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Midnight Express Page #8
- R
- Year:
- 1978
- 121 min
- 1,869 Views
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
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"Midnight Express" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Aug. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/midnight_express_1061>.
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