All language subtitles for The.Invisible.Pilot.S01E01.720p.WEB.H264-OPUS_Track03

♪ ("I'LL GET OVER YOU"
BY CRYSTAL GALE PLAYING) ♪

RADIO ANNOUNCER:
KAAY, proud to be the voice

and choice of Arkansas.

♪ One thing 'bout
This heart of mine ♪

(CAR ENGINE REVVING)

♪ All my hurt's
Gonna mend in time ♪

-♪ It don't leave
No scars behind ♪
-(TURN SIGNAL CLICKING)

♪ I'll get over you ♪

CRAIG HODGES:
I'll tell you this.

The story of Gary Betzner

is proof that truth
is stranger than fiction.

And it could only
have happened in America.

(SONG DISTORTS, FADES)

(PLANE ENGINE REVVING)

SALLY BETZNER:
Gary was a crop duster.

He was just
a natural-born pilot.

♪ (UNSETTLED MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

SALLY: After I married him,
I would go out to the hangar

every afternoon
and watch Gary fly.

(CROWD CHEERING, SHOUTING)

SALLY: And I'd just sit
and watch until I see that one

that flies like a butterfly.

-(ENGINE REVVING)
-♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

PAUL: He is renowned around here

for what he could do
with a plane.

CRAIG: The head
of the TOPGUN program

described him
as being the best pilot

that he had ever known.

It's a special kind
of person that crop dusts,

it's a special kind of wild man.

LARRY CAZZAR:

DONNIE:

SALLY: He would fly over
the farmers on the field

and drop cold beer
to ‘em. (LAUGHS)

-(METAL RATTLING)
-(PLANE THUDS)

SALLY: Gary had 11 plane crashes

in his life, and walked away
from every one of them,

not a scratch.

That's my dad.

Evil Knievel and my dad,

if they got
into a little pissing contest,

it wouldn't be cool.

SARA LEE MATTHEWS:

CRAIG:
It's one of those tall tales,

it's a Southern tale, and so
a lot of people knew about it.

MIKE GRADY: He just got a little
braver and a little braver.

Sooner or later it's gonna
come around and bite you.

BRIAN BARGER: I don't think
that you could make the case

that Gary Betzner
is a hero in this story.

I don't think
Gary Betzner had a clue

of what he was tripping into...

one of the biggest
political scandals

of his lifetime.

SALLY: That day,
we went to the dairy bar.

Travis was not interested
in going, but Sara Lee was,

so Travis stayed home with Mom.

And we get in his car,
and we're driving out

to the country.

And we were in this El Camino.

Gary was driving.

♪ ("I'LL GET OVER YOU"
BY CRYSTAL GAYLE PLAYING) ♪

SALLY: ...and he was
in a talkative mood.

We went the back way
through Highway 70

and up through Biscoe...

to the bridge in Des Arc.

I know that we pulled up
onto a bridge in Des Arc.

SALLY: And he stops the car
in the middle of the bridge.

The car had broken down.

The hood was up.

SALLY: All of a sudden...

♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING,
CONCLUDES) ♪

-(HEAVY BREATHING)
-(WATER SPLASHES)

(CROWS CAWING)

SALLY:
...he jumped off the bridge.

I remember hearing
this loud clap sound.

(SMACKS HANDS)

(DISTANT THUNDER RUMBLING)

SALLY: And all of a sudden,
it was dark.

and I was in a trance,
pretty much,

-for hours, it seems like.
-♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

SALLY: I was hysterical.

Finally a car pulled up,

and I don't know
who picked me up...

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

SALLY: ...but he took me to the
Prairie County Sheriff's Office.

I cried, I was on my knees,

I was just like,
"What did you do?"

♪ (MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪

We had that one percent
of a perfect life.

We had everything.

It just doesn't make sense.

Why?

-(PLANE ENGINE REVVING)
-♪ ("THE INVISIBLE PILOT"
THEME MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

MATT LEE: All right, Travis,
walk into frame

and then just kinda walk
and stop in front of me.

When I look up at ya, then stop.

♪ (EERIE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

CRAIG: Say your name,
Travis Leander...

MATT LEE: No,
don't say anything,

just... stop right there.

TRAVIS: I've always
dealt with the fact my--

Of what happened with my dad,
what happened with my family.

♪ (SINISTER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

The more I've been
talking about this,

I can see the--

Trace back the, kind of,
string theory to it, you know?

We thought for certain
there was no way that--

TRAVIS: Well, that's
the story of my whole life,
with my whole family.

CRAIG: Would you say
that you had

a non-traditional lifestyle?

We talked
about this the other day.

I had a diversified lifestyle.

You're a product
of what you experience.

You can unlearn
what you've learned

when you realize that
a lot of things you've learned

were because you were
at the mercy of externals,

you were at the mercy
of the situations you were in.

MATT LEE: Travis, Take two.

TRAVIS: I have a good memory
of the past, but...

I don't live there, man.

But I do, I do. If you--
People say,

"You live in the past." Yeah,
you do, 'cause you were there.

(SCOFFS) You are living there.
You're, if you go to the past,
you're living there.

CRAIG: So, you want to start
with your name?

