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                                     MIDNIGHT EXPRESS

                               Screenplay by Oliver Stone

                               Based on The Autobiography
                           by Billy Hayes with William Hoffer





                                                          Revised Draft
                                                          June, 1977




               PROLOGUE BLACK SCREEN - SUPERIMPOSE:

                        THE FOLLOWING IS BASED ON A TRUE STORY.

                             IT OCTOBER 6, 1970 ISTANBUL,

                                       TURKEY -

               SOUND UNDER, SHARP: CRACKLE - RIP - SNIP...

               FADE IN:

               A SET OF CLOTHES ON A HOTEL ROOM BED -- trenchcoat, bulky 
               white turtle-neck sweater, T-shirt, jeans, Western style 
               boots.  SOUNDS continue, Accentuated.  MOVE Across open 
               TRAVEL BAGS On The bed.  Clothes, possessions.  CONTINUE 
               Across FURNITURE, WASHBASIN, TOILET...A large room, high 
               old ceilings And windows suggesting Ancient Europe & design, 
               A haunting greenish AFTERNOON light.

               We MOVE to HANDS, TIGHT - drawing out a strip of adhesive 
               tape,

               SCISSORS move in TIGHT...SNIP!

               UNDERARM, TIGHT.  Tape being laid over it.

               BACK OF SHOULDER.  TIGHT.  Tape going on. 

               BELLYBUTTON, TIGHT. TAPE going Then: a harsh RIP! SOUND 
               and the tape comes off the bellybutton.

               HANDS with new strip of tape. Moving to:

               HASHISH PLAQUE. Four of them, thinly pressed. One on top 
               of the other. The HAND wrapping a portion of the TAPE around 
               them and:

               BELLY, TIGHT. SOUNDS of BREATHING stop. The belly is sucked 
               in. The TAPE is pulled HARD across, then CLINCHED.  We 
               hear F.X. of HEART BEAT--

               MOVE UP THE CHEST TO:

               BILLY HAYES - 21, baby-face, attractive, medium build an 
               aura of innocence. His eyes moving off his belly to:

               MIRROR.  FULL SHOT.  Climax.  A creature in a bondage of 
               his own devise, he is naked in his underpants, his body 
               criss-crossed by a network of TAPE and 40 tightly pressed 
               plaques of HASHISH in every conceivable crevice of his 
               body. The eyes are hard.

               NIX THROUGH HEART BEAT, SOUNDS OF AIRPORT.

                                                                    CUT:

               INTERIOR

               ISTANBUL AIR TERMINAL dirty, crowded, wooden benches, 
               peddlers.  Turkish flight instructions on LOUDSPEAKER, 
               followed by mediocre English translations. NOTE: ALL 
               DIALOGUE IN TURKISH TO FOLLOW WILL BE MARKED OFF BY 
               PARENTHESIS. A CERTAIN WILL BE SUBTITLED, BUT SOME NOT.

                                     LOUDSPEAKER VOICE
                         Pan American Flight 1 to Frankfurt, 
                         London, and New York has arrived 
                         and will be ready for boarding at 
                         Gate 7 in 20 minutes.

               REPEAT IN ENGLISH over:

               BILL walking down a long CORRIDOR. He moves somewhat stuffly 
               in the clothes we saw laid out on the bed; his face 
               complicated by dark, rather ridiculous aviator sunglasses 
               and an increasing edge of nervousness to his actions. With 
               him is:

               SUSAN 23, healthy outdoor looks, dressed casually colorful 
               like an American student abroad.

               APPROACHING P.O.V. - a group of TURKISH SECURITY GUARDS, 
               in rumpled green uniforms, at a security CHECKPOINT inspect 
               the carry-on bags of several PASSENGERS.

               BILLY tensely contemplating the guards as he walks.

               SUSAN digging in her bag for her passport as she walks.

               BILLY, looking from guards ahead to SUSAN. He suddenly 
               breaks stride, still a fair distance from the 
               checkpoint. SUSAN glances at him. He is holding his belly.

                                     BILLY
                         I think I've been poisoned.

                                     SUSAN
                         And you ate two baclavas, right? I 
                         not to touch them, mine was awful.

                                     BILLY
                              (his voice strained)
                         Look, I think I'm going to have to 
                         go to the john again.  You go on 
                         through, I'll catch up.

               With a sense of panic, he turns and goes back down the 
               corridor without waiting for a response.  SUSAN concerned, 
               moves on.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY in the  WASHROOM MIRROR, again checks himself out. 
               His glasses are off, and he has just watered himself down. 
               But the SOUND of his HEARTBEAT is up, and his nerves are 
               visible in his eyeballs and he knows it.  He dabs at the 
               sweat on his sideburns.  He closes his eyes, takes a DEEP 
               BREATH.  A pause. He puts his dark sunglasses back on.  
               Turns away from the mirror.  No going back now.

               ADVANCING P.O.V. - SECURITY CHECKPOINT.  The GUARDS again.  
               Closer, closer, Guns in their HOLSTERS. SOUND of billy's 
               heartbeat,

               CLOSE - GUARD smoking a cigarette, bored, uniform, looks 
               at BILLY.

                                                                    CUT:

               The GUARDS again.SOUND of Billy's in a tattered olive

                                     GUARD
                         Passport!

               BILLY PASSPORT. The Guard's tobacco-stained FINGERS take 
               it open it. Basic information on Billy: Birth Date April 
               17, 1949.  Birth Place: Babylon, Long Island. No wife, no 
               minors.  Signature.

               GUARD gives it back to BILLY.

                                     GUARD
                         Bag! 

               BILLY opens his shoulder bag, proffers it. The GUARD tosses 
               it, pushing aside books, grabbing a white plastic dish.

                                     GUARD
                         Nebu? 

                                     BILLY
                              (Understand the 
                              Turkish expression, 
                              "What's this?")
                         It's a frisbee.

                                     GUARD
                         Nebu? 

                                     BILLY
                         A Frisbee.
                              (makes a throwing 
                              gesture of the 
                              wrist)
                         You throw, catch it.  Game! 

               Curious, one of the other GUARDS ambles over looking at 
               the frisbee.

               BILLY tightens. Cursing the frisbee. Sweat now runs his 
               sideburns again.  HEARTBEAT up.

                                     2ND GUARD
                         American game. Baseball.

                                     GUARD
                         Ah! 
                              (puzzled, turns the 
                              Frisbee around and 
                              around)

               THE SECOND GUARD studies BILLY curious about the sweat. 
               Suddenly reaches up, indicates the eyes.

                                     GUARD
                         Take off the glasses.

               BILLY understanding the gesture rather than the words, 
               removes his glasses. His eyes. Straight, staring at the 
               GUARD without trying to look away. A long moment.

               FIRST GUARD stuffs the frisbee back into the bag. Scowls.  
               Takes a puff on his cigarette, coughs. Phlegm rattles around 
               in his throat.  

               Reads the International Herald Tribune, seated on a crowded 
               olive-colored out on the tarmac She has saved him a seat 
               and pulls her bag off as BILLY sits down.

                                     FIRST GUARD
                         Aaaah! 

               He waves BILLY through.

               BILLY puts his glasses walks past the back the SECOND GUARD 
               turns away.  BILLY walks past the Checkpoint. His HEARTBEAT 
               drops.

               SUSAN reads the International Herald Tribune, seated on an  
               crowded olive-colored BUS out on the tarmac.  She has save 
               him a seat and pulls her bag off as BILLY sits down.

                                     SUSAN
                         Are you all right?

               He looks at her. Relief. A smile, awkward - he wishes he 
               could tell her.

                                     BILLY
                         Yeah... Yeah. 

               Lays his head back on the wooden bench. Reaches out:

               TAKES HER HAND in his. She returns the grip.

               THE BUS DOOR slams shut.

               THE TURKISH BUS DRIVER rolls the bus out towards the PLANES 
               visible in the far distance?.

               SUSAN, feeling Billy is better, shows him the Herald 
               Tribune.

                                     SUSAN
                              (saddened)
                         D'you see this?  Janis Joplin died 
                         yesterday.

               BILLY, his sunglasses removed, looks at the paper, almost 
               abstractedly.

                                     SUSAN (OFF)
                         Overdose, in a Hollywood motel.

               NEWSPAPER Picture of JANIS JOPLIN.  That big, earthy, rugged 
               smile.

               BILLY'S P.O.V. - Moves Up page One To The Headline: NIXON 
               OUT-RAGED AT PALESTINIAN HIJACKERS: CALLS FOR CAPITAL 
               PUNISHMENT

                                     SUSAN
                              (a faint voice)
                         Never Was anybody like Janis.

               BILLY, thinking other happier things, reaches over and 
               playful!.:squeezes her tit twice, rapidly.

                                     BILLY
                              (smiles)
                         Never was anybody like you...

                                     SUSAN
                              (annoyed, brushes 
                              his hand away ,a 
                              clicking sound in 
                              her throat)
                         You can't take anything seriously.

                                     BILLY
                              (smiles)
                         You're right.

               Bus stops suddenly. BILLY changes expression.

               THROUGH FRONT WINDSHIELD we see TURKISH SOLDIERS in several 
               HALFTRACKS drawn up in a semicircle blocking the bus. The 
               Pan American PLANE is directly behind. Also JEEPS and a 
               POLICEMAN waving the bus down.

               BUS BOOR opens and the Turkish Police OFFICER hops aboard 
               briskly:

                                     OFFICER
                         Attention please, Ladies and 
                         Gentlemen. For your own safety 
                         we're conducting a security check 
                         before you board your airplane, 
                         Kindly file out the back. Women 
                         and children in one line. Men in 
                         another.

               PASSENGERS.  A confused hum.

                                     VARIOUS PASSENGERS
                         What's he saying?  I don't know... 
                         Marian.  Hey Marian, what the 
                         hell...

               The Turkish-speaking PASSENGERS are gathering together 
               their items and beginning to exit as:

               POLICE OFFICER repeats, in ENGLISH

                                     POLICE OFFICER
                         Idem. 

               CLOSE BILLY. The POLICE OFFICER is only beginning the 
               speech.in English but already Billy realizes, And it's 
               panic.  Silent panic. That horrendous cold feeling all 
               over his back: Oh God what have I done, what can I do now?  
               He freezes.

               MOVE TO SUSAN rising, fetching her things, irritated.

                                     SUSAN
                         Jesus, they do everything ass 
                         backwards in Turkey.

               Behind her we see the other AMERICAN PASSENGERS beginning 
               to disembark with the usual chorus of overlapped 
               conversations, expletives, including:

                                     PASSENGERS
                         They're checking for hijackers.  
                         Any Palestinians aboard? Hey Harry, 
                         get rid of your grenades...

               Laughter is returned from several of the American 
               contingent, but we MOVE BACK to BILLY in foreground; all 
               of a sudden he is on his knees trying to crawl under the 
               seat.

                                     SUSAN (OFF)
                         Billy, what's the matter?

                                     BILLY
                         My passport!

                                     SUSAN
                         No! 

               She bends down to look, coming FACE TO FACE with him. He 
               grips her arm.

                                     BILLY
                              (low voice)
                         Susan - forget it. Go get us a 
                         seat on the plane. Now.

                                     SUSAN
                              (picking up the 
                              real fear in his 
                              voice)
                         What is it? . . . Billy?

                                     BILLY
                              (a fierce whisper, 
                              panic)
                         For Christ's sake, just GET on the 
                         plane, okay!

               His tone stuns her; never before has he spoken to her like 
               that.  A LOOK between them; he has his glasses off now. 
               She's not a stupid girl by any means and realizes something 
               is very wrong and for the both of them, she'd best do 
               exactly as he says. And fast.  She moves OUT OF SHOT.

               BILLY, crouched low in the aisle starts to work fast, his 
               finger: shaking reaching into his sweater starting to work 
               the TAPE loose from around his chest; looking from under 
               the bench. Still quite a bit of commotion as passengers 
               are exiting. BUT THEN:

               BILLY P.O.V. - UNIFORMED LEGS coming slowly down Isle 
               Towards him. The muzzle of An M-l RIFLE tapping loosely 
               Against the side of the kneecap.

               PAN WITH and MOVE UP as TURKISH MILITARY LIEUTENANT comes 
               into view, intersecting outgoing PASSENGERS, eyes casually 
               coming to rest on:

               BILLY looks up from his kneeling position on floor; his 
               sweater rolled back down; he indicates the passport in his 
               hand. "Just found it" expression.

               MOVE to the LIEUTENANT not necessarily suspecting anything, 
               but with a customary insolence reserved for young vagrant-
               types, he stretches his rifle arms length with one hand 
               and gently prods Billy up with the tip of the muzzle placed 
               under his chin. MOVE BACK to the OFFICER, bringing the 
               rifle back to his side, indicating Billy get off the bus 
               with the others. All in silence.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY among a group of MALE PASSENGERS funnelling into two 
               lines that pass on either side of a wooden inspection table. 
               Thirty TURKISH SOLDIERS with rifles ring the area. It is 
               open, vast, no place to run or hide. The only apparent 
               hope is to melt into their regular jostling patterns of 
               the passengers impatiently waiting.

               TWO PLAINCLOTHESMEN (Police) are on each side of the table, 
               body-searching the male passengers alternately.

               SUSAN is in a similar set-up twenty yards away, with FEMALE 
               ATTENDANTS doing the searching. She glances at Billy as 
               she undergoes search. She is cleared, passes on, towards 
               the ramp of the plane.

               BILLY, his sunglasses off, smoothly melts among the male 
               PASSENGERS pulling some books from his shoulder bag.  Glides 
               to the head of the line. MOVE TO:

               The FIRST OFFICER patting down a PASSENGER, his back 
               partially turned to Billy. MOVE AROUND bringing him into 
               foreground as:

               BILLY skirts him in the background, camouflaged among two 
               other conversing PASSENGERS waiting for the SECOND OFFICER 
               who now appears in foreground on the lateral TRACK; he is 
               busy with another passenger. In passing him, Billy replaces 
               the books in his shoulder bag as though he had already 
               been searched by the first officer,

               Tension. FOLLOW BILLY as he approaches the boarding ramp.

               BILLY P.O.V. - SUSAN at the top of the ramp waiting.  
               Smiling STEWARDESSES. Pan America. Haven.

               BILLY - FOOT rising off Turkish soil onto ramp.

               TURKISH HAND lightly touching Billy's elbow, then grasping 
               the ARM.

                                     TURK (OFF)
                         Just a minute!

               BILLY his eyes flattening.

               SUSAN in LONG SHOT, reacting.

               BILLY turns trying to seem casual; he confronts the SECOND 
               OFFICER face to face and gestures towards the:

               FIRST OFFICER who happens to glance at them.

                                     SECOND
                         Nebu? Did you search him?

                                     FIRST OFFICER
                              (frowns)
                         No!

               SECOND OFFICER tightens his grip on BILLY, angry, and pulls 
               him back to the TABLE. MOVE with them. The officer has 
               been lied to; in addition he is young, inexperienced, about 
               eighteen.

                                     SECOND OFFICER
                         (grunts a command, makes a gesture)

               BILLY, comprehending, spreads his arms.  The OFFICER pats 
               him down carefully, brushing against his armpits. Precisely 
               in the area where we saw the hashish. But incredibly he 
               doesn't notice, continuing to work his way down the hips 
               and legs.

               CLOSE BILLY eyes on the sky behind the OFFICER, praying 
               silently for a break.

               TURKISH FINGERS moving up the inside of his legs, onto his 
               belly, touching the hard bulge below the navel. But again 
               not noticing.

               BILLY in limbo, SOUND of his heartbeat.

               SECOND OFFICER pausing, his fingers around Billy's chest, 
               about to let it go, then:

               PLACES HIS HAND suddenly flat on Billy's heart.

               OFFICER, sensing the accelerated Heartbeat, stares at:

               BILLY whose eyes jump, startled by this technique.

               FINGERS like excited spiders quickly run back up into the 
               armpit area.  STOP - right on the packets.

               TURKISH EYES SWIVEL to BILLY EYES CLOSE. Frozen moment.  
               Then, sudden blur of movement at the edge of frame.

               SECOND OFFICER jumping back, grabbing his pistol from his 
               holster, crouching on one knee, aiming the gun barrel at 
               BILLY, hand shaking. He is terrified.

                                     SECOND OFFICER
                              (screaming)
                         Bomb!  He's got a bomb!

               AMERICAN PASSENGERS scream and the deck all around.

                                     AMERICAN PASSENGER
                         Bomb!  Bomb! 

               BILLY stands there, arms straight up in the air, eyes 
               clamped shut, trying not to breathe. CHORUS of rifle and 
               revolver CLICKS OFF as:

               PULL BACK to OVERHEAD SHOT BILLY surrounded by thirty 
               SOLDIERS with rifles pointed at him from all directions, 
               crouched nervously. The PASSENGERS all huddled on the 
               ground.

               BILLY, eyes closed. Edge of frame shows a shaky muzzle a 
               REVOLVER poked into his belly, moving up.

               MOVE to THE FIRST OFFICER, older, more experienced but 
               scared, poking with the revolver; reaches in with his hand 
               cautiously, starts to pull up the turtleneck sweater. MOVE 
               with the hand, revealing the HASHISH PLAQUES around the 
               navel. A pause. His HAND draws the sweater higher.  More 
               PLAQUES.

               FIRST OFFICER'S FACE relaxes. Starts to smile, finding it 
               funny. 

                                     FIRST OFFICER
                              (yells out)
                         It's hashish. just a smuggler.

                                     SOLDIERS (OFF)
                              (in chorus echo, 
                              relaxing, chuckling)
                         Hashish...smuggler...hippy... 

               MASTER ANGLE SOLDIERS REGROUPING. PASSENGERS starting to 
               rise from the ground.  

               SUSAN dumbfounded watching all this from the door of the 
               PLANE, starts back down the ramp. But a flow of upcoming 
               PASSENGERS slows her descent.

               BILLY is led roughly by TWO SOLDIERS parallel to the plane 
               his hands on his head. He manages a glance at Susan. A 
               slight but strong movement of the head and eyes. 'No. Don't 
               come down the stairs'

               SUSAN understands it, looks helplessly, hesitates lost 
               between two worlds. A silent shaping of a puzzled mouth.

                                     SUSAN
                         ...Billy...?

               She is washed back along in the flow of passengers.

                                                                    CUT:

               VIP ROOM AIRPORT LOUNGE.  The scene moves very fast, 
               Indicating A sense of chaos.  Much smoke.  Many phone calls. 
               Half A dozen Turkish police OFFICERS Are bizarrely seated 
               In A row of fold up chairs next to A desk. Chattering among 
               themselves (AD LIB) lighting their Turkish cigarettes. 
               They hardly pay attention as:

               MOVE TO BILLY, scared, sweating - backlit by the huge 
               windows overlooking the airstrip. In background, we see 
               the 707 Pan American PLANE beginning to circle towards the 
               runway.  GUARDS have stripped him down to his bare chest 
               and now knife through the adhesive tape from two sides at 
               once. Then RIP the tape off.  BILLY winces.

               ANOTHER ANGLE the room. Billy's luggage Is being Tossed.  
               Clothes fly through the air. A sweatshirt; Marquette 
               University Rowing Team. A 35mm camera. A gift package for 
               his mother ripped open.  A silver Turkish kettle, clanging 
               To The floor. Another package is ripped open and a set of 
               Turkish tea cups smash and break all over the floor. Very 
               fast.

               BILLY watches, bewildered. He is stripped of the last plaque 
               in of the confusion is that each time another police officer

               his navel. FOLLOW the plaque clattering onto the pile of 
               forty plaques.

                                     FIRSTOFFICER (OFF)
                         Name?

                                     BILLY (OFF)
                         William Hayes.

               MOVE BACK QUICKLY to the OFFICER with notebook at the desk.  
               Part of the confusion is that each time we see another 
               police officer we see he has another face.

                                     FIRST OFFICER
                         Vi... Vilyum... Vilyum...

                                     BILLY (OFF)
                         Hayes.

                                     FIRST OFFICER
                         Hi-yes...
                              (writes it down)

               ANOTHER ANGLE --

                                     FIRST OFFICER
                         'Merican?

                                     BILLY
                              (nods)
                         New York.

               The OFFICER is puzzled.

                                     BILLY
                         New York... New York...

                                     FIRST OFFICER
                         Ahhhh...Nev Yok!
                              (writes it down)

               A LOUD SOUND OFF.

               The DOOR flies open and ANOTHER OFFICER strides in.  
               Paunchy, moustached. The room is suddenly silent as we 
               TRACK him in, followed by a grinning civilian FLUNKY with 
               a big portable photo instrument and bulb.

               THE FIRST OFFICER jumps up from the desk, makes an 
               obsequious salute to the SECOND OFFICER who arrogantly 
               acknowledges it and takes the vacated chair behind the 
               desk. The FIRST OFFICER moves to the first fold-up chair 
               in the row, pushing the police officer in that chair further 
               down. THIS OFFICER, in turn, shoves the next man down. It 
               goes all the way down the line like a comedy until the 
               last man in the row stands up against the wall. But this 
               is all in the background as:

                                     SECOND OFFICER
                         Name?

                                     BILLY
                         William Hayes.

                                     SECOND OFFICER
                         Vil... Vilyum...?

                                     BILLY
                         Hayes...

               Sharp SOUND OFF of FILM BEING RIPPED FROM CAMERA. He darts 
               a look at

               POLICEMAN stretching the undeveloped film out.  Another 
               loud SOUND OFF, interrupting this--

               THE DOOR flies open again and a THIRD OFFICER strides in, 
               obviously the most important yet, because the SECOND OFFICER 
               jumps up from the desk, and all the others immediately 
               move down one seat in the hierarchy without a moment's 
               hesitation. But the THIRD OFFICER strides right up to Billy, 
               waves to the SECOND OFFICER.  THE CAMERAMAN in background 
               bubbles with enthusiasm, sliding into position. Billy is 
               puzzled - what's going on?  His arm is grabbed and he is 
               swivelled around.

               REVERSE ANGLE - OVER CAMERAMAN

               BILLY in the middle, flanked by SECOND and THIRD OFFICER, 
               grinning like big game hunters, their arms on his shoulders. 
               The FIRST OFFICER, sticking a bunch of hashish plaques 
               into Billy's hands, runs OUT OF FRAME. BILLY looks from 
               side to side. The SECOND OFFICER pats him hard on the back 
               of the head, meaning 'look at camera'. BILLY glances at 
               him, sees the grin on both the officers' faces. Thinking 
               this is the necessary expression, he grins at the camera.

               CAMERAMAN disgustedly looks up from his eyepiece.

                                     CAMERAMAN
                         No.. He's smiling. Make him look 
                         miserable.

               SECOND OFFICER slugs BILLY in the stomach with a quick 
               back-handed fist. BILLY groans, sinks to his knees. The 
               plaques fall on the floor.

                                     FIRST OFFICER
                              (running up)
                         Gel?  Gel??

               He growls, grabbing Billy's arm and hauling him up, 
               gathering the hashish plaques and putting them back in his 
               arms. The TWO OFFICERS put their arms back on Billy's 
               shoulders. BILLY, in pain, makes the proper expression of 
               misery.

               FLASH!  The bulb goes.

                                                                    CUT:

               THE 707 PAN AMERICAN PLANE, destination New York, roars up 
               into the sky. PULL BACK all the way to BILLY sitting next 
               to the window, huddled over, feeling woozy and near 
               vomiting.  He glimpses the plane but it is anti-climatic 
               now; as he stares down at his boots. Then remembers 
               something! Surprised.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - ROOM. The Turkish OFFICERS talk AD LIB 
               among themselves, congratulating, slapping shoulders, 
               pointing to the hashish plaques, etc.  

               In center background, we see BILLY submissively lifting 
               his arm for permission to speak,

               THIRD OFFICER nods, approaches, followed by OTHERS.

