MOVIE · 1978

Midnight Express

CrimeDramaThriller121 min

Caught trying to smuggle hashish out of Istanbul, American student Billy Hayes is hit with a staggering prison sentence and trapped in the Turkish court and prison system far from home. Brad Davis is Billy, facing appeals from his lawyer, his family, and the American government while life inside grows increasingly brutal. John Hurt turns up among the other inmates, one of the few people Billy can connect with behind bars. Directed by Alan Parker and drawn from Hayes's memoir, the film follows the case against him and the desperate possibility of the “Midnight Express,” prison slang for escape.