Midnight Express is a 1978 American film directed by Alan Parker and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on Billy Hayes's 1977 book and was adapted into the screenplay by Oliver Stone. It starred Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins, Paolo Bonacelli, Paul L. Smith, Randy Quaid, Norbert Weisser, Peter Jeffrey and John Hurt. Hayes was a young American student sent to a Turkish prison for trying to smuggle hashish out of Turkey. The movie deviates from the book's accounts of the story – especially in its portrayal of Turks – and some have criticized the movie version, including... Billy Hayes himself. Later, both Stone and Hayes expressed their regret on how Turkish people were portrayed in the movie. The film's title is prison slang for an inmate's escape attempt. The Motion Picture Association of America rated the film "R". On October 6, 1970, a U.S. citizen named Billy Hayes is arrested by Turkish police, on high alert due to fear of terrorist attacks, as he is about to fly out of Istanbul with his girlfriend. He is found to have several bricks of hashish taped to his body — about two kilograms in total — and arrested.
more
| Release date: | August 31, 1978 |
| Directed by: | Alan Parker |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 121 Minutes |
| Producer: | David Puttnam, Alan Marshall |
| Editor: | Gerry Hambling |
| Music by: | Giorgio Moroder |
| Cinematography: | Michael Seresin |
| Screenplay by: | Oliver Stone |
| Estimated budget: | $2,300,000 |
| Adapted from: | Midnight Express |
| Genre: | Thriller, Adventure |