               BILLY slowly, partly out of pain, pulls off one of his 
               boots, bangs it on the heel and two more PLAQUES clatter 
               to the floor.

               TURKISH MOUTHS drop open.

               BILLY finishes the process with the other boot. An awkward 
               silence OFF.

                                     BILLY
                              (trying to explain, 
                              innocent)
                         I forgot... I really did.
                              (makes ineffective 
                              gestures)

               ANOTHER ANGLE. The room explodes with screams and commotion.  
               AD LIB:

                                     THIRD OFFICER
                              (screaming at SECOND 
                              OFFICER)
                         You idiot, you fool. You told me 
                         the American was searched... and 
                         he's pulling hashish out of his 
                         boots!  You're all dogshit!

                                     SECOND OFFICER
                              (turning on First 
                              Officer, screaming)
                         You worthless piece of garbage, 
                         where did you learn to search a 
                         prisoner?  He's been in our custody 
                         for an hour, etc.

                                     FIRST OFFICER
                              (screaming at the 
                              others)
                         Who searched him?  Who?

               Amid all the screaming TWO POLICEMEN rush over and yank 
               BILLY upwards, and start to strip all his clothes.

                                     BILLY
                              (protesting)
                         That's it! That's all I have!

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY spread-eagled STARK NAKED against the wall. He is 
               afraid to move. A strange silence.

               ANOTHER ANGLE. BILLY naked in center B.G. against the 
               wall.The OFFICERS and SOLDIERS quietly leering at his trim, 
               muscular buttocks. Hungry stares.  Bisexuality is prevalent 
               in Turkey.But there is also embarrassment among the 
               officers; none would do anything openly in front of the 
               others; instead they just stare and smoke their cigarettes.  
               Low murmurs. Continued telephone calls. Much thick smoke 
               all over the room.

               Another DOOR opens OFF. Obsequious GREETINGS in Turkish.

               BILLY is afraid to look over his shoulder, feeling 
               enormously humiliated.

                                     VOICE (OFF)
                         Howdy, Billy. Howya doing, Ok?

               A perfect Texas drawl. BILLY glances over his shoulder. 
               Sees:

               TEX a tall, lanky blonde-haired American in a business 
               suit with boots. Clean cut, very handsome, with a strong 
               flavour of danger in his blue eyes.

                                     TEX
                              (smiling, extends 
                              Billy's clothes)
                         I think these gentlemen have 
                         finished for the time being if 
                         you'd like to put your clothes on.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - BILLY, so grateful at last to see a fellow 
               American, reaches quietly for the clothes, his eyes never 
               leaving Tex. Release?

                                                                    CUT:

               TURKISH DETECTIVE sits at the main desk in the room.  Unlike 
               the others, he has no moustache; a skeletal face, 
               intelligent looking.  TEX Is behind, leaning casually up 
               against the wall. Angled to Billy's side is the entire 
               array of seated OFFICERS looking on like a tribunal.

                                     DETECTIVE
                              (thickly accented 
                              English, sympathetic)
                         Are you afraid, Vilyum?

               BILLY, standing to the side of the desk, clothed now, 
               buckling his belt - afraid.

                                     BILLY
                         No, I'm not afraid.

                                     DETECTIVE
                         Good. There's nothing to be afraid 
                         of. If you co-operate with us, you 
                         will be on the plane for New York 
                         tomorrow... yes?

                                     BILLY
                              (softly, hoping)
                         Yes...?

                                     DETECTIVE
                         Good. Now, where did you get the 
                         hashish?

                                     BILLY
                         A cabdriver. He picked me up in 
                         the Pudding Shoppe in the bazaar.

                                     DETECTIVE
                         Would you recognize him again?

                                     BILLY
                         Yes.  I think so.

                                     DETECTIVE
                         Good.  Would you go back to the 
                         Pudding Shoppe now and point him 
                         out to my men if you see him?

               BILLY'S EYES MOVE TO: 

               TEX who makes a cool affirmative nod of the eyes to Billy.

                                     BILLY (OFF)
                         Yes.

               STREETS, ISTANBUL, AFTERNOON. TEX drives his American CAR; 
               BILLY in the passenger seat; TWO TURKISH PLAINCLOTHESMEN 
               in the rear seats . Various BACKGROUND SHOTS of the city.

                                     TEX
                              (casual tone)
                         You decided to fly at a bad time 
                         Billy Palestinian Guerrillas all 
                         over the place blowing up planes 
                         and all.

                                     BILLY
                              (shakes his head)
                         Stupid.

                                     TEX
                         Four planes in four days...but I 
                         guess you kids don't read the 
                         newspapers...and what with our 
                         people kicking up a shit storm 
                         'bout the flow of heroin from Turkey 
                         you got...

                                     BILLY
                         But didn't have heroin.

                                     TURK
                              (grins)
                         Well I'm not up on all that. A 
                         drug's a drug seems to me Billy 
                         and...

                                     BILLY
                              (sweating)
                         But it was my first time. I'm not 
                         really a smuggler, was just two 
                         kilos.

                                     TEX
                         Well, you see Billy, it don't really 
                         matter right now if it's 2 kilos 
                         or 200 kilos. The Turks love to 
                         catch any foreigner smuggling - it 
                         shows the world they're fighting 
                         the drug trade.

                                     BILLY
                         But just...

                                     TEX
                         Just what?

                                     BILLY
                         I just needed some extra money.  I 
                         was broke, the guy offered me the 
                         hash and...

               It sounds bad. Tex looks at him without expression. 
               Pause.Billy tries to sense a sympathy in this ambiguous 
               man, a liking towards himself. But feels nothing yet, except 
               someone who can speak English.

                                     BILLY
                         ...are you with the Consulate?

                                     TEX
                              (not looking at him)
                         Something like that. Cigarette?

               ANOTHER ANGLE - BILLY nervously takes the pack and matches.

                                     TEX
                         How much you pay this joker... 
                         this cab driver?

                                     BILLY
                         Two hundred dollars. It was my 
                         last two hundred.

                                     TEX
                         How much did you figure to make?

               BILLY fumbles to light up his cigarette. He is nervous, 
               grateful to volunteer any information...anything.

                                     BILLY
                         Three, four thousand...I don't 
                         know.  The guy offered me the hash--
                              (shakes his head)
                         ...it just seemed like easy money.

                                     TEX
                         Beats working.

                                     BILLY
                         I was just going to sell it to 
                         friends.  I'm not a pusher, honest.

               TEX grins, sceptical of his naivete, changing the subject.

                                     TEX
                         Got a family back there?

                                     BILLY
                              (inhales deeply)
                         Yeah. Parents, brother, sister.  
                         Babylon, Long Island.

                                     TEX
                         What's your father do?

                                     BILLY
                         He sells insurance for Metropolitan 
                         Life.

                                     TEX
                              (a pause, not looking 
                              at Billy)
                         Be tough on 'em.

               BILLY nods, takes a deep drag on his cigarette.

               ANOTHER ANGLE

                                     TEX
                         Girlfriend?

                                     BILLY
                         ...She was on the plane.

               Tex glances at him, questioningly.

                                     BILLY
                         She didn't know anything about...I 
                         wouldn't have wanted her to.

                                     TEX
                         Lucky girl.

               Billy leans back in seat, blowing out the cigarette smoke.

                                     BILLY
                         Jeez, she used to say I was the 
                         lucky one.

                                     TEX
                         Let's hope so, Billy.  Let's sure 
                         hope so.

               A narrow cobblestone STREET.  TEX pulls the car to a halt.

                                                                    CUT:

               THE PUDDING SHOPPE TWILIGHT Internationally-known cafe, 
               adjacent BAZAAR. Crowded, noisy. WOMEN dressed in black 
               hold crying CHILDREN by the hands. FOREIGNERS, mostly 
               students and hippies, move about laughing, joking. Hawkers, 
               street peddlers, vendors cooking shishkebab.  small GYPSY 
               BOY leads a huge MUZZLED BEAR on a leash.

               BILLY sits at a small outdoor TABLE alone sipping tea and 
               eating baclava - nervous, very nervous, still trying to 
               sort it all out in his head. If he doesn't find the seller, 
               what will happen next?  

               MOVE across the TABLES, past a middle-aged AMERICAN COUPLE, 
               to TWO TURKISH PLAINCLOTHESMEN watching him closely. They 
               look evident. TWO HIPPIES make a wide berth around them.

                                     HIPPIES (OFF)
                              (in passing, low)
                         Hey Janet, why don't you go sell 
                         'em some dope.

               MOVE ON to another TABLE where TWO MORE PLAINCLOTHESMEN 
               sit, equally evident, watching BILLY.

               TEX sits in his car, in the distance, casually glancing at 
               a newspaper.

               BILLY's eyes rove.

               INTERIOR PUDDING SHOPPE Large. Many tables. Stairs. A back 
               exit.

               ANOTHER GYPSY BOY leads a huge PINK PIG leashed with a 
               wooden sign around its neck proclaiming "Pig" in Turkish. 
               Various TURKS point the pig out, laughing at it, some 
               disgusted by it, making faces and gestures: "Go way, go 
               way!  "Ayip!"  The PIG moves past BILLY, who shifts his 
               gaze to:

               POV - CABDRIVER #1 lingering at the curb. PAN to CABDRIVER 
               #2  PAN to CABDRIVER #3. PAN BACK to #1 and again to #2 
               indicating no real fix on identity.

               BILLY tense now, knowing this is the chance he must take, 
               nods with his head, pointing at CABDRIVER #2, off.

               THE PLAINCLOTHESMEN move out towards CABDRIVER #2.

               BILLY tentatively rises, as if to join them, but moves 
               slyly towards the interior of the cafe.

               PLAINCLOTHESMEN move in roughly on a surprised CABDRIVER 
               #2 who begins to protest LOUDLY (AD LIB).

               BILLY moves through the INTERIOR of the PUDDING SHOPPE, 
               past the tables, past the stairs, towards the back of the 
               shop, at a normal.to attract attention.  

               A PLAINCLOTHESMAN looks around, sees he is gone. Tells the 
               others (AD LIB) They spread out looking, abandoning the 
               CABDRIVER #2 who spits and curses them (AD LIB).  

               BILLY, with one backward glance, now eases out the BACK 
               DOOR, into a bilious sunlight, onto a STREET. Pause.

               A HAND with GUN moves into FRAME pointing a six-inch barrel 
               right at his temple.  BILLY freezes, moving just his eyes 
               to:

               TEX looking down at him calm, merciless.

                                     TEX
                         You seem like a nice enough kid to 
                         me Billy, but try it and I'll blow 
                         your fucking brains out.

               BILLY - the sense of betrayal in his eyes.

               ESTABLISH PRISON - OVERHEAD ANGLE. A large and Byzantine 
               structure suggesting the 15th Century Sultan's Janissary 
               Barracks. Irregular crescent various wings; a MOSQUE inside 
               the prison. The possibly a shapes to the sense of an endless 
               a decorative an equally in a city, labyrinth built by some 
               mad Arab architect to suit purpose and now, in the 20th 
               Century, transformed by mad Turkish bureaucracy into a 
               prison. It should be preferably made to look like Istanbul.

               Faint background atonal Turkish CHANTING. Evening Muslim 
               prayer."Allah wakbah, Allah wakbah..." on and on, suggesting 
               to us fear rather than praise.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                         Dear Mom and Dad. This is the 
                         hardest letter I've ever had to 
                         write. know the confusion and the 
                         pain it will cause you.  And the 
                         disappointment...

               BILLY - his scalp being shaved off by a prison BARBER in 
               an un-specified ANTI-CHAMBER, His eyes are staring dead 
               ahead.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         I really thought knew what I was 
                         doing with my life. I'd hoped 
                         somehow to get out of this quickly 
                         so that you'd never know about it. 
                         But that just isn't possible now. 
                         I don't know what's going to 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...

               BILLY is now completely BALD, SOUND SHARP OVER:

                                                                    CUT:

               A CELL DOOR SLIDING OPEN. BILLY steps in, bewildered.

                                     ZIAT VOICE (OFF)
                         Git!

               The cell is dark, almost black, an overpowering stench; a 
               small grey metal bunk is bolted to the floor with a lumpy 
               mattress. BILLY turns, looking back at the man staring at 
               him from the door.

               ZIAT is quickly summing up Billy's character. This is his 
               craft.He is a prisoner and trustee. sinister man whose one 
               motivation in life is the accumulation of money, in the 
               pursuit of which he has acquired an ugly purplish SCAR 
               running the width of his throat, various other facial SCARS; 
               and one blind milky white EYE. He's stocky and strong --
               about five ten, with bushy eyebrows, brown cigarette teeth, 
               big dirty nails, repulsively in need of a bath. What's 
               surprising is that he is no more than thirty years old 
               looks and behaves like sixty. The personification of the 
               denaturalization of a man. Time, body, mind - all of them 
               warped.

               BILLY, not yet attuned to his nature, only repulsed, is 
               still wearing his own clothes and makes a shivering gesture, 
               enunciating very clearly, hoping he will understand.

                                     BILLY
                         Cold. Very cold. Can I get blanket?  
                         Blanket?
                              (makes a gesture of 
                              a blanket wrapped 
                              around him)

               ZIAT smiles, showing his stained teeth, and starts to slide 
               shut the cell door on its ROLLER.

                                     ZIAT
                              (in English)
                         Mo sell...Too late.  Tomorrow...

               A cobra smile flashes, as the cell door bangs shut.

                                     ZIAT
                              (through the bars)
                         You be here tomorrow.  "Ayi 
                         Gedjaler"("good night")

               Goes.

               BILLY walks around the cell, hugging himself for warmth.

                                     VOICE (OFF)
                         Pssst!

               BILLY stops, goes to the edge of the cell.

               A BONY BARE ARM motions from the bars of the cell next to 
               his.  We never see the face but hear a thick ITALIAN ACCENT, 
               hoarse and cracked.

                                     VOICE (OFF)
                         (Whispering) 
                         Your cell, no key.  Open...!  
                         Blanket. Three cell down. You get 
                         me one. Take...

               Extends a stick with a big nail pounded into the end, 
               twisted over to form a hook.

               BILLY takes it. Hesitates.

                                     VOICE (OFF)
                         Ziat go for night.  Go!

               BILLY cautiously slides the cell door open, amazed that 
               it's been left open.  Nothing makes any sense to him in 
               this labyrinth

               ANOTHER ANGLE - BILLY steps out into a WALKWAY. A bare 
               bulb overhead casts light. He glides past the three cells, 
               seemingly empty.  Finds the cell with blankets, sheets, 
               towels and various supplies stacked inside.  But it's 
               locked.  He slips the stick in between the bars and 
               stretching, hooks the first blanket.

               BILLY asleep with the blankets pulled up to his chin.  
               Suddenly DIRTY HANDS reach into frame and rip the blanket 
               off. WIDEN TO:

                                     ZIAT
                              (tugging the sheet, 
                              growls)
                         Brack!...Brack! 

               Then SLAPS at BILLY. BILLY ducks away. Encouraged, ZIAT 
               steps up closer to him, sticks his fingers in his chest 
               screaming.

                                     ZIAT
                         You, goddamn you, give me sheet.  
                         Give me! 

               And feints as if to hit BILLY again. BILLY reacts to defend 
               himself, pushing ZIAT off and jumping out of the bunk.  

               ZIAT, Enraged by the shove, comes back at BILLY, screaming, 
               arms flailing like a bear to pummel him, but BILLY, not 
               understanding the Turkish bluster in his mannerisms, meets 
               him with a sharp right FIST into the front of his face.  

               ZIAT staggers back, startled into silence; he has misjudged 
               this kid.

               BILLY waits, ready for the fight in the defensive position. 
               The guy is bigger than himself.  ZIAT, however, now feels 
               the blood from his mouth and nose and freaks out, running 
               out of the cell SCREAMING at the top of his lungs as if 
               he's dying.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY is blindfolded, stumbling down stone steps pushed by 
               a GUARD, into a dungeon-like basement room. THE PUNISHMENT 
               CELLS.

                                                                    CUT:

               THE GUARD removes the blindfold. BILLY, adjusting to the 
               light, stares around. The cell is spartan, with a series 
               of pulleys and primitive bondage devices hanging from the 
               cobwebbed ceiling.A DOOR opens and:

               HAMIDOU STEPS in, lowering his head to get through the 
               door.Chief of the guards. A clean uniform.  Four stripes. 
               The only guard to carry a holstered gun. very frightening 
               man. He is about six two, two forty, and muscular, and 
               moves lightly like a fighter on his feet.  His skull is 
               bullet-shaped and completely shaven like Billy's, Enhancing 
               this effect, he has no eyebrows, and his pale blue eyes 
               (suggesting a trace of Indo-European stock in his ancestry) 
               are set deep in his skull somewhat like turtle eyes, giving 
               nothing away. His nose is a beak of skin his neck broad, 
               his mouth a small crescent that moves as lightly as his 
               feet between anger and amusement. He approaches BILLY, 
               looks into his eyes, drawing out the moment for himself, 
               enjoying the tension and the fear he instils in others.

               BILLY meets his eyes respectfully, then realizing this is 
               perhaps not the thing do to, looks away. But, fascinated 
               by the man's features beyond his self-control, he looks 
               back.  

               HAMIDOU, amused by eye actions, smiles thinly. The sort of 
               smile that could imply friendship such is its hint of charm.

                                     HAMIDOU
                              (to one of the guards)
                         Name?

                                     GUARD
                              (checking a clipboard)
                         Vilyum Hi-yes

                                     HAMIDOU
                              (looking at BILLY, 
                              repeating it)
                         Vilyum Hi-yes...   

               And slowly his hand moves up to caress the edge of his 
               hairless upper lip. An erotic gesture in Turkey.

                                     HAMIDOU
                         Vilyum Hi-yes

               "Its in my memory locked."  He slowly extends his right 
               arm stiff out to his side.

               BILLY watches, fascinated.

               HAMIDOU lets the arm linger; then:

               SMASHES BILLY across the face with an open palm. BILLY 
               shoots back: and smashes against the wall just from the 
               force of one blow.  Stunned.

               HAMIDOU advances, taking a wooden CLUB (FALUKA STICK) about 
               feet three long and three inches wide from a GUARD.

               BILLY scared, emphasizing the words, trying to make himself 
               understood.

                                     BILLY
                         It was cold. Cold! I get blanket.  
                         Blanket! Cold!

               THWACK!

               BILLY'S LEG BUCKLES, where the faluka stick has just smashed 
               him behind the kneecap. He SCREAMS going down.

               BILLY looks up from the floor:

               HAMIDOU with his club in hand.

                                     HAMIDOU
                              (In some sort of 
                              English, smiles)
                         No do. No do.

               Raises the club.

               BILLY tries to block it with his hand, and the CLUB smashes 
               his thumb.  SCREAM.

                                                              SHARP CUT:

               BILLY is hoisted upside-down in his UNDERPANTS ONLY with 
               thick rope tied about his ankles, the legs spread - onto a 
               PULLEY suspended from the ceiling. He is yanked upwards, 
               then lowered slightly, his head and backs of shoulders 
               banging against the stone floor.

               THE PULLEY is LOCKED into place.  (LOUD SOUND)

               BILLY has this surprised look on his face still, through 
               the tears.  What's happening? 
                

               Hamidou motions the GUARDS out of the room (AD LIB).  Turns 
               back to BILLY, raises his club.

               BRINGS IT DOWN FORCE on the soles of BILLY'S BARE FEET.  
               SCREAM.  He cocks the club again.

               BILLY twists To avoid The blow

               CLUB catches him On The ANKLEBONE

               BILLY SCREAMs louder than ever as we hear The SOUND of 
               wood On bone.  Whimpering SOUNDS follow.

               BILLY looking through teary eyes, sure now that he is going 
               to be killed. The CLUB - OFF - smacks sole skin with the 
               same force as the first blow. No let up.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY still in the same position, vomits all over himself.

               HAMIDOU SPINS the PULLEY to a new position bringing:

               BILLY into a steeper, more vertical position.  He is on 
               the verge of fainting, bleary-eyed, looking as:

               HAMIDOU moves around in between his legs. Doing something 
               indistinct with the stick between his legs, then dropping 
               the stick. Then, with this bizarrely excited expression on 
               his hairless face, he begins to undo his own pants. But, 
               for Billy, it all BLURS OUT TO:

               JAPANESE SILK SCREEN depicting a fat jovial Buddhist monk, 
               fishing placidly by a stream. Then moves to soap carvings 
               of chess pieces Then a bed-sheet hung as a curtain with 
               astrological symbols paint; on it.  SOUND OFF, of a blaring 
               radio.  Atonal TURKISH MUSIC.

                                     VOICE
                              (close, intense)
                         Hey man, he's gotta walk, or his 
                         feet gonna swell up worse.

                                     2ND VOICE
                              (softer, sonorous, 
                              Swedish accent)
                         We take him down to courtyard...

               Then: ERICH - a gentle long bird's face. Long whitish-blond-
               hair, Swedish, well above six feet, 25.

               Another FACE moves into view JIMMY BELL, American, 23 fiery 
               eyes, black hair and moustache, intense, strong.

                                     BELL
                         Smoke this rocket, it'll cool the 
                         pain.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - BELL puts a huge cone-shaped JOINT with 
               aluminium foil filter into BILLY'S LIPS. He hardly knows 
               what it is, Puffing weakly. Though dehydrated and his face 
               white without color, he has no facial markings.

                                     BELL
                         You gotta walk around some man, or 
                         your feet gonna swell up something 
                         bad...

               BILLY looks down at 

               HIS FEET Bloated black and blue with inflamed red points 
               in various spots. A vicious bruise on his anklebone. ERICH 
               is running a cold rag from a basin of water over them, his 
               fingers tender.

                                     BELL (OVER)
                         You've been out for days man, 
                         talking all kinds of shit. Come 
                         on, we'll walk you down to the 
                         courtyard.

               BELL eases BILLY up from the bed, as ERICH puts a pair of 
               clip-clops on his feet.

                                     ERICH
                         Okay?

               BILLY nods. They rise together, bracing his shoulder.  
               BILLY adjusting to the sensation of standing.

                                     ERICH
                         How's it feel?

                                     BILLY
                              (dizzy)
                         About as good as it looks.

                                     BELL
                         Getchmis olsun

                                     BILLY
                         Getchmis...? 

                                     BELL
                         Olsun - "May it pass quickly." I'm 
                         Bell, Jimmy Bell. This is Erich 
                         something Swedish.

                                     ERICH
                              (smiling)
                         Just Erich.

                                     BILLY
                         I'm Billy Hayes... At least I used 
                         to be.

               Looks around.

               A DORMITORY TYPE ROOM with 24 bunk beds set head to head 
               in horizontal fashion, cramped and with minimal privacy. A 
               narrow WALKWAY leading towards a TOILET AREA and STAIRCASE.

                                     BILLY
                         Looks like a cheap hotel.

                                     BELL
                         Yeah... Only the room service is 
                         lousy.  Come on, let me show you 
                         the tennis courts.

               Helps him with ERICH to take the first steps.

               THE COURTYARD. The THREE of them emerge in a thin AFTERNOON 
               sun, Billy now disengaging and hobbling on his own power.

                                     ERICH
                              (watching Billy 
                              limp)
                         Feeling all right?

                                     BILLY
                              (still groggy)
                         Yeah.  That guy who beat me?
                              (stops, slightly 
                              puzzled)
                         I feel stoned.

                                     BELL
                              (grins, interjects)
                         'Figgers.

                                     BILLY
                              (vague, going on)
                         ...He had a bald skull and...

                                     BELL
                         Hamidou.  Chief of the Guards.  
                         Don't fuck with him. He almost 
                         killed an Italian dude couple months 
                         ago.  Bad news. He try anything 
                         with you?

               BILLY glances at him, understanding. Pause.

                                     BILLY
                         No... I don't remember.

               Glances at ERICH.

