[bright tone]
[tense, jazzy music]
♪ ♪
- Remember when your high school history teacher said
that the course of human events changes
'cause of the deeds of great men?
Well, the bitch was lying.
Fuck Caesar, fuck Lincoln,
fuck Mahatma Gandhi.
The world keeps moving 'cause of you and me,
the anonymous.
Revolutions get going 'cause there ain't enough bread.
Wars happen over a game of checkers.
- Hey...
Good night, turd.
[laughing]
[continues laughing]
[night stick clanking on bars]
- Hey!
[dark chords]
[thud, squish]
♪ ♪
Go! Move it!
♪ ♪
- Prisoner number 92S110,
Vernon Schillinger,
convicted October 21, '92,
aggravated assault in the first degree.
Sentence: eight years,
up for parole in five.
I had a visit from my sons.
They're almost... out of their teens now,
almost men.
They live with their grandfather,
the man who taught me everything I know about hate.
Yesterday my boys
sat there across from me
ranting and raging.
They were both fucked up on drugs.
They know I hate drugs,
that I'm in here because I hate drugs and...
because I love them.
I yelled at 'em and, uh...
they just...
laughed.
They laughed at me.
It's funny, you know...
With one eye, I can see, finally...
That...they are becoming the men I made them.
I got about three months till I'm up for parole.
All I want is to get outta here.
Be there for them.
Try to help my kids.
That's all.
- If I let you back into Em City, you'll kill Beecher.
- If I wanted him dead, he'd already be dead.
- You say you've changed.
Why should I believe you?
- Trust me, McManus,
you lose an eye,
you get kicked in the balls,
you get a face full of shit...
you become a different man.
[gate buzzes]
- King me.
[chuckles]
- [singsong] He's back!
- Hey.
-Where's Beecher?
- He's still in the Hole.
- Put these on.
Get up.
- Do you wanna touch my dick?
- Get dressed.
- I shit all over a man. - I know.
- That's not normal. - No. Get dressed.
- [exhales]
- Schillinger's back in Emerald City,
but he says he won't harm you.
Tell me you won't harm him.
- He burnt a swastika into my flesh.
He made me rip up pictures of my family.
He made me eat the pages of a law book.
He made me wear women's makeup
and he fucked me up the ass.
- I know. - [laughs]
So now I just forgive him?
- Yes.
- Could you ?
- Yes.
- All right.
I forgive him.
- Hey, roomie.
So..[ahem] how crazy are you?
- "Crazy"?
- Well, you broke the glass.
You blinded Schillinger,
you took a shit on his face.
- Hey. What the fuck are you looking at?!
- [chuckles]
You see, this is what I'm talking about.
The old Beecher would've hid just now.
- Yeah, well, I left the old Beecher in the Hole.
- I hear ya. - Hey...
don't get so close to me, okay?
- Okay.
Look, uh...
any day the Muslims are gonna riot.
I may need you, crazy or not.
- Need me to do what?
- Be my brother.
- Hey, hey!
It's your move, asswipe!
- Beecher, watch it!
You're gonna have the fastest turnaround time
in the history of the Hole!
- "Asswipe". - I'm tellin' ya, man.
You're gonna have to take Beecher out,
otherwise you're not gonna have any jizz left in Em City.
Everybody's gonna think you're a pansy-ass.
- I don't care.
Let 'em.
- When you're playing poker,
you can't let anybody at the table know
which cards you have...
what you're feeling, what you're thinking.
You gotta develop a game face.
In Oz...we wear our game face all day
and into the night.
You wear your game face so much
that when you look in the mirror,
you're not sure which face you're shaving.
[dramatic chords]
- I bring 'em in, you sell 'em.
- A carton a day. That's it.
- What's going on?
- There's a rumor that you're bringing contraband
into Emerald City.
- What?
- It's bullshit, right?
- Who did you hear this from?
- Tell me it's not true. - It's not true.
