Original subtitles

Earth, the Eagle has landed.

Thanks to all of you, and now it's on to Chicago and let's win there.

Thank you very much.

That day when all of God's children, black men and white men,

will be able to join hands

and sing in the words of the old negro spirituals.

''Free at last.''

''Free at last.''

''Praise God almighty, we're free at last.''

The negro will be serving notice

that no longer does he believe in turning the other cheek

and being a constant victim of someone else's brutality.

We believe

that peace is at hand.

We believe that

an agreement

is within sight.

I heard you were back, Michael.

Yes, sir, Mr. McKearney. I am.

- About the same length? - Take a little more off.

Buzz? Brush? Number one?

- How close is a number one? - About there.

How about just above the collar and let me see my ears.

What are you doing with yourself now?

In about an hour I'm starting work at the Factory.

Going into the family business?

Yes, sir. I guess I am.

- Name, please. - Smith. I start work today.

...two, three, four. Halt!

Right face!

Right...

face!

To the right. Follow him.

Well, well.

Step forward.

Raise your arms.

Hands toward me.

Raise your palms.

Back at your sides.

Open your mouth.

Lift up your tongue.

Bring your head forward.

Turn your heads to the left. My left.

Other side.

Tip your head forward.

Shake out your hair.

Wise guy.

Lift up your balls.

Turn around, face the wall.

Lift up your right leg.

Wiggle your toes.

Lift up your left leg.

Wiggle your toes.

Bend over.

Bend over further.

Spread your cheeks.

Cough.

Command attitude.

Go get 'em, tiger.

I've used mine twice in 5 years.

About the same number of times I've used this.

Ken Frates.

- Mike Smith. - Nice to meet you.

Heard you just signed your life away, Mikey.

Hey, uncle Ed.

I volunteered this shift to show you around.

Who the hell did that to you? That ain't a haircut,

that's assault with a deadly weapon. Come on, let's go.

Remember, we're all doing time here, tiger.

Only difference is, we're doing ours on the installment plan.

Come on, pick it up, let's go.

Hold it up.

Open the gate.

I hear you're gonna be a father.

You talk to my pop?

Responsibility, Mikey. That's what it's all about, responsibility.

Yes, lieutenant. Ten minutes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Got some film for me?

You play your cards right and I'll put you in that little number.

Here you go.

Bishop!

Toes on the line.

So is this some kind of a vacation thing for you

until something you really wanna do comes along?

No, uncle Ed, this is it. I really want this to work.

I been waiting to hear you say that for a long time.

One thing now.

In here not so much of that uncle Ed stuff, okay?

Okay.

This is Times Square. Where everything comes together.

A block, B block, C block, D block.

Administration, exercise yard, armory,

hospital, morgue.

For all of you who just arrived,

here's a few rules of conduct that might

make your stay here a little more pleasant,

and ours as well.

For instance, this

is not state-issued.

Nor this, nor this.

The laundry will only launder

state-issued underwear. Copy that?

We wash one shirt

and one pair of pants

per man per week.

Plus one set of regulation underwear.

I repeat, we do not launder

personal underwear or socks.

- Why? - Who said that?

Well, well.

Look who's here.

Some people like us so much they just keep coming back.

What is your question?

What if the socks are state-issued?

No socks in any circumstances!

You wanna wash your socks,

buy yourself a plastic bucket from the commisary.

- Why we got to do that? - Why?

Because that's how it is.

That's how we do it here.

- Why is that how you do it here? - That's how we always done it!

Because those

are the regulations

and we aren't about to change them for you!

ls that clear?

Is that crystal clear?

All right, back in line. Back in line!

There is a door

at the end of that corridor

and it leads to an elevator.

And the elevator leads to the isolater units,

where we put people

who keep asking ''why?''.

And you don't wanna go through that door,

I promise you,

because the isolater unit

is about the most unpleasant place to be

in the United States of America.

Understand? Dig it? Comprende?

Capisce?

You've all been assigned cell numbers.

Any questions,

ask Mr. Motormouth.

He knows the routine.

Yo, Gates!

Move 'em out,

and keep a special eye on Mr. Motormouth.

Count 'em off!

- One! - Two!

Correctional services are going to hell, Mikey. And that's a fact.

Time was they knew their place.

And we got on with our job.

Now they been watching all that sex,

free love and violence out there and they want some too.

There's a very bad element getting into prison these days.

Ready for the showers, Leroy?

Lieutenant Weisbad, this is Hal Smith's son.

- Michael, right? - Yes, sir.

Welcome aboard, Mike.

How's your dad like retirement? Fishing good?

Not much fishing, the bar keeps him pretty busy.

You're gonna have to be a pretty big man to walk in Hal's sneakers.

- I'll do my best. - Okay, Mike.

Here's your first assignment.

Every resident here is required to take one shower per week.

These are yours. Go shower them.

- Now? - Right now. Why not?

Well, I just got here. I haven't gone through the training program.

Mike, this is the training program.

What are you gonna do when you get out?

All right, men. Forward march.

Let's go.

Come on, move it out. Let's go.

Come on.

Come on, let's move it out. Come on.

Problem?

- Yeah, they won't move. - You gotta use your stick.

There's no verbal communication between officers and inmates.

Those are Attica rules.

One to go, two to stop.

I'm Willis. You're the new guy, Smith, right?

You'll get the hang of this shit soon enough.

If you're warm-blooded, can sign your name and add, this is easy.

And there's always overtime.