Okay, my name
is Sara Lee Matthews.

Right? Or do I say Betzner?

Um, my name is
Sara Lee Betzner-Matthews...

Carlyle-Harmony. (CHUCKLES)

I don't know.

I always write
"Sara Lee, question mark."

(RYTHMIC TICKING)

SARA LEE: I'm in a lot
of pictures and I look happy.

It was just normal, I mean...

What people call normal.

MATT LEE:
To jump ahead a little bit,
tell me about the bridge.

P.A.: Slate in.

Sally interview, take one.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

SALLY: It is September,
you've got these thunderstorms

that were clapping,

had balls of lightning all over.

An outward feeling
of what was going on in me

was in the sky around.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

And I'm just like, freaking out.
I was... vicious, it was like,

it was everybody else's fault.

♪ (UNNERVING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

SALLY: So they took me
to the psychological ward.

(INDISTINCT HOSPITAL PA CHATTER)

Interviewed me for I don't know
how long, talked to me.

-(ELECTRICITY BUZZING)
-SALLY: Make sure
I wasn't suicidal.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

SALLY: And finally I realized
that they're not gonna let me go

until I calmed down.

I said, "All I want
to do is see the kids.

Just take me home,
let me be with the kids."

(FILM ROLLING)

TRAVIS: When you're
five years old, just...

Time's different.

You know, like, you think
the world is so huge,
and you're like this tall.

It was dark. My mom came in
and kneeled down and took us

and sat us and were looked
at seriously.

She just said,
“I gotta tell y'all something.”

SALLY: I gave him a big hug
and cried and said,

“Something horrible has happened
and your dad's... gone.”

♪ (FORLORN MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

TRAVIS: I didn't know he jumped.
I didn't know he jumped

off the bridge. I just know
he's dead. She said he was dead.

I just didn't get it.

I didn't really
understand that then.

And just trust us
that it's all gonna be okay.

TRAVIS: I remember just crying
'cause she was crying.

You're not supposed
to let little kids see you cry,

or get emotional.
It fucks with them.

And Sara Lee got upset,
'cause she was upset.

SARA LEE: Of all his kids,
I'm the closest one like him.

There's a lot of my memories
that get changed, you know,

when I talk
about him, but, um...

(SIGHS)

Men in my life don't last long.
(CHUCKLING)

Um...

Well, they die young.

TRAVIS: I remember it
being kind of--
It being quiet for a while.

And Mom went to therapy.

And she was fucked up about it.

It was real depressing.

Like, I think it was real,
"Oh..." You know,
the lights were down,

you know, "Oh..." It was like,
"Oh..." It was like that.
It was kinda like...

we just low key-- Was--
It was a real shut down time,
kinda, like it should have been

if someone dies like that,
traumatically. (INHALES)

KATV REPORTER: Gary Betzner
grew up in Arkansas,

the small towns of Hazen,
Des Arc, and Biscoe.

He committed suicide
by jumping off this bridge

overlooking the White River.

-(WIND HOWLING)
-(SIREN WAILING)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER OVER RADIO)

I started dragging
the river the next morning.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER OVER RADIO)

-MIKE: We worked hard at it.
-(ENGINE REVVING)

MIKE: We had
a Sheriff's Reserve, and...

(INHALES) ...that's one
of the things they did,

and they were good at it.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

MIKE: In a little town,
there's rumors all the time.

I don't know what happened,

what made him do that,
but I don't approve of...

what he did.

Well, I don't think he deserves
to have a movie made about him.

(CROWS CAWING)

(COFFEE POURING)

So, I don't know
if his business got in trouble,

'cause, you know,

when you make a lot of money,
you spend a lot of money.

'Course, those
airplanes cost money.

ROBIN CRAFT: I know it was
a shock, but maybe
it wasn't inexplicable.

People were asking themselves
whether it was money,

what he had gotten involved in,
whether he was involved in

some kind of
large crime organization.

Dixie Mafia was something
that everybody knew about.

NEWSCASTER: Murder,
drug dealing, stolen cars,

hijacking gasoline
from cross-country pipelines.

All of these are crimes
that law enforcement officials

have associated with
the so-called "Dixie Mafia."

ROBIN: I see this as a story
of radical rebelliousness.

Trying so hard to escape,
not just a physical small town,

but the small town
of their mind.

♪ (BLEAK FOLK MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

TRAVIS: Around here, you know,

we're right in the middle
of the Bible Belt.

Oh, conservative,
seriously conservative.

There's a few of us
that escaped from Hazen,

and there's a few that stayed
there, and God love 'em,

they just-- You know,
it's a wonderful world for them.

RANDY WRIGHT:
Arkansas was just--
I mean, it was rural America,

(INHALING) ...you know, pickups
running down the gravel roads,

and, you know, uh, cow tipping.

BILL CLINTON: You know,
it's gotten to where

an individual farmer can't make
a living on the land anymore.

This country's lost 400,000
farms in the last eight years.

NARRATOR: Bill Clinton
for Arkansas.

SALLY: Hazen never changes.

Still today,
they all have linear thoughts.

You had a way that you were
supposed to behave.

And it wasn't a big town.
I mean, a town of 1400.