- You're lying to me.
- No, I'm not lying.
- I have an eyewitness, Diane,
that saw you pass cigarettes to Scott Ross.
An eye-fucking-witness!
- Who?
- Me.
- Oh.
So I'm fired.
- No, you're not fired.
Look, I know that you're worried about money.
I know you're worried about your mother and Didi,
but this shit has got to stop!
- Yeah, okay.
Okay, I'll put an end to it.
- Today. - Okay.
I appreciate the second chance, Tim.
- I've been digging through your files.
- Yeah? - I know that Ross and your ex
were in the same biker gang. - Yeah.
- You should've told me.
- Yeah.
- Have you slept with Ross?
- What? - I'm just trying to figure out
if you fucked us both.
- Wha...what is this?
You're trying to hurt me for breaking up with you?
You're trying to prove to me you've got a dick?!
You know what? I don't need this--I quit!
- Oh, fuck! I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
- You're sorry? - Yes.
I...I don't know what's going on with me.
Forgive me, please.
- Forgive you.
Okay, okay, I forgive you.
You forgave me.
We're even. - Say you'll stay.
- I got nowhere else to go.
- Hey.
- I'm done.
I'm out of the cigarette business.
- [stammers] Wh--wh-- what happened?
- I can't take the stress.
I don't wanna get caught.
I'm done. - It's not that easy.
- What does that mean?
- That means I have customers that rely on me.
- Yeah, so what?
- [sighs]
So...
So I'm not gonna let you fuck this up
with your guilt and paranoia.
- I say it's done, it's done.
- No.
You quit, I go to the Warden, I tell him everything.
He puts me in the Hole for a little while, big deal.
You--you lose your job,
you probably do some time...
Leaving little Didi a motherless child,
scarred for life.
- No, you wouldn't do that.
- Why wouldn't I?
Diane, you and me...
We're joined at the hip.
There ain't nothing you can do about that.
Turn on me again, your life ain't worth shit.
She's a damn fine woman, our Diane.
Damn fine woman.
[gaze buzzes]
[metallic clanging]
[edgy music]
- Hey, who's that?
- Oh, new guy, some Polack.
[buzzer]
- If the Muslims riot, we're ready.
Angels, Aryans--
What about the homeboys?
- Adebisi says they're on our side,
but, I don't think we should fight the Muslims
if we can avoid it.
- What, are you going soft on me, O'Reily?
- No, I'm just trying to stay alive.
What?
[edgy notes]
- Hey, what are you doing?
- Nothing. - Yeah?
Why don't you do it somewhere else?
- Stupid hacks.
- You're the lookout.
- I know I'm the lookout. - Go on, look out!
- Damn!
Hey, I'm Anthony Nowakowski.
- You're late.
- I had never been to Oswald before.
- I got lost coming off Route 7A.
- I'm Diane Wittlesey.
This is Joe Mineo. Don't be late again.
- Another fucking newbie.
- Joe's been around for about two centuries.
There's been a lot of suspensions lately.
- So I hear.
Officers beating up inmates on a regular basis.
- Killed one of our guys.
- Some of the COs decided to take it out
on any prisoner they could find.
Things got a little tense, but I'm hoping we're past it.
- Yeah.
Also hear you got
a couple of celebrities in this cellblock?
- That's Kareem Said.
He's the big muckety-muck Muslim.
- It's time.
I want you to start an argument with the guard,
get him to swing on you.
But he must hit you first, you understand?
- Yes. And after he hits me?
- Jihad-e-Akbar.
- That's Eugene Dobbins,
some classical kind of musician.
Used to play the cello till somebody smashed it.
- You wanna go to the library?
- No. - Come on, man.
Gym?
- Leave me alone.
- Now he sits in front of the boob tube all day.
That's Jackson Vahue.
- Vahue?
Oh, yeah, man, you see that game against the Bulls?
58 fucking points! That guy's amazing.
- Rebadow.