Hardly takes a rocket scientist to do this job.

What would you and me be doing here?

Better get after your group. Probably at the main gate by now.

Thanks.

Hey! Hold it up! Come on, stop!

Come on!

Good.

Any of you guys know how to get back to the cell block?

Hey, barkeep!

- Get me a drink. - You got lD?

Yeah.

That's me, right there.

How about a whisky and a beer in a dirty glass.

Oh, tough guy, huh?

How about I do a tap dance on your head with that bat over there?

Show him what you got.

Hey, no problem.

Punks.

Hi, pop.

Hi, son.

So how'd it go?

First day, you know.

Yeah.

I'll be right back. I wanna hear all about it.

Man, you look beat.

I'll tell you, it ain't like anything I thought it would be.

Your old man had 25 years in that place.

He never talked about it when he came home.

What's the deal in there?

Can we talk about something else?

Sure.

Jess, look.

It's an easy eight you don't have to be a rocket scientist

and you'll probably get used to it. ln about 150 years.

So, you wanna tell me about it?

I'll call you later, Mike, all right?

Thanks, Hal.

Pop, I gotta be getting back.

It's quite a place, the Factory, huh?

Yeah, it sure is.

Thanks for the drinks.

Oh, my God! He's got ears!

You never told me.

You're gorgeous!

How long are we gonna be able to keep doing this?

Months and months.

You feel good.

So...

day one?

Day one I just about organized the biggest prison break

in the history of the New York penal system.

I'm marching these 30 guys out of the shower...

I need just about the longest shower I ever took.

Thanks.

Tell me about your day, I'll tell you about mine.

- You don't wanna know about it. - Really? ls that why l'm asking?

Well, it's a big noisy place and there's lots of bad guys

who don't wanna be there and that's about it.

Kodak is still taking people on.

Sharon, we've been through that.

You want to be a prison guard the rest of your life?

Corrections officer.

Honey, is that what you wanna do with the rest of your life?

Nothing much else worked out, did it?

Yo, captain.

I got a little problem here, sir.

You're not supposed to talk to me, I'm not supposed to talk to you.

Yeah, but I got a situation, sir.

You got a problem,

take it up with the lieutenant.

My toilet bowl's clogged up, sir.

I'm in here 23 hours a day.

I gotta do something about this.

I didn't hear you.

I missed my shower.

No. You say you wish to report

a hygiene deficiency situation.

I can't here you.

I wish to report a hygiene deficiency situation.

- Occasioned by? - By the fact I was in the goddamn...

You gotta say ''occasioned by''.

I wish to report a hygiene deficiency occasioned by...

What is it?

Got a problem on 31, his toilet's backin up.

I walk this tier, son. There's nothing wrong here.

Nobody's got a legitimate bitch

unless I say so.

It smells pretty bad.

We have an inmate trying to jerk a new officer around, that's all.

Yo, 31!

Waste any more of my officer's time and your ass is gonna get clamped,

big time!

They do it on purpose. They stuff their shirts in the can.

Why would he do that?

Because they're them, and we're us.

Their job is to fidge us around and ours is not to let them do that.

Don't be getting into a debating club with the inmates.

It's backing up all over his floor, sir.

Don't worry about him. You know what he's in here for, don't you?

No, I don't wanna know. I just want to do my job.

I can't see how knowing what he's in here for is gonna make a difference.

You fill out this job slip for a blocked drain on C block?

Yes, sir.

Officer Yates says he told you no action need be taken.

- Mr. Ramirez's toilet was... - Mr. Ramirez?

You got a little bleeding heart thing going on here, Smith?

Sir, just trying to do my job.

You haven't been here long enough to know what your job is yet.

I am negatively impressed by this attitude. You like this attitude?

- This is not a good attitude. - You telling us how to walk a tier?

- No, sir. - Good.

Let's see if your heart's in place and how heavy your balls hang.

Left, left, left...

two, three, four.

Bishop! On the floor.

Track 24.

You got some out of cell time,

Mohamed.

Smith, cuff him.

Belt.

Handcuffs.

Ankles.

Chain.

Meet Billy Bishop, from New York City.

Jamaal X, political prisoner of the white devils, freedom fighter,

member of the black resistence,

for liberation.

The only thing you liberated was your mother's fanny when you put her

on the street to pay for your habit.

Come on, don't be a panny.

Try it.

Come on.

Here we go again. Another petition.

Request denied.

The rules on what the prison laundry will accept are quite clear.

How about the other demands?

I need to know your response to the Attica Liberation Movement's

demands for better treatment.

You do not make demands,

and you do not circulate petitions inside this facility.

From now on, you will not hold meetings in the yard

and you will not wear a uniform.

Grey pants and white shirts are prison-issued.

Not how you militants and troublemakers wear them.

We press our pants and change our shirts

when we can.

You people are turning into a problem again, my friend.

How you gonna deal with the problem, Mr. Superintendent?

Keep us on the move inside the system?

Should you continue with your subversive and disruptive behavior

you will be subject

to immediate transfer to another prison.

The effect will be like having your nuts caught in a revolving door.

We demand better food.

We demand better medical facilities.

We demand an end to censorship

of inmate-attorney correspondence.

We demand a right to worship how we please.

We demand a rehab system that works.

We demand Spanish-speaking officers for our Latino brothers.

Latino brothers!

You and the Puerto Ricans are always trying to kill each other.

Our solidarity scares you ''chain 'em to the floor'' motherfuckers.