-(CROWD CHEERING)
-SALLY: But when I met Gary,

I knew it was
my ticket out of Hazen.

INTERVIEWER: Tell me
the first time you met Gary.

Something about the...

Oh, wow that is... that...
(CHUCKLES)

...that still, today, uh...

It's just wild.

-♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-(ROCKET FUEL IGNITING)

SALLY: My brother and his wife
had a moon party.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

SALLY: It was the day
that they were gonna

land on the moon,
and had the cameras up.

MISSION CONTROL: Houston,
you are go for landing. Over.

BUZZ ALDRIN: Roger. Understand.
Go for landing, 3,000 feet.

MISSION CONTROL:
You're looking great.

(INDISTINCT NEWSCASTS
IN MANDARIN)

(INDISTINCT NEWSCASTS
IN FRENCH)

(INDISTINCT NEWSCASTS
ON TV)

-SALLY: Doorbell rings.
-(DOORBELL RINGING)

MISSION CONTROL: Sixty seconds.

Still looking very good.
You're go.

SALLY: I go to the front door...

MISSION CONTROL:
Roger, 1201 alarm.

-NEIL ARMSTRONG: 1201 alarm.
-(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)

♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

SALLY:
...and everything stopped.

It was like...
(INHALES, EXHALES)

There was something
in the force, you know? (LAUGHS)

It's just wild.
It was a connection

from another dimension
as far as I know.

And it was like this...

Boom! In the universe,
it just shook.

ARMSTRONG: Houston--
Tranquility Base here,

-the eagle has landed.
-(CROWD CHEERING)

MISSION CONTROL:
Copy on the ground,

you got a bunch of guys
about to turn blue,

we're breathing again,
thanks a lot.

SALLY: It just changed my life.
I'm going, "Who in the world..."

And when I looked in his eyes...

MISSION CONTROL: Okay, Neil,
we can see you coming down
the ladder now.

SALLY: But then there was
just a little problem.

Gary arrived with his wife...

who was seven months pregnant.

I was his first wife.

And, uh, we were married

about three--
close to three years.

He was a very much
larger-than-life figure.

I mean,
he was very instantaneous

and very dramatic,
always very dramatic.

His favorite thing
was flying under bridges and...

trying to put the wheels
on the water without crashing.

One day, his personality
would be very even,

the next day, he would,
like, ground-loop an airplane.

We were watching
the moon landing,

and I was very pregnant.

Little did I know that,
you know,

six months later...
what would happen.

SALLY:
After his daughter was born,

Gary immediately
divorced Claudia.

And he was, you know, single.

And, you know, still today,
people will say

that I dated him while
he was married. (CHUCKLES)

They just want to believe
the worst of you. (LAUGHS)

When I married him,
it was a lifelong thing,

“You're my soulmate,
I trust you with my life.”

And I did.

♪ (ENIGMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

SALLY: But, yeah, Gary,

I was really naïve
when I met Gary.

(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)

♪ (EERIE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

POLLY BETZNER: I thought
that this was really...

I don't know, it was
the only thing I had, you know?

He just wanted
to, like, give me something

that... was like,
from his travels, you know?

Yes, so I'm Polly Betzner.
I kept my dad's last name.

Gary married my mom, Claudia.

CLAUDIA: And there's
bringing you home
from the hospital.

POLLY: He was like a hero
to me as a little kid,

because he was
Disneyland Dad, you know?

He was, “Let me take you
to the really beautiful home

we have in Hazen, Arkansas,
and get in the pool.”

And when he would come around,
he'd bring presents.

He was my dad. But I didn't get
to see him that much,

'cause my mom lived in Memphis
and he was in Arkansas.

But when it happened,
when the whole thing happened,

I mean, I was six.

It was my birthday.

I remember our pastor came in,
he had, like, a suit on.

“Mom, why does he have
a suit on? Today's not Sunday,

"and it's not a funeral,
it's not a wedding."

I was like, "Is he dressed up
'cause it's my birthday?"

And...

I'm sorry. (CHUCKLES) So...

(EXHALES)

(LIPS SMACKING) So...

(LIPS SMACKING)
I sat on the sofa...

(BREATHES SHAKILY) ...and...

he sat down, he had, like,
a Bible in his hand,

'cause he was a good old
Baptist pastor,

and he was like...

“Sweetheart, I have to tell you
something about your dad.”

I was like, “Okay, what?

Did my dad send me a present,
like, for my birthday?”

He was like,
“Well, he jumped off a bridge,

and he drowned.”

And, I was like...

“Well, why?”

I get this
hysterical call from Sally,

that, "Gary's jumped off
a bridge, he's killed himself."

I just hit the floor,
I could not believe it.

I don't know,
I never understood what...

Why he jumped off the bridge.

I have my own ideas about it,

but how accurate that is,
I don't know.

SALLY: We had a lot of tragedy
in a short period of time.

The Wednesday
before Thanksgiving,

Gary's mother died
in a freak automobile accident.

Fred was
Gary's youngest brother.

He dove off a bridge
and became a quadriplegic.

He didn't live much longer.

My dad died in June.

And then my brother
had his plane crash...

on November the 4th.

So, we had four
major events in our lives

within that short period.