Your factory supervisor
says you haven't been to work for a couple of days.
- God lied to me.
- God lied to you? - Yes.
- Well, why should God be so different than anyone else?
Oh, shit. I'm late for a meeting.
- I used to have meetings.
They never do any good, you know.
[singers vocalizing, harmonizing]
- ♪ Baby, do you understand me now ♪
♪ Sometimes I get a little mad ♪
[vocalizing]
[dialogue inaudible] ♪ 'Cause I'm just a soul ♪
♪ Whose intentions are good ♪
♪ Oh, lord, please don't let me be misunderstood ♪
[vocalizing and harmonizing continues]
♪ ♪
♪ Oh, no, no ♪
♪ Oh ♪
- Prisoner number 65R814, Robert Rebadow,
convicted September 9, '65,
murder in the first degree.
Sentence: death, commuted to life.
- I'm beginning to think I never really talked to God...
that everything I thought I heard
was actually my own powers of reason.
McManus, you're a man of reason, too, but you've gotten lost.
- Yeah? Well, right now I'm late.
Go to work, Rebadow.
- Hey, Tim,
I want you to meet-- - Uh, later.
Hey, Ray. - Tim.
- [quietly] We get the hostages...
- Hey, Miguel. Could you guys
excuse us for a second?
- Hey, whatever you got to say to me
you can say in front of them.
- Take a hike.
- What the fuck is that?
- Jose Torres got paroled.
- Lucky prick.
- So I hear that you're running the gang now.
- Ain't listening to gossip a sin?
- Miguel-- - Hey, Father,
the only reason why I didn't
beat the shit out of you just now
is because you've been there for me.
Don't push your luck.
Okay?
- Okay, where was I?
- Losin'.
- You, uh, you move this piece?
- No.
- Yes, you did! - No, I didn't.
- You fucking moved the pieces!
You been doing it all along!
Every time I have to take a shit,
you move the pieces!
That's why I'm fucking losing!
- You keep losing 'cause you suck.
- You motherfucker, man!
[intense music]
- Hey, hey, break it up!
[overlapping shouting]
Hey, break it up!
♪ ♪
- Get off of him!
[intense, percussive music]
♪ ♪
[phone rings]
- Yeah.
- Hunt, send Armstrong out here now!
- Armstrong, get out there. hurry up.
- Whoa! All right!
- Hey, bitch!
Take that! Sucks, motherfucker!
[intense music continues]
♪ ♪
[alarm blaring]
[overlapping shouting continues]
- Shit.
- Miguel. Miguel!
Miguel!
- You all know what you're supposed to do?
- Yes! - Let's go!
[alarm blaring] [inmates yelling]
- [toot, toot]
[tooting party horn]
[inmates yelling]
[intense, percussive music]
- Shut down all the cellblocks immediately.
Cut off the pay phones!
- What's happening? - Our worst nightmare.
- Aaaaahhh!
[alarm blaring] [inmates yelling]
[intense music continues]
♪ ♪
[gunshot]
[men stop yelling] [alarm blaring]
- Now, let's get organized!
[all whooping, cheering]
- This is Warden Glynn!
[inmates yelling, booing]
- Surrender immediately, and there will be no repercussions!
- Fuck you!
- Is there anyone in charge?
[overlapping shouting continues]
Is there anyone in there we can talk to?!
Said!
[men chanting] Said, Said, Said, Said,
Said, Said, Said, Said,
Said, Said, Said, Said!
[men stop chanting]
- Gentlemen... - What's this about, Said?
- If you have to ask, Glynn,
we got a long day ahead of us.
[inmates cheering, yelling]
[dark, tense music]
♪ ♪
- Glynn is giving us time to come up with a list of demands.
But I think the most important element
is that we remain united.
- I don't have a problem with that.
- Me neither,
as long as we get a few ground rules laid down.
- Such as?
- Man, you're not the boss.
- Hmm. I am willing to share the power.
