Midnight Express (1978) on Netflix
On vacation in Istanbul, American student Billy Hayes straps two kilos of hashish to his chest and is caught boarding a flight home. A Turkish court sentences him to prison.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.5/1095,771 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes90%
Trailer
Plot summary
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. Told to trust no one, Billy does befriend a few of the other inmates, namely fellow American Jimmy Booth (in for stealing two candlesticks from a mosque), a Swede named Erich, and one of the senior prisoners having already served seven years, an Englishman named Max, the latter two also in for hash related charges. One prisoner not befriended is Rifki, who wields power in the prison as the unofficial eyes and ears for the guards. As Billy, his family and his girlfriend Susan attempt through legal and diplomatic channels for Billy's release, Max tells him that the only way out is to "catch the midnight express" aka escape, which is what Jimmy is continually trying to do.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Midnight Express (1978)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Denied permission to film in Istanbul, the production shot almost entirely at Fort Saint Elmo in Valletta, Malta, and its background shots of Istanbul were filmed by a small crew pretending to be making a cigarette commercial.
- In September 1978 Turkey's newly appointed ambassador to Ireland, Ahmet Asım Akyamaç, tried to have the film banned there; Irish censor Dermot Breen called it "a brilliant but shattering experience". Variety said it was the first ambassadorial protest over a screening in Ireland, and the protest failed.
- After its 1978 release, three cinemas in France stopped showing Midnight Express after a short run, and a cinema in Australia had to be evacuated because of a bomb threat linked to the Turkish community's reaction to the film.
- In the Netherlands, distributors cut subtitles in which Hayes is shown insulting Turkey and the Turks after pressure from the Turkish community; an Amsterdam judge ruled the subtitles acceptable in context but said the distributor could remove them, and it cut them again.
- In 1978 the Turkish government tried to stop the film being screened in Israel, and Variety reported the following month that it had succeeded, though Israel's Theatre and Film Control Board denied any official pressure on the decision.
- The line "Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?" in the 1980 American comedy Airplane! is a reference to Midnight Express.
- When screenwriter Oliver Stone visited Turkey in 2004, he apologized for the film's portrayal of the Turkish people, having "eventually apologized for tampering with the truth".
