Excuse me.
- Nervous? - No.
Jeez, I hate flying.
It's something I ate. I think I've been poisoned.
- You're just excited about getting home. - No, I think it's the baklavas.
Told you not to eat 'em.
Look, I gotta go to the John. You go through and I'II catch up.
- So I'll wait. - No, go. I'II catch up to you.
I'll only be a minute. Okay?
Passport.
Basket.
It's a Frisbee.
You throw it. Catch it. It's a game.
Baseball.
Excuse me.
- Hello. - You okay?
- I'm great. You want a piece of gum? - Sure.
Thank you.
- See this? - What?
- Janis Joplin died yesterday. - No.
Overdose in a Hollywood motel.
- There never was anyone like Janis. - Never was anyone like you.
Stop it. Knock it off.
You never take anything seriously, do you?
Nothin'.
- What's he sayin'? - I don't know.
Jesus Christ. They always do everything ass backwards in Turkey?
- Billy, what's the matter? - My passport.
Susan, forget it. Go get a seat on the plane now.
What is it, Billy? What's wrong? Are you sick?
For chrissake, just get on that plane now.
- Go! - Okay.
Looking for my passport.
- Harry, better get rid of the grenades. - What's up with the searching?
What is this, Turkish security?
Oh, God.
Get down.
- Name? - William Hayes.
- American? - That's right.
Yes. American. United States.
Name?
Oh, Jesus. William Hayes.
Hayes. H-A-Y-E-S.
Wait a minute.
Howdy, Billy. How you doin'? 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.
- Cooperate, you'll be on a plane home. - Yes?
Where did you get the hashish?
From a cab driver in the pudding shop at the bazaar.
Would you recognize him again?
I think so.
Well, you decided to fly at a bad time, Billy.
Guerrillas all over the place, blowin' up planes and all.
- It's stupid. - Four planes in four days.
But I guess you kids don't read the newspapers...
and what with our people kickin' up a shit storm about heroin from Turkey...
- I didn't have heroin. - A drug's a drug, seems to me.
It was my first time. I'm not really a smuggler.
It was only two kilos.
See, right now, it don't really matter if it was two kilos or 200.
Turks love to catch any foreigner.
Shows the world they're fighting the drug trade.
- Are you with the consulate? - Somethin' like that.
- Cigarette? - Thanks.
How much you pay this joker, this cab driver?
Two hundred dollars. It was my last 200.
- How much you figure to make? - I was only gonna sell to my friends.
I'm not a pusher. Honest.
Beats workin'. You got a family back there?
Yeah. Mother, father, brother, sister.
- Babylon, Long Island. - Be tough on 'em.
- Girlfriend? - Yeah. She was on the plane.
She didn't know anything about it. I didn't want her to.
- Lucky girl. - She used to say I was the lucky one.
Well, let's hope so, Billy. Let's sure as hell hope so.
You seem like a nice enough kid to me, Billy...
but you try it, and I'll blow your fuckin' brains out.
Dear Mom and Dad...
This is the hardest letter I've ever had to write.
I had hoped somehow to get out of this quickly...
so that you'd never have to know about it...
but that just isn't possible now.
I don't know what's gonna happen, but 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? Do you think I could have a blanket?
It's cold. Could I have a blanket?
No, sir. Too late. Tomorrow.
You'll be here tomorrow, I think.
Good night.
Jesus.
- Can you speak English? - Your cell. No key. Open.
Blanket three cell down. You get me one.
I needed a blanket. I was cold.
I needed a blanket! I was cold!
- Jesus. - Hey, hey. He's up.
Come on. You must stand. Jimmy.
You better walk around some. Your feet are gonna swell up something bad.
- You gotta be crazy. - Yeah, we're all crazy here.
Smoke some of this rocket. Cool the pain.
You been out for days, talkin' all kinds of shit.
- We'll walk you down to the courtyard. - How's it feel? Okay?
'Bout as good as it looks.
What?
It's Turkish. It means, "May it pass quickly."