LARRY: There was a lot
of tragedy that happened
along that time.

So, you know, the glue
of the family disappeared.

I know it was really
hard for him.

But you know, he and I weren't
very emotionally connected

at that time with each other.

I don't know where it put him.
I know where it put me,

but I don't know
where it put him.

(VINTAGE CAMERA ROLLING)

LARRY: You know,
I think all of this started back

with our real father.

He was a very jealous
and a very angry man.

SALLY: His dad was beating
his mother on Christmas day.

He was real mean to Gary.
He would beat him.

They'd given Gary a bat
for Christmas, and Gary took it,

and whaled him on it,
and the guy turned on him,

and Gary ran under
and hid under the porch.

All day long on Christmas day.

He hid under the house.
Tack, our father,

kept asking him to come out,
asking him to come out.

He wouldn't do it.

After many hours, he got hungry,

and he brought him some food,
said, “You come out,

"I won't do anything to you."

So he came out,
and Tack got him,

and grabbed him, and just
beat the daylights out of him.

I think that incident
had a lot to do with Gary,

he became really...
(INHALES) ...kind of defiant.

♪ (SINISTER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

And things changed
when I appeared.

Man, that's for sure, you know?

I was born Travis Wayne Betzner.

When he died, I changed it
to Travis Leander Matthews,

'cause I never liked
the name “Wayne”

and I never liked “Betzner.”

Well, my parents conceived me
in a hangar, they said.

And that place used
to scare the shit out of me
when I was kid. Like...

these things
are big old airplanes.

(ENGINE REVVING)

(IMITATES PLANE ENGINE)

You know, fuck that, you know?
And it freaked me out

for a long time.

So, he died.
My mom said he was dead.

Didn't-- Couldn't ever
find his body.

(ENGINE REVVING)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER OVER RADIO)

MIKE: I've been dragging
that river for ten, 12 years,

and I've never failed
to get one out yet.

TRAVIS:
They couldn't find his body.

It fucked us up.

Everyone was like “Go to sleep""
and I wouldn't sleep,

I was like, reading
H.P. Lovecraft and shit.

I would always be
making up stories...

like the Giplycutes and...

weird creatures,
like Gollywomps and shit.

There's my dad.
(CHUCKLES, IMITATES MONSTER)

My dad's
the White River monster.

The White River?
That's where dad jumped in,

the White River.
And they get big over 30 years.

They're like, you know,
eventually, they get so big,

it has to live
under the bridge there.

Which creeped me out,
it was a place
that creeped me out.

I like monsters,
Like, I was a monster kid, man.

I remember I saw Godzilla
for the first time.

(ROARS)

TRAVIS: And he's smashing
the town. He was just
awesome, you know?

(CHUCKLES)
I just loved it. Godzilla!

-(GROWLS)
-TRAVIS: You know, it was like--
That was it.

(GROWLS)

My dad promised me
he would get me this Godzilla.

It was a specific Godzilla
I'm talking about, in the ‘70s.

KID: Look, it's Godzilla!

NARRATOR: Is he friend or foe?

-You know, it was a weird head.
-PASSENGER: Yeah.

It was like this big,
with wheels on the feet.

Yeah, that's all I wanted, man.

PASSENGER:
But it didn't work out that way.

♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

I can remember
the last time I saw him

before he killed himself.
I was five.

My mom woke me up
at, like, 3:00 in the morning

and had, like,
little pink curlers in her hair,

and had, like,
the pink nightgown on.

We drove to the airport,

and he pulled up
in a jet airplane.

He was different.
Like, very strange.

That's not my dad.
I could see from the car,

like, he had a watch,
like, a long fur coat,

like, a big Afro curly thing
from the '70s.

I just like, waved at him like,
“Hi, Dad!” Like, my mom said,

"Don't you get out of the car."

There was a looming,
weird feeling.

And he gave my mom a check,
she got in the car,

I think it was 3500 dollars.

She was like,
"We should be fine for a while."

That was the last time
I saw him.

After that,
there was, like, crickets.

People had, like, theories
always revolving around drugs.

Like, at church or something,
I could see people whisper,
you know, like,

"We heard he was wanted, and so
he jumped 'cause of drugs."

You know?

No will, no funeral,
no anything.

That was it.

That was it.

Isn't that weird?

♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(FINGER SNAPPING)

CRAIG: We're here
at the White River Bridge,

July 2nd, 2009.

Tryin' to do a little
location scouting

for the documentary.

-♪ (BROODING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-(BIRDS CHIRPING)

All of this stuff
pertains to Gary,

all these files, all these boxes
and boxes of stuff, I mean,

years and years and years.

Why did he do it?

I come back
and kept asking questions.

One person would say one thing,
and one person then
would say another thing.

There's a lot
of truth in fiction.

I learned that, most certainly.

But there's a lot
of fiction in truth.

All the footage,
all the archives.

Right over there, a little--
My life savings is in a box
right over there,

about this big, a hard drive.

PHIL LOTT:

Is the truth on there?
Fuck, I don't know.

(TAPE REWINDING)

INTERVIEWER: So let's start
with the beginning stuff.

So, how'd you
first learn the story?