You like us at each other's throats, makes us easier to control.

Is that it for today?

You got anything else? Anything new?

You running out of time, Mr. Superintendent.

This is Attica.

We're not gonna blink.

Ten hut!

Now tell him to drop 'em.

Go on.

Drop 'em.

Now tell him to spread them.

Tell him to spread them real wide,

so wide we can see the sun coming up.

Do you have a problem with this, officer Smith?

Are your panties to tight?

Spread 'em.

Tell him wider.

Wider.

And again.

Wider!

You got a girlfriend, man?

You got a family?

You tell them you look up people's asses all day?

Turn around!

Yates says you got a problem knowing what these men are in here for.

Maybe that's because as long as you can tell yourself

they're just men and not inmates

you can also kid yourself into believing you're not a guard.

I said turn around!

You're wearing the blue now, son. That makes you one of us.

And there ain't no way around that.

Mace him!

In his eyes!

ln his eyes!

Again!

Okay, okay. Get him out of here. Get him out.

You did good, son.

Lose one cell and we lose a tier.

Lose the tiers, and we've lost the yards.

If we lost the yards, lose the yards, and we lose the prisons.

Lose them, and we've lost America.

Understand?

We've got a civil war going on in this country, son.

This is where we're gonna hold the line. You got it now?

Not bad, huh? Well done, Mike!

He's got a pretty good voice.

How the hell's he doing?

I don't think Sinatra's worried, but we can always use another baritone.

I don't mean that, I mean how's he doing on the job.

He's got shoulders, he's got balls

and he's learning the right attitude.

He's gonna be great!

He lost his cherry.

Give me another one, Ed.

Hey, barkeep!

Line me up, l'm ready to go.

You've been hitting it pretty hard, you think you ought to ease up?

No, pop, this job you work up a thirst. You should know.

All right.

I wanna tell you one thing, I'll ask in a nice way, don't embarrass me

or Sharon, all right?

Hi, honey. How you doing? You having a good time?

Cut it out!

What does that mean, you lost your cherry?

It means there was some trouble in the tiers today and I got involved.

Got involved, how?

I maced a P.R.

He was struggling and I was there and it's what I get paid for.

- You maced a P.R.? - A Puerto Rican.

- You don't have to know about this. - That's not good enough for me.

It's not me. I didn't grow up here

and I didn't grow up expecting to be the wife of a prison guard.

That's too bad, isn't it?

You know something? lt is too bad.

- Where are you going? - Home.

Honey, this is upstate New York.

We hunt, we fish, we drink and lock people up for the rest of the state.

You're changing. They're doing something to you.

This isn't another job.

I put my life in those guys' hands every day.

And you don't talk about it to your wives, especially not to your wives.

They're taking you away from me. I want you back. Don't give up...

I'm not giving up on this marriage. I'm making money, I'm working.

For you and for him.

If you weren't having this baby we wouldn't be having this discussion.

But that's not the way it is, is it?

I just don't wanna talk about it now, Sharon.

Don't go.

Look here. Contraband.

I got a bad gut.

I can't eat that shit that y'all.

That's an illegal device there.

Now why does the commisary sell cans of soup

if you can't

heat the shit up?

Guess that's one of the mysteries of the penal system.

You gonna walk to the hole or we gonna have to carry you?

Fuck you.

I'll burn your ass, motherfucker! I want hot!

I want hot soup! Hot soup!

You got it, motherfucker? Hot soup!

Hot soup! Hot soup!

Bring your fucking ass over here!

Leave my man alone!

Watch your asses in here today, gentlemen.

Some clown tried to brain officer Yates with a can of soup.

When we tried to grab the perp in the yard we damn near had a riot.

Smith is gonna lift him on his way out of chow hall with a snatch team.

First sign of any trouble, we go to general lockdown.

So stay cocked, locked and ready to rock.

Question, lieutenant.

What kind of soup?

Tomato, condensed. ls that important?

Details.

I like details.

Right.

So what do we do if there's any trouble?

Procedure is cover your balls and run for the walls.

That's it?

Don't you get it yet?

We don't run this place. They do.

We feed them, water them, make sure the roof don't leak.

Any time they wanna take this place over,

we got 30 seconds to hit the street.

You told Willis what's going down?

No, hell no. I thought you did.

Jesus. The Attica Follies.

Let's go. Willis doesn't have a clue what's going on.

Hey, Willis! Open the fucking door.

- What's going on? - If I miss my shower

- I'm gonna be pissed, motherfucker! - To the right.

Come on!

Motherfucker!

Shit!

Hot soup, motherfucker! Hot soup!

Go on, kick his ass. Get the keys.

I got 40,000 Zulus coming down the corridor, coming right for you!

Bring the pigs! Bring the pigs!

Bring 'em all!

Sir, we have an inmate

control problem. Your officers are down.

Request permission to use fire.

Affirmative.

ls this it? The big one?

Negative. We have it contained.

Armory? Weisbad.

We're gonna take it over!

Get the fucking keys!

The keys!

Come on! Come on!

Get that motherfucker! Get him!

Over there! Get him! Get his fucking keys! Get him!

Come on! Come on! Come on!

We're getting it on, baby!

We even gonna free white boys today.

Red alert. This is not a drill.

Repeat. This is not a drill.

We got it! Let's go!

Come on, baby! Get out of your cell!

Come on! Get out your damn cells!

Hey, get off!

Get back! Hold your fire!

Come on, man. We getting out.

Don't move. Don't move.