- Looks like a cheap hotel. - Only the room service is lousy.
I'm Jimmy Booth. This is Erich... something Swedish, I don't know.
- Just Erich. - He cleaned you up.
Thanks. I'm Billy Hayes. Least, I used to be.
Peacocks. Live peacocks.
Turks use 'em instead of dogs.
They scream like mad if they're disturbed, and they don't get rabies.
The old sultans used them to guard their harem.
- Who are the kids? - Kids.
Motherfuckers. Thieves. Rapists. Pickpockets. Murderers.
You name it, they do it. Don't trust any of 'em.
They tell Rifki everything. He's the squealer 'round here.
- Yeah, we met. - Sells watered-down tea. Hash. Blankets.
Nembutals. Anything for a buck.
- What you in for? Hash? - Yeah.
- Where? - The airport. Trying to get home.
- That's heavy. - You think so?
Yeah, I think so. This ain't the good ol' USA.
This is Turkey, man. It's a fuckin' accident here if you're innocent.
- Nobody here is innocent. - Don't pay too much attention.
Anything is possible in Turkey. He means if they hit you for smuggling.
It can be bad. But if they make it possession, it's easier.
- You might even get bail. - Bail.
And if you make bail, you're free.
You can get yourself a fake passport or sneak across the border to Greece.
Yeah, sure. Keep dreamin'. See where that gets you.
Like Max, up in the head, you know?
You're gonna eat a lot more fasoolia beans before you taste a hamburger.
'Cause you broke the law, man, and you got caught.
- The law is sometimes wrong. - The law is never wrong, asshole!
The fuckin' law is!
- People sometimes get on his nerves. - What's he in for?
He was caught stealing from a mosque. That's heavy here.
- What did he steal? - Two candlesticks.
- That's all? - That's all.
Jimmy has more balls than brains.
He was in for a year and a half before he told his parents.
- What about you? - Hashish.
Ninety percent of the foreigners are in for hashish.
- Yeah, well, what'd they give you? - Twelve years.
- How much did you have? - A hundred grams.
You just have to get yourself a good lawyer and some money.
Talk to the Englishman, Max. He's been in the longest.
- How long? - Seven years.
Gastro.
Stomach medicine.
It's got codeine in it. Best I can do around here.
Max?
Lawyers.
Yeah.
Well, 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 get suspected of honesty, then you get disbarred.
I knew a lawyer fellow once, but...
Got that Frenchman off. LaRoche.
Yeah.
A big smuggler.
Two hundred kilos.
He put enough bread in enough pockets. Got bail.
Vanished.
His name?
- Who? - The lawyer.
What?
- Lawyer? - Who got the Frenchman off.
Oh, Yesil.
Yesil's his name.
I don't know anything else about him.
Best thing to do is to get your ass out of here best way you can.
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.
Ah, forget it.
Punch you in the nose later.
Right now we gotta get you out of here.
This is a suit I bought for you in Istanbul.
Smarten you up in a courtroom.
- Are you all right? - Yeah.
How's Mom?
Well, she's bad.
Couldn't make the trip. You know Mom... her boy.
Susan told us, before we got your letter...
She's fine. She's trying to get money together to come back and...
- No, don't let her come. - She...
How's Rob? How's Peg?
Ah, they're the same, you know.
None of the neighbors know. We told them that you were in a hospital in Europe.
Oh, this is Stanley Daniels.
He's the American consul here.
Hello, Billy, nice to know you. I want you to know we're gonna do...
everything in our power to get you out of here as soon as possible.
- Thank you. - And that's "Necktit," uh...
- Nechtit Yesil. - Nechtit Yesil, the lawyer you wanted.
- Mr. Yesil. - I know exactly what you feel.
But you must not worry. We are acting immediately.
We got the right court, the right judge.
I arrange everything.
Mr. Yesil, I understand that if you get bail...
it's very easy to get across the border into Greece.
That's right. That's what we're shooting for.
Mr. Daniels and I have been in touch with the State Department...
only, right now, relations with the Turks aren't too good.