I first learned
of the story when I was...

Let me-- let me start
that over. (INHALES)

I first learned of the story
when I was about 14.

SALLY:
I can't tell if it's working.

CRAIG: This kid named
Travis Matthews

transferred into the school.

SALLY: (CHUCKLES)
Give me a smile.

Is that... Oh! (CHUCKLES)

TRAVIS: I was in that stage,
like, right after puberty.

I didn't know how to comb,
I didn't know how to dress,

-I didn't know, I didn't
know anything about that.
-SALLY: Oh, no.

We'd go over to this place
where the bad kids would go

before school. It was an alley
called the Smoke Hole...

and we'd smoke cigarettes
over there.

CRAIG: He was holding court,
and he was telling stories

that were better than mine.

So, I was-- My audience
was being drained by this kid.

TRAVIS: I was a motormouth,
storyteller. You know?

I was like, I was a kid
who wouldn't shut up.

He was telling everybody
his dad was a CIA agent,

a secret agent.

And none of our dads
were secret agents.

So he topped us
on that one by a mile.

I thought he was lying,
and so I said no way this--

these are true stories.
And so I decided

to dispel the notion.

♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

CRAIG:
And I walked up to his house...

-(KNOCKING AT DOOR)
-...and knocked on the door,
and his mom answered.

(DOOR OPENING)

And I said, “Is it true?”

Craig comes running in,
he's going,

"Is it true? Is it true?"

CRAIG: And she smiled and said,
"Come on in."

She was like,
"No, he's not alive.

There's some stories
that he did do a lot of things,

but no, he's dead."

So she was trying
to minimize the story.

SALLY: I mean,
I have a hard time believing...

(CHUCKLES)
...what I've gone through.

But apparently, Travis
must have... (CHUCKLES)
...said a few things.

The White River?
That's where my dad jumped in,
the White River.

The car had broken down,
the hood was up.

I was in a trance, pretty much,
during all that time.

CLAUDIA: He was very
instantaneous and very dramatic.

POLLY: No will...

MIKE: I've been dragging
that river for ten, 12 years.

POLLY: ...no funeral...

And I've never
failed to get one out yet.

...no anything.

Couldn't ever find his body.

I didn't think they talked
about... our double life.

-(TAPE REWINDING)
-♪ (MUSIC INTENSIFYING) ♪

♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

PHIL:

I've been trying
to answer that question for

-almost 80 years. (LAUGHS)
-♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(LAUGHS) Who am I?
Well... (EXHALES)

Basically, I'm just a farm boy
from Arkansas, really.

♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

There's a story here
that is much deeper

than it presents
itself on the surface.

GARY BETZNER: The past...

you can't do anything about it.

The only thing you can do
about it is,

you can plan for the future,
and you can live in the moment.

But I think the past
makes a good reference point...

not a good hitching point.

I think in some cases,
it's okay to tell a lie,

and even necessary.

The truth is... I didn't jump.

I didn't even think
about jumping.

That's how the story was told.

But that never happened.

(MECHANICAL FLICKERING)

How's that?

The stories were told
through... Sally told one,

Sara Lee told one, then
Travis told a different one.

It was raining,
and a thunderstorm...

Gave millions and millions
and millions of dollars.

CRAIG: Dude, does this plane
look airworthy?

GARY: No, it doesn't.

(OVERLAPPING INDISTINCT CHATTER)

GARY: That's the house
I lived in, before I...

committed suicide here in Hazen.

CRAIG:
What's the documentary about?

GARY: That's a real
good question, Craig.

♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

♪ (JITTERY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

GARY:
I've always loved to fly...

and crop dusting was the only
aviation place

where you could still
do anything you wanted.

(ENGINES REVVING)

GARY: You know,
aerobatics, or fly upside-down,

and, you know, anything
you wanted to do. (CHUCKLING)

It's like you become one
with the airplane,

like a violinist
becomes a virtuoso,

because he can play the violin,
and do all this incredible stuff

while he's figuring out
his taxes. (CHUCKLES)

It becomes second nature
to you, you know?

Flying is like anything,
it's practice.

The more you do it,
the better you become.

Knowing you're
gonna die someday...

flying takes on
a completely different...

experience.

Because this body's gonna die,

but who you really are...

can never die.

♪ (WISTFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

Yeah, I was raised up
with values

that all Americans have,
you know,

about fairness and integrity.

But the biggest influence on me
as far as my character

was probably my stepdad.

He really impressed on me
about how important
your word was.

That's also included
being honest with yourself.

And so when you start being
really honest with yourself,

that's when you can really
get in trouble,

because sometimes
that doesn't go along with...

society, might-- Or the law.

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

INTERVIEWER:

GARY: He and Mother separated
when I was about six.

I kinda got screwed up
about the name deal, you know?

I didn't know what name
I was supposed to use.

My real father's name
was Tackett, T-A-C-K-E-T-T.

And I didn't want to use Tackett
because I didn't feel like
I was a Tackett.

Betzner was
my stepfather's name.

And our parents gave us a choice

when we were 18
to go one way or the other.

So, I changed my name.

I started
Betzner Flying Service.

When I met Sally,
we started a whole new life.

