Midnight Express Quotes

Ahmet Where are you going? Why don't you walk the wheel with us? What is the matter my American friend? What has upset you? Oh! I know. The bad machine doesn't know that he's a bad machine. You still don't believe it. You still don't believe you're a bad machine? To know yourself is to know God, my friend. The factory knows, that's why they put you here. You'll see... You'll find out... In time, you'll know.

Jimmy The second way out, I need you guys help, and that's under.

Billy Hayes You mean tunnel? Are you serious?

Max This is Shagmahr prison, not ].

Jimmy Well that's where you're wrong fuckface, cause it's already built!

Tex Boy oh boy, you picked a bad time to fly, Billy. They're guerrillas all over the place blowing up planes and all. They hit four planes in four days. But I guess you young people don't read the news anymore. That, and with our people back home kicking up a shitstorm about the flow of heroin from Turkey...

Billy Hayes I didn't have heroin. It was just a little hashish.

Tex That doesn't matter. A drug's a drug.

Billy Hayes It was only two kilos.

Tex It doesn't matter if it was two kilos or 200 kilos. The Turks love catching foreigners. They want to show the rest of the world that they're fighting the drug trade.

Billy Hayes Who are you? What's your name?

Tex That's not important.

Billy Hayes Are you with the American consulate here in Istanbul?

Tex Something like that.

Billy Hayes I'm Billy Hayes.

Jimmy I'm Jimmy. Jimmy Booth. I'm an American just like you. This other guy here is Erich... something. I can't pronouce his last name. He's Swedish or something.

Erich Just Erich.

Jimmy Yeah... well, what do you think of this place, Billy?

Billy Hayes Looks like some cheap rundown hotel.

Jimmy Yeah, thought you'd say that. Everyone says that this place looks like a cheap hotel.

Billy Hayes Peacocks. Why peacocks?

Jimmy The Turks use em instead of dogs to patrol the fence because they shriek like hell when they're approached or disturbed. Plus, they don't get rabies.

Billy Hayes Who are the kids?

Jimmy Kids? They're not kids. They're local street urchins the Turks lock up here in a separate wing for the juveniles. Boys as young as nine or ten years old. They're thieves, drug dealers, muggers, con artists, pickpockets, rapists, murderers... you name it, they do it. Don't trust any of them!

Tex Do you have a family back home?

Billy Hayes Yeah, a mother, father, sister and brother living in Babylon, Long Island.

Tex It's gonna be tough for them. You'll have to tell them about what you're in sooner or later. Say, how much did you pay this joker? The cab driver for the hash you bought?

Billy Hayes $200. It was my last 200.

Tex How much did you expect to make if you had brought that stuff back to the USA?

Billy Hayes I was only gonna share it or sell some of it to by friends. I'm not a pusher. Honest.

Tex Yeah, right. Selling dope always beats working.

Max The best thing to do is to get your ass out of here. Best way that you can.

Billy Hayes Yeah, but how?

Max Catch the midnight express.

Billy Hayes But what's that?

Max Well it's not a train. It's a prison word for... escape. But it doesn't stop around here.

Billy Hayes What's Jimmy's story? Why is he in here? Hash?

Erich No. He was caught stealing from a mosque. That is also a heavy crime here in Turkey.

Billy Hayes What did he steal?

Erich Two candle sticks.

Billy Hayes That's all?

Erich That's all.

Billy Hayes Why? Why would he do that?

Erich Who knows? He's always been a wild child. He's got more balls then brains. Did you know that he was in here for a year-and-a-half before he told his parents what happened to him?

Billy Hayes What about you? What are you in for?

Erich Hashish. 90% of the foreigners here are in for hashish or drug related charges from smuggling to possession. My advice is you get yourself a very good lawyer and try to argue down the charge you face. If they make it possession, the sentence is lighter.

Billy Hayes What were you convicted of?

Erich Smuggling hash with the intent to sell.

Billy Hayes What sentence did you receive?

Erich 12 years. I've been here for just over four years.

Billy Hayes How much did you have on you?

Erich 100 grams.

Jimmy So... Billy, what are you in for? Hash?

