?
- $200. My last 200.
- How much did you figure to make?
- I'd only sell it to my friends.
- I'm not a pusher. Honest.
- It beats working.
- Have you got a family?
- Mother, father, brother, sister.
- Long Island.
- It'll be tough on them.
- Girlfriend?
- Yeah, she was on the plane.
- She didn't know anything about it.
- Lucky girl.
- She used to say I was lucky.
- Let's hope so, Billy.
You seem like a nice enough kid.
But you try it,
and I'll blow your brains out.
Mom and Dad, this is the hardest
letter I've ever had to write.
I hoped to get out of this quickly,
so you'd never know about it.
But that just isn't possible now.
I don't know what's going to happen.
What can I say to you?
Will "I'm sorry" make a difference?
Will it ease the pain,
the shame you must be feeling?
Forgive me, please.
Could I have a blanket?
It's cold.
Could I have a blanket?
- A blanket!
- Too late. Tomorrow.
He'll be here tomorrow, I think.
Goodnight.
- Can you speak English?
- Your cell is open.
Blankets, three cells down.
You get me one.
I needed a blanket.
William Hayes.
I needed a blanket, I was cold!
Jesus...
Come on, you must stand.
You'd better walk around,
or your feet will swell up.
- You've got to be crazy.
- We all are. Smoke some of this.
You've been out for days,
talking all kinds of shit.
- How does it feel?
- About as good as it looks.
Gecmis olsun. It's Turkish.
It means, "May it pass quickly."
- It looks like a cheap hotel.
- The room service is lousy.
I'm Jimmy Booth.
This is Erich... something Swedish.
- Just Erich.
- He cleaned you up.
Thanks. I'm Billy Hayes...
at least I used to be.
- Why peacocks?
- They use them instead of dogs.
They scream like mad if they're
disturbed and they don't get rabies.
- Who are the kids?
- Little fuckers...
Thieves, rapists, murderers...
You name it, they do it.
Don't trust any of them.
They tell Rifki everything.
He's the squeal around here.
He sells tea, -
- hash, blankets,
anything for a buck.
- What are you in for, hash?
- Yeah.
- Where?
- At the airport.
That's heavy.
This ain't the good old USA.
In Turkey, it's a fucking accident
if you're innocent.
- Nobody here is innocent.
- Don't pay too much attention.
Anything is possible in Turkey.
They may not hit you for smuggling.
If they make it possession,
you might even get bail.
If you make bail, you're free.
Sneak across the border to Greece.
Sure, keep dreaming.
See where it gets you. Like Max.
It's going to be a while
before you taste a hamburger again.
- You broke the law.
- The law is sometimes wrong.
The law is never wrong!
The fucking law is.
- People get on his nerves.
- What's he in for?
Stealing from a mosque.
- What did he steal?
- Two candlesticks.
- That's all?
- Jimmy has more balls than brains.
He was in for a year and a half
before he even told his parents.
- What about you?
- Hashish, like most foreigners.
- What did they give you?
- 12 years. I had 100 grams.
You've got to get a good lawyer.
Talk to the Englishman. Max.
He's been in the longest.
Seven years.
Gastro. Stomach medicine.
It's got codeine in it.
It's the best I can do around here.
Max...
- Lawyers...?
- Oh, yeah.
There's no straight lawyers
in Turkey.
They're all bent.
Bent as hairpins.
Occupational necessity.
They have special classes
in corruption at night school.
If you're suspected of honesty,
you're disbarred.
I knew a lawyer fellow once.
He got that Frenchman off.
La Roche.
A big smuggler.
He put enough bread
in enough pockets. Got bail.
Vanished.
- His name?
- Who?
- The lawyer.
- Lawyer?
Who got the Frenchman off.
Yesil is his name.
I don't know anything else
about him.
Yesil.
The best thing to do
is get your ass out of here.
- Yeah, but how?
- Catch the midnight express.
What's that?
It's not a train.
It's a prison word for... escape.
It doesn't stop around here.
Dad, I'm sorry.
Forget it.
I'll punch you in the nose later.
We've got to get you out of here.
This is a suit I brought for you.
Smarten you up a little.
- Are you all right?
- Yeah.
How's Mom?
Well, she's bad.
She couldn't make the trip.
You know Mom. Her boy...
Susan told us
before we got your letter.
She's saving to come back here...
Don't let her come.
How's Rob? How's Peg?
They're the same. You know.
We told the neighbours
you were in hospital in Europe.
This is Stanley Daniels.
He's the American Consul here.
Billy, we're going to do everything
in our power to get you out of here.
That's Necdit Yesil,
the lawyer you asked for.
I know exactly what you feel,
but you must not worry.
We'll get the right court
and the right judge.
I'll arrange everything, just right.
I understand that if you get bail,
it's easy to get across the border.
That's what we're shooting for.
I've spoken to the State Department.
Right now, relations with the Turks
aren't too good. Nixon upset them.
- Our best bet is right here.
- Dad, I'll pay you back for this.
Money doesn't matter, Billy.
Not at this stage.
- Where did you get that limp?
- I twisted my ankle.