                                     BELL
                         With these fucking Turks, soon as 
                         the light goes out... I keep one 
                         hand on their feet and their feet 
                         better not grow.  You'll meet Max. 
                         He got raped something bad down in 
                         Section 13. That's the pits.

               THE COURTYARD

               VARIOUS ANGLES The yard is 30 by 50 paces with a wall 20 
               feet high. Cigarette butts, orange peels crumpled news-
               papers, rocks, sticks, broken glass litter the place.  No 
               guards are on the walls; the only GUARDS are unarmed 
               inanimate lumps of boredom who look as helpless as the 
               prisoners with whom they intermingle; they have raggedy 
               olive green uniforms and worn boots (they make $1 a month, 
               augmented by bribes).  On one side of the yard is a 2-story 
               ROGUS (cellblock) with barred windows from which Billy and 
               his two companions have just emerged.  On the other side 
               of the yard is another 2-story KOGUS (the children's kogus).

               The COURTYARD is colorful, almost like a bazaar, about 8O 
               people in it - groups of exotically dressed AFRICANS, 
               AFGHANS, ARABS, MALAYSIANS, EUROPEANS, and predominantly 
               TURKS pacing back and forth talking in little circles, 
               hawking wares, trading illegal currencies.

               Screaming Turkish STREET URCHINS 10-14 years old, share 
               the space playing soccer and volleyball with a surprising 
               viciousness, continually hitting each other and cursing. A 
               bunch of them vehemently lay bets on the soccer game.

               Other aspects of the prison which should become evident: 
               1) NOISE - continuous, Loud. Radios, Turkish music, 
               screaming, shouting.  2) CATS - all kinds, some of them 
               pets, some stray, tolerated because they kill the rats. 3) 
               THE PRISONERS all wear their own clothing; the foreigners 
               preferring jeans, clip-clops, sneakers, Sweat suits. 4) 
               THE HEADS of only the new prisoners are shaved, then allowed 
               to grow back. 5) MANY PRISONERS have physical disabilities. 
               Carbuncles on the back from wet mattresses. Boils on the 
               lymph glands around the neck, buttocks, under-arms, 
               sometimes SO painful the victim walks with his arms up in 
               the air.  Arthritic in the knees, hips, ankles. Fungus on 
               the feet.  Many limp.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - THE PRISONERS glance at BILLY as he walks, 
               noting the beating he has taken and sizing him up, then 
               going on with their business.

                                     BILLY
                         The kids? Why are they...

                                     BELL
                              (snorts)
                         Little fuckers are thieves, rapists, 
                         pickpockets, murderers, you name 
                         it - they do it. Don't trust any 
                         of 'em...

               BELL's eyes follow a knot of KIDS to:

               ZIAT has a window open on the FIRST FLOOR KOGUS and is 
               selling little cups of tea to the kids from inside where 
               he works a GAS STOVE. The kids push and punch each other 
               to get the tea faster.

                                     BELL (OVER)
                         ...They tell Ziat everything. He's 
                         the squeal round here. Goes all 
                         over the prison.  Sells watered-
                         down tea, blankets, hash, black 
                         money, nembutols --anything for a 
                         buck...

               ZIAT leaves the stove in the hands of an ASSISTANT and 
               moves down the window to a particularly gaudy AFGHANI a 
               fierce hawk-faced old man with a chunk of his ear missing. 
               He wears a colorful flowing robe, various scarves, turban, 
               trinkets, rings, baggy pants, and pointed curved shoes, 
               and makes emphatic violent gestures at ZIAT with his 
               mutilated THREE FINGERS.  ZIAT Seems to speak something of 
               his language and bargains back.

                                     BELL
                              (continuous)
                         He was an informer on the outside 
                         but he tried to screw the cops out 
                         of 60 kilos of opium. Watch him, 
                         he's a fox.

               BILLY says nothing to them about the Ziat incident, sizing 
               him up for himself.

               THE AFGHANI having concluded the deal with ZIAT reaches 
               deep into his layers of clothing around his crotch and 
               pulls out several scrofulous $10 bills which discreetly 
               takes in exchange for a thick wad of Turkish currency, his 
               eyes moving around, stopping on BILLY. A hooded look.

                                     BELL (OVER)
                         Whatcha' in for, smuggling? Rash?

               BILLY turning his eyes away from ZIAT 

                                     BILLY
                         Yeah.

                                     BELL
                              (shaking his head)
                         History, man, history. How much?

                                     BILLY
                         Two kilos.

                                     BELL
                         Where?

                                     BILLY
                         The airport. Trying to get on the 
                         plane for the States.

                                     BELL
                              (whistling a kind 
                              of punctuation)
                         Could be ten or fifteen.  Maybe 
                         even twenty.

                                     BILLY
                              (tensing)
                         Twenty months?

                                     BELL
                         Twenty fucking YEARS, man - YEARS!  
                         I figger ten at the least.

               BILLY stunned.

                                     BILLY
                              (soft)
                         Years?

                                     BELL
                         Yeah, what do you think this is, 
                         the good USA? This is Turkey, man...
                              (laughs bitterly))
                         It's a fucking accident here if 
                         you're innocent. And anyway... 
                         ...ain't nobody who's innocent.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - all the color and breath seems to have 
               gone from BILLY.

                                     ERICH
                              (his English is 
                              halting but has a 
                              calming effect)
                         Don't pay too much attention, 
                         anything is possible in Turkey. 
                         You might get bail.

               BELL snorts, amused, kicking the SOCCER BALL away hard as 
               it dribbles towards them.

                                     ERICH
                         ...If you make bail, you're free. 
                         You can get a fake passport or 
                         sneak across the border to Greece. 
                         The Greeks hate the Turks so much 
                         they never send you back. The Turks 
                         know it. They just keep the bail. 
                         money.

                                     BELL
                         Sure, keep dreaming and see where 
                         that gets you... like Max, up in 
                         the head, you know...
                              (makes a crazy signal 
                              towards the head)
                         You gonna eat a lot more fasoulia 
                         beans, Billy baby, 'fore you taste 
                         a hamburger 'gain cause you broke 
                         the law man, and you got caught...
                              (grins)
                         And that... is history.

                                     ERICH
                         The law is sometimes wrong.

                                     BELL
                              (eyes feverish)
                         The Law is never wrong, asshole.  
                         The Law is!

               And stalks away, disgusted. A deep anger inside him.  ERICH 
               looks at BILLY who is quiet; by way of apology.

                                     ERICH
                         New people sometimes get on his 
                         nerves.

                                     BILLY
                              (lifeless)
                         What did he do? 
                         

                                     ERIC
                         He was caught steeling from a 
                         Mosque.  That's heavy here.  He 
                         got 30 years. 

                                     BILLY
                         Thirty years?

                                     ERICH
                         Jimmy has more balls than brains. 
                         He didn't tell his parents he was 
                         in jail for a year and a half.  He 
                         says he got himself in and now 
                         he's going to get himself out.

               He shakes his head, looking at:

               BELL him across the courtyard huddling with a cigarette, 
               bartering angrily. a raggedy GUARD giving him a cigarette, 
               bartering angrily.

               BILLY and ERICH.

                                     BILLY
                         And you?

                                     ERICH
                         Hashish.  Ninety percent of the 
                         foreigners are in for hashish.

               They walk. 

                                     BILLY
                         What they give you?

                                     ERICH
                              (passive)
                         Twelve years.

               Billy stops. 

                                     BILLY
                         How much did you have?

                                     ERICH
                         A hundred grams.

                                     BILLY
                              (appalled)
                         It's not fair!

               Even ERICH has to smile now.

                                     ERICH
                         There is no fair in Turkey, Billy.  
                         It's all "sula-bula" like this, 
                         like that. An Italian hippie had a 
                         car accident and a Turk was killed. 
                         SO, they threw him in here for six 
                         months...

                                     BILLY
                         That doesn't seem so bad.

                                     ERICH
                         But he was eating lunch a mile 
                         away when the Turk smashed into 
                         killed himself.

                                     BILLY
                         He wasn't even in the car?

                                     ERICH
                              (shakes his head)
                         Aslan, there...
                              (points)

               ASLAN - a young big fat heavily moustached Turk, wearing a 
               black silk double-breasted business suit, grotesque cuff-
               links, heavily pomaded hair, is huddling in a section of 
               the YARD with FIVE other grinning GANGSTER TYPES, all in 
               suits.

                                     ERICH (OVER)
                         Killed a guy. But his father's a 
                         big gangster on the docks.  A 
                         "Kapidiye."  He'll stay in... twelve 
                         months no more, and get parole. In 
                         Turkey, murder is manly - "erkek".

               ERICH Glances back at BILLY

                                     ERICH
                         You just got to get yourself a 
                         good lawyer.  And some money... 
                         Talk to Max.  He's been in the 
                         longest.

                                     BILLY
                         How long?

                                     ERICH
                         Seven years...

                                                                    CUT:

               MAX - "Eskilet" (skeleton). British, tall, straggly long 
               hair with wire spectacles set crookedly over his nose. An 
               earing in one ear. The far away eyes of an international 
               junkie, preoccupied and uninterested in small talk. Tough 
               in his skinny way, like apiece of old dried leather.

               He occupies with his YOUNG STRIPED CAT a bunk in the far 
               corner of the SECOND FLOOR KOGUS - in the process of 
               shooting himself up with "Gastro" a smelly brown liquid 
               stomach medicine.  No one is in the vicinity except

               ANOTHER ANGLE

               ERICH and BILLY who watches repelled as MAX fumbles with a 
               piece of twine tied around his arm in a tourniquet, 
               searching for an unused spot amid dirty infected track 
               marks. PLUNGES the needle in, pumping in the black gunk. 
               Glances at BILLY.

                                     MAX
                              (smiles)
                         Gastro.  Stomach medicine. Has 
                         codeine in it... Best can do

               Pulls out the needle, loosens the tourniquet. His eyes 
               take on a far away stare.

                                     ERICH
                         Lawyers?

                                     MAX
                         Yeah... there's no straight lawyers 
                         in Turkey... They're all bent bent 
                         as hairpins...

               Gives a spoon with a taste of the black residue to:

               HIS CAT who is full of spunk, and tries to catch Max's 
               HAND.

               He looks at BILLY, not remembering him.

                                     ERICH
                         His name?

                                     MAX
                         Who? 

                                     ERICH
                         The lawyer?

               MAX is beginning to go. He sits on his bunk.

                                     MAX
                         What lawyer?

                                     ERICH
                         Who got the Frenchman out?

                                     MAX
                         Oh Yesil...  Yesil's his name but 
                         I...don't know anything... 
                         'bout...Yesil... 

               ANOTHER ANGLE - MAX'S head begins to bob back and 
               forth.Focuses on BILLY.

                                     MAX
                         Best way is get your ass out... 
                         any... way... you can...

                                     BILLY
                         What do you mean?

                                     MAX
                         Get the... midnight... express.

                                     BILLY
                         What's that?

               MAX smiles from faraway like a Cheshire cat and his head 
               drops forward onto his knees, nodding off.

                                                                    CUT:

               HAMIDOU, swinging his falaka stick rhythmically against 
               his leg and that calm killer look on his face, leads an 
               uneasy BILLY down a MAIN WALKWAY with a roof overhead; we 
               gather that the prison contains several separate wings.

               ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING - HAMIDOU glances back at BILLY, 
               indicates with his stick "come here" and opens an office 
               door.

               BILLY, still bewildered, his bruised feet almost back to 
               normal, limps in warily eyeing HAMIDOU who follows.

               NECDIT YESIL, the lawyer, fleshy, grinning, thin black 
               hair heavily greased, sits at a conference table. Standing 
               adjacent is STANLEY DAVIS, the U.S. Consul - eyeglasses, 
               striped tie, neat summer suit with stripes, trimmed hair, 
               ivy league look, his eyes moving from Billy to:

               OLDER MAN, late 50's white hair, blue-eyed New York 
               Irishman.A suburban insurance agent, rumpled suit, an 
               anxious look on his face. Moving towards BILLY fast:

                                     FATHER
                         Billy!

               FATHER AND SON embrace; the father's left hand grabbing 
               Billy's arm tightly as if never to let go.

                                     BILLY
                         Dad!

               HAMIDOU looks on, intrigued by the Father and Son; leaves 
               silently, closing the door.

               FATHER looks into his son's eyes, his own eyes moistening.  
               He looks tired, pain all over his face.

               BILLY looks down.

                                     BILLY
                         Dad...I'm... 

               ANOTHER ANGLE

                                     FATHER
                              (voice quivering)
                         ...Don't worry about it.
                              (managing a smile)
                         I can punch you in the nose later.  
                         Right now we've got to get you out 
                         of here.  You all right?

                                     BILLY
                              (eyes moistening)
                         Yeah. How's Mom?

                                     FATHER
                         Bad. She couldn't make the trip.  
                         You know Her boy...
                              (breaks off)
                         Susan told us before we got your 
                         letter. She's fine; she's trying 
                         to get the money to come back and 
                         see you, but...

                                     BILLY
                         No, don't let her!  I'll... How 
                         about Peg? Robbie?

                                     FATHER
                         Same. None of the neighbors know.  
                         We told them you were in a hospital 
                         in Europe.  Oh... this is Stanley 
                         Davis. He's the American Consul 
                         here... And Necdit Yesil, the lawyer 
                         you wanted...

               ANOTHER ANGLE

                                     DAVIS
                              (shaking hands)
                         Hello, Billy.

                                     BILLY
                         Hello.

               The professional smile from the Consul, but in the handshake 
               and the eye contact, BILLY is cool. The unanswered question: 
               Where were you before my father arrived?

                                     DAVIS
                         I want you to know we're going to 
                         do everything, in our power to get 
                         you out as soon as possible. Believe 
                         me.

                                     BILLY
                         Thank you.

               ANOTHER ANGLE

               YESIL moves forward. unctuous. bubbling with high spirits, 
               profusely shaking BILLY's hand, exuding confidence in 
               fractured English,

                                     YESIL
                         Vilyum, I am Necdit Yesil.

                                     BILLY
                         Mr. Yesil.

                                     YESIL
                         I know exactly what you feel but 
                         you must not worry, we are acting 
                         immediately, we get the right court, 
                         the right judge,  I arrange 
                         everything - just right.  And I 
                         think we get you bail. If very 
                         bad, maybe twenty month sentence... 
                         But I think we get you bail...

               Pause, BILLY looks at him wondering how to take him in.

                                     YESIL
                              (reassuringly)
                         You know I have lectured at the 
                         University of Maryland in your 
                         country?  Also University Michigan 
                         Very nice country. We both go back.
                              (smiles)

                                     BILLY
                              (trying to 
                              concentrate)
                         If I get bail, Mister Yesil, they 
                         say it's easy to cross the border 
                         into Greece?

                                     FATHER
                              (pacing up, hungry)
                         Right!  That's what we're shooting 
                         for.  Mister Davis and have been 
                         in contact with the State 
                         Department, but right now relations 
                         with the Turks aren't too good, 
                         Nixon's upset the hell out of them.  
                         Our best bet's... right here.

                                     BILLY
                         Dad...
                              (pauses, glances at 
                              Davis and Yesil, 
                              embarrassed)
                         I'll pay you back for all this, I 
                         Promise. 

               ANOTHER ANGLE

                                     FATHER
                         Don't worry about it.  Right now 
                         money doesn't count. Okay?

               A pause. YESIL Shifts, Throats are cleared. BILLY moves to 
               sit down, limping faintly; he is wearing sneakers and the 
               bruises don't show.

                                     FATHER
                         Where'd you get that limp?

                                     BILLY
                              (not wanting to 
                              alarm him)
                         Nothing. Just twisted my ankle.

               Sits down at the conference TABLE.

                                     BILLY
                         Where you staying, Dad?

                                     FATHER
                              (pulls up a seat 
                              next to Billy)
                         The Hilton.

                                     BILLY
                         How do you like it?  Istanbul?

                                     FATHER
                         Well, it's an interesting place...
                              (lowers his voice, 
                              a hint of a smile)
                         Tell you the truth, I think the 
                         food is lousy. The crap they sell 
                         in these little restaurants. I 
                         went out to eat in one of them 
                         last night, and I had to run to 
                         the damn toilet... You shoulda' 
                         seen the toilet.

               BILLY laughs.

                                     BILLY
                         You mean you got toilets?

               FATHER is happy to see his son laugh.

                                     FATHER
                         Yeah, with real toilet paper - and 
                         you don't have to use both sides.

               BILLY laughs again.

                                     FATHER
                         So now I'm eating at the Hilton 
                         every night.

               BILLY smiles. A pause. A worried look returns to the 
               Father's face

                                     FATHER
                         Why'd you do it, Billy?

                                     BILLY
                         For the money...
                              (Looks away))

                                     FATHER
                              (sighs)
                         I know you kids smoke that stuff, 
                         and we drink booze, but taking it 
                         across a border - it was stupid, 
                         Billy. Stupid.

                                     BILLY
                         I know.

               Glances at DAVIS, YESIL back to his father, his voice 
               beginning to tremble, ashamed of himself for letting it 
               show.

                                     BILLY
                         Dad get me out of here.

               ANOTHER ANGLE. The FATHER understands the desperation in 
               his voice, puts his hand on his son's.

               FATHER I promise you, Billy. Just sit tight and don't.. 
               DON'T do anything stupid.  Let me work with Mr. Yesil and 
               Mr. Davis.  We'll get you out... Okay?  Billy, okay?

               All the assurance of the world is written in this kindly 
               Irishman's face.

               BILLY feels it.

               BILLY being led by TWO GUARDS down a huge arched CORRIDOR 
               in the COURTROOM BUILDING.

                                     BILLY
                         Okay.

                                                                    CUT:

                                     PROSECUTOR VOICE (OVER)
                         THE world is now looking at Turkey. 
                         We are called the Heroin Supplier 
                         of the world.  Stories about us 
                         are in newspapers and on television 
                         every day all around the world. 
                         The time has come, your Honor, to 
                         alter this image before we find 
                         ourselves isolated and morally 
                         ostracized by the rest of the human 
                         race...

               THE COURTROOM - monolithic, frightening, immense with cross-
               currents of greenish light from the enormous windows.  
               People seem insignificant.

               THE PROSECUTOR, wearing dark green glasses, continues, 
               scowling, gesturing profusely at:

               BILLY in the PRISONERS DOCK, baroque design, isolated.  
               Doesn't understand a thing, Erich's extra-large blue pin-
               striped suit makes him look rather absurd.

               HIS FATHER, CONSUL DAVIS, YESIL and ANOTHER LAWYER are 
               seated together at the defence table conferring in low 
               tones with each other. YESIL looks over at BILLY with a 
               big reassuring grin, nods his head - nothing to worry about.

               TURKISH GIRL from the Press with a yellow legal pad, makes 
               notes in the Spectator Gallery. Her legs flare out from a 
               short skirt.

               BILLY pries his eyes away to:

               PROSECUTOR continuing in front of the THREE JUDGES high on 
               an Alice in Wonderland podium wearing long black robes 
               with scarlet collars. One of the Judges is bald, the other 
               has his eyes closed, could be asleep. The CHIEF JUDGE in 
               the middle has a sagging somewhat kindly face and short 
               grey hair.  A YOUNG MAN below the podium, is clacking at 
               an ancient typewriter on a small table.

                                     PROSECUTOR VOICE (OVER)
                              (continuous)
                         ...We must alter this image by 
                         punishing only our own drug 
                         smugglers-but by handing out 
                         foreigners who infest our culture 
                         with their depravity ungodly and 
                         behavior.  We must start now - by 
                         sentencing this American, Vilyum 
                         Hi-yes, to the maximum sentence 
                         for smuggling, to be held up to 
                         the light of the world as an example 
                         of Turkish justice and its intention 
                         to halt the drug trade once and 
                         for all.. .I ask the Court therefore 
                         to sentence Vilyum Hi-yes to Life 
                         Imprisonment. 
                         

               He sits, staring malignantly at BILLY.

               THE JUDGES rise.

                                     JUDGE
                         Thank you, Prosecutor. The Court 
                         will now recess to consider its 
                         verdict.

               The JUDGES exit.

               ANOTHER ANGLE, General commotion in the courtroom as people 
               move about. The FATHER and DAVIS and the OTHER LAWYER 
               consult among themselves, the FATHER vigorously nodding 
               his head.  YESIL approaches BILLY.

               BILLY leans forward anxiously in the dock.

                                     BILLY
                         What'd the Prosecutor say?

                                     YESIL
                              (hurried)
                         It's not important, just technical 
                         things. We make our case.  You 
                         were very good, you spoke well.  
                         The Judge like you. It look good. 
                         Don't worry.

                                     BILLY
                              (pressing)
                         Did you ask for bail?

               But YESIL is called over by the other LAWYER and hurries 
               off.  A SOLDIER comes over and sits BILLY down.

                                                                    CUT:

               THE CHIEF JUDGE puts on his glasses, stands to read the 
               verdict.

               YESIL, standing with the OTHERS, motions BILLY to rise.

               BILLY rises, tense.

               FATHER looks over at him, manages a reassuring smile.

               JUDGE continuing, after preliminaries:

                                     JUDGE
                         The Defendant has been found guilty 
                         by the Court of the illegal 
                         possession of Hashish...

               PROSECUTOR, his expression souring, makes a gesture of 
               defeat. We wanted a conviction for smuggling, not 
               possession.

               BILLY, not understanding sees the Prosecutor's gesture, 
               and a hint of hope crosses his expression.

               JUDGE puts the paper away, looks at BILLY directly.

                                     JUDGE
                         ...Therefore. this court sentences 
                         you, Vilyum Hi-yes to be imprisoned 
                         at Sagamilcar Prison for a term of 
                         four years and two months. This 
                         Case is now closed.

               BILLY looking at the JUDGE doesn't understand. Thinks he 
               might be free.  But suddenly TWO SOLDIERS move in, and 
               start chaining his hands together. He is bewildered, looking 
               at:

               YESIL hastily conferring with Billy's FATHER, more concerned 
               about making a good impression with him than with Billy.

                                     YESILF
                         Four years, two months. It's good.

                                     FATHER
                              (stunned)
                         Four years!

                                     YESIL
                              (quickly)
                         We appeal it.

               BILLY watching this, a lost look.

               FATHER is too shocked to do anything but look at YESIL who 
               continues on:

                                     YESIL
                         You will see, he will have maybe 
                         one year taken off this sentence 
                         for good behaviour. Remember, it 
                         is only for possession; the 
                         prosecutor wanted life sentence 
                         for smuggling...
                              (a smile)
                         To be honest Mr. Hayes, it is a 
                         great victory!

               BILLY is forcibly removed from the DOCK - in chains.

                                                                    CUT:

               THE FATHER, in the same CONFERENCE ROOM,

                                     FATHER
                              (embarrassed)
                         ...With good time Billy it works 
                         out to about 3 years... then there's 
                         the appeal.  Yesil, Davis, they're 
                         all working for you We're going to  
                         try to make a deal to get you 
                         transferred to a Stateside prison. 
                         And Davis thinks there might be a 
                         political amnesty any month...

               Stops. Knows it sounds bad.

               BILLY looks down.

                                     FATHER
                         Look - I know it sounds tough, 
                         Billy, but we're gonna get you 
                         out...

               FATHER grips BILLY by the arm hard.

                                     FATHER
                         ...I promise you, but I don't want 
                         you to get stupid again. Pull 
                         anything.  They can play with your 
                         sentence.

               BILLY nods, acquiescent.

                                     FATTIER
                              (his voice starting 
                              to crack)
                         I'm putting $500 in the bank for 
                         you.  Anything you need you write...

               BILLY nods.  His FATHER points to a stack of ITEMS on the 
               conference table, picks up a cigarette carton.