You ratted me to them.

Stand up. Be a man.

You ratted me, you squealing motherfucker!

Fall!

Get down.

Let it burn!

What's going on?

Look out the window. They got guns.

It's a riot!

Mr. Smith, what the fuck is going on?

Don't do it, man. School's out.

Give me the keys!

Give me the fucking keys!

Give him to me! I've got him!

I've got him! I've got him.

Stay down! Just stay down! Keep your head down!

I'm finishing a chart.

Oh, yeah? l'm gonna finish your ass if you don't come out of that cell.

My books!

Shit!

Open it. Open it!

Open the door, Mr. Yates!

Open the door, Mr. Yates!

Go on, go on!

Fuck 'em up! Do it, do it!

I want you guys to keep your heads! We gotta organize!

Get everybody out of here, get them in the yard!

Meet me at the door in one minute! Be back here!

We've got to go, sir. We've got to go now.

They've taken D block. I don't know if we can hold the rest.

Fuck him up! Fuck him up!

Fuck him up! Fuck him up!

Fuck him up!

Get off him. Get off!

Yo, look! We gotta stop this shit.

- What the fuck is your problem? - We need these pigs.

Not me.

What else we got to negotiate with?

Are the walls secure?

Is this thing contained yet?

It's being contained, sir. We've stopped them at the gate.

Sound the powerhouse whistle.

We got it.

We got the prison.

We lost it.

We lost Attica.

Damn, man. I only had two more weeks left.

Greedy motherfuckers! Stop eating!

Get the shit over there to the kitchen!

We got to share!

Salaam Alekum, brother.

Alekum Salaam.

I think you need to get over here. This guy's bad off.

Take a look at officer Willis.

He got piped real bad. They busted him up good.

Let's go. We gotta talk to the man.

We want our men

out.

Come and get them!

Give us one. Just one.

We'll give you food, water, medical supplies.

We'll give you one. That's all you get.

They ain't coming in.

The man just blinked.

You know where you are, man?

You're in Athens.

Athens, Greece. 3,000 years ago.

The birthplace of democracy. Every few years,

the rays converge

and the planet gets another chance.

I used to think it was Woodstock.

But it's here, in Attica.

Is that so?

Have you ever heard of Spartacus?

This is it.

This is one of the great slave revolts.

Nothing's gonna be the same after this.

You want me to stitch that up?

It's okay.

You sure?

They took the yard.

The son of bitches took the yard.

You okay, Ed?

I'm hurting, Mikey. That's a fact.

You the ones wearing prison blues now, you understand?

Now we the man. You keep your mouth talking

and you'll leave here like him.

- Let's go. - Get them out, let's go.

- On the move. - Let's go.

- Look at his head. - Cover his face.

- Is he dead? - You shut your mouth!

Or I'll hang you upside down.

And I'll cut your throat and empty you out like a hog.

- Ed? What happened to your pants? - Shut up, Mikey!

We don't get a vote? We don't get a say-so?

You want him to die in here?

Let me see a hand of every man that wants him to die in here.

Hold it, lady.

It's okay, it's okay.

I went to the hospitals, he's not there.

- He's still in there. - Yeah, not for long.

- Are you going in? - Yeah, we're waiting on the word.

Report just in.

Armed black power revolutionaries are headed this way in a bus.

- In a bus? - I want you to go find them.

They join those rioters in there, we got a revolution on our hands.

Sarge, my best buddy's in there.

Get moving. That's an order.

There's a poor son of a bitch they tossed head-first through a window.

Wait a minute, lady. Please, get back.

- It's my husband! - I'm so sorry.

We gotta clear this, we gotta get him in the ambulance.

Somebody help me!

Governor Rockefeller is in minute by minute contact

with the authorities on the ground.

Quiet down!

He wants this situation resolved

so that we can continue with the work that is begun

in reforming the prison system.

The greatest tragedy would be

that this incident

pushed back the clock of our joint effort to do that.

Please get back! That's all for now!

We have a very serious situation here

which requires our immediate attention. Just let us pass.

We're ready to go in.

The perimeter is secure.

We know where most of the hostages are.

I'm relieving you of operational command. Stand your men down.

Stand them down?

The procedure is to go in, hard and fast,

take out their ring leaders and evacuate our personnel.

- We're not doing this your way. - My way is the book way.

The book says we do it this way or we put every officer in danger.

The governor has agreed to let me try another way.

Now his instinct is to go in now,

but I convinced him that we can do this without bloodshed.

Without further harm to your men.

Your way doesn't work, does it?

If it did, we wouldn't be here, wouldn we?

Attica! Attica! All or nothing!

Any man here who has something to say

is gonna get the chance to say it!

We have people here who are gonna listen to you!

And they are gonna take your demands

all the way up the ladder!

Sit down.

Sit down, sit down!

Now you the niggers now!

You white boys gonna find out what it feel like

to have the complection for the connection.

Only this time the shit be flying

in the right direction.

I'd smoke your ass right now,

but while we negotiating...

Sit down!

- We need your asses. - Bullshit.

The department doesn't negotiate. That's policy!

This man

is Mr. William Kunstler.

He is our man!

Well, it looks like to me

they're negotiating.

Here is the list of our demands:

Food, water,

and shelter for all inmates!

Chowtime! There you go, chowtime!

Chowtime!

Anybody need a shower?

Raise your hand if you need a shower.

Too bad.

This is Attica. You got to wait a week.

You ain't got no pants.