That is why I asked you here.
You see, we can become a kind of council.
We will, together, make all the decisions.
- We can talk parliamentary procedure later.
How many guns do you have? - Just the one.
- I don't believe you.
- Well, you're gonna have to learn to trust me,
just like I'm gonna have to learn to trust you.
- Yeah, but you got the gun,
and that gives you one up on the rest of us.
- That's right.
I hear you talking about sharing power,
but I can't turn my back on you.
- Okay,
how would you like me to demonstrate my sincerity?
- Give me the gun. - Oh! [scoffs]
- Okay, okay.
How about we divide up the responsibilities?
- [chuckling] - Look, O'Reily, Ross, Adebisi,
you already have control of the front entrance.
I propose O'Reily be our spokesman
when dealing with Glynn.
Ross, you be in control of the distribution of food,
Adebisi, all other comings and goings.
- My men should have the hostages.
- Okay.
You're gonna have to give up Hunt.
- No way.
- We all have to give up something.
It is much more efficient
to have all the hostages in one place.
- He's got a point.
Besides, as long as we got control of the gate,
hacks aren't going anywhere.
- So we all agreed then?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- All right.
So all that remains is the list of demands.
Who wants to start? - I wanna see my girl.
- This ban on smoking is getting to be bullshit.
- We gotta get the wounded to a separate place, Arif.
- The shower room?
- Yeah, good idea, go.
- Dobbins. Yo, Do--
Yo, can I get a hand here?!
Can somebody help me, please?!
Jes-- Dobbins--
- Let's take him to the shower room.
- C'mon.
[playing robust classical piece]
- You always been my hero, man.
- That's me, fuckin' role model.
- It's priceless to me,
and that's why it's locked in the chaplain's office.
- You're gonna do what I tell you to do
or I'm just gonna fuck you up.
- Hey, Jackson, you leave Dobbins alone, man.
- You butt out of this, all right?
[cello music continues in background]
[music stops]
Hey, this is all I could find.
They burned everything else, man.
Oh, shit. That don't look good, man.
I had a friend in a fight get stabbed like that.
He died right in the middle of Pulaski Boulevard.
- If Dobbins don't get to a hospital soon,
he gonna be trading that cello in for a harp.
- Fucking guy and his goddamn cello.
- Hey, you broke it, didn't you?
Didn't you? - No, no, no.
You gotta take him to ER, all right?
- Yo, whoa, whoa--I go out there, they kick my fucking ass.
- They're gonna be kicking our asses anyway, brother.
- Hey...I mean, no. Hey, this ain't my fault, Hill.
Yo, he is definitely not my problem, man.
I did not start all this shit, Hill.
- What difference does it make, huh?!
Look, you think 'cause of who you are
you can pick and choose when to take responsibility.
You can't! Sometimes you got to step up.
All right? Look at him!
Dobbins, that cello--
that's all he had, man. It's like me and that chair.
It's who he was, it's like you and basketball!
C'mon, man.
[murmuring to Dobbins]
Just hold on. - All right, all right.
All right, look, fuck it, fuck it.
Yo, yo, fuck it. I've been hit before.
C'mon, c'mon. - Just grab him, man.
- Come on, Dobbins. Open the gate!
C'mon! - Come on! Yo!
- I gotta get Dobbs to the hospital!
- Fuck Dobbins. - Yo, let us out!
- Yo, let him out, man! - Hey, hey, hey, hey.
What's up, brother? - Dobbins is dying, man.
- Let's dump him before he starts getting moldy.
- [sniffs] Okay.
- What about Said and Alvarez?
- If you vote yes, that's a majority.
We don't need them at all. Listen to what I'm saying.
The three of us hang together, Said's our bitch.
- Okay.
Let's go! [claps twice]
- We're letting out one wounded prisoner.
Tell Glynn.
- [speaking softly]
- Open the gate!
- All right, man, I'll see you.
- Yeah.