                                     FATHER
                         There's food, candy, writing paper, 
                         soap, books...
                              (his eyes start to 
                              water)
                         ...cigarettes, soap, tooth-brush, 
                         there's... Jesus!
                              (cracks, throws 
                              down the cigarette 
                              carton)
                         I been writing insurance policies 
                         on people for thirty goddamn 
                         years...
                              (laughs and cries 
                              at the same time)
                         And now I gotta see my own 
                         son...Jesus! Jesus!  If I could be 
                         where you are Billy, I'd be there... 
                         Goddamn Jesus!  These bastards.

               HUGS HIS SON BILLY is on the verge of tears.

                                     BILLY
                         DAD! 

                                     FATHER
                         Oh Jesus! 
                              (sobbing)

               HAMIDOU enters the room. A morbid curiosity in his 
               expression about this show of grief. Watches a few moments, 
               then indicating the visit is over, he taps his falaka stick 
               lightly a few times on the hollow door.  THWACK!  THWACK!

               FATHER breaks the embrace with BILLY, tears streaking his 
               cheeks. Silently indicates for him to "Go, go Fast."

               BILLY goes, past HAMIDOU

               FATHER shaking his finger at HAMIDOU

                                     FATHER
                         You take good care of my boy, you 
                         hear, or I'll have your fucking 
                         head, you Turkish bastard!

               It sputters out of his mouth, senseless to:

               HAMIDOU who closes the door. He has an angry glint in his 
               eye.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY lies on his bunk at night deeply depressed, paler.  
               Candlelight flutters softly against the stone walls. A 
               PHOTO of SUSAN taken outdoors with a mountain range in the 
               background, is on his wall with various SOAP CARVINGS of 
               little chess piece she has designed.

               In the distance, very faintly coming upwards into our sound 
               consciousness we hear a TRAIN WHISTLING in the night, on 
               an old railroad track bypassing the prison walls. Two 
               whistles.  Chugging. Then passing off. The Midnight Express.

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                         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 and you don't 
                         know where you are anymore or where 
                         anything else is...

               The CAMERA DRIFTS around the SECOND STORY KOGUS revealing 
               the sleepers: ERICH, BELL, MAX...

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         I find loneliness is a physical 
                         pain which hurts all over; you 
                         can't isolate it in one part of 
                         your body. I so much need your 
                         softness, your strength. I have 
                         your letters. They charge me, give 
                         me courage.News about amnesty and 
                         getting out - tangled, 
                         complicated...

               The CAMERA LINGERS on ZIAT in a far corner of the Kogus, 
               top bunk, against a wall.  Never secure, he shuffles in 
               his sleep.

                                     VOICE
                         ...I feel myself drifting more 
                         heavily into smoking hashish. The 
                         haze helps the time pass. Also I 
                         do soap carvings.  Erich taught 
                         me. And I have been learning Turkish 
                         because it helps me to deal with 
                         the guards and the prisoners. I'm 
                         trying hard to maintain some sort 
                         of schedule to my life, but 
                         sometimes it seems like I'm just 
                         trying in order to try...

               ZIAT is evidently awake he pulls his RADIO over into the 
               bed, and peering around to make sure no one is watching, 
               here moves the screws from the back of it, pulls off the 
               cover and puts in a sheaf of large denomination GERMAN 
               MARKS: inside we briefly glimpse a wad of different-colored 
               CURRENCIES stacked with rubber bands.

                                                                    CUT:

               COURTYARD. Volleyball game in progress. ERICH is tall and 
               plays with dexterous grace. BILLY is fast, agile. BELL is 
               muscular, intense, his hits power-packed.

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         ... In the daytimes we sometimes 
                         play volleyball against the big 
                         Turkish gangsters...

               THE THREE they play against are hilarious looking in this 
               context, moving like big clumsy bears, waving their arms 
               and screaming at each other, disorganized. Ever conscious 
               of fashion, they have their jackets and vests off but play 
               in their Elvis Presley shirts rolled up at the sleeves, 
               shiny slacks, black pointed pumps. The boys wear shorts 
               and sneakers. On the sidelines we see a group of PRISONERS 
               laying bets and shouting encouragement.

               BILLY leaps up for a ball close to the net and as the 
               TURKISH OPPONENT backs off, he dinks the ball in just over 
               the net; the Turk SCREAMS his teammates scream at him.

                                                                    CUT:

               BELL goes up for another ball close to the net and really 
               SMASHES it with all his might, and:

               BALL bangs right into the eye of a TURK who flails his 
               arms and SCREAMS with pain, very theatrical.

                                                                    CUT:

               THE SAME TURK now swaggers around the COURTYARD, wearing 
               sunglasses so no one will see his black eye.

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                         ...To the Turks all foreigners are 
                         "ayip" - unclean, dirty. We don't 
                         shave our under-arms or around our 
                         crotch...

               BELL across the pointyard grins at him and points him out 
               to BILLY, and ERICH.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         Even the yoga I sometimes do is 
                         "ayip" - too suggestive...

               THE TURK scowls back at BELL, huddles menacingly with 
               another TURK. 
               

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         And you're never supposed to eat 
                         with your left hand. You know why?
                         Because that's what they use to 
                         wipe their asses with instead of 
                         toilet paper.  And yet they hate 
                         pigs. There are no pigs in Turkey. 
                         They're considered dirty...

               BELL, smirking at the Turk, turns and walks away.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         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".  But they're really so 
                         hypocritical, like children breaking 
                         the rules. For instance...

               Suddenly a CRY OFF and:

               THE TURK runs up, pulling a sharp SHIV from his pants, and 
               using the cloth as a handle he repeatedly STABS BELL in 
               the ass and backs of his thighs. One, two, three, four, 
               five QUICK STABS, like a cook hammering veal. In spite of 
               its violence, the action seems like slapstick.

               BELL tumbles to the ground, crying out.

               THE TURK stashes the shiv and disappears among his FRIENDS, 
               his honor restored.

               BILLY and ERICH run over to help BELL who is obviously 
               more in pain than in danger.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         ...You can stab or shoot some body 
                         the but not above the waist because 
                         that's intent to kill. So everybody 
                         runs around stabbing everyone else 
                         in the ass.  That's what they call 
                         'Turkish revenge'.  There's also a 
                         lot of "Baksheesh" that's a favorite 
                         Turkish word for bribery...

               LONG SHOT - HAMIDOU and ASLAN the young fat Turkish gangster 
               pointed out previously by Erich, are taking tea together 
               in the FIRST STORY KOGUS alone except for ZIATR and 
               Hamidou's two FAT SONS, 7 and 8 years old, both dressed in 
               little suits listening politely as Hamidou gestures to 
               them, in couched terms. The voices are distant and, after 
               a few beats, UNDER BILLY'S VOICE:

                                     HAMIDOU
                         Unfortunately my youngest son Arief 
                         is having problems with his teeth; 
                         he needs braces, but dentists are 
                         so expensive these days

                                     ASLAN
                              (patting Arief on 
                              the head)
                         Poor kid... You know I have a 
                         friend, a very good friend; he's a 
                         dentist; maybe he could get you 
                         some braces at a... reasonable 
                         price.

                                     HAMIDOU
                              (protesting with 
                              his hands, shaking 
                              his head))
                         Oh, no...it's out of the 
                         question...wouldn't want to ask 
                         your friend...

                                     ASLAN
                         Yes. Please! As a favour... I insist

               They go on, each protesting.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         Hamidou hints that he needs new 
                         braces for one of his sons.  Aslan 
                         of course has a friend who's a 
                         dentist.  They bullshit for half 
                         an hour and Hamidou finally accepts 
                         the "Baksheesh" in return...

               A BURLAP BAG comes flying over the WALL of the COURTYARD 
               late at NIGHT. Then another comes over, lands in the yard. 
               one is around.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         Dope and all kinds of shipments 
                         get delivered to Aslan, who re-
                         sells it through his runners. People 
                         like Ziat.  But one night, it 
                         backfired...

               A THIRD BAG comes over, gets caught on a hooknail and rips 
               right open. HUNDREDS of yellow PILLS spill out.

                                                                    CUT:

               COURTYARD.  The SUN is just coming up in the East.  PRAYER 
               can be heard in the distance. Thousands of bombers are 
               scattered all over the courtyard.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         There were thousands of yellow 
                         nembutols.  Aslan as usual had the 
                         privilege of going into the 
                         courtyard before anybody else to 
                         pick up his stuff but...

               ASLAN arguing vehemently with a GUARD, in his ragged 
               uniform, who won't open the cell of the FIRST FLOOR KOGUS 
               into the courtyard.

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         ...it happened to be a new guard 
                         that day and he didn't understand 
                         the system.

                                     GUARD
                         No. It's too early.

                                     ASLAN
                         Open the fucking Gate, you asshole!  
                         Do you know who I am? You want to 
                         get in trouble!

                                     GUARD
                              (angry)
                         Hey, I your mother! Get back to 
                         your bunk.

               ASLAN, red in the face, steps back, suddenly pulling out a 
               little REVOLVER. He promptly shoots the GUARD in both legs 
               and stalks back towards his bunk.

                                                                    CUT:

               PRISONERS rushing out into the COURTYARD, scrambling for 
               the windfall of free nembutols.

               THE PRISON DIRECTOR, A balding unimpressive looking man in 
               a western suit, is calling up the circular stone STAIRS to 
               the second story Kogus from the first story.  With him are 
               several GUARDS, equally reluctant to move forward.  Hamidou 
               is absent.

                                     PRISON DIRECTOR
                         Aslan...be reasonable. Come down 
                         and talk.

                                     ASLAN (OFF)
                              (from second story)
                         You come up here and talk!

                                     PRISON DIRECTOR
                              (not moving)
                         Aslan... if you give up the gun, 
                         you can keep the bullets

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         A week later Aslan had a new gun...

               A PHOTOGRAPHER, seedy looking, readies a big old fashioned 
               box of a CAMERA.  He snaps the shutter on:

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                         ...I know all this must sound crazy 
                         to you, but this place is crazy...

                                                                    CUT:

               ASLAN and a group of FELLOW GANGSTERS, all impeccably 
               dressed and grinning for camera, fresh from their victory.

               BILLY, ERICH, MAX, form their own group; in contrast to 
               the Turks, none of them are smiling, MAX has his YOUNG CAT 
               in hand.  The PHOTOGRAPHER is lining up his shot, posing 
               them like actors.

                                     BILLY
                              (continuous)
                         Everything is "sula-bula" which 
                         means "like this, like that" - you 
                         never know what will happen. One 
                         day one of the new kids was raped 
                         in the children's kogus, so they 
                         picked out six of the worst kids...

               COURTYARD. GUARDS pull out SIX KIDS by the ears from a 
               line-up.

                                                                    CUT:

               CLOSE KID being pinned onto his back on the floor in 
               CHILDREN'S KOGUS: then he is bent over double by a wooden 
               bench; and TWO GUARDS sit on each end of the bench, holding 
               him down.  A silence,

               HAMIDOU appears in a hat and mohair suit with narrow lapels, 
               accompanied by his two little fat SONS, also in their Sunday 
               best. With a ceremonious solemnity, HAMIDOU takes off his 
               jacket, hat, vest, hands them to his sons.

               BILLY watches through the WINDOW with OTHER PRISONERS.

               HAMIDOU is passed a falaka stick.  He raises it high in 
               the air and begins to whack at the buttocks, legs, and 
               feet of the SCREAMING KID.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - On this cue, the five GUARDS on the other 
               benches begin whacking away; the KIDS squirm, scream, 
               struggle but the GUARDS sitting on the of the benches brace 
               their legs farther apart to keep their balance, In immediate 
               background, the other KIDS watch, scared.

               THE TWO SONS with wide-eyed but passive expressions, stare 
               at their father at work.

               HAMIDOU beating his VICTIM, screams out: 

                                     HAMIDOU
                         PIS!  PIS" 
                         ("Obscene, filthy")

               Then stops.

               BILLY WATCHES AS:

               HAMIDOU is handed back his vest, jacket and hat by his 
               SONS: Puts them on ever so neatly and leads them off as if 
               on a Sunday stroll leaving the CRYING behind. On their 
               backs, we hear, placidly:

                                     HAMIDOU
                         You see Mamur, Mamet - what happens 
                         when you're not a good boy.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuos)
                         Then there's Ziat.  The more I 
                         know of him...

                                                                    CUT:

               TEN DOLLAR BILL exchanging HANDS. The dirty nails of ZIAT 
               clutch the bill, waving it to the candlelight to see if it 
               is authentic his milky white EYE across the BILL.  He is 
               next to his bunk at night.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                         ...the more hate him.

               MAX and BILLY are next to him, MAX eagerly gouging with 
               his knife into a small bar of SOAP:

               PULLS out a ball of HASHISH inside, neatly concealed. Brings 
               it up to his NOSE, sniffing.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - BILLY is watching with glazed eyes - stoned.  
               Approving of the $10, tucks it into his belly cloth looking 
               over and scowling at:

               MAX'S YOUNG CAT on his bunk scratching playfully at one of 
               his wool sweaters.

               ANOTHER ANGLE MAX holding the ball of hash:

                                     MAX
                         Ten dollars for this shit?  You 
                         greedy one-eyed git.

                                     ZIAT
                         NO!   Is good!
                              (gets his English 
                              wrong)
                         Me good shit.
                              (Meaning my shit is 
                              good)

                                     MAX
                         No!  You big shit! 

               ZIAT thinking MAX is correcting his English, nods and 
               repeats:

                                     ZIAT
                         Yeah! Efe big shit.

               BILLY and MAX snigger and ZIAT realizes they are making 
               fun of him.  He hates that and suddenly reaches over and:

                                     ZIAT
                         JAAAASH! 

               SHAKES THE CAT hard off his bunk. A SQUEAL from the cat.

               MAX surprised, glares at Ziat.

                                     MAX
                         You asshole! 

               Then hurries after it, calling its name...

                                     MAX
                         Hikmet come here boy.  Hikmet

               ZIAT shrugs. So what?

                                     BILLY
                              (irritated)
                         What is it with you man, what the 
                         hell is it?

                                     ZIAT
                         Cat, ah!  Ayip!

                                     BILLY
                         You're ayip!

                                     ZIAT
                              (glares at him, 
                              then lets it go)
                         Look, you don't fuck with me, I 
                         don't fuck with you, right?

                                     BILLY
                         But you fuck with me. You fuck 
                         with me all the time. You make 
                         crummy tea.  You rip us off on the 
                         hash.

                                     ZIAT
                              (amused)
                         I make special tea for you, Hiyes, 
                         okay?  We've to live like brothers.  
                         We have to be in here together.

                                     BILLY
                              (tired of it)
                         Oh shove it, Ziat for all the money 
                         you have, you have nothing!

               ZIAT grins, shrugs, squats and fiddles with his keys and 
               footlocker.

                                     ZIAT
                         You 'Merican.  You don't know.

               BILLY watches, repulsed and fascinated.

                                     BILLY
                         Know what?

                                     ZIAT
                         Was..
                              (makes gesture with 
                              his fingers)
                         ...seven years old. I was on street 
                         in Suk.  Buy.  Sell.  No family to 
                         take care. I learn.

                                     BILLY
                         Learn what?

               ZIAT shrugs. He thinks BILLY is an idiot.  

                                     ZIAT
                         Dog eat dog, Hi-yes. You fuck other 
                         man before he fuck you.
                              (grins)
                         And you must fuck last.

                                     BILLY
                         That's a great philosophy.

                                     ZIAT
                              (shakes his head)
                         You 'Merican.  You don't know.

               MAX has followed his cat down to the end of the floor but 
               it has run up into a rafter which he cannot reach. He calls 
               up.

                                     MAX
                         Here Hikmet!  Come down here boy!  
                         Hikmet...

               RAFTER Nothing.

               Max gives up.

                                     MAX
                         Sodding cat! 

               He shuffles off back to his bunk.

               THE CAT is back on ZIAT'S BUNK - NIGHT scratching with his 
               paw around the radio. of the neck, hard. Suddenly he is 
               GRABBED by the scruff  of the neck, hard.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY jerks up from his bunk as he the hears a loud, 
               piercing SCREECH, OFF, echoing through the Kogus.  Then 
               silence.

                                                                    CUT:

               ZIAT, industrious as always, is preparing his tea on the 
               three burners of the small bottled gas' stove in THE 
               KITCHEN, FIRST FLOOR Kogus; needless to say the area is 
               filthy with scraps all over the floor, cats and two large 
               wooden eating tables occupied by some PRISONERS. The Kitchen 
               opens up in background into a WASHING ROOM with SINK. It 
               is EARLY MORNING - Muslim CHANTING OFF,

               THREE TURKISH PRISONERS walk in, talking (AD LIB), followed 
               by MAX stoned, who shuffles over to the table, about to 
               sit, sees something.

               HIS CAT, dead stabbed, and lying there neglected in the 
               corner, just another scrap ready to be swept out.

               ZIAT calmly pours the tea for the table, paying MAX no 
               attention, an excellent actor. Prominently seated, however, 
               is a GUARD. 

               MAX quietly glares at ZIAT and the Guard but says nothing; 
               he has been in prison long enough to know how to hold it 
               in.

               ANOTHER ANGLE

               MAX - silently walks over and gently picks up the corpse 
               in his arms, starts to walk out.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY listening impassively to:

               YESIL the lawyer. They are in a booth in the VISITING 
               CAMBER.  Bars separate prisoner and visitor.

                                     YESIL
                              (smiling)
                         The new American Ambassador here 
                         is following your case very closely.  
                         He says there is progress. But 
                         there is another route that is 
                         quite possible...
                              (lowers his voice 
                              and leans close)
                         ...For the proper amount of money 
                         it is possible I can convince 
                         certain officials to lose track of 
                         your papers before the High Court 
                         in Ankara confirms the sentence of 
                         the Lower Court in Istanbul... You 
                         would not exist; and you could be 
                         in Greece by the time the Turkish 
                         courts discovered a stupid clerical 
                         mistake...But I have to act before 
                         the official sentence is handed 
                         down, and for that I must pay 
                         certain officials in advance...

               BILLY closes his eyes as YESIL'S VOICE drones on, explaining 
               the details, the cast, the simplicity Of it,  FADING OUT 
               UNDER:

               BILLY walking the COURTYARD counting his paces 48, 49, 50 
               Turns, goes back.

                                     SUSAN'S VOICE
                         ...My dearest Billy. I know it is 
                         long and it is hard for you, but 
                         your family and I are thinking 
                         about you all the time. I am trying 
                         hard to make enough money nights 
                         to come and see you.  Your father 
                         says that lawyer Yesil wants another 
                         $2000.  I know you distrust him 
                         more and more, but your father 
                         wants to do everything he can, and 
                         he is borrowing all he can on the 
                         mortgage of the house.  Money seems 
                         to be the only way out of there. 
                         Except of course the other way...

               BILLY, MAX and BELL (bandaged around the ass from the 
               stabbing) are huddled around BELL's BUNK late NIGHT candle 
               burning, a sheet sealing off some of the kogus. Bell 
               furtively looks around, pulling out and elaborately 
               unfolding a set of DRAWINGS from a pack of letters.

                                     SUSAN'S VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         ...But I cannot say I am for it.  
                         Nor are your parents. They consulted 
                         the priest, and he said to send 
                         you money for that reason would be 
                         like sealing your death.

                                     BELL
                              (excited)
                         The blueprints!

                                     MAX
                         To what?

                                     BELL
                         The prison, man. There was this 
                         German cat an architect in the 
                         hospital. He was helping the Turks 
                         build some shit round the place.  
                         I laid some bread on him and he 
                         let me copy them.

               BILLY, puzzled, turns the drawings upside-down, sideways.

               THE DRAWINGS are a lunatic mess of scrambled lines, dots, 
               crosses.

               ANOTHER ANGLE

               MAX and BILLY, trying to follow the map, look at each other 
               dubiously.

                                     MAX
                         Too bad you didn't have a machine.

                                     BELL
                              (intent)
                         There's two ways out I figger -   
                         over the roof, but that's only one 
                         person, maybe two. The other way 
                         is Under.

                                     BILLY
                         Tunnel?

                                     BELL
                              (grins)
                         It's already built!  There's a 
                         basement substructure where they 
                         used to keep weapons and stuff, 
                         but beneath that there's these old 
                         catacombs that the Christians built 
                         'bout a thousand fucking years ago 
                         to bury their dead.  We're sitting 
                         right on top of it -- here.

               INSERT DRAWING, illustrating roughly the structure of the 
               prison. His FINGER tracing, bubbling with nervous 
               enthusiasm.

                                     BELL (OVER)
                         The Kraut said there's a whole 
                         bunch of hollow sealed shafts sort 
                         of like dumbwaiters running along 
                         this wall; one of them is right in 
                         there, right next to our shower. 
                         We get in there, he says, we can 
                         get down into the catacombs. With 
                         three of us working....
                              (stops)

               MAX is standing, tapping on the wall, listening, a funny 
               look on is face.

                                     MAX
                         Gotta be here someplace.  Thought 
                         I heard a couple of dead Christians 
                         singing down there.

               ANOTHER ANGLE

                                     BELL
                              (irritated)
                         Stop shitting me, man!

                                     BILLY
                              (trying to be serious)
                         But how would you get into the 
                         shaft, Jimmy?

                                     MAX
                         I suppose you knock three times 
                         and ask for St. Peter.

                                     BELL
                              (turning on Max)
                         Hey!  I'm getting this together 
                         man and I don't need no fucking 
                         Gastro-head along on this trip!
                              (a fierce look at 
                              Max then back to 
                              Billy)
                         We go through the wall.

                                     BILLY
                              (a resigned look on 
                              his face)
                         We go through the wall?

                                     MAX
                              (quite sure Bell is 
                              out of his skull)
                         We go through the wall.

               BELL between BILLY and MAX walking in the COURTYARD 
               continuing intently:

                                     BELL
                         ...The Kraut was right!  I checked 
                         it out - there's no reinforced 
                         steel in those bath walls. They're 
                         real soft from underground seepage--

               BELL reaches the wall, turns around and continues Lowers 
               his voice occasionally as other PRISONERS intersect them.

                                     BELL
                              (gesturing profusely)
                         --the water like "'weeps" through 
                         the cement, see. Twenty, thirty 
                         years, you can almost push it over. 
                         All we do is use Gastrohead's 
                         screwdriver here and scrape the 
                         mortar out. Pull out 2, 3 stones, 
                         squeeze through, put 'em back, and 
                         get our ass down the shaft, It's a 
                         two night operation, maybe three.

                                     MAX
                         And what do you do when you in the 
                         catacombs?

                                     BELL
                         The catacoombs?  Whaddya want, a 
                         door?  There's miles of em like a 
                         sewer system but they got to come 
                         up someplace in Istanbul.

               Max is fed up with it now, no longer joking.

                                     MAX
                         You gotta be fucking crazy!  You 
                         got stabbed in the ass once too 
                         much, sweetheart, cause you're 
                         gonna end up in Section 13, that's 
                         what - not the 'catacombs.

                                     BILLY
                         Section 13?  
                         

                                     MAX
                              (looking at Bell)
                         Yeah,  for the criminally insane.
                              (looks at Billy)
                         I was there once for two weeks and 
                         it ain't an illusion. It's awful.  
                         Namidou runs it like a death camp, 
                         that's where he spends most of his 
                         time...

                                     BILLY
                         Where is it?

                                     MAX
                         I don' t know. It's someplace down 
                         in there....
                              (points at the ground)
                         ..deep.. A big door...a wheel....

               His eyes go back in time, haunted, vague breaks off.

               ANOTHER ANGLE

                                     BELL
                              (low-keyed)
                         Hey, you know what's gonna get us 
                         out of here?  It's not a map, Max.  
                         It's our balls. You know what I 
                         mean...
                              (straight at Max, 
                              Billy, very sincere, 
                              his eyes almost 
                              watering)
                         ...I gotta get laid man, I don't 
                         know 'bout you guys, but if I don't 
                         get it on soon, I'm... I'm not 
                         gonna make it.

