Incredulous It is as if the director and writer wanted to "revenge porn" matters but instead by using fiction dressed as fact. It would have been enough to fictionalize it and make it non-country specific. But no! That does not sell enough!As it is it really is noting more than a record of how it is White Anglo-Saxons used to "get away" with horrible caricatures and then have the gall to claim it as "truth" to simply increase ticket sales.No wonder Parker later tried to redeem himself with Mississippi Burning.

Laakbaar This intense, iconic movie is loosely based on the story of William Hayes, an American trapped in a horrible Turkish prison for five years. It's a film about courage and perseverence.Alan Parker is the director. Oliver Stone is the writer. Brad Davis is the lead. A perfect storm....I remember being blown away by this gripping movie when it first came out. So much so that I must have seen it five times. It was just so gritty. It seemed to show the world the way it really was. It exposed in exquisite detail a corrupt third-world justice system and a brutal prison system.And I just saw it again today, about 35 years later. Some of the scenes, so devastating back them, have become memes in modern culture ("Oh Billy..."), so it's hard to appreciate them fully now. It's also difficult to sit through such an unrelentingly negative portrayal of Turkey. I've been to Turkey several times, and it is difficult to see this side of Turkey. It didn't help that the producer and writer played up that aspect.Regardless of its accuracy or inaccuracy, it is one hell of a good movie.

Leofwine_draca As bleak as most prison dramas usually are, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS is probably one of the most harrowing of all time. The reasons for this are that a) we watch some totally appalling things go on, b) the acting is exceptional and makes us care for the characters, and c) the realism of the film means that it's easy for the viewer to think "this could happen to me...", as it wouldn't be the first time drugs have been planted on an unsuspecting holidaymaker. The prison in this film is definitely the dirtiest I've ever seen, miles away from the hi-tech surveillance compounds of Britain and America.Brad Davis has the central performance, as the film follows his teenager right from his arrest to his eventual escape (seven years later!). He's excellent, creating a believable character who goes through a realistic change as the years progress. In one scene, Davis memorably snaps and goes insane, a haunting and extremely powerful moment. Supporting him are John Hurt, who gives a memorably twitchy performance, and poor young Randy Quaid. The things that happen to Quaid will make you cringe.This is definitely an adult film in nature, containing as it does some very explicit and horrible violence. The prison guards in Turkey have a thing about whacking their batons against the soles of the feet of offenders, scenes which are nearly as difficult to watch as those in MISERY. In other graphic moments, a man has his tongue bitten and ripped out of his mouth, and a prison guard gets his just desserts when he falls against a coat hook with fatal results. For a film so depressing and harsh, it's a must to have an uplifting ending, which this thankfully has, but not before Davis has undergone all manner of ordeals. MIDNIGHT EXPRESS is a film that every potential holidaymaker should be made to watch as a warning, and will remain in your memory long after viewing.

Stanley Tarantino I'll keep this review short. Midnight Express-1978-Directed by Alan Parker-Starring Brad Davis and the legendary John Hurt-Screenplay by the great Oliver Stone. This film is a 9/10. The film is based on the real story of a man called Billy Hayes who was imprisoned for trying to smuggle hash out of Turkey. The film really struck me on the harsh reality and how much grit was projected. The film is really a bleak reality filled with horror and violence with sadistic humans which creates true terror of a horrible place with true grit and real terror. The film is sickening and in places and saddening in others. I'm not sure what to do. From a sweaty, enclosed prison to a horrifying mental asylum where the talk of 'machines' rules and the slow demise of Billy as he discovers his meaning and sexuality and the power of his mentality is sometimes heartbreaking as he plans his escape to normality."if I stay here I'm going to die!"