You gonna get your little pink willy frost bit. You want some pants?

Screw you.

Well, look what we have here.

We got some pants!

Why they just your size. Big...

and dumb.

What do you say?

Yeah, sure. Give me the pants.

Yeah, well, this being Attica, it ain't so simple, see.

See when you put in a request,

you got to do it by Attica rules.

- You got to say something like... - Just give me the pants.

You'll say: ''Negatively impacted as I am,

through a shortfall of covering to my little pink willy...''

I ain't saying that.

''I humbly

and respectfully request a pair of pants

Mr. Cecil, sir!''

- I humbly... - I can't hear you!

- I humbly... - I said I can't hear you!

I humbly...

and respectfully...

request a pair of pants...

Mr. Cecil, sir.

And what about your little pink willy?

I do not want my pink willy

frost bit.

I don't blame you.

It ain't much, but it's yours, right?

Put the pants on.

Man we just having some fun, Chaka.

They came here to have some fun, too.

You are not alone!

The world is watching.

We have assurances from governor Rockefeller

that there will be no force used

to retake the prison

while the negotiations continue.

Power to the people!

P'alante. Whatever that shit means.

This is an show of protest,

a cry against injustice!

All right, I want you to report exactly what you see in here.

Is this what the well-dressed

hostage is wearing this year?

You want some shoes, man?

I don't want them, no.

You some kind of hippie, pig?

It's all right to ask for shoes, man.

You're the new guy, right?

It's okay to ask for shoes. Tell him, it's okay.

- Ask for the shoes, Mike. - Do it, Michael.

I'm not asking for shoes.

Stop the camera.

Turn it off.

Look,

you gonna be here till we get what we want.

- You got an attitude problem? - I don't have an attitude.

Correction: you do have an attitude.

What you don't have is something on your feet.

You have one last chance to ask for shoes.

I'm not asking.

Then you ain't getting them.

Come with me, I got something to show you over here.

You should have taken the shoes, Mike.

Why didn't you?

They're just fooling with us.

You got to put yourself in their situation.

No. It's not right.

- Any news? - Couldn't find the revolutionaries.

Okay, I got something else for you. Something important.

- How long are we gonna be talking? - Just stay here as long as it takes.

They have no heating in their cells.

The parole rate is half that of any other institution in the state.

Why aren't given more than one roll of toilet paper every 8 weeks?

Why only one shower a week?

No wonder you had an uprising here.

This is a prison riot.

Not an uprising, or a revolution, or a negotiation.

The riot is all those armed men outside the walls

waiting for revenge.

Nobody's going to take revenge.

There are gonna be no reprisals.

Why aren't Spanish-speaking inmates

allowed to send or receive mail?

They're allowed as much mail as anybody else,

my problem is l don't have any Spanish-speaking officer to censor.

So they can write letters, they just can't mail them.

And their relatives can send them as much mail as they like,

it's just that you don't deliver them?

Has anything changed in the prison system? Is anything going to change?

Write this down:

five bearclaws,

three cinnamon twists,

six hot dogs with everything...

I'm asking you to think again, commissioner. You did it your way,

now do it the book way.

One way or another, we're gonna have to go in there. Over the wall.

The longer we delay it, the more dangerous. They got barricades,

gas bombs, they got a guy building a rocket launcher or something.

I'm going to negotiate this all the way.

It's my officers' lives you're negotiating, goddamnit!

Shithouse call! Shithouse call!

Get up! Come on.

Let's go!

Let's go, line 'em up.

Pick it up. Pick it up.

No, no. You don't want it. Get off him. Get up there.

You don't want it.

Look. They got the lieutenant.

Look what we found, thanks to the geniuses on your side.

Pigs gave us a list of all the piglets

unaccounted for. His name's on the list.

We went looking.

Found his dumbass hiding under a bench in the metal shop.

Any of you men been injured?

They've all been treated fairly, just as you'll be.

Nobody's been chained and nobody's been made to spread them.

Come on, you're next.

Come on, man. Take a dump.

- Take a leak. - No. I ain't going. Not here.

- You're gonna tear your insides up. - What's the problem?

Guy don't like the facilities.

Look, you guys better straighten him out or we will.

Okay, what's gotten into you now?

You trying to act like a hero, you make us look bad.

I'm not trying to be a hero, Ed.

Will you tell him to use the can sometime, he's making them mad.

You heard your uncle, get on the pot.

That's an order.

All right, you had your chance. Let's go.

Go! Move it out! Everybody, let's go!

Why aren't you wearing shoes?

- Is it because they took the pants? - It's just me.

Where are his shoes?

I gave my life to this department.

I trusted the sons a bitches.

They always told me if anything happens

we go in, we don't talk...

and we don't make deals!

They betrayed us, damnit!

The lousy rotten son of a bitches bastards!

Shitcan that kind of talk!

They're giving the orders now,

but we have a code of honor here.

Get some shoes on your feet.

I don't have shoes because I won't beg for them.

Take some pride in yourself, son.

For morale purposes how you look...

How I look?

What are we, a bunch of civilians? I gave you an order! Get shoes...

- I don't want shoes! - I gave you an order!

Why don't you just thing about what your dad would do if he were here.

He'd be thinking for himself, that's what he'd be doing.

If I have to suck the cock of every man on this yard

to get out of here, I'll do it.

And I won't give a thought about it when I get out.

Nobody's gonna have to suck anybody's cock.

What happened to self-respect? Pride in yourself, in your unit?