                                     MAX
                              (under his breath)
                         Shit.

                                     BELL
                         Billy?

                                     BILLY
                         ...The roof sounds better to me 
                         than digging through a wall.  Ziat's 
                         round there all the time. But the 
                         roof....
                              (looks up)

               P.O.V. - THE ROOF, its edges visible over the courtyard.

               BILLY shakes his head.

                                     BILLY
                         The bullet percentage is awful 
                         high.

               A pause. BILLY looks away from BELL'S stare.

                                     BILLY
                         If I get caught, Jimmy, I'm facing 
                         another months. I'd be back up to 
                         3 years, maybe more...

               Looks down.

               BELL understands, deeply disappointed.

                                     BELL
                         Well fuck it!  Choose your own 
                         death, babe, I'm taking the roof 
                         out of here!

               Bell leaves:

                                                                    CUT:

               A LONG DUNGEON CORRIDOR at the end of it, the frame of a 
               small; DOOR, cracks of light at its edges. TRACK IN - F.X. 
               of a siren, capture and now BEATING - heavy beating from 
               behind that door.  CLOSER we reach it. The door FLIES OPEN 
               and HAMIDOU is glimpsed lighting a cigarette. Like a surreal 
               dream, his hand holding the match has a thick LEATHER THONG 
               bound around its knuckles and blood speckled on his fingers.

               A BLUR of foreground movement a GUARD coming out the door - 
               dragging:

               BELL by the hair across the floor. His face contorting in 
               agony.

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                         Dear Susan. Poor Jimmy was caught 
                         and beaten so badly he got a severe 
                         hernia and lost a testicle. He's 
                         been in the hospital for months 
                         having operations..

                                                                    CUT:

               CLOSE BILLY'S TOOTH BEING PULLED

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         ...In comparison my problems seem 
                         very small. But two and a half 
                         years have now gone by, and in 
                         their own fashion, the Turks are 
                         slowly draining my life away...

               WIDEN to a STONE CHAMBER and a crazy looking DENTIST in a 
               filthy long white smock, puffing on a cigarette holder, 
               his ashes falling over Billy as he works his mouth. A 
               motorized drill is plugged into the wall, adjacent a filthy 
               spittoon covered with blood; dried blood is spattered 
               liberally around the chamber.

               BILLY spits out the blood and looks in the mirror.

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                         ...I have problems with my stomach 
                         and my leg muscles feel very weak.  
                         My gums seem to be shrinking and 
                         they sometimes bleed when I massage 
                         them... They've pulled five of my 
                         teeth...

               Suddenly he starts SHOUTING angrily in TURKISH. The DENTIST 
               screams back at him. AD LIB.

               THE DENTIST still screaming, leans BILLY back in the chair 
               and looks in his mouth.

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         ...sometimes they null the wrong 
                         one...

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY is washing himself in his undershorts at the SINK 
               with ERICH; the hot water is on full blast and billows of 
               vapor fill the small stone room, like a sauna. He pours a 
               pitcher full of hot water over his head; his eyes lingering 
               on:

               THE STONES of the wall with their cracked moldings; some 
               areas are noticeably darker than others - Bell's "wet 
               spots", the alternate escape route.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuos)
                         ...even my dreams don't seem to 
                         work any more. Because the outside 
                         doesn't seem real any more. It's 
                         not even a fantasy...because there 
                         is no fantasy.

               ERICH uses a coarse washing sponge on BILLY's back.

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         Even masturbation has become boring.  
                         It teaches you, like the rest of 
                         prison life, to seal up your 
                         emotions, and this is the greatest 
                         danger, this is what makes so many 
                         of the men change into something 
                         monstrous...

               EYES of the ARABS peer through the musky vapors at Billy 
               and Erich; they loll about the door curious, lecherous for 
               their bodies.

                                                                    CUT:

               ERICH massaging BILLY on his bunk in the SECOND STORY KOGUS.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         It is Erich who has taught me how 
                         it is to be conscious, to channel 
                         and direct my energy.  He has 
                         convinced me to stop smoking 
                         hashish, he is the calmest man I 
                         have ever known.  If you don't 
                         control your energy in here if can 
                         blow you apart like with Bell. And 
                         you can't waste it either.  You 
                         have to weigh up every one of your 
                         actions - for and against.  Too 
                         little sex, too much sex either 
                         will throw you off balance...

               ERICH leans forward and kisses a tentative BILLY on the 
               lips.  A gentle kiss. They are standing inside the TOILET 
               STALL; lower themselves down onto the seat. ERICH looks 
               back over his shoulder, guarding their privacy. It is late 
               NIGHT.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuously)
                         ...he has taught me about feelings, 
                         and the need to express them.  And 
                         he has taught me about love...

               BILLY closes his eyes, softly - and with hesitation - 
               returns ERICH's caress. Their hands probe each other's 
               bodies.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         ...and what love really is, beyond 
                         its physical forms.. .I think up 
                         to now I have only considered my 
                         own self, never really another...

                                                                    CUT:

               ERICH and BILLY do yoga positions together EARLY MORNING 
               fully clothed, in the FIRST FLOOR KOGUS empty space.  ERICH 
               lies on his belly, his back stiffly arched, feet raised.

               BILLY stands silent, balanced lightly on his feet, his 
               palms pressed together beneath his chin, centering, eyes 
               closed.

                                     BILLY VOICE
                         ...and now strange as it seems, 
                         Susan, without having seen you in 
                         so long I feel myself more inside 
                         of you than ever before. I feel 
                         your female mind.  I sense you, 
                         touch you; ...know you; and find 
                         myself falling more and more...  
                         in love with you.

               BILLY rises gracefully onto his toes, stretching his arms 
               out above his head. It is the beginning posture, his body 
               greeting the day.

               BILLY and ERICH sit silently now in lotus position, facing 
               each other, breathing slowly, relaxing minds still, looking 
               into each other's eyes. Billy closes eyes.

                                     BILLY
                              (chant-like, 
                              gathering momentum)
                         A prison a monastery a cloister a 
                         cave,
                         Prison monastery cloister cave,
                         Prison monastery cloister cave,
                         Prison monastery cloister cave,
                         Prison monastery cloister...

               SOUND OFF, interrupting the clomp of FOOTSTEPS on the 
               STAIRS.

               ZIAT comes down, staring at the two of them as he goes 
               into the KITCHEN to prepare early morning tea.

               BILLY's expression changes.

                                     BILLY
                         Prison.

               Rises from his position.

                                                                    CUT:

               THE SUN flowering up over ISTANBUL.

               BILLY rises from his BUNK to the chanting drone of "Allah 
               Wakbah" OFF, and moving to the closest wall, takes out an 
               old wet rag.

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                         Dear Susan. Erich has been 
                         transferred to a prison back in 
                         Sweden. He has profoundly affected 
                         my life and though I am lonely 
                         without him I am calmer than ever...

               BILLY erases out a scraped numeral (54) on the wall and 
               with a chalky piece of rock, inscribes in bold strokes the 
               numberal: 53

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         Though I only have 53 days left, I 
                         feel I have never been so well 
                         adjusted to prison and to living 
                         as now....

                                     BELL (OFF)
                         Allah fuck Off!

               JIMMY BELL wakes, hearing the perpetual "Allah Wakbah" 
               CHANT.

                                     BELL
                         Asina Covaciml.  
                         (I stick it in his mouth)

               He is noticeably pale and weaker than before.

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         ...Poor Jimmy...

               BILLY cuts hair in the FIRST FLOOR there with a disturbed 
               tight look on his face, work with a pocket mirror. BELL 
               sits inspecting the

                                     BILLY VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         ...Though his health is bad he 
                         still won't give up...

               GUARD approaching with a slip in hand.

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                              (continuous)
                         ...He still talks of escape.

               THE GUARD hands the slip to BILLY who is pleasantly 
               surprised.  A visitor.

               BILLY, walking down and turning a CORRIDOR into: in the 
               PRISON, following a GUARD and turning into:

               THE VISITING ROOM where the little booths with BARS separate 
               prisoner and visitor. Behind the grill is the Consul, 
               STANLEY DAVIS. His face is grim and grey. BILLY senses it 
               immediately.

                                     BILLY
                         What's wrong?

                                     DAVIS
                         Sit down a moment, Billy.  I'm 
                         afraid I have some bad news for 
                         you.

               BILLY sits, tense.

                                     BILLY
                         Something happen to Dad?... Mom?

               DAVIS swallows hard, not to say it

                                     DAVIS
                         No... It looks like your going to 
                         have a new court.

                                     BILLY
                         What do you mean?

                                     DAVIS
                         The Prosecutor objected to your 
                         sentence for possession; he wanted 
                         a smuggling conviction and the 
                         High Court in Ankara reviewed it.

               ANOTHER ANGLE 

                                     BILLY
                         And?

                                     DAVIS
                         We've been notified that they 
                         rejected the sentence...

               Billy's face drains of all expression.

                                     DAVIS
                              (continuing)
                         There were 35 judges on the High 
                         Court. Twenty eight of them voted 
                         for a life sentence.

               BILLY'S EYES. Numb, dazed, surreal.

                                     DAVIS (OFF)
                         The Lower Court in Istanbul will 
                         have to go along with the decision.  
                         The Judge likes you and he'll do 
                         the only thing he can do under the 
                         law.... . He'll reduce the sentence 
                         to thirty years... We're notified... 
                         Billy.

               Suddenly he is GRABBED by his ivy-league striped tie and 
               his face is yanked up to the bars, his glasses falling 
               off.

               BILLY is berserk, his face right up against the bars, 
               GRIPPING Davis tight.

                                     BILLY
                         What do you mean LIFE FOR FOR WHAT!  
                         FOR WHAT!

                                     DAVIS
                              (choking)
                         Billy!  Please! 

               Commotion OFF as GUARDS run in, HAMIDOU in the lead.

                                     BILLY
                         FOR WHAT!  FOR WHAT!

               The GUARDS try to pry loose BILLY'S strangling grip ON 
               DAVIS' tie.

                                     BILLY
                         I HAVE FIFTY THREE DAYS LEFT! 

               HAMIDOU takes out a KNIFE and cuts the consul's tie in 
               half.  DAVIS falls backwards.

               BILLY is hauled now. back, still gripping half the tie.  
               He is trembling now.

                                     BILLY
                         I HAVE FIFTY THREE DAYS LEFT!

               DAVIS is shaken. He has red bar marks across his face and 
               is absent-mindedly trying to adjust half a tie as he looks 
               at:

               BILLY being hauled out by HAMIDOU, SCREAMING something 
               indistinct.

                                                                    CUT:

               COURTROOM. Same as before.

               BILLY, in the prisoner's dock, addresses the Court; as he 
               speaks, a Turkish TRANSLATOR. drones underneath his voice 
               level:

                                     BILLY
                         ...What is the crime?  And what is 
                         the punishment?  The answer seems 
                         to vary from place to place, and 
                         from time to time. What's legal 
                         today is suddenly illegal tomorrow 
                         cause some society says it's so; 
                         and what's illegal yesterday all 
                         of a sudden gets legal today because 
                         everybody's doing it and you can't 
                         throw everybody in jail. Well I'm 
                         not saying this is right or wrong.  
                         It's just the way things are....

               YESIL the lawyer; DAVIS the consul.

               THE PRESS GIRL from the previous trial in the short skirt.

               BILLY

                                     BILLY
                              (continuous)
                         But I spent the last three and a 
                         half years of my life in your prison 
                         and I think I paid for my error 
                         and if it's your decision today to 
                         sentence me to more years, I... 
                         I...
                              (a break)
                         You know my lawyers told me 'be 
                         cool
                         Billy don't get upset, don't get 
                         angry, if you're good I can maybe 
                         get a pardon, an amnesty, an appeal, 
                         this that and the other thing.' 
                         Well that's been going down now 
                         for 35 years...

               YESIL looks over, surprised he is talking like this. Looks 
               at DAVIS.

               BILLY.

                                     BILLY
                              (continuous)
                         And I've been playing it cool and 
                         I've been good and now I'm damn 
                         tired of being good cause you people 
                         gave me the belief that I had 53 
                         days left.  You hung 53 days in 
                         front of my eyes and then you took 
                         those 53 days away, and Mister 
                         Prosecutor!  I just wish you 
                         could...

               PROSECUTOR looks over, through his dark green glasses.

                                     BILLY (OVER)
                         ... stand right here where I'm 
                         standing and feel what that... 
                         ...feels like, cause then you'd 
                         know something you don't know you'd 
                         know what means, Mister Prosecutor 
                         and you'd know the concept of a 
                         society is based on the quality of 
                         its mercy means, of its sense of 
                         fair play, its sense of justice... 
                         but
                              (shrugs and scoffs 
                              at himself)
                         I guess that's just like asking a 
                         bear to shit in a toilet...

               TRANSLATOR stops, looks puzzled.

               BILLY 

                                     BILLY
                              (same self-mocking 
                              tone)
                         For a nation of pigs, it's funny 
                         you don't eat them.  Fuck it, give 
                         me the sentence. Jesus forgave the 
                         bastards, but I can't. I hate you.  
                         Nation. I hate your I hate your 
                         people. And I fuck your sons and 
                         daughters!

               Sits down, disgusted; under his breath:

                                     BILLY
                         ...cause you're all pigs.

               SILENCE in the uncomfortably. courtroom.  PEOPLE looking 
               at each other DAVIS looks down.

               YESIL flips some pages abstractedly.

               TRANSLATOR SCARED:

                                     TRANSLATOR
                         Would Your honor like me to 
                         translate?

               THE OLD CHIEF JUDGE, the same one as before Shakes his 
               head.

                                     JUDGE
                         That won't be necessary

               ANOTHER ANGLE - THE JUDGE turns to BILLY in the foreground 
               rises, and unexpectedly crosses his wrists out in front of 
               him.

                                     JUDGE
                              (emotionally)
                         My hands are tied by Ankara!

               Makes the gesture of the hands forcefully, with anger.

                                     TRANSLATOR (OFF)
                         My hands are tied by Ankara!

               BILLY WATCHING,

                                     JUDGE (OFF)
                         I must sentence you, Vilyum Hiyes...

               JUDGE

                                     JUDGE
                         ... to be imprisoned at Sagamilcar 
                         for a term no less than thirty 
                         years...Getchmis olsun

                                     TRANSLATOR (OFF)
                         "I must sentence you, Vilyum Hiyes, 
                         to be imprisoned at Sagamilcar for 
                         a term no less than years... 
                         "Getchmis Olsun"

               As he translates, the JUDGE unable to control his emotion 
               exits rapidly, not looking at Billy, followed by the TWO 
               OTHER JUDGES.

                                     TRANSLATOR (OFF)
                         "May it pass quickly."

                                                                    CUT:

               THREE OLD GLEANING WOMEN swathed in black like three fates 
               turn from their sweeping as BILLY is led out COURTROOM 
               NUMBER SIX down a long stone corridor. Dust floats through 
               long slanting shafts of yellowish light, like a striped 
               leotard dream.  BILLY walks, his eyes straight ahead - 
               determined.

                                     SONG OVER (BELL)
                              (old Southern blues 
                              beat, improvised)
                         "Mmmmm... got the blues babe, 
                         Got those old Istanbul blues, 
                         Said Yeah, I got the blues babe 
                         Got those old Istanbul blues...  
                         Thirty years in Turkey, babe, 
                         Ain't got nothing left to lose..."

                                                                    CUT:

               BELL sings it, strumming sloppily but with feeling on his 
               guitar.  BILLY lies, his back up, on his BUNK nearby.  
               MAX, stoned, sits at the base of the bunk. It is NIGHT. 
               The song falters, but MAX now joins in, improvising:

                                     SONG OVER (MAX AND BELL)
                         "Busted at the border 
                         Two keys in my shoes 
                         Said I was busted at the border 
                         with two keys in my shoes 
                         An they gave me thirty years, babe 
                         To learn the old Istanbul blues..."

               SEVERAL TURKS are partying it up down at the other end of 
               the SECOND FLOOR KOGUS, playing a "sas" - Turkish type 
               guitar, counterpointed by a little drum; the music is 
               stridently Turkish, and one of the men does a belly-dance 
               in underpants with two lemons masquerading as breasts under 
               his shirt. The LOUD TWANGING of Bell's GUITAR can be heard 
               OFF, interrupting them. They are annoyed.

               BELL leading MAX into the next stanza:

                                     SONG OVER (MAX AND BELL)
                         "I said Lord now save me 
                          Please save me from this pain"

               BILLY, touched - listening, thinking.

                                     SONG OVER (OVER)
                         "I said Lord come and save me, 
                         Come save me from this pain 
                         Come set me free sweet Jesus..."

                                     TURK (OFF)
                         Hey knock off that shit music...

               TWO TURKS from the party walk up, waving at BELL's guitar,  
               annoyed.

                                     TURK
                         ...We're playing the sas.

                                     BELL
                              (understanding their 
                              Turkish)
                         Omina koyden your sas!
                         (Put your sas in your cunt!)

               THE TWO TURKS tense, the mood changing.

               BELL gets even angrier, puts the guitar aside, ready to 
               spring.

                                     BELL
                         ...And besides that I fuck Allah 
                         and I fuck your Muslim mother too...

               They don't understand but one of them is reaching into his 
               pants for his shiv.

                                     BELL
                         You got that, shit face? Asina...

                                     BILLY (OFF)
                         KNOCK IT OFF!

               ANOTHER ANGLE BILLY is moving fast between the TWO TURKS 
               and BELL. A new authority in his voice, and controlled 
               anger in his face.

                                     BILLY
                              (to Bell)
                         Cut it!  No more fights.

               BELL looks.

                                     BILLY
                         We're getting out of here.

               BELL astonished.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY, with Max's little screwdriver and a metal spoon, 
               digs hard at the cracks around a dark stone in the SINK 
               ROOM, FIRST FLOOR KOGUS.  With him is MAX working on the 
               same stone. They are sweating, shirtless, looking back 
               over their shoulders at:

               BELL guarding the STAIRS.

               BILLY works the stucco out, jiggling with the stone (about 
               a nine inch circumference) using his fingers and 
               screwdriver.  Painful work.

                                     BILLY'S VOICE
                         Dear Susan. It's taken me a long 
                         time to find out that it's got to 
                         stop somewhere. I've learned 
                         painfully not to trust the Turks, 
                         the courts, the lawyers, the Consul, 
                         the United States Government, and 
                         not even my loving parents. There 
                         is only one way out of here.. The 
                         Midnight Express.

               BILLY kicks with his sneakers at the stone, as silently as 
               possible. A LOUD NOISE - crumbling dust, stucco.

               BELL at the stairs freezes, fearful. Then SILENCE.  He 
               Runs over.

               MAX, BELL, BILLY.

                                     MAX
                              (in a whisper)
                         We're undermining the other stones!

               BELL studies it, pointing to the stone above left the one 
               that has been loosened.

                                     BELL
                         We gotta take a chance and do that 
                         one next - 
                              (pointing)
                         Then pull out this one -
                              (pointing to the 
                              one directly left 
                              of the loosened  
                              stone, excited)
                         Just jiggle it, scratch it out, 
                         loose nit up, it's soft real soft!

               BILLY has his head pressed close to the loosened stone.  
               Suddenly:

                                     BILLY
                         It's there!

                                     BELL
                         What?

                                     BILLY
                         Listen!

               ANOTHER ANGLE - all THREE press their ears to the stone.  
               A silence. The faintest whisper of WIND and dripping 'WATER -  
               indicating a shaft of some nature. BELL looks back at BILLY.

                                     BELL
                         I told you, I told you you cock-
                         suckers!  You didn't believe me.

               BILLY smiles. MAX reaches over and grabs Bell's face between 
               his hands, kisses him violently.

                                     MAX
                         Fuck me! You beautiful mother, 
                         you!

                                                                    CUT:

               MAX now on guard at the STAIRS, looks over at:

               BELL AND BILLY - with fresh paste putting the finishing 
               touches on the edges of the stone which has been replaced 
               in its original position. Bell's half naked torso reveals 
               a pair of dice with lucky sevens tattooed on his shoulder.

                                                                    CUT:

               THE REPLACED STONE. On close inspection, it is apparent 
               that the stucco around it doesn't match the other stones 
               one bit, but as we PULL BACK to see ZIAT washing his tea 
               cups in the SINK during the DAY, this irregularity is lost 
               in the greater mosaic of the wall structure. At least ZIAT 
               doesn't notice as:

               BILLY nervously comes into the SINK area, watching him, 
               and calls to him.

                                     BILLY
                              (using Turkish)
                         Hey, Ziat, hurry up with the tea 
                         will ay!

                                     ZIAT
                              (mutters to himself)
                         Work, work, work, that's all do

                                     BILLY
                         I don't hear you bitch about the 
                         money.

               BILLY followed by ZIAT into the KITCHEN casts a look of 
               relief at:

               BELL and MAX who wait at a table with empty tea cups. 
               

                                                                    CUT:

               A HORDE OF COCKROACHES stream out from a crack in the stone 
               as BILLY and MAX dig, scrape, jiggle the third stone. Both 
               covered with sweat, working with confidence now.

               A DARK EMPTY SHAFT on the other side. Dripping water.  Two 
               stones removed.

               BELL runs over:

                                     BELL
                         Want me to take over?

                                     BILLY
                         You want to split your hernia again?

                                     MAX
                         Get off our tits!

               Bell turns to go. Suddenly a LOUD CRUMBLING NOISE and:

               A FOURTH STONE starts to go - but brakes itself.

               BILLY, MAX, BELL all framed in a posture of fear -- not 
               daring to move.

               SECOND STORY KOGUS remains silent.

               BELL looks up the STAIRS, tiptoes back, indicating they 
               are clear.

               MAX AND BILLY. All THREE of them look:

               THE THREE A HALF STONE SPACE. Easily big enough for them 
               to squeeze through. BILLY shines a candle in the shaft, 
               OFF.

               THE THREE look at each other. The same thought. Eager eyes.  
               The TRAIN WHISTLES by in the night, OFF.

                                     BELL
                              (sudden)
                         Let's go!

               BILLY looks at his watch, hates to do it. Shakes his head.

                                     BILLY
                         No. No time. Put 'em back.

               MAX groans to himself.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY tense and restless at his BUNK TWILIGHT. A loud RADIO 
               OFF - Turkish News.

                                     BILLY
                         We go early. Any fuck-ups we should 
                         be back here and have the stones 
                         in by dawn.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - MAX, BELL, AND BILLY. A pause.

                                     BILLY
                         You got your stuff?

                                     MAX
                         Yeah.

                                     BELL
                              (persistent)
                         Haps, railroad, bus timetables?

                                     MAX
                              (business-like)
                         Everything.

                                     BILLY
                         Okay.
                              (looks around the 
                              group)
                         Let's do it.

               He extends his hands and the other two cross in a six-handed 
               shake.

                                                                    CUT:

               MAX signals down the STAIRS - "all clear".

               BILLY going through the HOLE in the STONES that NIGHT into:

               A DARK SHAFT spookily leading downwards. He lights a thick 
               CANDLE tied horizontally across his sneakers so as to give 
               him his light source where his footholds are.  His P.V.O:

               PART DUMBWAITER SHAFT, PART WATER WELL from a previous 
               century A series of corrugated mossy old footholds and 
               iron spikes lead down at irregular intervals.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY, MAX AND BELL, each with their own foot candle, are 
               spaced along the shaft easing downwards. BILLY looks up at 
               MAX about ten feet above.

                                     BILLY
                         Okay?

                                     MAX
                         Yeah! 

                                     BILLY
                         Jimmy?

                                     BELL
                              (struggling.)
                         What?

                                     BILLY
                         How's your hernia?

                                     BELL
                         Don't make me laugh.

               BILLY in a sweat, slips. A tense moment - then he catches 
               himself.  OFF - the TRAIN WHISTLE can be heard, echoing 
               into the shaft.Mixed suddenly with LOUD TALKING OFF. Arguing 
               in Turkish.  BILLY freezes, signals upwards with a sharp 
               hiss of breath.