We got married.

All I wanted to do
is build my business up enough

where I could sell it
and get the hell out of Hazen.

Sally had two kids right away...

so I had to build a house...

and live there for years
and years.

I was in love with Sally, and...

and we had a real good marriage,
and we were happy,

and looking forward
to the future
and all that kinda stuff, and...

It was a good life.

So, I always wanted
to be a crop duster.

(CLEARS THROAT)

And that's really hard,
dangerous work. I mean, hard,

dangerous, hot...
(EXHALES) ...rough work.

And, uh... did it 15 years.

I really, I grew real tired
of it after a while.

(PLANE ENGINE ROARING)

NARRATOR: Alaska's
vast undeveloped regions are
a storehouse of natural wealth.

♪ (AUSTERE FOLK MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

GARY: I'd heard
there was good money

to be made up in Alaska
up on the pipeline.

I sold my crop-dusting business.

And I took about a half
a million bucks
and moved up to Alaska.

VINTAGE FILM NARRATOR:
Beautiful, rugged country
that is sometimes called

“America's last frontier.”

Instead of making
a hundred thousand,
I could go make millions,

and I saw the pipeline
as my opportunity.

VINTAGE FILM NARRATOR:
And along the coastline,

there are untapped
deposits of oil.

And I went to Alaska to bid
on a pipeline reclamation.

It was 800 miles that had to be
reclaimed and put back in shape.

I spent all my money
preparing for it...

(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING)

...and then another company
came along and contested my bid.

And I lost it.

Alaska was the last
of the Wild West. You know?

What it is, you don't pay off
the right people,

then you don't get the contract.
And I didn't know that.

(ENGINE REVVING)

GARY: Well, we have
two airplanes at least.

Might as well put them to work.

So, I went and started
flying bush up there,

and that was okay.

When we got to Anchorage,

and we're livin' there
for a while...

(INHALES)
...Gary started smoking pot.

BROADCASTER:
Even in public, many adults
smoke pot with impunity,

since in Alaska,
it's now nothing more
than a minor offense

to be caught
with up to 30 grams of the drug.

SALLY: In the ‘70s,
pot was legal in Alaska

until Reagan's War on Drugs.

(CROWD CHEERING)

Marijuana could very well be

one of the most dangerous
threats to an entire generation

of Americans of any drug
that we know.

♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

GARY: While I was in Alaska,
I realized that I just

didn't feel
that anyone had the right

to interfere with anybody's
right to self-determination.

If I want to eat salt or sugar,
even though they're bad for me,

or do this or that,
no one should say,

"You can't do that."

Oh, anti-drug, totally.
I was straight as an arrow,

thought all drugs were evil.

I mean, I grew up with,
you know,

Beatles being bad. (LAUGHS)

You know, they have long hair.

♪ (ROCK MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

GARY: In Alaska at that time,
in all the bars,

everybody smoked weed,
everybody.

It was everywhere.

BROADCASTER:
And it's all perfectly legal.

He looked at me and said,
“You've got to try marijuana.”

He starts rolling joints.

So we're sitting, talking,
and we're smoking this,

and my arm would go up
and I'd put it down,

and it'd go up, and put it down.

Finally, I started laughing
and I finally caught on
what a high... (LAUGHS)

...was all about. (LAUGHS)

I was so mad at the government
for lying to me...

for truly lying,
because that's the reason

I was so anti-drug,
because the bullshit

that they had fed,
and feeding everybody,

on how dangerous marijuana was.

Well, then I went from,
“Well, if they're lying
to me about this,

what else are they lying
to me about?”

GARY: I guess
this is where my first

smuggling event took place.

I was doing pretty good,

but I just needed
to make a little extra cash.

They started hauling whiskey.

I sold it to the guys that were
working on the pipeline.

And from that,
evolved into smuggling weed.

I knew people
in all the villages around,

and so I had
a pretty good thing going.

A pound here, a pound there,
you know, I'd make

a little money doing that.

As time went on,
things went kind of awry.

My enterprise faltered,
because I lost my connection

who was bringing it to me.

Pretty soon, you don't have
as much money coming in, and...

(WIND HOWLING)

...in that kind of weather,
in ice, six months a year,

you couldn't fly.

So, I didn't have
any business anymore.

SALLY: We had no money
for another hotel room.

We had spent everything.

We moved back to Arkansas.

(WIND RUSHING)

SALLY: We were living
in my mom's house,

the one I grew up in.

GARY: I really didn't mind
moving back to Hazen,

but in my heart and soul,
I had bigger plans.

But then I noticed my toes hurt.

Not all the time,
but frequently.

First it started
in my right toe,

then it was my left.
I had gout real bad.

I knew what I had,
because my dad had it.

In other words,
the body's chemistry
is out of balance.

There's too much
of one chemical, uric acid.

GARY: I went back to flying,
and the aircraft's vibrating,

and I can't push
the goddamn pedals.

And it got progressively worse.

It was so bad that I had
to cut the toes out of my shoes.

If you ever had the gout,
you know what I'm talking about.

It's very, very, very, very,
very painful.

There's gotta be a cure.
Somebody must have
found something.

And, uh, the best cure
in the world for it is cocaine.