- Where are you staying?
- The Hilton.
- How do you like Istanbul?
- Interesting place.
The food is lousy. The crap
they sell in the restaurants...
I had to run to the toilet.
You should have seen the toilet.
I'll eat at the Hilton every night.
Steak, French fries and ketchup.
Billy...
- Why did you do it?
- Money.
I know you kids smoke that stuff
and we drink booze, -
- but taking it across the border,
that's stupid.
I know.
Dad... get me out of here.
I promise you. Just sit tight.
Let me work with Mr. Daniels
and Mr. Yesil here.
We'll get you out, okay?
Hey, Billy... Okay?
Okay.
- What did that prosecutor say?
- It's not important.
We made our case. You spoke well.
The judge liked you.
Mr. Hayes, the judge is coming back.
- Four years, two months.
- Four years?
We'll appeal.
It'll be reduced for good behaviour.
It is only for possession.
The prosecutor wanted
a life sentence for smuggling.
To be honest, Mr. Hayes,
it is a great victory.
With good time,
it works out to about three years.
And then there's the appeal.
Daniels and Yesil
are all working for you.
We're trying to get you transferred.
Daniels thinks there might be
a political amnesty any month now.
All right, Billy...
I know it sounds tough,
but we are going to get you out.
I promise you.
Don't do anything stupid.
They could play with your sentence.
All right, now...
I'm putting $500 in the bank.
Anything you need, you write.
There's food here,
candy, writing paper, -
- books, cigarettes, soap,
toothbrush...
I've sold insurance for 30 years.
Now I've got to see my own son...
Jesus!
If I could be where you are...
I'd be there.
I love you, Dad.
You take good care of my boy,
or I'll have your fucking head!
Dear Susan,
You can drift in here
and never know you're gone.
You can fade so far out, you
don't know where you are anymore.
I find loneliness is a physical pain
that hurts all over.
To the Turks
everything is "soyle boyle".
It means "Iike this, like that."
You never know what will happen.
All foreigners are "ayip."
They're considered dirty.
So is homosexuality, but they
do it every chance they get.
There are about 1,000 things
that are "ayip".
You can stab or shoot somebody
below the waist but not above.
Stabbing somebody in the ass
is considered Turkish revenge.
I know it must sound crazy to you,
but this place is crazy.
One day,
one of the new kids was raped.
So they picked out
four of the worst kids.
Then there's Rifki. The more
I know of him, the more I hate him.
$10 for this shit? You pig.
There are no pigs in Turkey.
- This shit is shit.
- No, it's good. Good shit.
- You big shit.
- Yeah, me big shit.
You asshole.
What is it with you?
Just what the hell is it, man?
You don't fuck with me,
I don't fuck with you.
You fuck with me all the time.
You make crummy tea.
- You rip us off on the hash.
- I make special tea for you.
We have to live like brothers.
We have to be in here together.
For all the money you've got,
you've got nothing.
- You are American, you don't know.
- Know what?
Dog eat dog.
You fuck other man before he
fucks you. And you must fuck last.
Come on down.
Egbert...
Sodding cat.
William!
Are you all right?
The new American Ambassador
is following your case.
He says there is progress.
You want a cigarette?
But there is another route...
... that is quite possible.
For a proper amount of money,
it is possible -
- to convince the ten officials
to lose track of your papers -
- before the High Court in Ankara
confirms your sentence.
And you could be in Greece by
the time they discover the mistake.
But I have to act before the
official sentence is handed down.
And for that
I must pay certain officials.
What's that?
The blueprints to the prison, man.
There was this German architect
in the hospital.
He let me copy them.
It's too bad
you didn't have a Xerox machine.
There are two ways out of here.
One is over the roof,
but that's kind of risky.
The other way, I'll need your help,
and that is under.
A tunnel?
- Are you serious?
- This is not Stalag 17.
That's where you're wrong.
The tunnel is already built.
There's a basement
where they used to keep weapons.
Beneath that are the catacombs the
Christians built to bury their dead.
We're sitting
right on top of it... here.
The kraut says that there's
a bunch of hollow shafts.
They're like dumbwaiters,
all along these walls.
One of them
is right next to our shower.
If we get in there,
we can get down into the catacombs.
With three of us working,
it shouldn't take too long.
I swear I heard a couple of dead
Christians singing down there.
- You stop shitting me, man. Okay?
- How do we get into the shaft?
We knock three times and
say we're a friend of the deceased.
I'm getting this together and
I don't need no gastro-head along.
You understand me?
- We go through the wall.
- We go through the wall?
Go through the wall.
There's no reinforced steel
in those shower walls.
It's real soft
from underground seepage.
You can almost push it over.
All we have to do...
We only have to use your screwdriver
to scrape the mortar out.
We pull out three stones
and squeeze through...
Squeeze through,
and get our ass down the shaft.
- It's a two-night operation.
- What do we do in the catacombs?
What do you want, a door?
There's miles of them down there.
- You must be fucking crazy.
- They've got to come up someplace.
You won't find any catacombs,
you'll just finish up in section 13.
Billy... the tunnel or the roof?
