DVD Review: Midnight Express - 30th Anniversary Edition

By Adnan Tezer Feb 9, 2008, 13:10 GMT

Based on a true story and winner of two Academy Awards and six Golden Globes, this gritty film follows the unsure fate of Billy Hayes (Brad Davis – A Small Circle of Friends, Heart), a young American caught at the Turkish border trying to smuggle hashish.  With his future in the hands of a foreign government, Hayes faces uncertainty and fear – papers from the Embassy mean little and the ...more

Midnight Express has lost none of its potency and brutality as a film after 30 years. Even if it’s a heavily fictionalized film based on an actual event, it works as an emotional experience.  Released in 1978, the film became a controversial success and went on to be nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture.

In October of 1970 while attempting to fly out of Istanbul, Turkey, an American youth named Billy Hayes (Brad Davis) is arrested for possession of hashish. He is sentenced to four years in a brutal Turkish prison where he meets and befriends Max (John Hurt who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor here) and Jimmy (Randy Quaid).

He endures physical and mental torture from the guards particularly the brutish and sadistic captain of the guards Hamidou (Paul Smith).  When his original sentence is overturned in favor of a 30 year term, Hayes becomes desperate to escape and starts planning with Max and Jimmy to catch the Midnight Express, a prison term for escape.

The acting by all is first rate with Brad Davis giving a remarkable performance as Hayes as we see him endure unspeakable mental and physical tortures at the hands of his jailers. Unfortunately, he never was able to match his work here during the remainder of his career and died prematurely of AIDS in 1991.

This would be the film that announced director Alan Parker to the world.  Parker places us in a foreign world and keeps Billy and us off balance by not using subtitles for any foreign language spoken thus creating a world of uncertainty and fear. Whether it’s the heart rate laden opening or ending, Parker keeps you on the edge. He would later go on to direct such films as Pink Floyd: The Wall, Angel Heart, Mississippi Burning and The Commitments.

Oliver Stone’s screenplay, which won an Oscar, may have differed from what really happened to Hayes during his prison stay but demands your attention and remains uncompromising and angry. It keeps a hammerlock on you throughout and rarely lets you grasp for air.

It walks a fine line of portraying Hayes as both a stupid criminal and victim. It asks hard questions regarding imprisonment and what is a just punishment for one’s crimes.  Giorgio Moroder’s hypnotic, electronic score also won an Oscar for Best Original Score and remains a crucial element in the film.

It is important to stress that the film differs heavily from Hayes’s book, which he wrote along with William Hoffer. Chief amongst those differences are that in the film Billy is given a girlfriend where in the original story he was alone in Turkey. The rape scenes are also fictional. Hayes never claimed to have been raped by the Turkish guards or that he suffered any sexual violence.

Scenes of homosexuality that actually occurred were toned down or changed. The infamous scene with Hayes biting out a prison informant’s tongue never happened nor did his angry, impassioned monologue to the Turkish High Court where he refers to them as a “nation of pigs” after being sentenced to 30 years.

The ending was also radically changed. In the book, Hayes describes being moved to another prison from which he escaped by sea. In the film, this is changed.

The film was also criticized for its negative portrayal of Turks. Both Alan Parker and Oliver Stone mention in the documentary included here that they regret how Turks were portrayed in the film and how there were no Turks seen in a positive light in the film. Parker even mentions in his essay included with the DVD that “The caption, ‘Based on a true story,’” was also misleading.

“Certainly it was based on a true story. But that didn’t mean that it was a true story…it had gone through too many hands and minds with too many agendas for it to be totally true.” Both Stone and Parker still stand by the film, however, and are clearly proud of its lasting impact thirty years later.

The real life Billy Hayes has also said in recent years that he wished there were some positive portrayals of Turks in the film and that the film is by no means representative of Turks as a whole.  He admits that the cruel and barbaric conditions depicted in the film were accurate but hardly unique to Turkey alone as a country. He also admits that the film’s negative portrayal of Turks hurt the country’s tourism industry.

Sony has done a first rate job with this edition of Midnight Express, making it easy to upgrade over the previous DVD incarnation of the film which only contained a featurette.

This edition contains a commentary with director Alan Parker as well as a fascinating and informative essay and photo journal (The Making of Midnight Express) from Parker as well included as an insert. There is also a 72 minute documentary broken into three parts (“The Producers”, “The Production”, and “The Finished Film”) that focuses on the origin and making of the film while also dealing with the film’s initial reception and lasting impact.

Producers Alan Marshall and David Puttnam, executive producer Peter Guber, director Alan Parker, the real life Billy Hayes, Oliver Stone and John Hurt all take part. Also included is a 12-minute photo gallery set to music from the film as well as the original trailer for the film and three other trailers for Sony DVDs.

Midnight Express is not an easy film to sit through. It is disturbing, violent and frightening. It is also a lasting film classic that will stay with you forever.  It should not be taken as truth in regards to its real life inspiration but rather as a highly entertaining, visceral film experience.

Midnight Express - 30th Anniversary Edition is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.