♪ (UPBEAT FUNK MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

GARY: I heard
about this judge in Colorado

who healed his gout
by doing cocaine...

and so I called him up,
and he told me

about this book called
The Divine Plant of the Incas,

and it healed
every known disease

that was known then.

Somehow they found out

that cocaine removes uric
and lactic acids from the body.

It alkalizes the blood,
allows the blood
to carry more oxygen.

Drink a little Gatorade
with some cocaine in it,

and you're on your way.

GARY: That's how I wound up
in Miami looking for it.

♪ (EASYGOING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

GARY: It is a medicine
that will heal gout,

and it did that for me.

But the real reason
I went to Miami

was to get cocaine
for recreational use.

♪ (FOREBODING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

GARY: I thought I would
find somebody

that I could
buy the cocaine from.

(CHUCKLING)
You know what I mean?

And, um... I did.

Just went
to the guy's house, and...

and he had the coke there and...

we were all sitting
around kind of a counter.

The owner of the house
was kinda standing
at the center.

I said, "Why don't you test it
and see what it's like?"

And he wouldn't do it.

I kinda looked
at the guy, I said,

"What the hell?" You know?

I immediately got a sense that
something was wrong, you know?

Something was just wrong.

These other two guys, they knew
something was wrong too. And...

next thing you know,

the DEA came through
the windows and the doors.

♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(SIREN WAILING)

GARY: Everybody's under arrest.

REPORTER: During
the early morning hours,

a task force
of Drug Enforcement Agents

seized seven pounds of cocaine.
More arrests are expected.

GARY: But I wasn't
the only one doing it.

There were quite a few people.

There were two Miami Dolphins
that were arrested
the same night...

Reese and Crowder.

REPORTER:
Defensive lineman Randy Crowder
and defensive tackle Don Reese

allegedly were trying to
sell about a pound of cocaine

for 20,000 dollars.

It had a street value
of more than 200,000 dollars.

I woke up
about five o'clock and...

saw him being
busted in Florida...

(SIGHS)

...as clear as
I was sittin' in that room.

♪ (EDGY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

GARY: I was facing
up to 20 years in Florida.

I was out on bail,

and I went back to Arkansas,
awaiting the trial.

But I still had gout real bad,
and I had to do something.

(SIREN WAILING)

GARY: And then I get
busted again in Arkansas.

INTERVIEWER: And can you tell us
what the crime was?

It was possession
of a controlled substance.

♪ (SINISTER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

GARY: I said, "Well, shit,
I'm gonna get at least
ten years for Miami,"

and probably get life
up here in Arkansas
for an ounce."

Didn't look good.

I didn't feel like
anybody should have to go
to jail for illegal substances.

I mean, what the fuck, you know?

There's nothin' wrong with coke,
and nothin' wrong with weed.

It was wrong,
and the laws are wrong.

Really small town,

all the people
we thought were our friends,

they all turned
their backs on us...

because it was unheard of,
people getting involved

in drugs and things like that.

And actually all we have
is each other and the family.

SALLY: He was looking
at some serious jail time.

And he totally believed
in what he was doing, that,

you know, coke and marijuana
were the sign of the future,

and that he's not gonna
kowtow to their laws.

It was a heart-wrenching
situation, it's like...

two people who loved each other,

our children were young, and
we just didn't wanna be apart.

I figured, "Well, that's
something worth fighting for."

SALLY: We were just waiting
for the trial,

trying to figure out
how to get out of this...

situation he had
gotten himself in.

GARY: One night, we were
driving around in a car
so we could smoke weed,

and didn't have to do it
around the family or whatever.

She said, “I don't know what
to do.” I said, "I'll tell you
what I want to do."

What any good American
would do. (SCOFFS)

I want to do the rabbit,
I want to run. (CHUCKLES)

♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

GARY: I'll go somewhere,
I'll get a new ID,

reestablish myself.
I'll get you and the kids,

and we'll live happily
ever after.

And she agreed with me.
That was our best shot.

And so we made our plans.

I said, "Well,
I'm gonna fake my suicide."

People are not gonna
find my body.

And I wrote
this drug-crazed suicide note.

Had a motorcycle waiting for me.

We went to a telephone booth
outside of Carlisle.

I got the phone number,

and she was
to be there every month
at a specific time.

Not once did I ever think,
“Oh, that's too crazy,

I'm not gonna do that.

Just get me out of Hazen.”
(LAUGHS)

♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪

GARY: We figured
that was the best way to do it.
There was no other way out.

Go to prison for years
and years and years,
or go make a new life.

♪ (ENIGMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

My wife and I
had done a self-hypnosis course
by a master hypnotist

named Shawn Masters.

And it lasted
about three months.
We went every weekend.

SALLY: We had done self-hypnosis
with Shawn Masters.

When you go in self-hypnosis,

it's like you go into this zone
and then you program yourself.

GARY: The power of hypnosis,
it was... incredible.

I was seeing things
that you wouldn't
believe happened.

A person had his neck
put on a chair here
and his feet here,

and he told them that
they were a piece of steel.

And then Shawn Masters
would get up
and stand on their stomach.

I had the power
to hypnotize her.