Forget the wall.
Rifki's always there.
- The roof is guarded.
- Help me get into the shaft.
If we get caught,
I'll get the shaft.
I'll be back up to
three years again, maybe more.
Fuck it, then.
You choose your own death.
I'll do this thing on my own.
I'm taking the roof out of here.
No! I can't take it!
Dear Susan,
Jimmy was caught and beaten badly.
He got a severe hernia
and lost a testicle.
He's been in the sanatorium
for months.
In comparison,
my problems seem small.
But 2 years have gone by.
The Turks
are slowly draining my life away.
- Why do you keep your hair short?
- To remind me that I hate it here.
Prison, monastery, cloister, cave.
Prison...
- Okay.
- I've thought of another way.
- Another way what?
- Out of here.
When I was in the sanatorium,
there was only one guard on duty.
- I could have got out of there.
- Why didn't you?
As soon as I could walk,
they threw me back in here.
- Lucky you.
- I tell you, Billy...
Another ward in the sanatorium
had no guard on it at all.
- Who was in it?
- Three guys.
- What was wrong with them?
- I don't know.
- I think they were dead.
- It figures.
I've got to go. It's Daniels!
Turkish justice has done it again.
They're going to let me off.
Jimmy, I'm going home!
God! "I've got to go."
What's wrong?
Sit down, Billy.
I'm afraid
I have some bad news for you.
- Is it Dad? Mom?
- No.
- You're going to have a new court.
- What do you mean?
The prosecutor objected
to your sentence for possession.
He wanted a smuggling conviction.
The Ankara court reviewed it.
It seems everyone wanted
an example made. A scapegoat.
We've been notified
that they rejected the sentence.
There were 35 judges in the court.
The lower court in Istanbul
had to go along with the decision.
The judge likes you.
He notified your dad.
What do you mean, life?
- Life for what?
- Billy!
I have 53 days left!
So now it's time for me to speak.
What is there for me to say?
When I finish,
you'll sentence me for my crime.
So let me ask you now:
What is a crime?
What is a punishment?
It seems to vary from time to time
and place to place.
What's legal today
is suddenly illegal tomorrow.
What's illegal is suddenly legal
because everybody's doing it.
You can't put everybody in jail.
I'm not saying
this is right or wrong.
I'm just saying
that's the way it is.
I've spent 3 years of my life
in your prison.
I think I've paid for my error.
If it's your decision today
to sentence me to more years...
My lawyer... that's a good one.
He says, "Be cool, Billy."
"Be good. I'll get you a pardon,
an amnesty, an appeal."
This has been going on now
for 3 years.
I've been playing it cool.
I've been good.
Now I'm damn tired of being good.
You said I had 53 days left.
You hung 53 days in my face,
and then you took them away.
And you!
I wish you could be standing
where I'm standing right now.
Then you would know something
that you don't know.
Mercy!
You would know that a just society
is based on the concept of mercy.
Its sense of fair play and justice.
But I guess that's like asking
a bear to shit in a toilet.
For a nation of pigs,
it sure is funny you don't eat them.
Jesus Christ forgave the bastards,
but I can't.
I hate.
I hate you.
I hate your nation
and I hate your people.
I fuck your sons and daughters
because they're pigs.
You're a pig.
You're all pigs.
My hands are tied by Ankara.
I must sentence you, William Hayes,
to be imprisoned -
- for a term no less than 30 years.
May it pass quickly.
Got the old Istanbul blues
Istanbul blues
they give me 30 years
ain't got nothing left to lose...
We are going to get you out.
I promise you.
Don't do anything stupid.
They could play with your sentence.
I was busted at the border...
The best thing to do
is get your ass out of here.
The best way you can.
Hey, I think I found it.
Come here.
Listen to that.
Do you hear anything?
I told you, you suckers.
You didn't believe me.
Keep it down.
Look how soft this is.
It'll be easy.
Go and get Rifki's poker,
but don't wake him up.
It's really soft. It's coming.
- Jimmy, it's coming.
- Here, use this.
It's coming real easy.
It's coming right out.
It's easier than I thought.
It's a piece of cake.
It's coming.
Like butter.
Hey, Max. Rifki.
- Keep checking for Rifki.
- It's okay.
- Watch it.
- I thought you wanted out of here.
- They're loose.
- Let's try.
- Watch your hernia.
- Fuck that.
- Okay? You got it?
- Yeah.
That's it. It's the shaft.
It's coming.
It's okay.
- Let's go, Billy.
- It's too late. We're not prepared.
We'll go tomorrow.
It's too late.
Let's put them back. Help me.
Any fuck-ups
and we should be back by dawn.
You got everything?
Maps, railroad, bus timetables.
Okay, let's do it.
- Can you see?
- No.
Come on, Max,
get your ass down here.
This way to Istanbul, baby.
Watch it.
Mind how you go there.
Are you all right?
Come down this pole and cross over.
Terrific.
- All right, it's a tunnel.
- Let's go.
Come on, Max.
Fuck! What is that? Shit!
Shit! It's a dead end.
The Turks must have blocked it up.
