Midnight Express

For his follow up to Bugsy Malone, I don't know if Alan Parker  could have done anything more diametrically opposed than Midnight Express, which was released in 1978. From a fizzy lark for kids to a harrowing and brutal film about an American in a Turkish prison is a great example of diversity.

Midnight Express is the true story (well, at least the basic facts are true) of Billy Hayes, who was caught smuggling hashish out of Turkey. He ends up in prison, which is no country club. He is initially sentenced to three years, but just when he is about to get out the court system switches the charge from possession to smuggling and he gets thirty years. Suffice it to say, since this is a movie, he will get out and is free and alive today.

But in the meantime, we see the horrors of a Turkish prison, so much so that the words "Turkish prison" have taken on a meaning of their own to describe someplace you don't want to be. Beatings are regular, the food isn't so good, and there's an overall dinginess to the place--hygiene is not paramount.

Midnight Express is an excellent film but one has to get past a few things. First, Hayes (played by Brad Davis) is incredibly stupid. For him to even try to smuggle hash, with bars taped to his body, is very dumb, as a rash of hijackings (this was in 1970) had made airports crack down on security. He thinks he's good when he gets through security, but there's another round boarding the plane. The authorities think he's carrying a weapon, and laugh when they see it's just drugs.

Then he cooperates with authorities by pointing out the cab driver who sold him the drugs, but he decides to run. Just what his plan is I have no idea--an American in the streets of Istanbul with no money? He was told he would be let go if he cooperated, of course there's no way of knowing if they would have held up their end of the bargain, but why run?

So he goes to prison, where he is introduced to a burly head guard who beats the bottom of his feet for taking a blanket. He makes a few friends--Randy Quaid as a hotheaded fellow who is keen on escape, and John Hurt (who was nominated for an Oscar for the role) as an introspective Englishman. They are bedeviled by another prisoner who likes to inform (and even kills Hurt's cat). I was interested to see that they do not appear to be confined to cells, but freely associate in common areas.

After Davis finds out he's going to have a longer sentence he gets some revenge on that informing inmate, and is sent to the psych ward, where he pretty much gives up and becomes a shambling wreck. He does get a visit from his girlfriend (in a scene that was famous at the time--all he wants is for her to show him her breasts) who gives him some money for a way out.

Over the years Midnight Express, which was nominated for several Oscars, and won two (for the script by Oliver Stone and the music by Giorgio Moroder) has lost some esteem, as it was heavily criticized for being unfair to the Turkish people--even Hayes objected. There is not one Turk in the film who is cast in  good light, and at his sentencing, Davis gives a speech denouncing every Turk as a pig (another example of his not being too bright). Changes to the story were also criticized, although I don't know of a movie based on historical fact that doesn't change at least a few things.

All I know is that is a gripping film, if not a politically correct one. I'm sure seeing this film would cure anyone of thinking of committing a crime in Turkey.