[dark music]
[gate buzzes]
- Hold on, man, he's gonna drop!
Damn! Somebody help him!
You fucking--
Ah, shit!
Fuck! [groans] Ah!
- We got one of these bastards.
- Aaah!
- [clears throat]
[one cello note]
♪
[bang] Hello!
Hope you don't mind, I gotta take a shit.
- Beecher, listen.
- Hey! [clang]
You know, I'm standing here thinking about
all the good times we've had, you and me.
- I don't wanna fight.
- Oh, no, of course not.
You get into a fight, you fuck up your parole,
and I hear for the next three months
you're gonna be a good little boy
so you can get out of Oz, save your two sons.
You know, I think that's great.
But, you know what I'm wondering?
What if Vern doesn't get out?
What if, as he comes up for parole,
he gets into a brawl,
a knock-down, drag-out with his old roomie?
Ha.
What if...
every time he comes up for parole,
Vern gets into some ugly incident
and has to serve his entire sentence?
And his two sons, they become monsters.
[chuckling]
That's what I'm wondering about.
Prag.
♪ I got it bad, and that ain't good ♪
[intense musical sting]
- We love to root for the underdog.
You know, at halftime,
when one team is getting their asses handed to them
and they're headed to the locker room,
we say a silent prayer.
We pray that when they come back,
they'll turn it around, they'll score,
they'll beat those cocky sons-of-bitches, yeah!
We love it when someone comes up from behind.
- We have to figure out a way to escape.
- How? - I don't know,
but I can't just sit here waiting to get raped.
- Or killed.
- You really think they're gonna kill us?
- No, they'll invite us for tea.
- Armstrong. Is he gonna be all right?
- You sit down over there with them.
- What's the matter with Armstrong?
- Shut up, Hunt. Sit the fuck down!
I'm in charge of you motherfuckers now!
I don't know how long this shit's gonna last,
but if you don't give me any trouble,
you walk out of here alive, okay?
- We've all been beaten badly. Armstrong needs a doctor.
- Armstrong. - Hey, hey!
- Hey.
I'll see what I can do.
- I gotta piss.
- Father, you're friendly with Alvarez, aren't you?
- I thought I was.
He let them take me without lifting a finger.
- You didn't really think that they'd
lift a finger to help you, do you?
He'd get whacked if he tried to help you.
- You know what it's like in the Hole, right?
You get a bucket to piss and shit in.
Stays with you the whole time.
[bucket clatters] Go ahead.
- Uncuff me.
- [softly] No.
You remember that joke you made when my baby died?
Fucking cocksucker!
Fuck you! Fuck you!
- For God's sakes, stop it!
Miguel!
What the fuck is going on?!
- Look, look...right now,
I can't change shit if I wanted to!
- Well, maybe you can't change shit,
but you don't have to give in to the brutality.
- You're so fucking naive! - "Naive".
I'm not naive.
I'm afraid.
- Yeah. Well, so am I, hermano.
So am I.
- We have unconfirmed reports
that a riot has erupted at Oswald State Penitentiary.
Correction officials and the governor's office
will neither confirm nor deny
that a riot broke out at the prison,
which has been plagued with violence in recent months.
It is still under the tight scrutiny
of the Devlin Administration... - Move.
- Let him up. - The ongoing investigations
into the rash of murders here.
And though the Warden, Leo Glynn, has assured us
that nothing out of the ordinary is happening,
if recent events are any indication,
a riot would be almost inevitable.
So, Alvarez, how are the hostages?
- They need a doctor.
- I say we get 'em one
because we don't wanna seem like savages now, do we?
'Course, you're gonna have to clear that with all the others.
- Okay.
- Adebisi,
you gotta slow down on that shit.
- Why?
- 'cause we need our fucking heads
to be together right now.
Besides, if this situation gets worse,
we're gonna run out of that stuff,
and I don't want you detoxing on me
when I need you the most.
- You worry too much, pretty boy.