Shit!
Billy!
- What the fuck are we going to do?
- What time is it?
- Go back.
- You must be fucking joking.
We go back, seal it up,
and come back tomorrow.
Every night, until we get out.
There's got to be a way out.
Billy, they found it. Rifki.
No do, no do.
I'm going to kick your brains
all over your fucking kitchen.
Fine! Good. Man to man.
When we're finished, I'll bring
Hamidou and he'll kick your ass.
Let's go, Max. Come on.
- I know what I'm going to do.
- What?
- I'm going to cut his throat.
- Whose?
Rifki.
What have I got to lose?
Anyway, I'd really enjoy it.
Why don't you sit down?
You're in no shape to kill anybody.
- I want to cut his fucking throat.
- It's already been cut.
Then I'll cut his balls off.
You know, if you really
wanted to hurt Rifki...
His money. Steal that
and you steal his life's blood.
Could you see his face if everything
he had got snatched?
- If we only knew where he hid it.
- I know where it is.
Max...
The money?
Them that hides can find, says l.
I've seen him, the big tit.
He looks at it, late at night.
Talking to it.
Where?
Max, where?
The money, where?
In his radio.
In the back of his radio.
That's why he never plays it.
- He never had one.
- Soon he's back on the street.
No friends, no money,
plenty of enemies.
- I'll drink to that.
- Me, too.
- I've just got some news on Jimmy.
- Really? What?
They sent him to hospital.
They ruptured his hernia again.
- Shit!
- I guess he didn't talk.
- Look at Rifki, wearing a suit.
- Maybe he's got a new job.
Jesus! Not again.
Hashish.
You're kidding! Me?
I didn't sell him anything.
Rifki's lying. He's a liar!
Rifki!
Cigare, cigare, s'il vous plait.
Please, listen to me.
Excuse me, I've been wanting
to speak to you. You're an American?
Yes, America.
My name is Ahmet.
I studied philosophy at Harvard,
and also at Oxford.
I also studied in Vienna,
and now I study here.
They put me here.
They say I raped a little child.
They'll never let me go.
They won't let you go, either.
They tell you they'll let you go,
but in fact you stay.
You see, we all of us
come from a factory.
Sometimes the factory makes
bad machines that don't work.
The bad machines
don't know they're bad machines.
But the factory knows you are one
of the machines that doesn't work.
I think we've spoken enough
for today.
I wish you goodnight.
My God!
Billy!
What have they done to you?
Your family is fine.
Senator Buckley has made
a special plea on your behalf.
They've called you a pawn in the
game between Nixon and the Turks.
The letters are coming in.
People do care.
What?
Take it off.
- You'll just make yourself...
- Take it off.
S'il vous plait.
Billy...
I wish I could make it better
for you. Please, don't.
Don't.
- Susan.
- Yes, Billy.
I love you.
I love you.
Your father gave me this for you.
There's pictures of your mom
and dad, and Rob and Peg.
And in the back there's a picture
of your old friend Mr. Franklin.
Remember him? From the bank.
He's over in Greece now.
He bought a ticket.
I'll give it to them for you.
Don't count on them.
Don't count on anyone but yourself.
You're running out of time.
If you stay here, you'll die.
You've got to get yourself together.
You've got to get out of here.
Good morning, my American friend.
There will be trouble
if you go this way.
A good Turk
always walks to the right.
Left is Communist.
Right is good.
You must go the other way.
The other way is good.
Where are you going?
Why don't you walk the wheel?
What is the matter,
my American friend?
A bad machine
doesn't know he's a bad machine.
You still don't believe
you're a bad machine?
To know yourself is to know God.
The factory knows,
that's why they put you here.
- In time you'll know.
- I already know.
You are a bad machine, that's why
the factory keeps you here.
Do you know how I know?
I know because I'm from the factory.
I make the machines.
Max.
Max!
I'm going away.
I've come to say goodbye.
You see, if I stay here,
I'm going to die.
You'll die. Don't die, Max.
Please, don't die.
I'm going to come back for you.
You hang on for me.
You're not taking me
to the sanatorium!
- Nervous?
- No.
- I hate flying.
- It's something I ate.
Maybe you're just excited
about getting home.
- I've got to go to the john again.
- I'll wait.
- No, I'll catch up to you. Okay?
- Okay.
Passport.
Basket.
It's a frisbee.
You throw it and catch it.
It's a game.
A game...
- Are you okay?
- Yeah, great. Want a piece of gum?
Thank you.
See this?
Janis Joplin died yesterday.
Overdose.
There never was anyone like Janis.
- There never was anyone like you.
- Knock it off.
- You never take anything seriously.
- Nothing.
- What's he saying?
- I don't know.
They always have everything
ass backwards in Turkey.
- Billy, what's the matter?
- Passport. Susan, get on the plane.
- What's wrong, are you sick?
- Get on the plane. Go.
I'm looking for my passport.
Harry, you'd better
get rid of those grenades.
Get down.
- Name?
- William Hayes.
- William...
- Hayes.
Hayes.
- American?
- That's right.
Yes, American. United States.
American.
