Midnight Express Details

1978

Rated:
70
from 4543 members

Starring	Brad Davis, Randy Quaid, John Hurt
Director	Alan Parker
Genres	Drama

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Midnight Express

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 expose, and a testament to the dogged human thirst for dignity.

Starring	Brad Davis, Randy Quaid, John Hurt
Director	Alan Parker
Studio	UCA
Run time	DVD: 1 hr 56 mins Blu-ray: 2 hrs
Certificate
Genres	Drama
Language	English
Dubbed	German
Subtitles	Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Released	DVD: 27 May 2004 Blu-ray: 13 Jul 2009 Production year: 1978
Format	DVD

Critics' reviews (3) of Midnight Express
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It's hard to counter some of the criticisms about the sympathetic depiction of drug traffickers, the pitiless violence, the stereotypical representation of the Turkish jailers and the oversimplistic approach to the key issues raised that greeted this film on its release. Yet it is still a superbly staged drama, which exploits its excesses to force the viewer into considering the broader moral and humanitarian themes, as well as the harrowing events on the screen. Scripted by Oliver Stone from the memoirs of Billy Hayes, it is directed with power and intelligence by Alan Parker and expertly played, with Brad Davis outstanding in the lead.
- Radio Times
- Posted 29 Jan 2006
Misleadingly-titled wallow in prison atrocities, extremely well made but certainly not entertaining and with little discernible point.
- Halliwell's Film Guide
- Posted 02 Mar 2006
Most helpful member's review of Midnight Express
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37 out of 48 people found this review helpful

[Highly rated reviewer]

Compelling.

Coupled with Mississippi Burning as Alan Parker's best directorial acheivement. If mental illness doesn't dissuade you from smoking hash then this'll probably put you off crossing any borders with it!
- - younglochinvar from Prestatyn
  - Posted 14 Sep 2007 22:31
Most recent members' review of Midnight Express
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4 out of 5 people found this review helpful

Escape

Brutal, shocking and cruel. These three words best describe not only the film itself, but the depiction of the Turkish justice system and their prisons during the 70s.

Davis is brilliant as Hayes, the American who gets caught smuggling hash for his friends. Hurt adds to the cast, with his brilliant dislocated British inmate. The film follows Hayes' struggle to keep sane in a Turkish prison which seems to concentrate on beating the evil out of inmates, rather than nurturing them back to an acceptable level.

The killings in this film are truly some of the most brutal I have seen recently, definitely a touch of Stone here for this.

Overall, it’s no masterpiece, faltering in places, but, a brutal and honest film, that makes a very enjoyable watch.
- - Philmster from Middlesex
  - Posted 15 Feb 2004 20:08
News and features
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John to put the Hurt on Indy?
- 08 May 2008
Screen legend John Hurt has sparked speculation that he plays the villain in the latest Indiana Jones adventure by letting slip that he was in one of the screen dust-ups with co-star Harrison Ford, according to reports. The gossip hounds at Digital Spy say the accomplished actor, who starred in The Elephant Man, Alien and Midnight Express, told the Times newspaper that Ford "does all his own fights. And I should know, I was in one of them." Although he appeared to backtrack, adding: &q Read more
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