                                     VOICE #1 (OFF)
                         What do you mean, you forgot, he'll 
                         have my ass!

                                     VOICE #2 (OFF)
                         Well I can't do two things at once, 
                         you were supposed to be here at 
                         nine o'clock!

               BILLY identifying the relative location of the voices, 
               eases downwards, coming to a GRILL, looks in at:

               A BASEMENT ROOM with FURNACE. TWO TURKISH GUARDS throw the 
               prison rubbish in the furnace, still arguing, AD LIB.

               BILLY signals upwards.

               REVERSE ANGLE, from inside the basement, of BILLY slipping 
               past the grill, his face sharply illuminated by the flame 
               of the furnace.

               Off the walls around the grill we can see the GIANT 
               SILHOUETTES of the two guards still arguing.

               BILLY comes to the base of the shaft. A puddle of scummy 
               water.  Unstraps the candle. A current of WIND He peers 
               around.

               P.O.V. - A WINDING NARROW CATACOMB, WITH BEEHIVE BURIAL 
               PLACES ON BOTH SIDES.

               BILLY, sniffing the stench, unrolls a ball of THREAD ties 
               it to a marker and heads in.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY, BELL and MAX are in the catacomb. A scratchy hideous 
               sound and:

               BATS fly out squealing from the ceiling.

               THE BOYS hit the ground as BATWINGS flap over them, 
               colliding against each other, knocking off walls, 
               SCREECHING, then diminishing in sound. Fewer and fewer. 
               Then gone.

                                     MAX
                              (looking up, scared)
                         Jesus!

               BILLY looking up. 

                                     BILLY
                         Anybody bitten?

               ANOTHER ANGLE

                                     BELL
                         Nah, just covered with batshit!

                                     BILLY
                              (getting to his 
                              knees)
                         They went out over there: must be 
                         some kind of exit.

               Heads in that direction.

                                                                    CUT:

               A HUGE SPIDER scatters off, as BILLY's CANDLE illuminates:

               ANOTHER ENDLESS WALKWAY.  BILLY comes to a stop - 
               frustrated.

                                     BILLY
                         Let's go back the other way.

               INTERSECTION Two walkways.  BELL leads in, unwinding the 
               thread, stops.

                                     BELL
                              (desperate)
                         The fuck are we?

               BILLY comes into view, equally frustrated.

                                     BILLY
                         What time is it?

                                     MAX
                         Two thirty.

               ANOTHER MAZE of walkways. The three stop exhausted, faces 
               blackened.  BILLY, in utter rage and frustration starts 
               kicking the wall.

                                     BILLY
                         Shit!  Shit!  Shit!

                                     MAX
                              (slumping to the 
                              ground)
                         It's a dead end. The Turks musta' 
                         sealed it up.

                                     BELL
                         What the fuck we gonna do?

               SILENCE as the three pathetic escapees ponder their fate.

               BILLY, getting a grip on himself, thinking.

                                     BILLY
                         We go back.

               ANOTHER ANGLE

                                     MAX
                         What?  You gotta be joking.

                                     BILLY
                              (resolute)
                         We go back, seal it up again, and 
                         come in tomorrow night - every 
                         night 'till we get out of here.  
                         There's gotta be a way. Those bats 
                         got out someplace.
                              (rises)
                         Now let's go.  Doubletime!

               Takes the THREAD and starts to follow it back.

                                                                    CUT:

               THE SHAFT. BILLY leads the climbers UP.

               MAX reaches a new foothold, stops, getting his breath.  
               Looks down at BELL heavy breathing OFF.  Urging him on.

                                     MAX
                         You gotta have a lot of balls for 
                         this 
                         

               BELL, suffering, can't help but grin.

                                     BELL
                              (murmurs)
                         Count me out.
                              (to himself, shaking 
                              his head)
                         Who ever heard of anybody sneaking 
                         back into a fucking jail?

               MAX overhearing it.

                                     MAX
                         Yeah, what if got caught?

               BELL starts to giggle.

                                     BILLY (OFF)
                              (up the shaft)
                         Hey Max, don't make the dummy laugh.

               MAX laughing, shaking his head.

                                     MAX
                              (between giggles)
                         Who's laughing?  I mean I find 
                         this terribly depressing... Can 
                         you see old Hamidou's face when he 
                         tries to figure this one out?

               BILLY can't go on, starts to giggle at the thought.

                                     BILLY
                              (between giggles)
                         We'll tell him we were checking 
                         out our escape route.  We wanted 
                         to be completely sure before we 
                         tried it.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - the THREE of them, spaced along the shaft, 
               are all giggling hysterically. Echoing. HOLD ON them.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY comes through the HOLE in the stones in the SINK 
               AREA.  It is still NIGHT.  He looks around - silence. MAX 
               follows through the hole.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY and MAX work fractically to seal up the STONES.

               BELL, exhausted, is at the STAIRS guarding. Distant early 
               morning SOUNDS of prison waking up.  We feel they will be 
               spotted this time, but:

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY slumps into his BUNK as the first rays of LIGHT come 
               up in the sky and the CHANT from the Mosque commences.  He 
               immediately sinks into sleep.

               CLOSE on OLD TEA LEAVES being washed in the SINK.  A MILKY 
               WHITE EYE follows into view.  ZIAT is preparing his early 
               morning tea, his good eye now moving to something beyond 
               the tea leaves. Curious, he straightens, throwing the 
               withered bunch of leaves the sink.

               ZIAT approaches the irregular stucco paste around the 
               REPLACED STONES; runs his fingers along the ridges, noticing 
               the paste is fresh.

               BILLY snoring from fatigue.  BELL wakes him quickly.

                                     BELL
                         Billy, wake up!  They found it!

               OFF there is a lot of SHOUTING downstairs.

                                     BILLY
                         Who?

                                     BELL
                         Ziat! 

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY standing in a group of PRISONERS with BELL and MAX. 
               He has a look of total despair on his face, as he watches.  

               THE SINK.  PRISONERS are everywhere jabbering excitedly 
               among themselves.  ZIAT is conferring with HAMIDOU as GUARDS 
               rip out the last stone, revealing the HOLE leading to the 
               SHAFT.

               BILLY's gaze shifts to ZIAT fixing all his hatred on him.

               ZIAT grinning, moves away, and his falaka stick cocked 
               like a sergeant major - moves among the prisoners.

                                     HAMIDOU
                         Shut up! 

               They all fall immediately silent.  HAMIDOU continues his 
               walk among them, bypassing:

               MAX who shifts his gaze onto:

               BILLY.  HAMIDOU approaches, his eyes moving over BILLY 
               with contempt, and shifting him aside with the stick. To 
               him Billy is the same passive prisoner as before. He moves 
               on, shifting OTHERS aside and then stops at:

               BELL.  HAMIDOU swings his stick up slowly and taps him 
               lightly on the chest. BELL realizes and is afraid.

                                     HAMIDOU
                         No do!  No do!  I tell you I see 
                         you again.. Finish!

               He punctuates this last with a theatrical tap on the chest 
               and he gestures to the GUARDS.

                                     HAMIDOU
                         Take him!

               BELL, already broken by bad beatings, shivers.

                                     BELL.
                         No!  Oh no!  No...

               GUARDS grab him, hurry him out the Kogus behind HAMIDOU

               BILLY holds himself rigid, trying not to break. Bell's 
               PROTESTS continue OFF.

               MAX unable to contain his anger, strides right up to ZIAT, 
               collars him, livid.

                                     MAX
                         You bastard! This time I'm gonna 
                         kick your fucking brains all over 
                         this kitchen!

                                     ZIAT
                              (calm)
                         Fine.  Good.  Man to man.  We fight 
                         now.  And when finish I bring 
                         Hamidou and he kick you fuckinq 
                         ass.

               MAX is about to swing when BILLY grabs him.

                                     BILLY
                         Max! Cool it!
                              (looking at Ziat 
                              calmly)
                         Ziat's just doing his job.

               ZIAT Glances from BILLY back to MAX fixing on him as BILLY 
               walks him away.

                                                                    CUT:

               MAX is at his BUNK that NIGHT; puts away the hypodermic 
               needle, stoned and speeding at the same time, smoking a 
               cigarette.  BILLY inwardly tense, sits with his head in 
               his hands.

                                     MAX
                         Bell's gonna talk. They got to 
                         find out. Man, we gotta out.

               Tears have formed in his eyes.

                                     MAX
                         Goddamn Gastro's killing me.  Making 
                         me blind. Hey Billy!

                                     BILLY
                              (sympathetic)
                         Yeah.

                                     MAX
                         I got some acid man.  Maybe we can 
                         drop some on the guards huh? In 
                         their tea or something.

               BILLY looks away, not even considering. But MAX is caught 
               up in the notion.

                                     MAX
                         Yeah I got it all worked out.  
                         Billy, listen to me.
                              (looks at Billy, 
                              his eyes glazed)
                         That old guard likes you, You drop 
                         some acid on him.  When he's Seeing 
                         rainbows yer know. walk out - 
                         tonight.

                                     BILLY
                         Then we're outside the kogus.  
                         Then what?

                                     MAX
                         What? 

                                     BILLY
                         After we're outside the kogus?

                                     MAX
                         Oh we... we...

                                     BILLY
                         Max... Your BILLY shirt's on fire...

               MAX clumsily brushes the burning ash off his shirt where 
               it's made a hole.

                                     MAX
                         Oh shit!  Oh Christ! 

               His eyes cloud with tears.  He sits down, head between his 
               hands.

                                     MAX
                         There just comes a time you know...  
                         you know you're never going to git 
                         it on.

               Suddenly shifts mood again, stands, pulling out a SHIV, 
               resolute, eyes brightening.

                                     MAX
                         That's what I'm gonna do.
                              (giggles)

               BILLY looks up wondering.

                                     BILLY
                         What?

                                     MAX
                              (crazily)
                         Cut his fucking throat.

                                     BILLY
                         Whose?

                                     MAX
                         ZIAT... What do I got to lose huh!  
                         What do I got to lose. And I'd 
                         really enjoy it. 

               Lurches against the bunk.

                                     BILLY
                         Max, sit down. You're in no shape 
                         to kill anybody.

                                     MAX
                         I want to cut his throat.

                                     BILLY
                         It's already been cut.

                                     MAX
                         Then I'll cut his balls off.

               BILLY smiles, shakes his head, then:

                                     BILLY
                         If you really wanted to hurt Ziat
                              (pause)

               MAX slumps back down on the bunk, suddenly tired of killing.

                                     BILLY
                              (reflective)
                         ...His money - steal that, you 
                         steal his blood... Could you see 
                         his face when everything he worked 
                         so hard to get got snatched?
                              (plays with the 
                              thought idly, then 
                              shrugs)
                         If we knew where he hid it.
                              (waves it away)
                         Anyway, steal from him they'd pick 
                         up the whole prison and shake it 
                         sideways.  We couldn't hide it 
                         anywhere.

                                     MAX
                              (head bobbing now, 
                              murmurs)
                         You know where it is?

                                     BILLY
                         What?

                                     MAX
                              (a vague grin)
                         I know where it is.

               BILLY glances at him, not sure whether he heard.

                                     BILLY
                         His money?

               MAX gives him a goofy nod - and a grin. Imitating Robert 
               Newton as Long John Silver.

                                     MAX
                         'Dem dat hides can finds says I'... 
                         I seen him, the clever tit, sneaking 
                         looks at it late at night, talking 
                         to it.

                                     BILLY
                              (beginning to believe 
                              him)
                         Yeah? Where?

               MAX, distracted, let's his attention wander back.  Inaudible 
               his head bobbing now.

                                     MAX
                         Hishradyo.

                                     BILLY
                         Max - where?

                                     MAX
                              (his mouth hanging 
                              open, eyes closed)
                         His radio Back of his open, radio...

               He lurches over gently on the bunk.

                                     MAX
                         That's why he never plays it... 
                         

               MAX Sleeps.

               BILLY surprised, then reflective.

                                                                    CUT:

               THE BACK OF THE RADIO is unscrewed; the cover pulled off. 
               EMPTY!

               MOVE TO ZIAT.  The look is as Billy expected. Horror, shock, 
               anger, fear.  ZIAT SCREAMS hysterically like old Greek 
               widow and:

               BEATING HIS CHEST and tearing at his hair, ZIAT runs out 
               of the KOGUS wailing, moaning.

                                                                    CUT:

               THE SECOND STORY KOGUS is being" controlled" by the GUARDS.  
               WIDE ANGLE reveals a circus of clockwork destruction as 
               the GUARDS, making abundant NOISE, systematically rip up 
               each bunk, locker, mattress, picture, book, etc., their 
               faces flushed with this opportunity for orgy.

                                                                    CUT:

               THE PRISONERS are lined up in the COURTYARD, each one being 
               body searched.Prominent are MAX and BILLY, looking up amused 
               at the

               SECOND STORY WINDOWS - feathers from a mattress fly around.  
               ZIAT Briefly appears, his face at the window, looking at 
               the prisoners in the yard, frustrated.

               HAMIDOU breaks apart a with his bare hands.

               ZIAT is stripping MAX's possessions, sure he will find it 
               here.

                                     VOICE (OFF)
                         Down here!

               Ziat springs up.

               GUARD calling out from the STAIRS.

                                     GUARD
                         We found it!

                                                                    CUT:

               ZIAT leaning in CLOSE, OVER THE STOVE in the KITCHEN, framed 
               by GUARDS. It is the same crouched posture he always uses 
               to work the stove but now his eyes show complete despair 
               as he sees:

               A THOUSAND SHREDS OF PAPER MONEY floating in his pots amid 
               his withered tea bags. From ashes to ashes and dust to 
               dust.

               ZIAT folds his head into his hands, sobbing then wailing 
               very human, very sad.

                                                                    CUT:

               KITCHEN - NEGDIR an Arab, is now running the tea concession.  
               A jolly ebullient man. Pours a cup for MAX. Several OTHERS 
               are at the table.

                                     NEGDIR
                              (heavily accented 
                              English)
                         ...He sell me tea business - 
                         everything.  No the same. Ziat 
                         lose all...
                              (makes the gesture 
                              towards the heart 
                              and the gut, using 
                              the Arabic word)
                         Heart!  Soul! 

                                     MAX
                         He never had one.

                                     NEGDIR
                         Soon he go back streets Istanbul.  
                         Thousand enemy.  No money.
                              (makes throat cutting 
                              gesture)

                                     MAX
                         I'll drink to that.
                              (toasting with the 
                              tea)

               Just as:

               ZIAT enters the kitchen; he eyes Max with hatred, sits at 
               the other TABLE and orders tea. Surprisingly, he is wearing 
               a suit and clean shirt-unlike his usual grimy appearance.

               BILLY, looking shaken, enters the kitchen, glances at ZIAT 
               sits with MAX.

                                     BILLY
                         Just got some news on Bell.

                                     MAX
                         What? 

                                     BILLY
                         Bad. Sent to the City Hospital.  
                         They ruptured his hernia again.

                                     MAX
                              (grim)
                         Oh shit. 
                         

                                     BILLY
                         I Guess he didn't talk...Poor 
                         bastard.

               BILLY glances over at:

               ZIAT drinking tea.

               BILLY AND MAX

                                     BILLY
                         Why the suit?

                                     MAX
                         Maybe he's changing jobs.

                                     VOICE (OFF)
                         SAYIM!  SAYIM!

               BILLY looks over to see:

               HAMIDOU and a DOZEN GUARDS spreading through the KOGUS, 
               assembling everybody with shouts of "SAYIM!"

                                                                    CUT:

               THE PRISONERS are lined up in ranks in the FIRST FLOOR 
               KOGUS.

               BILLY glancing at MAX next to him, wondering why.

               HAMIDOU goes down the line, his FLUNKIES searching each 
               man.

               A GUARD reaches into ZIAT'S pocket and comes out with a 
               matchbox. Yells to HAMIDOU who comes over.

                                     HAMIDOU
                              (opening the matchbox)
                         Nebu?

               MATCHBOX Containing a small amount of HASHISH.

               HAMIDOU reaches over and pulls ZIAT out of the 'line 
               roughly.

                                     HAMIDOU
                         Nebu? 

               Starts to slap him around.

               BILLY glancing at MAX.

                                     MAX
                              (worried)
                         What's going on?  Maybe Ziat can't 
                         pay off; Hamidou's taking it out 
                         in trade.

               HAMIDOU smashes ZIAT again, but pulls the punch.

                                     HAMIDOU
                         Where did you get this hash?

               Raises his arm again.

                                     ZIAT
                              (cowering, pretending 
                              fear)
                         From Max.

               Point at: 

               MAX who stiffens, eyes like cracked eggs.

                                     MAX
                              (under his breath)
                         You got to be kidding.

               HAMIDOU peers at MAX, advances.

                                     HAMIDOU
                         What's happening with this hash?

               Indicates the matchbox in his hand.

                                     MAX
                         I didn't sell it to him. I don't 
                         have anything to do with this, 
                         I...

                                     HAMIDOU
                              (leans closer)
                         I know your face. Where did you 
                         get the hash?

                                     BILLY
                              (interrupting in 
                              Turkish))
                         (He knows nothing about it.  Ziat's 
                         lying.

                                     HAMIDOU
                              (turns on Billy, in 
                              English)
                         You, goddamn you, shut up!
                              (Back to MAX)
                         Take him to the cellar)

               GUARDS drag off.

                                     MAX
                         Get out of here! He's lying!  That 
                         cock-sucker!  Billy...?

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY sits on his his anger building, his imagination 
               running wild.

                                                                    CUT:

               MAX being dragged down a CORRIDOR by his feet. A SCREAM.

               BILLY

                                                                    CUT:

               BELL, his features distorted, being carried into an 
               AMBULANCE.

                                                                    CUT:

               BELL, MAX and BILLY at the wall, digging together, MAX 
               hugging BELL the time they found the shaft.

                                                                    CUT:

               MAX twisting out of the grip of a GUARD and, grabbing the 
               glass from his smashed spectacles, he cuts deep into his 
               wrist.  GUARDS grab him. A LOUD LAUGH OFF carrying over.

               BILLY turning on his bunk to see:

               ZIAT joking with TWO GUARDS as he enters the SECOND STORY. 
               The guards back down the stairs.

               BILLY already in movement.

               ZIAT, in his suit, collecting suitcase from his bunk, 
               preparing to leave.

                                     VOICE (OFF)
                         ZIAT! 
                         

               Turns and catches a FIST in the side of the face.  Staggers 
               into a bunk.

               BILLY, fists clenched, yells a string of Turkish curse 
               words at him:

                                     BILLY
                         Asina covacim, ipnave 
                         pesankek...yosakt. 

               Lunges.

               ZIAT is bulky, throws the smaller BILLY off and scrambles 
               past a bunk.

               BILLY is up and after him. Jumps back as a SHIV cuts the 
               air in front of him. His side is cut.

               ZIAT holding the shiv, feints, cursing BILLY in Turkish.

               BILLY skips back, takes a MATTRESS off the bed and runs it 
               right into KNOCKING HIM AND THE WHOLE BUNK OVER.

               THE TWO scramble around, BILLY tackling him into another 
               BUNK which also goes over. Chairs break.

               ZIAT butts his head into BILLY'S jaw.

               BILLY staggers back from the blow and ZIAT jumps him, BITING 
               into his ear.

               ZIAT, getting a better hold, now BITES into BILLY'S NOSE.

               BILLY slams ZIAT in the nose hard with the palm of his 
               hand.  ZIAT relinquishes his hold, grabbing at his broken 
               bleeding nose.

               BILLY beats him around the head but though the blood now 
               flows and teeth are broken, is like a clumsy bear, hard to 
               kill.

               ZIAT scrambles away on his knees under another BUNK now 
               screaming as loud as he can.

                                     ZIAT
                         HELP ME!  GUARDS!  HELP ME!

               SEVERAL PRISONERS watching from further down the SECOND 
               STORY Kogus now move in sync, turning on their RADIOS loud 
               as possible, drowning out the cries for help, others 
               watching the stairs.

               BILLY takes the BUNK and throws it over, revealing ZIAT 
               cowering in pure terror. He grabs ZIAT by the hair, hauls 
               him up and

               LAUNCHES HIS KNEE into HIS FACE.

               ZIAT thuds onto the floor.

               BILLY stomps him in the gut hard.

               ZIAT screams unnaturally shrill.

               BILLY, driven by supernatural anger, now jumps on him and 
               CLAMPS HIS MOUTH right on ZIAT'S open SCREAM.

               A STRUGGLING KISS ensues.

               BILLY pulls back, his mouth filled with blood, spitting 
               out.

               AN UNIDENTIFIED PIECE OF FLESH which Bits the ground with 
               an odd slow motion grace.

               ZIAT - CLOSE in terror; throat cords rippling; eyes bulging 
               with disbelief, body quivering, mouth open and screaming, 
               but it is a SILENT SCREAM and the mouth is a dark hole 
               filled with blood and without a TONGUE.

               BILLY, without a moment's mercy, crashes his fist into 
               ZIAT'S face.

               ZIAT his strength now broken, collapses on his back.

               BILLY crashes his fist again into the hated face. He is 
               GRABBED now by a GUARD, but:

               ANOTHER ANGLE - BILLY shakes the GUARD OFF, then as ANOTHER 
               GUARD runs up, BILLY SLAMS him aside and, obsessed, lunges 
               back down on ZIAT and

               BOTH HANDS CLAMPED TOGETHER high in the air delivers a 
               final blow to ZIAT'S face. The bones shatter. Pause. His 
               ogre unconscious beneath him, BILLY, now in SLOW MOTION, 
               EXTENDS HIS ARMS IN THE AIR - in the fighter's victory 
               gesture, and his eyes glow with the fever in them, and 
               with his mouth and face bloodied, he looks like a savage. 
               No longer Billy Hayes.

                                                              SHARP CUT:

               BILLY bound in a thick leather belt (a kiyis) which screws 
               tightly around the waist and cinches the hands together, 
               is being HAULED in continuing SLOW MOTION through a huge 
               DOOR somewhere in one of the cavernous corridors of the 
               prison.The door is approximately NINE FEET by SIX FEET, 
               strong and wooden with a circular iron handle which one of 
               the GUARDS now pulls open; a GLIMPSE of darkness within.

               THE DOOR CLOSES. SUPERIMPOSE:

                     SECTION 13 - ASYLUM FOR THE CRIMINALLY INSANE

                                     A YEAR LATER 

               MAX, barely recognizable in a torn sheet and with a 
               blackened face, comes rushing into a crowded ROOM, screaming 
               louder than any other inmate. marks on his face, He is 
               enraged, blood dripping from scratch ATTENDANTS in white 
               smocks chase him over the beds. Max is yelling in Turkish.

                                     MAX
                         Please, will you listen to me?  
                         Will someone please listen to me?  
                         JUST LISTEN To ME!

                                     ATTENDANTS
                         Hamidou! Get Hamidou! Get the 
                         Kiyisl!

               The ATTENDANTS wrestle with him, but he throws them off, 
               tearing around the room mindlessly. In the process we see 
               that not much attention is paid him because everybody else 
               is crazy!  There are 50 other LUNATICS yelling at each 
               other in fights over sheets, blankets, beds, cigarettes, 
               jumping: screaming, pushing, shoving; some babbling to 
               themselves, rocking, crying, chanting, singing.  Several 
               of them (the craziest) are stark naked. some, wrapped in 
               torn blackened sheets, patrol the room like quick ferrets, 
               sharp eyes open for anything they can steal. Others move 
               in meaningless, blank-eyed silence. The walls are filthy 
               black and join the ceilings in arches rather than angles, 
               giving the look of an old dungeon. Fifty beds are lined up 
               right next to each other so that you walk right into your 
               bed.  A constant nerve-racking NOISE. 
                
