Midnight Express
- Director: Alan Parker
- Writer: Billy Hayes; William Hoffer
- Producer: Peter Guber; Alan Marshall
CGiii Comment
Stunning yet sanitised for the cinema - which is a great sadness.
The gay aspect is played down to near non-existence.
Possibly due for a re-make - but, no-one could replicate the performance that Hurt gives - utterly spellbinding.
The score is one of the best ever written for a film. And Davis - is perfect.
Parker carries his vision to the end.
The great sadness is that Brad Davis is no longer with us - dying of AIDS, 1991, aged 41.
RIP
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
On October 6, 1970 while boarding an international flight out of Istanbul Airport, American Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle 2 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 actually sold him the hash. 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 ruling the prison, he who relishes the mental and physical torture he inflicts on the prisoners for whatever reason.
Cast & Characters
Brad Davis as Billy Hayes;
Irene Miracle as Susan;
Bo Hopkins as Tex;
Paolo Bonacelli as Rifki;
Paul L. Smith as Hamidou;
Randy Quaid as Jimmy Booth;
Norbert Weisser as Erich;
John Hurt as Max;
Mike Kellin as Mr. Hayes;
Franco Diogene as Yesil;
Michael Ensign as Stanley Daniels;
Gigi Ballista as Chief Judge;
Kevork Malikyan as Prosecutor;
Peter Jeffrey as Ahmet;
Joe Zammit Cordina