Midnight Express (1978) 30th Anniversary Edition (1978)

"Gripping drama...raises important issues...  Apollo Movie Guide
"...a classic film about the clash between American pomposity and violent government corruption.  Eli Kooris, Austin Chronicle
"3.5 stars. Great moviemaking!  Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide

Editor's Note Based on William Hayes's autobiography, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS tells the harrowing story of a young American tourist arrested and sentenced to 30 years in prison by Turkish authorities for trying to smuggle two kilos of hashish out of the country. Billy (Brad Davis), suffering through the harsh realities of the Turkish penal system, sees a glimmer of hope when his father (Billy Kellin) arrives from the States with the intention of securing his son's release. But when that effort fails and the prison's savage environment becomes too much to bear, Billy opts for the only possible solution: breaking out of jail and riding the "midnight express"--prison slang for escape--to freedom. Director Alan Parker (MISSISSIPPI BURNING), aided by Oliver Stone's Oscar-winning script, fastens an unflinching gaze into the darkest recesses of physical and emotional cruelty. Supporting cast members Randy Quaid, John Hurt, and Bo Hopkins give stellar performances, and Giorgio Moroder supplies a jagged yet entrancing soundtrack for a film that is at one and the same time a Kafkaesque nightmare, a riveting exposé, and a testament to the dogged human thirst for dignity.

	Brad Davis
	Irene Miracle
	John Hurt
	Randy Quaid
	Alan Marshall - Producer
	Alan Parker - Director
	Billy Hayes - Based On Book By
	Evan Hercules - Art Director
	Geoffrey Kirkland - Production Designer
	Gerry Hambling - Editor
	Giorgio Moroder - Original Music By
	Michael Seresin - Cinematographer
	Oliver Stone - Screenplay
	Peter Guber - Executive Producer
	William Hoffer - Based On Book By

The true story of Billy Hayes is revealed in this drama about a young man who is sentenced to 30 years in a Turkish prison for a minor drug offense. Variety
"...[The] cast, direction and production are all very good..." 05/24/1978

Premiere
"[A] harrowing depiction of the torment of an American serving time in Turkey..." 04/01/2006 p.104

Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "The performances are good, especially John Hurt as Hayes' prison confidant..." 03/01/2008 p.142

Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "Parker's film is powerful and harrowing, with fine performances from Brad Davis as Hayes and John Hurt as his frail Brit fellow-prisoner." 04/01/2008 p.154

Uncut
3 stars out of 5 -- "[G]rippingly well-made stuff." 04/01/2008 p.127

Variety 9 of 10
Midnight Express is a sordid and ostensibly true story about a young American busted [in 1970] for smuggling hash in Turkey and his subsequent harsh imprisonment and later escape. Cast, direction and production are all very good, but it's difficult to sort out the proper empathies from the muddled and moralizing screenplay which, in true Anglo-American fashion, wrings hands over alien cultures as though our civilization is absolutely perfect...Acceptance of the film depends a lot on forgetting several things: he was smuggling hash; Turkey is entitled to its laws, and is no more guilty of penal corruption and brutality than, say, the US, UK, France, Germany, etc; a world tourist can't assume that a helpful father (played well by Mike Kellin) is going to have the same clout with some midwestern politicians; nor can an American expect to be treated with kid gloves everywhere...However, the script loads up sympathy for Davis, also fellow convicts Randy Quaid (a psycho character), John Hurt (a hard doper) and Norbert Weisser (playing the obligatory gay inmate), by making the prison authorities even worse.

FilmsGraded.com 8 of 10
Oliver Stone's first success in films came with Midnight Express. Several years before Platoon (1986) made him a famous director, he won an Oscar for writing the screenplay of the controversial prison movie...American Billy Hayes spent more than five years in a Turkish prison for trying to smuggle a large amount of hashish onto a flight home. That much is reality. Most everything else in the film is fiction. As he would show with JFK (1991), dramatic effect is far important to Stone than historical reality...Of course, director Alan Parker was also responsible for the film's sometimes laughable excesses. Needless to say, the Turks don't come off very well. Alternately, they are corrupt, vindictive, indifferent, backward, and physically and sexually abusive...The exaggerations are so extreme that they become unintentionally humorous, which may be the film's saving grace...Several 'name' actors have prime supporting roles. Randy Quaid and John Hurt play Westerners also imprisoned in Turkey for drug possession. Quaid's character is angry and violent, far different from the backslapping yokel stereotype that his characters have since become. Hurt's portrayal of a frail English intellectual was so sympathetic that he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. - Brian Koller