Nixon's upset the hell out of 'em.
Our best bet: Right here.
Dad, I'll pay you back for this someday, I promise.
Right now money doesn't matter, Billy. Not at this stage.
Where'd you get that limp?
Oh, it's nothing. I just twisted my ankle.
So, well, where you stayin'?
Hilton.
How you like it? Istanbul?
An interesting place.
I tell you the truth. I think the food is lousy.
Crap they sell in these little restaurants.
I had to run to the toilet. You should've seen the toilet.
Anyway, I'm not taking any more chances.
I'm gonna eat at the Hilton every night...
with steak and French fries and lots of ketchup.
Why did you do it?
Money.
Look, I know you kids smoke that stuff, and we drink booze.
But takin' it across the border... That's stupid, Billy.
- That's stupid. - I know.
Dad?
- Get me out of here. - I promise you, Billy.
Sit tight.
Let me work with Mr. Daniels and Mr. Yesil here.
We're gonna get you out, okay?
Hey, Billy.
Okay?
- What did that prosecutor say? - It's no important.
Just technical.
We make our case. You are very good.
You spoke well. The judge like you.
Mr. Hayes! The judge is coming back. Come on.
Four years and two months. It's good, very good.
- Four years? - We appeal it.
You will see. He will have maybe one year taken off for good behavior.
Remember, it is only for possession.
The prosecutor wanted life sentence for smuggling.
There is quite a difference.
Believe me. To be honest, Mr. Hayes, it is a great victory.
With good time, Billy, it works out to about...
three years.
And then there's the appeal.
And, uh...
Daniels and, uh, Yesil...
They're all workin' for ya.
We're gonna try to get you transferred to a stateside prison.
And Daniels thinks there might be...
a political amnesty any month now.
All right.
I know it sounds tough, but...
we are gonna get you out.
I promise you. I don't want you to get stupid and pull anything.
They can play with your sentence.
All right. Now.
I'm putting $500 in the bank.
Anything you need, you write.
There's food here. There's candy.
And there's writing paper.
Books. Cigarettes.
Soap. Toothbrush.
I've been writing insurance policies for 30 goddamn years...
and now I gotta see my own son...
Jesus.
Billy, if I could be where you are...
I'd be there.
I love you, Dad.
Take good care of my boy, or I'll have your fuckin' head, you Turkish bastard!
Dear Susan...
1970 has now passed into 1971.
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...
or where anything else is.
I find loneliness is a physical pain...
which hurts all over.
You can't isolate it in one part of your body.
Hey!
Right there, huh?
To the Turks, everything is sula bula...
which means, "Like this, like that."
You never know what will happen.
All foreigners are ayip. They're considered dirty.
So is homosexuality. That's a big crime here.
But most of them do it every chance they get.
There are about a thousand things that are ayip.
For instance, you can stab or shoot somebody below the waist...
but not above, because that's intent to kill.
So everybody runs around stabbing everyone else in the ass.
That's what they call "Turkish Revenge."
I know it must all sound crazy to you, but this place is crazy.
One day, one of the new kids was raped in the children's kogus.
So they picked out four of the worst kids.
Then there's Rifki.
The more I know of him, the more I hate him.
Ten dollars for this shit. You pig.
They have no pigs in Turkey.
- Rifki, this shit is shit. - No, is good.
Me good shit.
- You big shit. - I are. Me big shit.
Yeah.
You asshole.
What is with you? Just what the hell is it, man?
You're ayip!
Look, you don't fuck with me, I don't fuck with you, all right?
But you fuck with me. You fuck with me all the time.
You make crummy tea, and you rip us off on the hash!
No, I make a special tea for you, "Hiyes," okay?
We have to live like brothers. We have to be in here together.
Oh, shove it, Rifki.
For all the money you've got, you've got nothin'.
- You are American. You don't know. - Know what?
Dog eat dog, "Hiyes."
You fuck other men before they fuck you.
And you must fuck last.
Higbert.
Come on, boy. Come on down.
Sorry cat.
Shit.