Nothing we do here says anything one way or the other about us.

What the hell is he talking about?

It's not about proving things.

- Then what is it about? - Goddamn!

Fucker! Fucker!

Let him go! Let him go.

That's the 3rd time he's tried that. This dude is out of control.

- I'll deal with it. - You can't have him in the yard.

Shut up.

You can't have him in general population.

I said l'd take care of it. Let him go.

You think he's got an angle? What's going on?

An angle?

Make them so pissed off with him they'll let him go.

I knew a guy in Nam once,

tied his pecker to a doorknob.

Sprained it so bad he was on the next plane home.

I don't want to die here because somebody wants to be a hero.

I'm gonna be one son of a bitch hard to please corpse, to tell you.

Either he pulls with us or we cut him loose.

Maybe that rookie took a bigger bang upside his head.

Yeah, something wrong with him, that's for sure.

I say we take care of him. Quietly.

- Take him back to one of the cells. - He ain't that big a problem.

Say he got in a brother's face and got cut. Then the shit goes down.

They're just waiting for something like that.

- Then nobody gets out of here. - Shit, C...

You ain't figured this shit out yet?

Nobody gets out of here.

It can't be.

It never could be.

Let me talk to him.

What's your name?

- Go to hell. - What's your name?

- Michael Smith. - Look, Smith.

Used to be a cissy on D block. Liked in in the mouth and ass.

Is that your problem?

You want us on your case, your buddies too? Piss everybody off?

l'm not trying to piss anybody off.

What you need to be trying to do is go along, you understand?

- You're Bishop, right? - No, that ain't my name.

Yeah, you're sure a good example of going along.

You trying to get killed, man? Is that what you're looking to do?

I want out of here.

You can kill me, you can take my life. But that's all you can do.

I got nothing left to lose.

So why don't you leave me alone unless it's tell me I'm getting out

because I got nothing more to say to you.

- How's it going, Sharon? - I've had better days, for sure.

- How's that baby? - Handling it better than any of us.

You heard anything? Anybody said anything about when you're going in?

They're still talking,

as far as I know.

Everything's gonna be okay.

They've got a contingency plan with these kind of things,

- he's gonna be all right. - That's nice to know.

Is there a contingency plan for losing a prison in 2 minutes flat?

What's that supposed to mean?

You know exactly what that means.

Now you listen to me.

Maybe we've got a generational difference,

but I don't see every man in prison as a miscarriage of justice

and the guys keeping him in there as the bad guys.

I don't know about good guys or bad, just that my husband's in there.

Well, your husband's my son. And I got a brother in there.

I know. l'm sorry.

It's all right.

You heard about what's going on in there?

I heard a lot of bullshit talk, I know that much.

- This isn't bullshit, my friend. - You know something?

What do you know?

Maybe l do and maybe l don't.

What I say is they got no business negotiating.

We ought be going back in there with a bullet for everybody in the yard.

Is that right?

We do it now, we do it later. Later ain't no use, right Hal?

Wait a minute, Frank.

We got a lot of angry guys in there: Muslims, Panthers, young lords...

besides your everyday anti-social.

So we ought to go in, right? Clean their clocks!

You know what, Yates?

If those guys don't get out safe it's because of loudmouths like you.

- You got a bad conscience for not... - And you for not running a prison!

Sit down.

Sit down, Frank, or you're both out of here.

This is my bar. We got a war going on here already.

He's out of line.

You tell him. Come on, help me here.

You're both out of line. Just settle down, all right?

I'll guarantee you one thing.

I'm gonna be there the minute we take the prison back.

They've had they're say.

Now I'm gonna have mine.

Whatever they've done to our boys, they've got a payback coming!

Would you shut up? Maybe they haven't done anything yet.

- They don't have any proof. - For Christ's sake!

They got photos of some of the hostages strung up

with their fucking cocks cut off

and stuck in their fucking mouths! They've been killing one

every couple of hours!

You asshole!

You wanna step outside and call me a fucking asshole?

Oswald's going in the yard!

Jess, let's go!

We've agreed on

28 of your demands.

Everything from a ban on censorship of mail

to Spanish language television programs.

But we can't go forward on anything else

until we get something back. We get some of those men out of here.

What about a guarantee against reprisals?

You got a court order

barring the prison administration from taking any such action.

Bullshit, a court order. It ain't nothing but a piece of paper.

How's that gonna stop those gorillas from putting a gas up my ass?

What the fuck about amnesty?

Offenses connected with the takeover will have to be investigated.

- There's no amnesty? - I can't guarantee it.

- What about the governor, can't he? - He has the power, yes.

- But is he gonna use it? - Man they been jiving us all along.

They just waiting for us to crack, then they walk in and break heads.

We gotta string a few of those up,

we gotta show them we mean business. We want a plane to take us to Africa

and we want it now!

Hell, man. I'm from Washington Heights!

I'll fight any man try to put me on a plane to Africa!

You know who scares me the most, Mr. Oswald?

Not these guys, I can live with them, I got no problem here.

It's those gorillas up there!

I've bent and I've bent

and I've bent. I can't bend any more.

It's in your hands now.

Give me one hostage.

Just one.

Hey, listen up! And let a real man speak.

I'm 55 years old. I got one son in here,

two more in federal prisons.

I've had 9 grandchildren, 3 shot by police.

Go on, keep talking.

The Freedom Bell rang

four days ago.

But I bent my back over this broom for so long

till I didn't know no better than to keep a hold of it.

Preach on that broom!

