Midnight Express is a 1978 American prison drama film directed by Alan Parker, produced by David Puttnam and starring Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins, Paolo Bonacelli, Paul L. Smith, Randy Quaid, Norbert Weisser, Peter Jeffrey and John Hurt. It is based on Billy Hayes' 1977 non-fiction book Midnight Express and was adapted into the screenplay by Oliver Stone.
Midnight Express | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Alan Parker |
Produced by |
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Screenplay by | Oliver Stone |
Based on | Midnight Express by Billy Hayes William Hoffer |
Starring |
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Music by | Giorgio Moroder |
Cinematography | Michael Seresin |
Edited by | Gerry Hambling |
Production company | Casablanca FilmWorks |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date | October 6, 1978 |
Running time | 121 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $2.3 million |
Box office | $35 million |
Hayes was a young American student sent to a Turkish prison for trying to smuggle hashish out of Turkey. The film deviates from the book's accounts of the story, especially in its portrayal of Turks, and some have criticised this version, including Billy Hayes himself. Later, both Stone and Hayes expressed their regret about how Turkish people were portrayed in the film. The film's title is prison slang for an inmate's escape attempt.
The film was released on October 6, 1978. Upon release, it received generally-positive reviews from critics. Many praised Davis's performance as well as the cast, the writing, the direction, and the musical score by Giorgio Moroder. However, Hayes and others criticized the film for portraying the Turkish prison men as violent and villainous and for deviating too much from the material source.
The film grossed over $35 million worldwide against budget of $2 million.
Screenplay
This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (September 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
On October 6, 1970, on holiday in Istanbul, Turkey, American college student Billy Hayes straps 2 kg of hashish blocks to his chest. While attempting to board a plane back to the United States with his girlfriend, Billy is arrested by Turkish police on high alert for fear of terrorist attacks. He is strip-searched, photographed, and questioned.
After a while, a shadowy American, who is never named but is nicknamed "Tex" by Billy for his thick Texan accent, arrives, takes Billy to a police station, and translates Billy's English for one of the detectives. Billy says that he bought the hashish from a taxicab driver and offers to help the police track him down in exchange for his release. Billy goes with the police to a nearby market and points out the cab driver, but when they go to arrest the cabbie, it becomes apparent that the police have no intention of keeping their end of the deal with Billy. He sees an opportunity and makes a run for it, only to get cornered and recaptured by the mysterious American.
During his first night in holding at a local jail, a freezing-cold Billy sneaks out of his cell and steals a blanket. Later that night, he is rousted from his cell and brutally beaten by chief guard Hamidou for the theft.
He wakes a few days later in Sa?malc?lar Prison, surrounded by fellow Western prisoners Jimmy (an American who is in for stealing two candlesticks from a mosque), Max (an English heroin addict), and Erich (a Swede, also in for drug smuggling), who help him to his feet. Jimmy tells Billy that the prison is a dangerous place for foreigners like them and that no one can be trusted, even young children.
Billy meets his father along with a US representative and a Turkish lawyer to discuss what will happen to him. Billy is sent to trial for his case during which the angry prosecutor makes a case against him for drug smuggling. The lead judge is sympathetic to Billy and gives him only a four-year sentence for drug possession. Billy and his father are horrified at the outcome, but their Turkish lawyer insists that it is a very good result.
Jimmy tries to encourage Billy to become part of an escape attempt through the prison's tunnels. Believing that he is to be released soon, Billy rebuffs Jimmy, who goes on to attempt an escape himself. Caught, he is brutally beaten. Then Billy finds out one day in 1974 that his sentence is overturned by the Turkish High Court in Ankara after an appeal by the prosecution. The prosecutor originally wished to have him found guilty of smuggling and not the lesser charge of possession. He is shocked to find out that he now has to serve 30 years for his crime.
Billy goes along with a prison break that Jimmy has masterminded. Billy, Jimmy, and Max try to escape through the catacombs below the prison, but their plans are revealed to the prison authorities by fellow-prisoner Rifki. His stay becomes harsh and brutal: terrifying scenes of physical and mental torture follow one another, and Billy has a breakdown. He beats up and bites out Rifki's tongue and is sent to the prison's ward for the insane, where he wanders in a daze among the other disturbed and catatonic prisoners. These scenes are moving and show Billy's profound pain.