SALLY:
It took a good three weeks,
every night, twice a day, maybe.

(DOOR CLOSING)

SALLY: We had had some clothes
we had put together
for me to throw over the bridge.

So he would put me under
and tell the story
of how he jumped off the bridge.

Like I said, when
that shoe would hit the water...

-(ECHOING CLAP)
-TRAVIS:
He jumped off the bridge.

SALLY: ...that programming
would come out.

TRAVIS: Right into the water.

It would trigger me
to think that he had jumped

off the bridge
and committed suicide.

GARY: And when I realized
what had happened,
I... I collapsed.

(DISTANT THUNDER RUMBLING)

SALLY:
When I recounted everything,

I felt it, you know?
It was real.

I also told her that she'd
never have sex with anybody ever

that would be satisfying,
except me. (LAUGHS)

Of course he throws in,
“You'll never have an orgasm
with a man ever again.”

(LAUGHS)

♪ (MYSTERIOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

My dad was still alive,
but my mother was dead.

If she had been alive,

I probably would never have
done anything to get
myself in trouble. (CHUCKLING)

You know? I'd be real careful,
because I never wanted
to disappoint my mother, ever,

'cause she was such a loyal...

incredible woman, you know?

I just-- I told my stepdad
what I was gonna do,

and he was disappointed
I had gotten busted.

And I remember...

hugging him
and we were both crying.

And we said goodbye.

Mm-hmm.

And I never talked to him again.

♪ ("I'LL GET OVER YOU" BY
CRYSTAL GALE PLAYING ON RADIO) ♪

♪ I'll get over you ♪

♪ I'll get through
And when I do ♪

SALLY: He had
been hypnotizing me for weeks.

♪ I'll be good as new
When I get over you ♪

SALLY: The day of, we drive up
to the bridge...

and he parks the car.

I was... in tears...

and so was she.

I got out of my car...

gave her the note.

And I got in a pickup truck
with my friend.

And he took me to Texarkana.

And, to this very day, he will
never admit that he did it.

SALLY: I'm left there
on the road with some shoes

and some clothes

that I throw over the edge.

When that shoe
hit the water, it hit...

(CLAPPING)

-...flat.
-(ECHOING BOOM)

And it sounded
like a gunshot going off.

When that slapped, it put me
in that hypnosis thing,

I was hysterical.

I cried, I was on my knees.
I was just like,

"What did you do?"

It was just like
a switch went on.

♪ (EERIE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

GARY: She stayed on the bridge
and somebody came up,

another vehicle,
and she told them

that I jumped off the bridge.

They actually believed her.
I mean, she convinced them all.

I'm real proud of her,
how she handled herself.

(MOTORCYCLE ENGINE REVVING)

GARY: I was dead and I was going
across the plains of Texas.

And I just suddenly realized...

that 35 years of my life,
which had been pretty good,

you know, uh...

was gone.

-(HEART BEATING)
-(ENGINE REVVING)

GARY: I didn't start out
breaking the law,

and becoming a felon,
and then eventually

doing what I did
because I wanted to.

It's just the way
things transpired.

It turned out
to be much more difficult

and, you might say,
heartbreaking than...

anything I'd ever done
in my life, really.

Even... (CHUCKLES)

...right now...

those same feelings...

(CHUCKLES) ...are still there.

(LIPS SMACKING) And not mainly
because of the loss,

but because of what happened...

in that moment,

on that motorcycle. (CHUCKLES)

Is probably
very difficult for...

To understand.

(WIND GUSTING)

I've never been,
like, a religious person

or a believer.

But a feeling came over me
that was so powerful,

and it was almost
like a voice came to me

and said, "Okay..."

you can have this...

but no one can ever know...

or even have an inkling
that you have this power.

If anyone knows,
you don't exist,

"you never did exist,
and you never will exist."

”I said, "Well, you know,
I don't want any power."
(CHUCKLES)

"But I'm scared."

I just want protection.

"Show me the way."

And that's where this
wild and crazy story

really began, right there.

(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)

When you commit suicide,
you aren't planning
on coming back.

But I did come back.

I became the biggest, baddest...

(ENGINE REVVING)

...drug smuggler of all time.

♪ ("I'LL GET OVER YOU" BY
CRYSTAL GALE PLAYING) ♪

♪ One thing 'bout
This heart of mine ♪

♪ All my hurt's
Gonna mend in time ♪

♪ It don't leave
No scars behind ♪

♪ I'll get over you ♪

♪ I'll find me a guy one day ♪

♪ Who's not scared
To give his heart away ♪

♪ When I do, it's safe to say ♪

♪ That I'll get over you ♪

♪ I'll get over you ♪

♪ I'll get through
And when I do ♪

♪ I'll be good as new ♪

♪ When I get over you ♪

♪ From now on
Think I'll lay low ♪

♪ I'll talk fast
But I'll move slow ♪

♪ You taught me
All I need to know ♪

♪ 'Bout gettin' over you ♪

♪ Sometimes think
I love you still ♪

♪ Wonder if I always will ♪

♪ But I know it's just until ♪

♪ I get over you ♪

♪ I'll get over you ♪

♪ I'll get through
And when I do ♪