Midnight Express (film)
| Midnight Express | |
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Original theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Alan Parker |
| Produced by |
Alan Marshall David Puttnam |
| Screenplay by | Oliver Stone |
| Based on |
Midnight Express by Billy Hayes William Hoffer |
| Starring |
Brad Davis Randy Quaid John Hurt Paul L. Smith Irene Miracle |
| Music by | Giorgio Moroder |
| Cinematography | Michael Seresin |
| Edited by | Gerry Hambling |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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121 minutes |
| Country | United States United Kingdom Turkey |
| Language | English Turkish Maltese |
| Budget | $2.3 million |
| Box office | $35 million |
| 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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Midnight Express is a 1978 American-British-Turkish 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.
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.
On October 6, 1970, while 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 due to 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 due to his thick Texan accent) arrives, takes Billy to a police station and translates Billy's English for one of the detectives. On questioning Billy tells them 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.
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Wikipedia