Billy Hayes Yeah.

Jimmy Where'd they get you?

Billy Hayes The airport... trying to get home.

Jimmy You go through customs?

Billy Hayes Yeah, I was busted right at the plane.

Jimmy Aw, man that's heavy. That's very heavy.

Erich It's bad if they get you for smuggling, but if they make it possession, the sentence is lighter. The best thing for you to do, Billy, is try to make bail. If you make bail, you're free. You can easily get yourself a fake passport on the black market, or get yourself across the border into Greece.

Jimmy Dream on, Erich. They'll never grant bail to foreigners whom may be a flight risk.

Erich But if you argue in court about you being innocent...

Jimmy This ain't the good ol USA! This is Turkey, man! It's a fuckin accident here if you're innocent! There ain't nobody here that is innocent!

Taglines A story of triumph.

Taglines Everybody gave up on Billy Hayes—except Billy.

Mr. Hayes With good time, Billy, it works to about, uh, 3 years, and then there's the appeal, and, uh, Daniels, and, uh, Yesil—they're all workin for you. We're gonna try to get you transferred to a stateside prison. And Daniels thinks there might be a political amnesty any month now. All right. All right, Billy. I know it sounds tough, but we are going to get you out! I promise you. I don't want you to get stupid and pull anything. They can play with your sentence. All right. Now, I'm putting 500 dollars in the bank. Anything you need, you write. There's food here. There's candy. And there's...uh...writing paper. Books. Cigarettes. Soap. Toothbrush... I've been writing insurance policies for 30 goddamn years and now I've got to see my own son - Jesus. JESUS!!! Billy, if I could be where you are... I'd be there.

Billy Hayes I love you, Dad.

Mr. Hayes You take good care of my boy, you hear? Or I'll have your fuckin head, you Turkish bastard!

Billy Hayes To the Turks, everything is "shurla burla", which means "like this, like that". You never know what will happen. All foreigners are "ayip", they're considered dirty. So is homosexuality, it's a big crime here, but most of them do it every chance they get. There are about thousand things that are "ayip", for instance, you can stab or shoot somebody below the waist but not above because that's intent to kill. So everyone runs around stabbing everyone else in the ass. That's what they call Turkish revenge. I know it must all sound crazy to you, but this place is crazy.

Tex You got a girlfriend, Billy?

Billy Hayes Yeah. She was on the plane.

Billy Hayes She didn't know anything about it. I didn't want her to.

Tex Lucky girl.

Billy Hayes She used to say I was the lucky one.

Tex Let's hope you're right, Billy. Let's hope you're right.

Billy Hayes Dear Susan: Poor Jimmy was caught and beaten so badly he got a severe hernia, and lost a testicle. He's been in the sanitarium for months. In comparison, my problems seem very small.

Ahmet Oh no. A bad machine doesn't know when he's a bad machine.

Billy Hayes Oh, I know who I am. And I know who you are. I know that you are a bad machine. And do you know how I know that? Because I come from the factory. I MAKE the machines!

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

Taglines Walk into the incredible true experience of Billy Hayes, and bring all the courage you can!

Billy Hayes For a nation of pigs, it sure is funny you don't eat'em! Jesus Christ forgave the bastards, but I can't! I hate! I hate you! I hate your nation! And I hate your people! And I fuck your sons and daughters because they're pigs! You're a pig! You're all pigs.

Billy Hayes What is a crime? What is punishment? It seems to vary from time to time and place to place. What's legal today is suddenly illegal tomorrow because society says it's so, and what's illegal yesterday is suddenly legal because everybody's doin it, and you can't put everybody in jail. I'm not saying this is right or wrong. I'm just saying that's the way it is. But I've spent 3 1/2 years of my life in your prison, and I think I've paid for my error, and if it's your decision today to sentence me to more years, then I...

Billy Hayes I just wish for once that you could be in my shoes, Mr. Prosecutor, and then you would know something that you don't know: mercy! That the concept of a society is based on the quality of that mercy; its sense of fair play; its sense of justice! But I guess that's like asking a bear to shit in the toilet.