               HAMIDOU bursts into the ROOM, the angry look in his eyes 
               spelling real trouble for Max. MOVE with him as he sweep 
               sin on MAX and picks him up with one move and SMASHES HIM 
               against the wall. Max hardly notices.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - HAMIDOU takes the leather kiyis from an 
               ATTENDANT, moves in on MAX and starts clamping it around 
               him.

               AN ATTENDANT walks through the room with an apron containing 
               several large pockets bulging with red, green, blue, white 
               PILLS, which he distributes by the handful. 
               

                                     ATTENDANT
                              (crying out)
                         Hop! Hop!  Hop!  Full moon.  Hop!  
                         Hop!  Hop!

               THE LUNATICS gobble them up as if they were candy. In some 
               of the clustered areas, nine lunatics occupy as little as 
               three beds.

               MAX is tightly bound now by HAMIDOU, but his body arches 
               against the bindings, his neck straining, his teeth snapping 
               at the air.  HAMIDOU grabs him with one hand by the leather 
               waist, hauls him high up in the air and 
                
               THROWS MAX half-ways across the room, MAX smashing heavily 
               against some beds, continuing to SCREAM OFF as:

               THE ATTENDANT with the pills-now bypasses BILLY on one of 
               the beds.

                                     ATTENDANT
                         Hop!  Hop!  Full Moon - take your 
                         pills!

               BILLY gobbles them up. He has changed. Lines in his face.

               No smile, no sense of humor; a brooding silence about him, 
               a straight ahead look. He pays no attention to MAX off; he 
               is in grubby white pyjamas and shower sandals. Rolls back 
               onto hi& bed with its filthy torn sheet, totally ignoring 
               the surrounding commotion, and

               ANOTHER ANGLE - turning onto his shoulder, BILLY suddenly 
               finds himself face to face with a dark saddened visage. 
               The MAN is very young and stark naked but for an old black 
               rag wrapped around his head and clutched under his chin. 
               His eyes are yellow, the voice pleading.

                                     YOUNG MAN
                         Cigare?
                              (pause, same tone, 
                              holds out his palm)
                         Cigare? Cigare?

               BILLY shakes his head sharply --too sharply --and barks, 
               irritable.

                                     BILLY
                         Go away! 

               Turns on his other shoulder, trying to sleep.

                                     YOUNG MAN (OFF)
                         Cigare? Cigare?

               YOUNG MAN in a surprisingly meek tone.

                                     YOUNG MAN
                         S'il Vous plait, Monsieur? S'il 
                         vous plait?

               BILLY, really aggravated now, springs up from the bed, and 
               in the quirky way the mad and the eccentric adopt walks 
               determinedly away from the young man, looking back to shake 
               his head bizarrely at him one more time.

               ANOTHER ANGLE

               BILLY walking down the aisle bypasses MAX int he kiyis, 
               rolling on the floor, still screaming in Turkish.

                                     MAX
                         Will you listen to me? PLEASE LISTEN 
                         TO ME!  

               Several LUNATICS are gathered around tormenting him, one 
               of them yanking on his penis as if it were made of rubber; 
               another is playing with his ass. A third one, also in a 
               leather kiyis, is leaning over MAX jabbering and drooling 
               into his face.

               MAX, more enraged by this than the other bodily offences, 
               lunges up sharply and bites the man's FACE. SCREAMS, etc.

               BILLY, paying no attention except for a brief disinterested 
               glance, keeps going into:

               A SECOND ROOM.  MORE  LUNATICS. A screaming OLD MAN is 
               chasing after another OLD MAN who has stolen his tespe 
               beads, waving them back at the first old man who howls 
               with rage, frantic to have his beads back. The second old 
               man throws the beads to a THIRD OLD MAN who hops across 
               the beds with the FIRST OLD MAN chasing him. BILLY 
               intersects.

                                     OLD MAN
                              (pleading)
                         Allah!  Allah!  Yok!  Yok!  Yok!  
                         Brack!

                
               A LITTLE NERVOUS MAN stares into a broken pocket mirror 
               fingering the large round carbuncle under his eye, trying 
               to rub it away with little grimaces and flurries of nervous 
               motion.

               TWO ATTENDANTS in smocks indifferently finish eating on a 
               newspaper spread across one of the beds; they shake out 
               the paper.

               CHICKEN BONES, ORANGE PEELS hitting the floor. A flurry of 
               movement, as the LUNATICS scuffle like rats over the left-
               overs. AD LIB curses, yells.

               AN OLD MAN obscenely gestures to BILLY from his bed.

                                     OLD MAN
                         Hey American.  Fik!  Fick!  Come.  
                         Fik!  Fik!

               His blackened teeth leer.

               BILLY, seemingly immune to all of this in some private 
               island of his own madness, walks in his determined way 
               past a PARTITION to:

               A CIRCULAR STONE STAIRCASE leading downwards, the stones 
               damp, dark, slippery. BILLY continues with the same straight-
               ahead determination to:

               A LONER LEVEL. at last BILLY's expression changes to almost 
               childish relief, for here at last is the refuge he seeks 
               the relative comfort and silence of THE WHEEL.  

               It is a grim, squat PILLAR dominating the room and bearing 
               the weight of the ceiling. And around it some SIXTY LUNATICS 
               trudge slowly, near silently, in counter-clockwise flow. 
               It is a hypnotic shuffle and BILLY blends right in, sliding 
               easily into the sluggish, mindless river, his eyes hanging 
               loosely on the floor, watching:

               THE SOOTHING RHYTHM OF FEET shuffling at a comforting pace.  
               These are the spokes of the wheel.

                                                                    CUT:

               TWO TINY BARE LIGHT-BULBS give faint, eerie illumination 
               to the chamber. One one side, a pot-bellied stove flickers, 
               etching the shadows of the walkers in a strange orange 
               glow.

               SOME LUNATICS, not walking, hover around the stove.  OTHERS 
               are jammed onto a low L-shaped wooden platform that runs 
               the length of two walls. of these men are naked, covered 
               with open running sores over their knees, elbows, buttocks.  
               But they are much quieter than the upstairs crowd. They 
               are the lowest order of madmen. They have no minds left. 
               They are the damned.

               BILLY walks among them, expressionless. A tall, thin 
               cadaverous TURK with a grizzled beard now shuffles up 
               alongside BILLY, looks at him, walks with him. is about 
               fifty, his pyjamas relatively clean, looking more sane 
               than the average but his eyes are bright and scary and his 
               wet hair is matted down on his head, and big clumps of it 
               have been pulled out. He speaks with a cultured English 
               accent.

                                     AHMET
                         You're an American?

               BILLY is interrupted but keeps his eyes on the ground.  
               AHMET doesn't wait for an answer.

                                     AHMET
                         Ah yes, America!  My name is Ahmet.  
                         I studied philosophy at Harvard 
                         for many many years. But actually 
                         Oxford is my real Alma  Mata -   
                         I've also studied in Vienna. Now I 
                         study here.

               BILLY doesn't notice, shuffles along.

                                     AHMET
                         ...They put me here. They say I 
                         raped a little boy. I have been 
                         here very long time. They will 
                         never let me go.

               BILLY pays no attention, keeps shuffling on.  Glances at 
               him, smiles.

                                     AHMET
                         They won't let YOU go either.

               The smug certainty of his manner reaches some chord deep 
               inside Billy, because Billy glances briefly at this lunatic 
               who is smiling. Billy looks back at his feet.

                                     AHMET
                         No, they'll never let you go.  
                         They tell you they let you go but 
                         you stay. You never go from here.

               BILLY plods on. grins and tries to explain the situation 
               like a father lecturing a child.

                                     AHMET
                         You see we all come from a factory. 
                         Sometimes the factory makes bad 
                         machines that don't work. They put 
                         them here. The bad machines don't 
                         know they're bad machines, but the 
                         people at the factory know. They 
                         know one of the machines that 
                         doesn't work...

               They walk on.  Ahmet's expression changes.

                                     AHMET
                              (polite)
                         I think we have spoken enough for 
                         today.  I say good night to you.

               He wraps his rags around himself quite carefully and we 
               FOLLOW him out of the circle. He drops to his hands and 
               knees and with a sense of dignity, crawls into the filthy 
               blackness under the L-shaped wooden platform, disappearing 
               like a cockroach.

               BILLY plods on.

                                                                    CUT:

               AN OLD WHITE-BEARDED MADMAN the Hoja, grandiose in his 
               rags, leads MUSLIM PRAYER in the first ROOM. Some of his 
               followers have prayer mats, others a scrap of sheet or 
               newspaper; their tones discordant, still pushing and shoving 
               at each other during the prayer.

               TWO SPASTICS can't follow the routine of kneeling and 
               bending; they tangle up absurdly and fall to the floor in 
               a ball of arms and legs.

               A FALAKA STICK pokes BILLY wake SOUND of the CHANTING fills 
               room. It is evidently impossible to distinguish night from 
               day because there are no windows.

               ATTENDANTS poke the LUNATICS awake with their "clubs.

                                     ATTENDANTS
                         Head count!  Head count! 

                                                                    CUT:

               A MASS OF LUNATICS in the ROOM all at once.  Attendants 
               take a redundant and comic head count. The place sounds 
               like a "yadi yadi room" the noise fearsome.

               ANOTHER ANGLE

                                     ATTENDANT #1
                         Sixty two, sixty three, sixty 
                         four....

                                     ATTENDANT #2
                         Seventy four, seventy five, seventy 
                         six.. .get back there, you! . . . 
                         seventy five, seventy six....)

               ATTENDANTS poke around underneath a bed and pull out a 
               very old trembling VEGETABLE.

               OTHER ATTENDANTS wrap an old DEAD LUNATIC with no teeth 
               and foam on his open lips into a dirty sheet and haul him 
               away.

               BILLY amid the LUNATICS.  We MOVE closer and closer to 
               him, the head COUNT regressing. The room has become a 
               torture cell - the NOISE LOUDER, LOUDER, closing in on 
               Billy.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY is led down a CORRIDOR by HAMIDOU into:

               A VISITING room - Cabins are lined up like narrow wooden 
               phone booths.

                                     HAMIDOU
                         Kabin on-yedi

               BILLY plods without interest to the specified cabin, closes 
               the door, sits in the chair. No one is there. He waits -
               indifferent to any sense of time. Dirty two glass panes 
               separate visitor and prisoner booths; bars are between the 
               panes.  An erratic microphone is the method of 
               communication, giving a weird and distant aspect to the 
               voice.

               HAMIDOU opens a small peep-hole in the cabin door, looks 
               in unseen as:

               TEE VISITOR DOOR opens and SUSAN tentatively walks in 
               holding a large photo album; it takes several moments for 
               her to react, and then her face shows the shock.

               BILLY stares at her, his face rabid, decaying; if he 
               remembers her even, he doesn't register it because she is 
               a shock to him as well. Reality, the outside world all at 
               once. His mind is spinning, unbalanced, unable to grasp 
               it.

                                     SUSAN (OFF)
                         Oh my God...!

               SUSAN 

                                     SUSAN
                         Billy, what have they done to 
                         you...my God!

               The MICROPHONE makes her voice jarring, gagged. She looks 
               silently.  No sobbing, no big sad looks. Just shock.  Shock 
               of recognition, shock of time gone by.

               BILLY looking at her, his eyes moving down to:

               BILLY P.O.V. - SUSAN, her neck, her breasts straining 
               against the thin shirt.

               SUSAN fingers the photo album nervously, speaking slow and 
               distinct; not sure she is communicating.

                                     SUSAN
                         ...Billy, your family is fine.  
                         Senator Buckley just made a special 
                         plea on your behalf in the Senate.  
                         Newsday has written several big 
                         articles about you.  They've called 
                         you a pawn in the poppy game between 
                         Nixon and the Turks. The letters 
                         are coming in, Billy. People 
                         care.... 
                          
                         

               Stops, shakes her head. It sounds all wrong in this context.

               BILLY is still staring at her breasts. He hasn't seen a 
               woman for five years and now a hungry animal look comes 
               into his eyes He moves suddenly pressing up against the 
               glass, rabid.  And in Turkish:

                                     BILLY
                              (in Turkish)
                         Take it off. Take it off!
                              (then remembering 
                              the English)
                         Take it off. Take it off!

               His voice is savage, demanding.

               SUSAN understands, startled. Looks around.

                                     SUSAN
                         Billy - you'll just make yourself 
                         crazy.

               BILLY

                                     BILLY
                         Take it off! Take it off!
                              (suddenly in a very 
                              soft voice)
                         ...S'il vous plait?...

               A strange look in his eye.

               SUSAN slowly, scared, begins to unbutton her shirt.

               HAMIDOU looks on silently, does nothing.

               BILLY follows every movement with wild-eyed lust.

               SUSAN leans up close to the window.  With both hands on 
               the front of her blouse, she slowly draws it apart.

               BILLY going wild! Against the window. His hand down in his 
               pyjamas.

               HER BREASTS spring free, quivering, full and ripe with a 
               deep cleavage and hard dark nipples. They hang full and 
               loose.  FULL SCREEN

               BILLY'S EYES - FULL SCREEN.

               BILLY beats on the window, working his mouth soundlessly.

               SUSAN is shattered, scared of Billy's sanity.

                                     SUSAN
                         Oh Billy, Billy, I wish I could 
                         make it better for you. Please 
                         don't...  don't...

               Tears. Fear.

               BILLY tightens dramatically and comes right in his pants, 
               slumps against the window.

               SUSAN realizes he has come, surprised.

               BILLY looks at her. Furtive, animal shame. And suddenly he 
               starts to cry. A flood of feelings locked up too long come 
               pouring out. He murmurs some words, Turkish SOUNDS 
               sputtering out in his throat, then:

                                     BILLY
                         S.... Susan?

               Softly, working his mouth finding it hard to speak.

               SUSAN yearning. Tears sprinkling her eyes.

                                     SUSAN
                         Yes, Billy?

               BILLY straining, not out of physical weakness but an 
               emotional one. Sputters, eyes closed.

                                     BILLY
                         ...I love you....

               It sounds pathetic, lost.

               SUSAN is worked up to the limit, tries to hug him through 
               the window.

                                     SUSAN
                         Oh Billy... Billy!  Don't give up.  
                         Please don't give up. You'll get 
                         out. I know you will!

               Remembers something. Grabs the PHOTO ALBUM with all her 
               strength, holding it up for him to see through the 
               glass.Then remembering herself, looks around the room to 
               make sure they're alone and in a contained voice:

                                     SUSAN
                         Billy, your father gave me this 
                         for you.  There's pictures of your 
                         Mom and Dad...Rob...Peg...

               BILLY looks at it listlessly.

               HIS P.V.O - SUSAN holding the album open to PICTURES of 
               his MOTHER and FATHER in front of the house, ROB on a 
               bicycle, PEG in her cheer-leading outfit.

                                     SUSAN
                         And there's pictures in the back 
                         of your old Mr. Franklin.  Remember 
                         him... From the bank?

               A certain tone slips into her voice.

                                     SUSAN
                         He's over in Greece now. He bought 
                         a ticket.

               BILLY looks from the album to Susan. Possibly there is a 
               gleam of understanding in his eyes but it is very faint. 
               An Attendant BANGS on Susan's door, OFF.

                                     VOICE
                         Visiting is over.

               SUSAN quickly puts the album away as if it were a hidden 
               weapon.

                                     SUSAN
                         I'll give it to them for you.

               She buttons her blouse but her eyes are worried, on Billy.

                                     SUSAN
                         You were right Billy don't count 
                         on them, you hear, don't count on 
                         anybody but yourself! 
                         

               The ATTENDANT now swings open her door, annoyed.

                                     ATTENDANT
                         Let's go!

               Susan stands, about to go, then suddenly leans up close to 
               the bars, hard and practical.

                                     SUSAN
                              (quickly)
                         If you stay you'll die Billy!  Get 
                         out of here. Get to Greece, you 
                         hear me?...Billy?

               Pause. Silence. She closes her eyes, in pain; she doesn't 
               think she has reached him. She turns to go, resigned.

               BILLY looking at her. Behind him HAMIDOU opens the door.  
               A calm and cunning look on his face, glancing with Billy 
               towards

               A BRIEF GLIMPSE of SUSAN looking back, the album under her 
               arm. The door closes.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY, with the same deadened expression as before, comes 
               down the STAIRS towards THE WHEEL. It is early morning and 
               the walkers haven't started yet. Billy looks at the Pillar 
               a dire look of reflection passing over his eyes. Then he 
               starts walking but in a clockwise motion, opposite the 
               normal pattern; in the same methodical manner as before.

               ANOTHER ANGLE

               BILLY, on the inner track, passes TWO LUNATICS who are 
               walking counter-clockwise. They glare at him, motion for 
               him to turn around. Billy just keeps walking.

               BILLY intersects several more LUNATICS going counter-
               clockwise They motion for him to turn.

                                     LUNATIC
                              (grunting)
                         Gower! 

               Tries to block Billy's way, but BILLY shakes his head, 
               brushes by him - determined.  
               

               AHMET Slides up next to BILLY in his rags.

                                     AHMET
                         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... It's Good.  
                         

               More LUNATICS join the flow, gesturing or grunting at BILLY.

               BILLY STOPS, turns, looks at the rest of them slogging in 
               the usual direction, looks as if he 'sees' them; and he 
               walks out of the wheel, towards the stairs.

               AHMET curious about his unusual behavior, follows BILLY.  

                                     AHMET
                         Why you go?  Why don't you walk 
                         the wheel with us?
                              (suspiciously leaning 
                              forward, suddenly 
                              realizing the answer)
                         The bad machine doesn't know he's 
                         a bad machine. You still don't 
                         believe it? You still don't believe 
                         you're a bad machine?

               ANOTHER ANGLE

               BILLY stops and turns to look at AHMET at the base of the 
               STAIRS. BILLY carries on up the stairs.

                                     AHMET
                              (shakes his head)
                         To know oneself is to know God, my 
                         friend. The factory knows.  That's 
                         why they put you here. You'll see.  
                         You'll find out. Later on you'll 
                         know.

               BILLY stops and turns to look at AHMET.  His eyes glint 
               with special knowledge and he takes AHMET into his 
               confidence using the latter's tone of voice:

                                     BILLY
                         I already know. I know that you're 
                         a bad machine.  That's why the 
                         factory keeps you here.
                              (Lowers s voice)
                         You know how I know?  I know because 
                         I'm from the factory. I make the 
                         machines.. I'm here to spy on you.

               Eyes narrow. Surprise. Fear. He shuffles away.

               BILLY looks at him and turns up the STAIRS.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY in his BED. The usual UPROAR. THE ATTENDANT comes by 
               with the pills, offers a handful to BILLY.

                                     ATTENDANT
                         Hop!  Hop!  Take!

               He takes them, puts a few into his mouth, swallows.  
               Reflective, unsure.  A RADIO playing OFF blares suddenly 
               with the U.S. Armed Forces Station - JANIS JOPLIN singing 
               "Take another piece of my heat now, Baby" then it's switched 
               back to a TURKISH STATION, loud. Billy rises.

               BILLY enters the TOILET with the PHOTO ALBUM tightly 
               clutched under his arm. A dark stone room, very shadowy. 
               Piles of waste on the floor. A vacant-eyed barefoot LUNATIC 
               shuffles past BILLY who goes to one of the four partitioned 
               HOLES cut into the floor.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - BILLY squats over it and with his filthy 
               long nails he starts to slit open the back binder of the 
               album Susan gave him. Flickering shadows. He looks up 
               absently.

               THREE LUNATIC FACES stare in at him through wooden slats, 
               tongues hanging out and drooling - playing with themselves - 
               OFF.

               BILLY makes a lunatic face and SCREAM kicking at the 
               partition.

                                     BILLY
                         Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! 

               THE LUNATICS, petrified, scatter off but ONE LUNATIC skids 
               in a puddle of urine and crashes onto the tile howling.

               BILLY slits open the binder to reveal TEN HUNDRED DOLLAR 
               BILLS with Pictures of Mr. Franklin' neatly inserted.

               ANOTHER ANGLE

               BILLY has no particular expression on his face.  Reflective, 
               staring at the money; he looks up.

               A LARGE SILHOUETTE is moving towards him.

               BILLY just watches, transfixed, not trying to hide the 
               money.

               HAMIDOU comes into a faint light, looking down at him; 
               glances at the money. Shakes his head gently.

                                     HAMIDOU
                         No do!  No do! 

               Reaches for and:

               ANOTHER ANGLE - HAMIDOU takes the money from BILLY like 
               candy from a baby, then takes him by the ear and slowly 
               lifts him up.  Billy is like a vegetable in his hands.

                                     HAMIDOU
                              (in his broken 
                              English)
                         I tell you I see 'gain...
                              (into Turkish)
                         I take you down to bath and your 
                         feet be big like...Breasts
                              (a gesture)

               HAMIDOU leads BILLY roughly out of the lunatic room, pulling 
               him by the ear.

               HAMIDOU still Pulling BILLY by the ear, guides him through 
               the GUARD QUARTERS.

               HAMIDOU leads him up a narrow winding flight of STAIRS.

                                     HAMIDO
                         First you make mistake with Ziat, 
                         now you make mistake with money.  
                         You're not a new Prisoner, Vilyum 
                         Hi-yes.

               The tone of his voice indicates a severe reckoning this 
               time.

               HAMIDOU pulls BILLY by the ear into a large echoing BATH.

               BILLY looking, bent over by the ear - a hint of awareness 
               of new surroundings.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - the BATH is deserted, spooky with greenish 
               Yellow fish light flittering down from holes in ceiling 
               around damp mossy arches. Steam rises off a bath.  Benches, 
               buckets of water.  HAMIDOU swings BILLY around until he is 
               facing him. 

               HAMIDOU makes an elaborate gesture of putting aside his 
               falaka stick and holstered gun; he will use his hands.

                                     HAMIDOU
                              (shakes his head)
                         You've been in prison too long, 
                         Vilyum Hi-yes.

               He takes that: stiff arm all the way back to its full arc 
               and WHACKS BILLY up against the wall.

               BILLY bounces back off the wall. The print of Hamidou's 
               fingers is imbedded like a flaring white rainbow in the 
               redness of his left cheek. SLAM -  a backhanded whack. 
                
               BILLY bounces right back from the wall. steadies him.

                                     HAMIDOU
                         You go crazy here Vilyum Hi-yes. 
                         Many people go crazy here. Best 
                         thing for crazy people is this...

               THE BLOW, in SLOW MOTION comes sailing into:

               BILLY, and we see the brief boxer's distortion of all his 
               face as he flies upwards and back into:

               THE BENCH smashing it. Echo like jarring F.X.

               BILLY is held up by the PAJAMAS, steadied. The Turkish 
               words seem far away, incomprehensible.

                                     HAMIDOU (OFF)
                         Vilyum Hi-yes. You die here, Hi-
                         yes.

               WHACK - ANOTHER BLOW, but:

               HAMIDOU this time holds onto the pajamas using Billy like 
               a punching bag.

               WHACK - A REVERSE BLOW.

               HAMIDOU increasingly excited. 

                                     HAMIDOU
                         Babba sikijam!  I fuck your mother, 
                         I fuck your sister...

               WHACK - ANOTHER BLOW in SLOW MOTION

                                     HAMIDOU
                         ...I fuck your father, I fuck your 
                         brother...

               RIP! - a loud SOUND as HAMIDOU moves with a blur of speed, 
               and shreds BILLY's pajamas with his hands.

               BILLY naked, totally passive, semiconscious. HAMIDOU 
               suddenly shifts position and snaps Billy into a strenuous 
               wrestling hold across his knee on the steamy floor. He 
               loosens him up by cracking his bones along his back.

               HAMIDOU - sweat pouring off his face, excited.

                                     HAMIDOU
                         ...And I fuck your grandmother and 
                         I fuck your pretty girlfriend... 
                         And I fuck you Hi-yes!)