- Name?
- Jesus... William Hayes.
- Name?
- Hayes. H-A-Y-E-S.
Howdy, Billy.
How are you doing? Okay?
I think these gentlemen
have finished for the time being.
If you'd like
to put your clothes on.
The officer wants to know
if you're afraid.
No, I'm not afraid.
The officer said
there's nothing to be afraid of.
Co-operate,
and you'll be on the plane home.
- Where did you get the hashish?
- From a cab driver.
In the playing shop at the bazaar.
- Would you recognise him again?
- I think so.
You decided to fly at a bad time.
Guerrillas all over the place,
blowing up planes...
Four planes in four days.
Don't you read the newspapers?
There's been a shit storm
over the flow of heroin from Turkey.
- I didn't have heroin.
- A drug is a drug.
It was my first time.
It was only two kilos.
It doesn't matter
if it was 2 or 200 kilos.
Catching you shows the world
Turkey is fighting the drug trade.
- Are you with the Consulate?
- Something like that. Cigarette?
- What did you pay this cab driver?
- $200. My last 200.
- How much did you figure to make?
- I'd only sell it to my friends.
- I'm not a pusher. Honest.
- It beats working.
- Have you got a family?
- Mother, father, brother, sister.
- Long Island.
- It'll be tough on them.
- Girlfriend?
- Yeah, she was on the plane.
- She didn't know anything about it.
- Lucky girl.
- She used to say I was lucky.
- Let's hope so, Billy.
You seem like a nice enough kid.
But you try it,
and I'll blow your brains out.
Mom and Dad, this is the hardest
letter I've ever had to write.
I hoped to get out of this quickly,
so you'd never know about it.
But that just isn't possible now.
I don't know what's going to happen.
What can I say to you?
Will "I'm sorry" make a difference?
Will it ease the pain,
the shame you must be feeling?
Forgive me, please.
Could I have a blanket?
It's cold.
Could I have a blanket?
- A blanket!
- Too late. Tomorrow.
He'll be here tomorrow, I think.
Goodnight.
- Can you speak English?
- Your cell is open.
Blankets, three cells down.
You get me one.
I needed a blanket.
William Hayes.
I needed a blanket, I was cold!
Jesus...
Come on, you must stand.
You'd better walk around,
or your feet will swell up.
- You've got to be crazy.
- We all are. Smoke some of this.
You've been out for days,
talking all kinds of shit.
- How does it feel?
- About as good as it looks.
Gecmis olsun. It's Turkish.
It means, "May it pass quickly."
- It looks like a cheap hotel.
- The room service is lousy.
I'm Jimmy Booth.
This is Erich... something Swedish.
- Just Erich.
- He cleaned you up.
Thanks. I'm Billy Hayes...
at least I used to be.
- Why peacocks?
- They use them instead of dogs.
They scream like mad if they're
disturbed and they don't get rabies.
- Who are the kids?
- Little fuckers...
Thieves, rapists, murderers...
You name it, they do it.
Don't trust any of them.
They tell Rifki everything.
He's the squeal around here.
He sells tea, -
- hash, blankets,
anything for a buck.
- What are you in for, hash?
- Yeah.
- Where?
- At the airport.
That's heavy.
This ain't the good old USA.
In Turkey, it's a fucking accident
if you're innocent.
- Nobody here is innocent.
- Don't pay too much attention.
Anything is possible in Turkey.
They may not hit you for smuggling.
If they make it possession,
you might even get bail.
If you make bail, you're free.
Sneak across the border to Greece.
Sure, keep dreaming.
See where it gets you. Like Max.
It's going to be a while
before you taste a hamburger again.
- You broke the law.
- The law is sometimes wrong.
The law is never wrong!
The fucking law is.
- People get on his nerves.
- What's he in for?
Stealing from a mosque.
- What did he steal?
- Two candlesticks.
- That's all?
- Jimmy has more balls than brains.
He was in for a year and a half
before he even told his parents.
- What about you?
- Hashish, like most foreigners.
- What did they give you?
- 12 years. I had 100 grams.
You've got to get a good lawyer.
Talk to the Englishman. Max.
He's been in the longest.
Seven years.
Gastro. Stomach medicine.
It's got codeine in it.
It's the best I can do around here.
Max...
- Lawyers...?
- Oh, yeah.
There's no straight lawyers
in Turkey.
They're all bent.
Bent as hairpins.
Occupational necessity.
They have special classes
in corruption at night school.
If you're suspected of honesty,
you're disbarred.
I knew a lawyer fellow once.
He got that Frenchman off.
La Roche.
A big smuggler.
He put enough bread
in enough pockets. Got bail.
Vanished.
- His name?
- Who?
- The lawyer.
- Lawyer?
Who got the Frenchman off.
Yesil is his name.
I don't know anything else
about him.
Yesil.
The best thing to do
is get your ass out of here.
- Yeah, but how?
- Catch the midnight express.
What's that?
It's not a train.
It's a prison word for... escape.
It doesn't stop around here.
Dad, I'm sorry.
Forget it.
I'll punch you in the nose later.
We've got to get you out of here.