In 1975, Billy's girlfriend, Susan, comes to see him. Devastated at what has happened to Billy, she tells him that he has to escape or he will die in there. She leaves him a scrapbook with money hidden inside as "a picture of your good friend Mr. Franklin from the bank" in the hope that Billy can use it to help him escape. Her visit moves Billy strongly, and he regains his senses. During their visit, in which they were separated by a glass window, Susan undresses her top and presses her breasts against the window (an iconic scene in the movie).
He says goodbye to Max, telling him not to die and promising to come back for him. He then tries to bribe Hamidou into taking him where there are no guards, but Hamidou takes Billy to another room and prepares to rape him. Billy is clearly afraid and powerless, but he is still fighting back. He suddenly and inadvertently kills Hamidou by pushing his head/skull onto a coat hook that sticks out of the wall.
That is clearly the miracle he has been waiting for four years. He seizes the opportunity to escape by putting on a guard's uniform and walking out of the front door.
In the epilogue, it is explained that on the night of October 4, 1975, he successfully crossed the border to Greece and arrived home three weeks later.
- Brad Davis as Billy Hayes
- Irene Miracle as Susan
- Bo Hopkins as "Tex"
- Paolo Bonacelli as Rifki
- Paul L. Smith as Hamidou
- Randy Quaid as Jimmy Booth
- Norbert Weisser as Erich
- John Hurt as Max
- Kevork Malikyan as the Prosecutor
- Yashaw Adem as the Airport police chief
- Mike Kellin as Mr. Hayes
- Franco Diogene as Yesil
- Michael Ensign as Stanley Daniels
- Gigi Ballista as the Judge
- Peter Jeffrey as Ahmet
- Michael Yannatos as Court translator
Although the story is set largely in Turkey, the movie was filmed almost entirely at Fort Saint Elmo in Valletta, Malta, after permission to film in Istanbul was denied. Ending credits of the movie state: "Made entirely on location in Malta and recorded at EMI Studios, Borehamwood by Columbia Pictures Corporation Limited 19/23 Wells Street, London, W1 England."
A made-for-TV documentary of the film, I'm Healthy, I'm Alive, and I'm Free (alternative title: The Making of Midnight Express), was released on January 1, 1977. It is seven minutes long. It features commentary from the cast and crew on how they worked together during production, and the effort it took from beginning to completion. It also includes footage from the creation of the film, and Billy Hayes' emotional first visit to the prison set.
Various aspects of Hayes' story were fictionalized or added to for the movie. Of note:
- In the movie, Billy Hayes is in Turkey with his girlfriend when he is arrested, but in the original story, he is alone.
- Although Billy spends 17 days in the prison's psychiatric hospital in 1972 in the book, he never bites out anyone's tongue, which, in the film, leads to him being committed to the section for the criminally insane.
- The book ends with Hayes being moved to another prison on an island from which he eventually escapes by stealing a dinghy, rowing 17 miles in a raging storm across the Sea of Marmara, traveling by foot and by bus to Istanbul, and then crossing the border into Greece. In the film, that passage is replaced by a violent scene in which he unwittingly kills the head guard who is preparing to rape him. (In the book, Hamidou, the chief guard, is killed in 1973 by a recently-paroled prisoner, who spots him drinking tea at a café outside the prison and shoots him eight times.) The attempted rape scene itself was fictionalized; Billy never claims in the book to have suffered any sexual violence at the hands of his Turkish wardens but engages in consensual sex while he is in prison. The film, however, depicts Hayes gently rejecting the advances of a fellow prisoner.
- There is a fleeting reference to The Pudding Shop restaurant in the bazaar. It was/is not there - it is on Divan Yolu.
The film was first released on VHS and Betamax by Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment in 1979. It made its DVD debut in 1998. A 30th Anniversary DVD release of the film was released in 2008, and a Blu-ray release was released in 2009.
Midnight Express: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||||
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Soundtrack album by Giorgio Moroder | ||||
Released | October 6, 1978 | |||
Genre | Disco | |||
Length | 37:00 | |||
Label | Casablanca Records | |||
Producer | Giorgio Moroder | |||
Giorgio Moroder chronology | ||||
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Singles from Midnight Express: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||||
Released on October 6, 1978 by Casablanca Records, the soundtrack to Midnight Express was composed by Italian synth-pioneer Giorgio Moroder. The score won the Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1979.
- "Chase" – Giorgio Moroder (8:24)
- "Love's Theme" – Giorgio Moroder (5:33)
- "(Theme From) Midnight Express" (Instrumental) – Giorgio Moroder (4:39) <
Watch movie Midnight Express Film online on Amazon
Watch movie Midnight Express Film online
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