If they won't let you live like men,

you can sure as hell die like men.

What you gonna do about the lies, Mr. Commissioner?

We didn't push no Willis out a 6th floor window, did we?

We didn't burn no hostages

with a blowtorch, did we?

Why do you let them say that?

Can't you pick up a phone and tell them the truth?

Amnesty! Amnesty! Amnesty!

They need the lies!

They want the people

to think we animals!

That way they can come in here

and do anything they want to do to us!

Well I say

they still shucking and jiving!

I say we gotta hit 'em

with a two by four

and we can get serious!

Now if they prepared

to bargain for the little piggies,

maybe they prepared to bargain

for the big pig hisself!

I say...

we grab the big pig!

Brothers! We gave our word!

We granted him safe passage!

You gave him no word from me!

Now did he give his word for you?

For you!

Attica!

All or nothing! Attica!

All or nothing!

Come on. We got to get you out of here.

Get him out of here. Let's go.

See what happens when you start calling them mister?

You got to get the smoker in here.

You got to get governor Rockefeller hisself up here

or we all dead men.

I just came back from Rochester General.

Officer Willis died of head injuries

an hour ago.

One of my men just died, governor.

I'm under a lot of pressure to go in now.

But I really think another couple of days could make the difference.

It's starting to rain now and...

Yes, I understand, sir. I understand your under a lot of pressure too.

I realize you can't offer amnesty, but l'm not asking for that.

No, sir, no I...

Sir, I think you have to come up here in person.

No, not to negociate. I'm not sure there's anything left to negotiate.

But if the governor came in person

and showed his concern, I'm sure...

I understand the perception problems, sir,

but I'm concerned for the hostages.

Yes, and I've nothing else to offer the men that are holding them

except your personal involvement.

Yes, I have everything I need to retake the facility if I decide...

Yes, I understand.

Very good.

The governor is about to announce a commission of inquiry into the riot.

He has every confidence we will both be vindicated.

I'm going to see Willis' wife.

I'm sorry.

You didn't know him.

He coached my kid's little league team.

His daughter babysat for us.

I just need another day.

You don't have it.

What do you think is gonna happen

when word gets out every man in the yard is now facing murder one?

You ran out of road, commissioner.

I was right to wait.

I was right to negotiate.

Tell that to Willis's wife and kids.

You sure about this? Everybody goes down on murder one?

Under New York State law, every man in this yard

is culpable for every felony committed in it.

Including homicide.

They gonna put 2,000 guys on trial?

You wanna take a chance they won't?

It's going down, isn't it, lieutenant?

They got nothing to lose now.

When I was in Vietnam,

I used to get a pain in my left gut

just before we took incoming fire.

I got it again.

Smith,

I'm still gonna have to write you up when we get out of here.

You realize that.

Conduct prejudicial to good order,

endangering your fellow officers...

You do what you got to do, lieutenant.

Somebody make a note of this! That's the attitude l'm talking about!

Insubordination by an officer...

Get out of his face! What are you trying to do?

I'm trying to hold us together!

We're a unit!

You know, you're right.

I don't have what it takes.

I wasn't a guard long enough to know how to be a prisoner.

What does that mean?

It means you're so good at giving orders you knew how to take them.

Me, too, Michael?

It couldn't be any other way, Ken.

Screw you, asshole.

I don't know who the hell you are, Michael.

I watched you grow up and I don't know who the hell you are

and I don't know what you're doing.

He's pissing in the tent, that's what he's doing!

Pissing in the tent! Look at him!

Is the governor coming?

I need to know the governor's on his way!

Is he coming?

This one.

You got that wiggly talks corn-fed prom night white people look.

And you also got a big mouth.

Blindfold him.

Where are you taking him?

He's just a recruit, a rookie. You take anybody you take me.

I'm gonna take you.

You can bet your sweet ass I'm gonna take you.

I'm gonna take all of you. But first,

I'm gonna deal with this one.

Get him out of here.

You don't understand. I'm responsible for him.

You leave him here. Stay here, Smith! That's an order!

I'm senior in command here.

You take me first, you sons a bitches!

This is not right! This is not correct! I know!

Get back here, Smith!

I'm gonna kick your ass so far out of the department of corrections

you won't fucking work from here to San Quentin!

If you're gonna do something to me,

I want a chance to write to my dad and to my wife and say goodbye.

We ain't gonna kill you. Not yet, anyhow.

We gonna put you on TV.

Maybe you got nothing to say to me,

but you gonna tell Governor Rockefeller we mean business.

We want amnesty, we want a plane waiting

to take every man who wants to go to Africa.

You tell Rockefeller he got to come up here in person.

Make sure his goons don't take no reprisals

on any man who wants to stay.

You putting me on TV?

We gotta put a face on it, man.

They got to know who's gonna be paying

if the governor don't come through.

We signed petitions, they didn't listen. We played it their way...

We told them this was coming down, you understand me?

We told them this was coming down

and they didn't listen. You wanna know something?

They still ain't listening.

Got somebody here who wants to speak.

My name is Michael Smith.

I got a message for Governor Rockefeller.

They want a plane to take them to Africa,

and they want that the governor

comes here in person to guarantee

that there's no reprisals on the men who stay behind.

They'll start killing us if they don't get the answer that they want.

What about these stories about atrocities? Guards being tortured?

No, there's been nothing like that.

Have any of the guards been mistreated here? Have you been?

Well, we've been kept in the yard 4 days. We didn't want to be here.