This is a suit I brought for you.
Smarten you up a little.
- Are you all right?
- Yeah.
How's Mom?
Well, she's bad.
She couldn't make the trip.
You know Mom. Her boy...
Susan told us
before we got your letter.
She's saving to come back here...
Don't let her come.
How's Rob? How's Peg?
They're the same. You know.
We told the neighbours
you were in hospital in Europe.
This is Stanley Daniels.
He's the American Consul here.
Billy, we're going to do everything
in our power to get you out of here.
That's Necdit Yesil,
the lawyer you asked for.
I know exactly what you feel,
but you must not worry.
We'll get the right court
and the right judge.
I'll arrange everything, just right.
I understand that if you get bail,
it's easy to get across the border.
That's what we're shooting for.
I've spoken to the State Department.
Right now, relations with the Turks
aren't too good. Nixon upset them.
- Our best bet is right here.
- Dad, I'll pay you back for this.
Money doesn't matter, Billy.
Not at this stage.
- Where did you get that limp?
- I twisted my ankle.
- Where are you staying?
- The Hilton.
- How do you like Istanbul?
- Interesting place.
The food is lousy. The crap
they sell in the restaurants...
I had to run to the toilet.
You should have seen the toilet.
I'll eat at the Hilton every night.
Steak, French fries and ketchup.
Billy...
- Why did you do it?
- Money.
I know you kids smoke that stuff
and we drink booze, -
- but taking it across the border,
that's stupid.
I know.
Dad... get me out of here.
I promise you. Just sit tight.
Let me work with Mr. Daniels
and Mr. Yesil here.
We'll get you out, okay?
Hey, Billy... Okay?
Okay.
- What did that prosecutor say?
- It's not important.
We made our case. You spoke well.
The judge liked you.
Mr. Hayes, the judge is coming back.
- Four years, two months.
- Four years?
We'll appeal.
It'll be reduced for good behaviour.
It is only for possession.
The prosecutor wanted
a life sentence for smuggling.
To be honest, Mr. Hayes,
it is a great victory.
With good time,
it works out to about three years.
And then there's the appeal.
Daniels and Yesil
are all working for you.
We're trying to get you transferred.
Daniels thinks there might be
a political amnesty any month now.
All right, Billy...
I know it sounds tough,
but we are going to get you out.
I promise you.
Don't do anything stupid.
They could play with your sentence.
All right, now...
I'm putting $500 in the bank.
Anything you need, you write.
There's food here,
candy, writing paper, -
- books, cigarettes, soap,
toothbrush...
I've sold insurance for 30 years.
Now I've got to see my own son...
Jesus!
If I could be where you are...
I'd be there.
I love you, Dad.
You take good care of my boy,
or I'll have your fucking head!
Dear Susan,
You can drift in here
and never know you're gone.
You can fade so far out, you
don't know where you are anymore.
I find loneliness is a physical pain
that hurts all over.
To the Turks
everything is "soyle boyle".
It means "Iike this, like that."
You never know what will happen.
All foreigners are "ayip."
They're considered dirty.
So is homosexuality, but they
do it every chance they get.
There are about 1,000 things
that are "ayip".
You can stab or shoot somebody
below the waist but not above.
Stabbing somebody in the ass
is considered Turkish revenge.
I know it must sound crazy to you,
but this place is crazy.
One day,
one of the new kids was raped.
So they picked out
four of the worst kids.
Then there's Rifki. The more
I know of him, the more I hate him.
$10 for this shit? You pig.
There are no pigs in Turkey.
- This shit is shit.
- No, it's good. Good shit.
- You big shit.
- Yeah, me big shit.
You asshole.
What is it with you?
Just what the hell is it, man?
You don't fuck with me,
I don't fuck with you.
You fuck with me all the time.
You make crummy tea.
- You rip us off on the hash.
- I make special tea for you.
We have to live like brothers.
We have to be in here together.
For all the money you've got,
you've got nothing.
- You are American, you don't know.
- Know what?
Dog eat dog.
You fuck other man before he
fucks you. And you must fuck last.
Come on down.
Egbert...
Sodding cat.
William!
Are you all right?
The new American Ambassador
is following your case.
He says there is progress.
You want a cigarette?
But there is another route...
... that is quite possible.
For a proper amount of money,
it is possible -
- to convince the ten officials
to lose track of your papers -
- before the High Court in Ankara
confirms your sentence.
And you could be in Greece by
the time they discover the mistake.
But I have to act before the
official sentence is handed down.
And for that
I must pay certain officials.
What's that?
The blueprints to the prison, man.
There was this German architect
in the hospital.
He let me copy them.
It's too bad
you didn't have a Xerox machine.
There are two ways out of here.
One is over the roof,
but that's kind of risky.
The other way, I'll need your help,
and that is under.
A tunnel?
- Are you serious?
- This is not Stalag 17.
That's where you're wrong.
The tunnel is already built.
There's a basement
where they used to keep weapons.
Beneath that are the catacombs the
Christians built to bury their dead.
We're sitting
right on top of it... here.
The kraut says that there's
a bunch of hollow shafts.