Have some.
- No.
I been clean since my time in the Hole.
- [laughs]
Clean for what, huh?
[laughing]
- [indistinct shouting] - Hey, hey, hey!
Break it up! Break it up!
- Fuck this, man! - Hey, hey, hey!
This is exactly what those dicks out there are hoping for!
Said, too!
Hey!
What do you think he gave you guys the archway for?!
He's waiting for one side
to kill the other, and then-- - Well, let's do it!
- He's gonna kill who's ever left, all right?!
We gotta stick together, Wangler!
- [clapping]
Hey, Kenny,
hold that. - Yo,
there's a couple of hacks that are in pretty bad shape.
So Said and I wanna get 'em a doctor.
How do you vote?
- No.
- Fuck that.
- Yo, O'Reily,
it's two to two.
You can break the tie.
- Yeah, break the tie.
- What's it worth to you, Alvarez?
- What's it worth to me?
- Yeah.
What'll you give me for my vote?
- Nothing.
- Let the fuckers die.
- Fuckin' break some knees.
- I had an uncle who was a drunk.
Tried to get him some new hobbies
to keep him from drinking.
Got him into sculpting school.
Didn't help.
Kept coming home plastered.
- Oh, Jesus Christ.
- Had another uncle who was a rare coin dealer.
One day a couple of tough guys come in the place
and, uh...beat him senseless.
- Stop!
- Got another uncle, owned a grocery store.
One night, somebody comes in and caves his head in
with a case of Cornflakes.
Cops think it might've been the work of a
"cereal" killer. - Cereal killer.
- D'Agnasti, shut the fuck up.
- Just trying to break the tension.
- All right, no doctor.
- Miguel, you gotta do something.
- Yeah, I know.
I been working as an orderly in the prison hospital, so...
- So what, now you're an MD all of a sudden?
All you're good for is cleaning up shit.
- Shut up, Eddie.
I used to work as a nurse's aide.
I can give you a hand. - No fucking way.
- Look, we gave them a couple hours
to come up with their list of demands.
Before we take any action, we might as well
wait and see what they want! - I say no negotiations.
I say we cut off Em City's water and electricity,
then tonight when they're sitting in the dark,
we fire tear gas in there. - What about the hostages?
- Hopefully the S.O.R.T. Team will reach 'em--
- Hopefully? Governor, we don't even know where they are!
- Or if they're alive!
Said says he's got seven hostages!
How do we know for sure?
- We ask to see them! - The longer we wait,
the more chance we're giving them to dig in!
Even though we sealed off that section of the complex
and locked down all the cellblocks,
the other inmates know what's going on!
We're sitting on a time bomb.
I'm going public.
I'm sending in the National Guard
to surround Oswald.
[phone rings]
- Yes.
Okay.
That was Hofmiester.
The rioters want food.
- [scoffs] There's no reason to give them anything.
- Oh, yeah, let's starve 'em out.
- Governor, I see no harm
in sending in some sandwiches.
- I'll take 'em inside.
- What? - Yeah, as a condition
for giving 'em food, we tell 'em they have to let me
check on the hostages.
- You're going in there voluntarily?
- Yeah.
- You're even stupider than I thought.
- Hello!
- Leave it there.
No, uh-uh.
The deal was I get to see the hostages.
- You. Alone.
- Dinner is served! - Help yourself, boys!
- Ah, ah, ah, Who says your boys go first?
- Hey, I fucking say my boys go first.
- Oh, yeah? Fuck you. - Hey, fuck you.
- For chrissake! We'll serve the sandwiches
the same way we do in the cafeteria.
Jesus Christ!
- Where are the hostages? - I'll show you.
- Okay, gents, line the fuck up.
One.
I said one, Wangler.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Are these two okay?
- They'd be better off in a hospital.
- How 'bout the rest of you?
- We're fine,
no thanks to these cocksuckers.
- Diane?
- No one touched her, if that's what you mean.