               A bizarre otherworldly scene. This man is dredging Billy 
               through a sadistic imagination sparked by the steam, the 
               sweat, and an ethnic identification with a Turkish steam 
               bath as a bedroom. He loosens his hold abruptly, rises, 
               moves off as:

               BILLY holds himself on his knees, head sunk on his chest, 
               gasping for breath, about to vomit. Pause; he looks up 
               horrified at: 

               HAMIDOU pouring fresh buckets of water on the floor.  
               SSSSSSSSSS!  The awakened STEAM coils like a snake into 
               every cranny of the little room.

               BLURRED VISUALS - HAMIDOU stripping his shirt off. A huge 
               muscular flash of chest,

               A BELT being snapped open.

               BILLY waiting.

               A FIGURE moving through the steam, closer.

               BILLY backing away from it.

               STEAM - a glint of a FACE coming through.  HAMIDOU - his 
               eyes so intense they seem to burn off the steam like sun 
               cutting haze. Then disappear again.

               BILLY pulls back. A pause. Silence. Cat and mouse.  Then 
               very suddenly:

               A HAND reaches out of the STEAM and GRABS BILLY by the 
               hair.  A GRUNT, OFF.

               BILLY his eyes moving fast.

               A FLASH of a huge darkened penis, fully erect cutting 
               forward into the steam like a from drill, detached from 
               the rest of the body.

               A SOUND - grotesque and so sudden after the silence it 
               jars the senses. A BLURRED VISUAL then:  
                
               BILLY Launching forward in SLOW MOTION, desperation 
               distorting his features and: 
                
               STEAM - then BILLY'S HEAD SLAMS through it in SLOW MOTION 
               and:

               SMASHES the penis with its skull. A horrifying GASP.

               BLURRED VISUALS - STEAM - HAMIDOU staggering CLOSE - 
               surprise, pain...

               BILLY MOVING.

               A FOOT coming up fast through the steam, connecting again 
               with the genitals. Another SCREAM.

               A BODY hitting the tiles.

               BILLY groping for the falaka stick. Raises it. 
                
               A STRUGGLE - Two bodies thrashing, one of them screaming 
               now in pain. A definitive sound then a THWACK! Another 
               thwack!  The steam seems to clear and

               BILLY is on top of the gigantic HAMIDOU smashing him with 
               the falaka stick with all his might. 
                
               HAMIDOU is in contortions, his nose busted and bleeding.

               His HAND gripping BILLY by the neck, forcing him back and 
               strangling him at the same time. Billy is red in the face, 
               such is the force of this creature but continues to beat 
               him, harder, harder.  His expression filled with a life 
               energy, seeded in hatred, that he thought he had lost.  
               Again, Again -

                                     BILLY
                         Babba sikijam, Hamidu!  I fuck your 
                         Mother, I fuck your daughter, I 
                         fuck your sons, I fuck your wife!

               The BAND slips from his throat, then springs up desperately 
               again and clenches Billy's whole face with one gigantic 
               palm, clawing to get in, then just as quickly slips away.  
               BILLY beats on - again, again.

               BLOOD flows fast in agitated swirls into the little pool.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY opens a door gently, moves across an empty CORRIDOR, 
               dressed in and gun in intense. Hamidou's holster. large 
               uniform with his He looks shaken, weak, falaka stick dizzy 
               but

                                     VOICE (OFF)
                         How about a shoe shine, friend?

               BILLY starts, clenches the falaka stick ready to spring, 
               spins.

               A LITTLE SHOESHINE BOY is his case down the corridor.

               BILLY has not seen a child in a long time. get words out, 
               then manages: Surprised.  Can't get the words out, then 
               manages:

                                     BILLY
                         No! 

               THE KID shrugs, moves on, looking At Billy strangely.

               BILLY goes up a flight of STAIRS.  Ahead, VOICES passing.  
               He stops. Goes on.

               BILLY goes through an empty GUARD QUARTERS.

               BILLY is in another CORRIDOR, approaches

               A SMALL PORTAL, daylight at its edges.  Locked?

               BILLY, tense, tries it. It swings open on:

               DAYLIGHT!

               BILLY squints.  Adjusting to the harsh sensation.

               AN ISTANBUL STREET - TRAFFIC, SOUNDS.  TWO GUARDS 
               approaching the portal in the distance, drinking soda pop.

               BILLY steps back, straightens his clothes, steps out briskly 
               and at such an angle that  

               THE TWO GUARDS don't notice him in the traffic  as they 
               enter the open portal.

               LONG SHOT - BILLY walking down the street, looking back, 
               almost bewildered, not quiet believing this. 

                                                                    CUT:

               TIGHT - RAILROAD TICKET being stamped.  SOUND - SNAP.  
               MOVE UP to TICKET CLERK behind a grill.

                                     VOICE (OFF)
                         Edirne to Uzun Kopru?

               THE CLERK looks puzzled.

               BILLY is on the other side of the grill.  A ill-fitting 
               new Western style suit, a hat over his dyed black hair; 
               totally paranoid. He hasn't slept in three days and the 
               bruises from the Hamidou beating now show clearly black 
               and blue on his face. His eyes are alert, darting around, 
               his speech clipped and to the point.

                                     BILLY
                         What's the matter?

               THE CLEF!!  Shrugs.

                                     CLERK
                         'What are you crazy? There's no 
                         train anymore to Uzun Kopru, it'd 
                         have to go through Greece. The 
                         border's closed.

               BILLY taken by surprise.

                                     BILLY
                         No train?

                                     CLERK (OFF)
                         No more train.

               BILLY Moves off a small provincial RAILROAD DEPOT - DAY.  
               He looks at the:

               EMPTY TRACKS - No 'midnight express'.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY, tenser than ever, uses the occasion of buying a 
               newspaper at an OUTDOOR STAND to study:

               THE MAIN SQUARE of the VILLAGE (EDIRNE) - DAY. SOLDIERS 
               and POLICE are abundant, chattering bustling amid tanks 
               and half-tracks.  Mountains can be seen in the far distance.

               BILLY camouflages his face as best he can in the Newspaper 
               "Hurriyet" studying:

               CABDRIVERS in the Main Square.  Most of them are older, 
               grizzled looking standing next to their old battered dusty 
               cabs talking with stray SOLDIERS. Billy's eyes settle on a 
               YOUNGER DRIVER with longish hair, possibly an ally.

               BILLY glances down at his newspaper as a SOLDIER intersects 
               and his expression goes stony as he sees:

               FULL COLOR DRAWING (first page) of a ridiculously fierce 
               heavy-muscled barechested MAN beating a facsimile of Hamidou 
               into the ground.  Next to it a blurry badly reproduced 
               photograph of BILLY with a superimposed GUN in his hand. 
               You can't really tell it's him.

               BILLY, controlling himself, crumples up the newspaper into 
               a baton, his eyes everywhere.  Be the darting A crosses 
               square.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - BILLY, intersecting a POLICEMAN who glances 
               at him, joins the YOUNG CABDRIVER..

                                     BILLY
                         Listen, I have Swedish friends 
                         camping south of the town. I was 
                         supposed to meet them here this 
                         morning but I was late. Can you 
                         take me there?

               DRIVER looks at him neutral.

                                     DRIVER
                         You know where they are?

                                     BILLY
                              (anxious to get in 
                              the cab)
                         Sure.

                                     DRIVER
                         How far?

                                     BILLY
                              (impatient)
                         About ten kilometers.

                                     DRIVER
                         Sixty Lira?

                                     BILLY
                              (surprised)
                         Sixty?

               Billy eyes:

               APPROACHING SOLDIERS.

                                     BILLY (OFF)
                         Okay.

               THE DRIVER, noticing Billy's look at the soldiers, gets in 
               the cab.

               BILLY climbs into the back seat, feeling already he has 
               made a mistake. There is something too alert, too hard in 
               this young driver.

                                                                    CUT:

               BILLY P.O.V. - THE MOUNTAINS as they roll in the taxi.  
               FORESTS - FIELDS.

               INTERIOR TAXI

                                     BILLY
                         Those mountains? are they?

                                     DRIVER
                         (Greece  
                              (shakes his head)
                         Very bad now. Maybe war. Those 
                         Greek pigs try to steal Cyprus 
                         again
                              (pause))
                         How'd you lose your friends?

               BILLY leaning back in his seat, casual.

                                     BILLY
                         Oh, I drank a lot of raka last 
                         night in Istanbul. Got into a fight.

               Indicates the bruises on his face.

               DRIVER looking at him in the rear view mirror. His curiosity 
               narrowing.

                                     DRIVER
                         How come you speak Turkish so good?

               BILLY casually glances out the window.

                                     BILLY
                         Did twenty months in prison in 
                         Istanbul.  Hash

               THE DRIVER studies BILLY in the rear-view mirror. Then:

                                     DRIVER
                         You want to score some?  Cheap?

               BILLY looks at him hard. Something's wrong with this man.

                                     BILLY
                              (curt)
                         No!

               Cutting off further conversation, he looks out at:

               THE MOUNTAINS of Greece - with longing.

               BILLY stares back at:

               THE DRIVER whose eyes now move away from the rear-view 
               mirror under the pressure of the stare.  SOUND OFF loud 
               machinery.

               BILLY turning - in rear window, we see a TURKISH HALFTRACK 
               pulling alongside the cab, SOLDIERS waving their arms for 
               the cabdriver to get out of the way.

               ANOTHER ANGLE - the HALFTRACK pulls level. The CABDRIVER 
               slows down, with a curse.

               BILLY - beads of sweat trickle his brow 

               THE PERSONNEL CARRIER, disinterested, pulls past.

               BILLY breathes heavily with nervous relief.

                                                                    CUT:

               THE CAB pulls up to the end of a dirt road.

               BILLY has his MAP out, studying it.

                                     BILLY
                         The Maritas River? Where is it?

               ANOTHER ANGLE - the DRIVER, exasperated, waves southwest.

                                     DRIVER
                         Two miles! Minefields over there.  
                         Do you know where this campground 
                         is or not?

                                     BILLY
                         Not far. Just a little way.

                                     DRIVER
                         No!  I'm not going any further!  
                         It'll wreck my car.

                                     BILLY
                         I'll pay extra

                                     DRIVER
                         How much? 

               ANOTHER ANGLE - BILLY slips him fifty lira. The DRIVER 
               takes it, muttering under his breath, jams the cab into 
               gear.

               THE CAB follows rutted tracks into low HILLS.

               INTERIOR CAB - very bumpy.

                                     BILLY
                         Where are the minefields?

                                     DRIVER
                         All over.  Turkish Army up there.  
                         It's against the law. They shoot 
                         us.
                              (looks up in the 
                              mirror)
                         You sure you looking for your 
                         friends, man?

                                     BILLY(VERY SHARP NOW)
                              (very sharp now)
                         Okay!  Ley me out right here.  I'm 
                         getting tired of all this bullshit 
                         from you.  I'll walk it.

                                     DRIVER
                              (looks back, then 
                              ahead, suddenly 
                              brightening)
                         Ah, look!  they probably know where 
                         the campers are

               BILLY's entire expression changes. It is all over.

               A TANK AND HALFTRACK are sitting there by the rutted track, 
               with SOLDIERS. And a little LEAN-TO with several POLICE.  
               Also a couple of attack DOGS on leashes. The Driver honks 
               his horn on the approach.

               ANOTHER ANGLE

                                     DRIVER
                         Hey officer, we're looking for the 
                         campground. Do you know where it 
                         is?

               ANOTHER ANGLE - TWO POLICEMEN and A SOLDIER come sauntering 
               over, their collars open, beer bottles in hand, slightly 
               drunk.

                                     POLICEMAN
                              (curt)
                         You're not supposed to be here

                                     DRIVER
                              (indicated Billy)
                         He's a tourist, what do you want, 
                         he says he's looking for friends 
                         at the campground. 

               FIRST POLICEMAN glances BILLY

                                     POLICEMAN
                         Campground?
                              (shrugs)
                         Never heard of one.

                                     DRIVER
                         Seen any Swedish foreigners in a 
                         camper-bus?

               SECOND POLICEMAN meanwhile eases his arm down on the OPEN 
               WINDOW bringing BILLY into foreground. The COP'S mouth is 
               open and exhaling a wave of beer breath over-BILLY.

               BILLY P.O.V. - BEER FACE FOCUS PAST him to SOLDIER at tank 
               reading "Hurriyet" - the picture of BILLY on page one, 
               spread for all to see.

                                     BEER FACE
                         Noldu? 

               DRIVER turning around to address him.

                                     DRIVER
                         Seen any foreigners in a camper 
                         bus?

               SOLDIER circles the cab from the other side.

               BILLY motions to the DRIVER.

                                     BILLY
                         Okay, they haven't seen him, let's 
                         go back to town, it's getting late.

               THE DRIVER ignores it. Calls out again, louder to BEER 
               FACE.

                                     DRIVER
                         Foreigners!  KAMPER.  VOLKSWAGEN

               BILLY rigid. This asshole of a driver!

               BEER FACE glances at BILLY, pulls his head out the window.

               Looks down the road. Takes a sip of beer.

               SOLDIER, disinterested, moves back towards the tank.

               BEER FACE looks in the other direction down the road, 
               burps.Very conscious of his authority, shakes his head 
               without looking at the driver.  Moves away.

               BILLY nudges the DRIVER.

                                     BILLY
                         Okay, let's go. 

               THE DRIVER impatiently turns and looks straight at BILLY, 
               aware of his anxiety.

                                     DRIVER
                         Is no Volkswagen, man! Something 
                         wrong with you?

               BILLY hardening.

               DRIVER calling out.

               BEER FACE turns.

               DRIVER leans out the window.

                                     DRIVER
                         This guy's fishy...I think he might 
                         be trying to get to Greece.

               BILLY looks around fast.

               BEER FACE starts back lazily, half drunk, with the OTHER 
               POLICEMAN

                                     BEER FACE
                         Huh?

               DRIVER

                                     DRIVER
                         I don't know, there's

               His eyes grow big suddenly As he sees the barrel of 
               Hamidou's REVOLVER right in His cheek.

               BILLY all business, very quiet.

                                     BILLY
                         Get out -- right now, move!

               BEER-FACE advancing looks puzzled, thinks he sees something, 
               then crouches as:

               DRIVER gets out the door crouching, yells.

                                     DRIVER
                         He's got a gun!

               BILLY firing SHOTS off to distract them has climbed over 
               the front seat, jams the cab into gear. It stalls! Again 
               he tries, and now shoots off.

               THE CAB Roars past the roadblock.

               THE COPS AND SOLDIER, scattered by the shots, now scream 
               at each other. They run.  SHOTS are fired.

               BILLY guns the cab down the road, flying.

               CLOUDS OF DUST trail the cab.

               THE TANK starts to roll after it. Full speed. The HALFTRACK 
               follows, the MEN riding it shouting.

               BILLY looks back, then looking ahead sees something.

               P.O.V - a speck in the far distance. Another ROADBLOCK.

               BILLY decides, then - 

               THE CAB swerves right off the road and jumps into the gently 
               rolling FIELD on the border of the road, pock marked with 
               HILLS.

               THE TURKS come roaring down the road, pointing to the cab.

               LOW ANGLE - the TANK makes a flat out stop, gears grinding.

               THE GUN TURRET swings left.

               THE CAB in the far distance, at an angle to the tank, starts 
               running up an incline.

               THE TANK FIRES.

               P.O.V. - SHELL BLASTS WIDE OF THE CAB. 

               BILLY, startled, looks back, guns for the top of the 
               incline.

               HIS P.O.V. - ANOTHER SHELL now blasts to his front right, 
               closer. Something heavy (shrapnel) thuds into the rood of 
               the cab.

               BILLY drives all out.

               P.O.V. - THE INCLINE CLOSER, CLOSER, ABOUT TO MAKE IT, 
               THEN: A BLAST

               TANK P.O.V. - the CAB spinning in the blast of the adjacent 
               shell-burst.

               BILLY, shaken but unhurt, staggers out of the cab, looks:

               P.O.V. - A WHEEL BLASTED AWAY, FUEL PISSING OUT FROM THE 
               SHRAPNEL HOLES, SMASHED WINDSHIELD AND FENDER.

               THE TURKS are coming up the incline now, like the Cavalry --
               some on foot running, others on the HALFTRACK.  BULLETS 
               whistle and pop nearby.

               BILLY running. He tears off his jacket.

               SOLDIERS pass the wrecked car, at the top of the incline 
               shouting, pointing and firing at

               BILLY in the distance.

               ONE SOLDIER seems lighter than the others and takes off in 
               a sprint as the OTHERS follow.

               THE HALFTRACK now crests the incline and gathering full 
               gear and momentum, roars off down the slope after Billy.

               CLOSE BILLY running sweat all over him. In background, the 
               HALFTRACK and running FIGURES.

               BILLY runs into a high dry cornfield with the sun starting 
               to set ahead of him in the Greek mountains.

               MOUNTAINS - must make those mountains.

               BILLY running all out - eyes fixed on them, breathing, 
               skipping heartbeats.

               THE PERSONNEL CARRIER bypasses the FAST SOLDIER who slows 
               down, panting. Billy has outrun him.

               OTHER SOLDIERS run up in the distance.

               BILLY, tireless, obsessed, runs right into a POPPY FIELD.It 
               is a splendid beautiful scarlet red, set off by the dipping 
               rays of the sun.

               HIS FEET smashing down the poppy plants.  Fast - THUCK!  
               THUCK!  THUCK!  THUCK!  THUCK!  THUCK!

               CROSSCUT the metal TREADS of the Halftrack into the poppy, 
               mowing down entire rows.

               TWO SOLDIERS on the PERSONNEL CARRIER are waving 
               encouragement to the driver inside. They have him.

               ANOTHER ANGLE the HALFTRACK closing the distance on BILLY 
               now thirty yards apart.

               BILLY looking back, starting to fade. Huge wheezing gasps 
               of breath.

               SOLDIERS running up looking at 

               THE HALFTRACK in the distance.

               SOLDIERS yell.

                                     SOLDIERS
                         Minefield!  Minefield! Come back!  
                         Stop!  
                              (NO SUBTITLE)

               BILLY runs out of the POPPY FIELD into a THIN FOREST.

               THE SOLDIERS screaming in the distance, jumping up and 
               down waving for the halftrack to come back.

               LOW ANGLE - the HALFTRACK with the waving SOLDIERS on board 
               now blasts out of the poppy field at full speed.

               BILLY -- he has no chance, In immediate background is the 
               fast HALFTRACK.  

               ONE SOLDIER on the HALFTRACK now looking back to the SHOUTS 
               of his comrades. Confused. Turns bout back to yell something 
               and:

               ENORMOUS EXPLOSION The HALFTRACK disintegrates in a tank 
               landmine.

               BILLY thrown to the ground by the force of the blast, looks 
               back, GASPS!

               A BURNING WRECKAGE. Black spirals of smoke.  Secondary 
               explosions.

               BILLY stumbles up. A gash of blood is on his temple but he 
               doesn't know it or feel it such is his stress. He runs on, 
               SHOTS whistling towards him from the poppy field.

               TURKISH OFFICER screaming angrily at Billy, cursing, shaking 
               his fist at the sky.

               BILLY, in the forest, is totally out of breath and out of 
               eyesight of the pursuers. He stops against a tree.  FROG 
               SOUNDS. The gurgle of water. Muddy ground. He looks:

               THE MARITAS RIVER rushing ahead. A strong current.

               BILLY peels off all his clothing except his pants, not 
               delaying one more moment. He feels he must keep going. And 
               he's right. DOGS are barking OFF.

               A SNARLING ATTACK DOG is tearing through the minefield, 
               fast, ahead of the others.

               BILLY looks, sees it.

               THIRTY YARDS - the huge DOG coming right at him!

               BILLY runs for the edge of the bank and plunges in.

               THE ATTACK DOG sprints up to the edge of the river bank 
               and without a moment's hesitation, plunges right in after 
               him.

               BILLY lashing into the current with a fierce breast stroke, 
               is swept downstream kicking futilely.

               THE DOG, its jaws open and clacking, is also swept down 
               river.

               BILLY going under, coming back up - fighting, still 
               fighting.

               THE DOG struggling sails past as

               BILLY hauls himself out of the river, going in a circle, 
               dizzy. Falls. Struggles up again. Looks back. Must keep 
               going. Must.

               THE BASE OF' MOUNTAIN - hilly, rugged.

               BILLY runs, drags, runs again.  He is a lamentable sight - 
               naked except for ripped wet pants, barefoot, bleeding, 
               muddied.  Dimly he makes out:

               A FARMHOUSE - TWILIGHT. Some cows, goats, chickens. NO 
               sign of people.

               BILLY staggers towards it. Wears something. A rooting SOUND.  
               Stops. Something familiar about it.

               A FAMILY OF PIGS snort and root in the mud, little piglets 
               running around.

               BILLY staggers towards them, muttering to himself.

                                     BILLY
                         Pigs...!  Pigs...! 

               Then yells in the recognition of it

                                     BILLY
                         Pigs... You... Beautiful... 

               BILLY BILLY falls to his knees in the confined pen; the 
               pigs run around squealing. Trying to reach out for one of 
               them, he falls face first into the mud and lies there. 
               Pause.  A wooden DOOR squeaks open OFF. BILLY slowly turns 
               his muddy eyes over his shoulder.

               BILLY P.O.V. - TWO SOLDIERS, khaki-colored uniforms, 
               helmets, olive faces, mustaches, approach cautiously from 
               the farmhouse, rifles ready.  Following them is an OLD 
               FARMER, Further behind in the doorway is his WIFE and 
               CHILDREN.

               BILLY muttering to himself, in Turkish.

                                     BILLY
                         Greek?...  Greek?... 

               THE SOLDIERS approach close, stand above this strange 
               figure, look at each other.

                                     SOLDIER
                         Ti leei?
                         (What is he saying?)

                                     2ND SOLDIER
                         Mou fainetai san Toupkika
                         (It sounded like Turkish) 

               BILLY with dimming strength.

               BILLY

               THE FARMER understands, makes a vigorous nod of his head.

                                     FARMER
                         Malisee...Ellada! 
                         (Ah, yes...  Greece!)

                                                                    CUT:

               CAR DOOR SLAMS SHUT - and BILLY, his movements still weak, 
               moves a few steps from the car and stops.  SUBTITLE:

                        OCTOBER 24, 1975 - BABYLON, LONG ISLAND

               Framing Billy are SUSAN and his FATHER, both silent.  They 
               look with him at

               HIS SISTER, BROTHER, UNCLE, AUNT, SISTER-In-LAW FAMILY 
               FRIEND - AND GRANDMOTHER, all on the porch of the ordinary 
               house in BABYLON, LONG ISLAND - DAY; all of them returning 
               his gaze in that first SILENT moment. Curiosity. 
               Recognition. Shock. Love.

               And then they move. But we don't hear their movements. It 
               is SOUNDLESS reunion; the SISTER running out first in SLOW 
               MOTION, the MOTHER following last, crying; the GRANDMOTHER 
               too infirm to move, the shaking her head from side to side 
               in SLOW MOTION, her tears lost somewhere in the wrinkles 
               of her face. 

               BILLY surrounded by FAMILY - SLOW MOTION - SOUNDLESS.  His 
               eyes flooding. All the feelings in him.  And deep inside - 
               a solitary question.  

               EPILOGUE BLACK SCREEN - SUPERIMPOSE:

                       THE CHARACTER NAMED BELL IS STILL INSIDE.

                                        AS ARE: 

                               (ROLL THE LIST OF NAMES) 

               And OVER this, the SOUND of a PASSING TRAIN rushing by in 
               the night - UP, FAST and AWAY.

                                   (Getchmis Olsun)

                                        THE END


Midnight Express



Writers :   Oliver Stone  Billy Hayes  William Hoffer
Genres :   Crime  Drama  Thriller


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