They're like dumbwaiters,
all along these walls.
One of them
is right next to our shower.
If we get in there,
we can get down into the catacombs.
With three of us working,
it shouldn't take too long.
I swear I heard a couple of dead
Christians singing down there.
- You stop shitting me, man. Okay?
- How do we get into the shaft?
We knock three times and
say we're a friend of the deceased.
I'm getting this together and
I don't need no gastro-head along.
You understand me?
- We go through the wall.
- We go through the wall?
Go through the wall.
There's no reinforced steel
in those shower walls.
It's real soft
from underground seepage.
You can almost push it over.
All we have to do...
We only have to use your screwdriver
to scrape the mortar out.
We pull out three stones
and squeeze through...
Squeeze through,
and get our ass down the shaft.
- It's a two-night operation.
- What do we do in the catacombs?
What do you want, a door?
There's miles of them down there.
- You must be fucking crazy.
- They've got to come up someplace.
You won't find any catacombs,
you'll just finish up in section 13.
Billy... the tunnel or the roof?
Forget the wall.
Rifki's always there.
- The roof is guarded.
- Help me get into the shaft.
If we get caught,
I'll get the shaft.
I'll be back up to
three years again, maybe more.
Fuck it, then.
You choose your own death.
I'll do this thing on my own.
I'm taking the roof out of here.
No! I can't take it!
Dear Susan,
Jimmy was caught and beaten badly.
He got a severe hernia
and lost a testicle.
He's been in the sanatorium
for months.
In comparison,
my problems seem small.
But 2 years have gone by.
The Turks
are slowly draining my life away.
- Why do you keep your hair short?
- To remind me that I hate it here.
Prison, monastery, cloister, cave.
Prison...
- Okay.
- I've thought of another way.
- Another way what?
- Out of here.
When I was in the sanatorium,
there was only one guard on duty.
- I could have got out of there.
- Why didn't you?
As soon as I could walk,
they threw me back in here.
- Lucky you.
- I tell you, Billy...
Another ward in the sanatorium
had no guard on it at all.
- Who was in it?
- Three guys.
- What was wrong with them?
- I don't know.
- I think they were dead.
- It figures.
I've got to go. It's Daniels!
Turkish justice has done it again.
They're going to let me off.
Jimmy, I'm going home!
God! "I've got to go."
What's wrong?
Sit down, Billy.
I'm afraid
I have some bad news for you.
- Is it Dad? Mom?
- No.
- You're going to have a new court.
- What do you mean?
The prosecutor objected
to your sentence for possession.
He wanted a smuggling conviction.
The Ankara court reviewed it.
It seems everyone wanted
an example made. A scapegoat.
We've been notified
that they rejected the sentence.
There were 35 judges in the court.
The lower court in Istanbul
had to go along with the decision.
The judge likes you.
He notified your dad.
What do you mean, life?
- Life for what?
- Billy!
I have 53 days left!
So now it's time for me to speak.
What is there for me to say?
When I finish,
you'll sentence me for my crime.
So let me ask you now:
What is a crime?
What is a punishment?
It seems to vary from time to time
and place to place.
What's legal today
is suddenly illegal tomorrow.
What's illegal is suddenly legal
because everybody's doing it.
You can't put everybody in jail.
I'm not saying
this is right or wrong.
I'm just saying
that's the way it is.
I've spent 3 years of my life
in your prison.
I think I've paid for my error.
If it's your decision today
to sentence me to more years...
My lawyer... that's a good one.
He says, "Be cool, Billy."
"Be good. I'll get you a pardon,
an amnesty, an appeal."
This has been going on now
for 3 years.
I've been playing it cool.
I've been good.
Now I'm damn tired of being good.
You said I had 53 days left.
You hung 53 days in my face,
and then you took them away.
And you!
I wish you could be standing
where I'm standing right now.
Then you would know something
that you don't know.
Mercy!
You would know that a just society
is based on the concept of mercy.
Its sense of fair play and justice.
But I guess that's like asking
a bear to shit in a toilet.
For a nation of pigs,
it sure is funny you don't eat them.
Jesus Christ forgave the bastards,
but I can't.
I hate.
I hate you.
I hate your nation
and I hate your people.
I fuck your sons and daughters
because they're pigs.
You're a pig.
You're all pigs.
My hands are tied by Ankara.
I must sentence you, William Hayes,
to be imprisoned -
- for a term no less than 30 years.
May it pass quickly.
Got the old Istanbul blues
Istanbul blues
they give me 30 years
ain't got nothing left to lose...
We are going to get you out.
I promise you.
Don't do anything stupid.
They could play with your sentence.
I was busted at the border...
The best thing to do
is get your ass out of here.
The best way you can.
Hey, I think I found it.
Come here.
Listen to that.
Do you hear anything?
I told you, you suckers.
You didn't believe me.
Keep it down.
Look how soft this is.
It'll be easy.
Go and get Rifki's poker,
but don't wake him up.
It's really soft. It's coming.
- Jimmy, it's coming.
- Here, use this.
It's coming real easy.
It's coming right out.