- Was I talking to you?
- Ooh, watch your mouth, McManus.
You ain't king shit around here no more.
- Are there any other hostages?
- No, not that we know of.
- What would it take to get these two and her set free?
- Gotta put it to a vote.
- I want you to stand.
- So, um...
You let them go, I stay.
- Three for one?
Not a good trade.
- If Mineo and Armstrong die,
you will be held responsible.
We're talking death sentence here.
- So, okay, the two of them go,
but Wittlesey stays.
- Mmm...then no deal. - McManus,
I don't think you fully grasp your current position here.
We don't have to let any of 'em go, or you.
- You taking me prisoner?
You gonna go back on your word?
- We have every intention
of fulfilling our part of the bargain.
- Why should we?
- Because if we lie to them,
we become just like 'em,
and we won't get our list of demands.
- I say we let Armstrong and Mineo go.
- Me, too.
Who else?
Adebisi?
[slaps leg] - Sure, fuck it.
- Ross?
- Oh, well, Wittlesey's gotta say.
- Said?
Okay.
[gate buzzer]
This is a letter for Glynn from McManus
explaining the exchange.
Here's our demands.
Let's go! - Let's go!
[inmates chattering]
"We want to speak directly to the media uncensored..."
- [snickers] Sure, we'll put 'em on
right after "Seinfeld".
- "There are to be no reprisals or repercussions
to any inmate involved in the riot."
- Oh, Jesus Christ, why don't they
just ask to go free?!
- You know, most of these demands are harmless.
Bring back conjugal visits, smoking.
- Yeah, well, I reject all their demands.
I won't negotiate with animals.
- Then how can you expect me to end the situation?
- The old-fashioned way...
by force.
- This is all your fucking fault, McManus.
- Shut up, Eddie.
- No, God damn it. If I'm gonna die,
at least I want the bastard who got me whacked to know it.
- How can you blame Tim?
- How?
'Cause of all this Emerald City bullshit.
'cause Tim thought he could help these cocksuckers.
I seen you in action, pal.
I seen you fumble the fucking ball every single play.
I just hope if we do die, I get to watch you go first.
- Oh, fuck.
Oh, Christ.
I gotta see Said.
I wanna talk to Said.
- I don't know. - Please, Miguel.
- I like that.
I like it when you beg, McManus.
- Said...
I grew up in a small town in Upstate New York.
There was only one major industry there,
the prison.
Everybody's parents either worked at the prison
or made a living from, you know, motels, gas stations
or, like my dad,
at a diner right across the street.
It was the Fall.
We'd just gone back to school.
I was about to turn 10,
so I was very, very excited.
A few days before my birthday, though,
there was this riot...
And it lasted four days.
But then the governor authorized 2,500 troops,
state troopers,
to go back in,
take it back.
They did...
firing at anything that moved.
So when the tear gas cleared...
31 inmates
and nine hostages were dead.
- Attica.
- Three of my friends' fathers were shot.
Instead of going to a birthday party,
I went with my family to a, uh, memorial service.
- So that's what this is all about?
Emerald City is your birthday party?
[laughs]
- Look...
I built Em City
because I wanna make a better world
for you...
For all of you.
Right now we're on the edge of oblivion.
We're on the brink of disaster.
Now, before we all join hands and jump...
I want another chance.
- Not mine to give.
- Yes, it is!
- No, it's not!
Because even the best prison wouldn't be good enough!
[laughs]
I'm gonna try one more time with you, McManus.
No, I am not saying that the men in Oz are innocent.
I'm saying they are not here
because of the crimes that they committed
but because of the color of their skin!
Their lack of education, the fact that they are poor!
You see, this riot is not about getting smoking back,
conjugal rights.
It's not even about life in prison.
It's about society taking responsibility.
It's about the whole horrid judicial system!
And we don't need more prisons,
bigger prisons, better prisons.
We need better justice.
Now what can you do about that?
