On October 6, 1970 while boarding an international flight out of Istanbul Airport, American Billy Hayes (Brad Davis) is caught attempting to smuggle two kilos of hashish out of the country, the drugs strapped to his body. He is told that he will be released if he cooperates with the authorities in identifying the person who sold him the hashish. Billy's troubles really begin when after that assistance, he makes a run for it and is recaptured. He is initially sentenced to just... (Full plot summary below)
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On October 6, 1970 while boarding an international flight out of Istanbul Airport, American Billy Hayes (Brad Davis) is caught attempting to smuggle two kilos of hashish out of the country, the drugs strapped to his body. He is told that he will be released if he cooperates with the authorities in identifying the person who sold him the hashish. Billy's troubles really begin when after that assistance, he makes a run for it and is recaptured. He is initially sentenced to just over four years for possession, with no time for the more harsh crime of smuggling. The prison environment is inhospitable in every sense, with a sadistic prison guard named Hamidou (Paul L. Smith) ruling the prison, he who relishes the mental and physical torture he inflicts on the prisoners for whatever reason. Told to trust no one, Billy does befriend a few of the other inmates, namely fellow American Jimmy Booth (Randy Quaid) (in for stealing two candlesticks from a mosque), a Swede named Erich (Norbert Weisser), and one of the senior prisoners having already served seven years, an Englishman named Max (Sir John Hurt), the latter two also in for hashish-related charges. One prisoner not befriended is Rifki (Paolo Bonacelli), who wields power in the prison as the unofficial eyes and ears for the guards. As Billy, his family and his girlfriend Susan (Irene Miracle) attempt through legal and diplomatic channels for Billy's release, Max tells him that the only way out is to "catch the midnight express" (escape), which is what Jimmy is continually trying to do. When Billy's situation changes, he becomes more desperate in every sense of the word. It seems as if Billy has only two options: to let the prison ultimately figuratively then literally kill him, or to somehow regain control of his life through whatever means available.
Leave your thoughts about Midnight Express.
| Cinema SightWesley LovellIt defined the hell of a Turkish prison whil portraying the humanity needed to survive such a terrible place. |
| Sunday Times (Australia)Shannon J. HarveyAnyone thinking of smuggling drugs into a foreign country should watch this first. |
| Austin ChronicleEli KoorisDirector Alan Parker milks naturalistic performances out of his small cast and creates a brutal intensity rarely matched in cinema today. Michael Serensin's cinematography is oddly sedating yet intense, giving the prison and the whole country of Turkey a frightful, alien sort of feel. |
| Apollo GuideMike DeWolfeMidnight Express walks a fine line between portraying Hayes as a victim or a criminal. |
| Times (UK)Ed PottonIt's a film that probably wouldn't be made today, but it taps into a potent fear: losing your liberty far from home. |
| Fantastica DailyChuck O'LearySearing and unforgettable. A harrowing descent into a real-life hell that's so relentlessly intense it will leave you feeling drained. |
| EmanuelLevy.ComEmanuel LevyHorrific scenes of prison brutality and powerful acting by Brad Davis as the American Billy Hayes help make up for the shortcomings in Alan Parker's sensationalistic tale and Oliver Stone's factual inaccuracies. |
| Groucho ReviewsPeter CanaveseStrong stuff indeed...swells proportional sight and sound subjectively to convey Hayes' nightmarish experience but also hypes up a story that probably doesn't need the help. [Blu-ray] |
| Q Network Film DeskJames Kendricka brutal and brutalizing film whose effects have diminished little in the decades since its controversial theatrical release in the late 1970s |
| Ozus' World Movie ReviewsDennis SchwartzThe prison scenes are nightmarish and unforgettable. |