It's easier than I thought.
It's a piece of cake.
It's coming.
Like butter.
Hey, Max. Rifki.
- Keep checking for Rifki.
- It's okay.
- Watch it.
- I thought you wanted out of here.
- They're loose.
- Let's try.
- Watch your hernia.
- Fuck that.
- Okay? You got it?
- Yeah.
That's it. It's the shaft.
It's coming.
It's okay.
- Let's go, Billy.
- It's too late. We're not prepared.
We'll go tomorrow.
It's too late.
Let's put them back. Help me.
Any fuck-ups
and we should be back by dawn.
You got everything?
Maps, railroad, bus timetables.
Okay, let's do it.
- Can you see?
- No.
Come on, Max,
get your ass down here.
This way to Istanbul, baby.
Watch it.
Mind how you go there.
Are you all right?
Come down this pole and cross over.
Terrific.
- All right, it's a tunnel.
- Let's go.
Come on, Max.
Fuck! What is that? Shit!
Shit! It's a dead end.
The Turks must have blocked it up.
Shit!
Billy!
- What the fuck are we going to do?
- What time is it?
- Go back.
- You must be fucking joking.
We go back, seal it up,
and come back tomorrow.
Every night, until we get out.
There's got to be a way out.
Billy, they found it. Rifki.
No do, no do.
I'm going to kick your brains
all over your fucking kitchen.
Fine! Good. Man to man.
When we're finished, I'll bring
Hamidou and he'll kick your ass.
Let's go, Max. Come on.
- I know what I'm going to do.
- What?
- I'm going to cut his throat.
- Whose?
Rifki.
What have I got to lose?
Anyway, I'd really enjoy it.
Why don't you sit down?
You're in no shape to kill anybody.
- I want to cut his fucking throat.
- It's already been cut.
Then I'll cut his balls off.
You know, if you really
wanted to hurt Rifki...
His money. Steal that
and you steal his life's blood.
Could you see his face if everything
he had got snatched?
- If we only knew where he hid it.
- I know where it is.
Max...
The money?
Them that hides can find, says l.
I've seen him, the big tit.
He looks at it, late at night.
Talking to it.
Where?
Max, where?
The money, where?
In his radio.
In the back of his radio.
That's why he never plays it.
- He never had one.
- Soon he's back on the street.
No friends, no money,
plenty of enemies.
- I'll drink to that.
- Me, too.
- I've just got some news on Jimmy.
- Really? What?
They sent him to hospital.
They ruptured his hernia again.
- Shit!
- I guess he didn't talk.
- Look at Rifki, wearing a suit.
- Maybe he's got a new job.
Jesus! Not again.
Hashish.
You're kidding! Me?
I didn't sell him anything.
Rifki's lying. He's a liar!
Rifki!
Cigare, cigare, s'il vous plait.
Please, listen to me.
Excuse me, I've been wanting
to speak to you. You're an American?
Yes, America.
My name is Ahmet.
I studied philosophy at Harvard,
and also at Oxford.
I also studied in Vienna,
and now I study here.
They put me here.
They say I raped a little child.
They'll never let me go.
They won't let you go, either.
They tell you they'll let you go,
but in fact you stay.
You see, we all of us
come from a factory.
Sometimes the factory makes
bad machines that don't work.
The bad machines
don't know they're bad machines.
But the factory knows you are one
of the machines that doesn't work.
I think we've spoken enough
for today.
I wish you goodnight.
My God!
Billy!
What have they done to you?
Your family is fine.
Senator Buckley has made
a special plea on your behalf.
They've called you a pawn in the
game between Nixon and the Turks.
The letters are coming in.
People do care.
What?
Take it off.
- You'll just make yourself...
- Take it off.
S'il vous plait.
Billy...
I wish I could make it better
for you. Please, don't.
Don't.
- Susan.
- Yes, Billy.
I love you.
I love you.
Your father gave me this for you.
There's pictures of your mom
and dad, and Rob and Peg.
And in the back there's a picture
of your old friend Mr. Franklin.
Remember him? From the bank.
He's over in Greece now.
He bought a ticket.
I'll give it to them for you.
Don't count on them.
Don't count on anyone but yourself.
You're running out of time.
If you stay here, you'll die.
You've got to get yourself together.
You've got to get out of here.
Good morning, my American friend.
There will be trouble
if you go this way.
A good Turk
always walks to the right.
Left is Communist.
Right is good.
You must go the other way.
The other way is good.
Where are you going?
Why don't you walk the wheel?
What is the matter,
my American friend?
A bad machine
doesn't know he's a bad machine.
You still don't believe
you're a bad machine?
To know yourself is to know God.
The factory knows,
that's why they put you here.
- In time you'll know.
- I already know.
You are a bad machine, that's why
the factory keeps you here.
Do you know how I know?
I know because I'm from the factory.
I make the machines.
Max.
Max!
I'm going away.
I've come to say goodbye.
You see, if I stay here,
I'm going to die.
You'll die. Don't die, Max.
Please, don't die.
I'm going to come back for you.
You hang on for me.
You're not taking me
to the sanatorium!