Have you been mistreated?

They gave us food and water and protection.

- Have the hostages lost hope? - No.

We're just taking each hour as it comes, we expect to get out of this.

All right, that's it, let's go.

Do you have a message for anyone, Michael? Personal message?

I don't know if my wife is watching this,

but...

I want her to know that I'm thinking about her.

And the baby she's gonna have.

And...

if this doesn't go...

the way we want it to go,

I want her to know I wanted to spend more time with her and see my son.

All right, show's over. Come on.

It ain't right keeping us here.

I mean, there's a lot of things wrong here.

And they need fixing, but this isn't the way to do it.

I mean, getting a knife stuck at your throat...

having to crap before everybody, that's a human rights thing too.

But I understand a man doesn't stop being a man because he's in here.

Why shouldn't he have more than one shower a week

and get to have some contact with the guards?

And he shouldn't have to be in a cell with a clogged up toilet.

God, I hope this is over soon. We can't take much more of this.

And if you come in here with guns, a lot of folks ain't going home.

Why did you say that?

You trying to get some special favors?

I said what you told me to say. Amnesty, Rockefeller.

No, that other shit.

- They asked me and I told them. - Do you believe that?

Why would I lie?

You know something? You're crazy, and they're crazy.

You want amnesty for Willis

but you know they're not gonna put 2,000 of you up on trial.

You drop that demand, we can walk out of here.

Wiesbad is over there

trying to figure out how to put me up on a charge.

You know something? Maybe I'm craziest of all.

Because I came to work here for the overtime!

And I shut my eyes

to what goes on in here and I started

doing to my wife exactly what I saw my father doing to my mother.

Maybe I'm craziest of all.

Because I'm trying to talk a crazy man out of his craziness...

Don't call me crazy.

We could walk out of here right now, but you'd rather die than do that.

That sounds pretty crazy to me.

We want respect. We want dignity.

You are gonna get blown away.

Do you understand? You see the people up there?

I grew up here. I understand these people.

I know my people.

- What do you know about us? - What do you know about us?

You see, I can't talk to you.

I can't make you understand. You are one stubborn son of a bitch.

- We got to play this to the bust. - My kid has more sense than you,

he ain't even been born yet.

Come here.

I got something I wanna show you.

Go on.

Wait.

We were gonna do it different.

We were gonna show

how it could be.

Then we got nowhere talking,

and it started breaking up.

Somebody takes his payback on a snitch,

then somebody else.

This fool here,

he just wanted to cut somebody and we couldn't make him see reason.

It wasn't meant to be like this.

This was Attica.

It was something else.

You'd better get on back.

Okay, let's see what we have.

I told you I'd be coming back for you, didn't I?

Him!

Must be my winning personality.

Mr. Oswald!

Sir, I've got a brother and a son in there. You said you'd do something,

so goddamnit, just do it! Whatever it takes, just do it!

It's out of my hands.

Move, move, move! Double time!

What are those?

Body bags.

Weaned themselves. Corn-fed.

White picket fence.

I put up with them burning their bras, playing that crazy music...

their long hair and flaired trousers,

and them going on the pill so they could do it whenever they want.

Everyone's talking about his rights, nobody cares about mine.

I been waiting for this day. This is get it right day!

This is where it stops. It stops right here.

Our guys are in there.

Then they just gotta take their chances, don't they?

How's it going, prom night?

Just do what you gotta do and cut the bullshit.

Give me that.

- I'll take care of him. - No, I got him.

No, I got him. He's mine.

I'll do it quick and clean.

- You promise? - Promise.

- I don't wanna be flopping around. - Don't worry.

I'll do you right.

They cut the power.

If you make it out of here and I don't, tell my family I cared.

They gotta know I cared and I was thinking about them.

Will you do the same for me? Will you tell my wife?

Yeah, I promise.

He's here.

We did it. We did it. They listened.

He came!

All right, it's the guy!

Throw down your weapons!

You will not be mistreated!

You have nothing to fear!

Look out!

Gas! Gas!

Stupid pricks!

Too damp for gas!

Beautiful.

That's just so beautiful.

They're dropping gas!

Get the hell out! Move!

Who gave the order to fire?

Dig in, men! Dig in!

This is really great!

Stay down Michael!

I killed you, mother...

I'm one of you, you dumbfucks!

Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!

You'll kill everybody, you cocksuckers!

Just like Vietnam!

Fuck this shit!

Stay down, Michael.

Stretcher!

Crawl!

Crawl like a worm I said!

Help! I'm a guard!

- This the son of a bitch did it? - Tell him what I did for you!

He saved my life.

- How many throats did he cut? - He saved my life.

That's my buddy, mister!

Him too?

I'll be back.

Drop that shell and I'll blow you away.

Hang in there, Mikey.

Here, get him out of here.

Don't forget what you said.

I didn't see you, Mikey. Hang in there, we'll get you out.

Fucking lousy...

Hang in there, Mikey. We're gonna make it.

Move back. Please get behind the line.

This is a police line, please move back.

It appears they brought someone out.

Get the hell out of here.

Ed didn't make it.

Don't try to talk, son.

I couldn't do anything.

Stop it!

You are not leaving here without my husband!

Get down here and help me!

Get him up, come on!

Here, listen to me.

No one's ever gonna ask you about what happened in there. Look at me.

Not Sharon, not me and not Michael. You understand?

This whole thing was a mess, fucked up from the top down,

I don't wanna ever hear anything more about it.

All right?