Midnight Express - 1978

Movie #93

5 stars

Synopsis: When William Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of Turkey, the courts decide to make an example out of him and sentence him to 20 years in prison. With little hope of ever getting out, Hayes decides to attempt a daring escape.

Cast: Brad Davis, John Hurt, Randy Quaid, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins, Paolo Bonacelli, Paul L. Smith, Norbert Weisser, Mike Kellin, Franco Diogene, Michael Ensign, Gigi Ballista

Director: Alan Parker



Things I liked:

• When Turkish was spoken it wasn't translated. This really made you feel what William Hayes was going through. He had to just stand there as the prosecutor screamed and when the judge was giving his ruling. That would have been so frustrating..and scary.
• The gayness between William Hayes and the Swedish prisoner. It was so well done...and it was made in 1978!

Favorite Quote: What is a crime? What is punishment? It seems to vary from time to time and place to place. What's legal today is suddenly illegal tomorrow because society says it's so, and what's illegal yesterday is suddenly legal because everybody's doin' it, and you can't put everybody in jail.

Overall recommendation: YOU MUST WATCH THIS MOVIE

You gotta love this old school trailer...



Trivia: (courtesy of IMDB)

• Although the movie is supposed to be based on and has been credited as a "true story", it has been clearly indicated by Billy Hayes himself 20 years after its release, that what is presented in the movie is a very exaggerated and fictional version of what happened to him in the prison in Istanbul, Turkey.
• Both Richard Gere and John Travolta were considered for the part of Billy Hayes.
• According to his book, Brad Davis had a drug problem of his own while promoting this film.
• Although set in Turkey, the movie was actually filmed at Fort St.Elmo, Valletta, Malta after permission to film in Istanbul was denied.
• First movie to win an Oscar for "Best Original Score" featuring a totally synthesized music score.
• Turkish government officials greatly resented the portrayal of their country in the movie, and made this known to the media in general after the film's release.
• In an attempt to really get into character, John Hurt stopped bathing for most of the 53-day schedule and reeked so badly in time, most of his colleagues avoided being close to him.
• Banned (and never released theatrically) in Turkey, until 1992 when the private TV channel HBB broadcast it.

****SPOILER ALERT***** (for the rest of the entry)

• The scene in which Brad Davis' character bites out the tongue of a fellow inmate upset the crew so much that they all walked off the set, leaving Alan Parker to shoot it with his two actors. For the scene, Davis carried a pig's tongue around in his mouth.

Differences between the book and the movie: (courtesy of Wikipedia)

• In the movie, Billy Hayes is in Turkey with his girlfriend, where he was alone in the original story.
• The rape scenes are also fictional. Billy Hayes never claimed to be raped by his Turkish wardens or that he ever suffered any sexual violence. He engaged in consensual sex, but the film depicts Hayes rejecting the advances of a prisoner, and the warden.
• Billy Hayes never bit out anyone's tongue or engaged in the violent fight scene that was depicted.
• The endings differ from each other. In the book, Hayes is moved to another prison from which he escapes by sea, in the movie this passage has been replaced by a violent scene in which he unwittingly kills the head guard who is preparing to rape him.

Post-tongue being bit off
(GROSSSSSS)