- If we don't resolve this, you and me,
and soon...people will die.
You could die.
- I am willing to lay down my life...
for change.
Now, those deaths at Attica,
they brought real changes with real reforms.
But everybody's forgotten the lessons of your little hometown.
Time to wake this country up again.
- Said, we gotta talk.
- You wanna save this place, right?
And I wanna destroy it,
brick by hypocritical brick.
- Wait, wait!
- Let me outta here!
- This isn't working. - What?
- The entrance way. Every ten minutes,
I'm putting a fire out between the gangsters and Nazis.
- Put the Aryans in another part of the cellblock.
- They're gonna want something in exchange
for giving up the security office.
- Switch them with the Latinos.
They can take care of the hostages.
- Okay. There's something else.
We're out of heroin.
- Good. - Says you.
Adebisi and his pals are starting to fiend.
This is gonna get real ugly, real fast.
- When and if that happens, I will be ready.
- What are you gonna do?
Don't you fucking walk away from me, Said!
- Enough! - Back off, Beecher!
Back off!
- Arif!
[edgy music]
♪ ♪
Everybody go back.
Allah akbar.
men: Allah akbar.
- Hey, hey-- - I gotta find some--
I'm dying for some tits, man!
- Be cool, little brother.
- There's some somewhere around here.
- Da-da-da-da-da.
Follow me, come, come!
[tense, percussive music]
Come!
♪ ♪
Go into every pod,
steal whatever drug you can find, go!
Go! Go, go, go there. Go, go!
Go!
[inmates yelling]
- Where the fucking tits? [overlapping shouting]
Where the fucking tits?! Where the tits?
- Tits?
[Adebisi continues yelling]
- Where the fucking tits?
- [groaning] - Aah! Aah!
Where are the tits?
- Adebisi!!
[inmates quiet down]
- [choking] Ack-- - [panting]
- It's finished!
It's over!
- [gasping, wheezing]
- [laughing]
Whoo-ha!
Wah-ha-ha-ha!
- Police, police!
- It's execution day, baby.
[metallic clang]
Prisoner number 93A234, Simon Adebisi.
Convicted May 2, '93,
murder in the first degree.
Sentence: life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Go ahead...
Kill me. [panting]
- I don't wanna kill you.
- I know. You wanna save my ass.
- Yes, I wanna save you.
- Please...
Give me some tits.
Give me some tits!
Give me some fucking tits!
- They say it don't matter if you win or lose,
it's how you play the game.
I call bullshit on that.
It's all about winning, brother.
That's the object of the game.
- What is that?
- Beginning and the end, my brother,
the beginning and the end.
Okay, everybody!
They're about to make their move!
Bring out the hostages!
- Please, untie me.
- You shouldn't have stolen my fucking watch!
- Untie me. Don't be like that.
Untie me! - Stand in a straight line.
When they come in, you get hit first.
Any last words? - Suck my dick.
- If only there were time.
- [muffled] Get down!
- Said....
- Fuck! Open the fucking door, man!
- [coughing]
- Fuck!
- Aaaaaahhhhh!
Oh, yeah, motherfuckers!
[men coughing]
[gunfire]
[men coughing]
[gunfire]
[glass shatters]
[gunshot]
[glass shatters]
[tense music]
[crashing, clattering]
[indistinct background chatter]
[gunshot]
- Yeah, who cares who lives or dies in prison?
We read the names in the morning paper,
and they mean nothing to us.
They're faceless.
The truth is we don't wanna put a face on them.
We don't wanna know who they really are,
because then it might hit too close to home,
and home is what it's all about, right?
Making a home no matter where you are,
no matter who you are.
At the end of the day,
everybody wants somewhere to rest,
somewhere to lay their bones,
even if it's in a land called Oz.
Yeah, like Dorothy says
when she wakes up in her own bed back at Aunt Em's,
"There's no place like home."
There's no fucking place like home.
[laughs]