Rating: 
Summary: Real?
Review: It does NOT mean that this is a real story just because Billy Hayes says so! Awful film in terms of any aspect. I had lived in Turkey, in many different regions for 30 years. There is nothing 'real' in that film!
Rating:
Summary: Hollywood as usual
Review: If you are making a film and call it a 'true story' then you should be making the film as it was in the real case. However, if you change the facts of the story so dramatically, no matter who you are, Oliver Stone or Alan Parker, what you do by using that two words -true story- becomes a COMMERCIAL ADVENTURE BUT NOT AN ART.Simply the film is about an American trying to smuggle some illegal staff (2kg. or so) through Turkey and been caught up and jailed. He gets severe punishments in 1970's Turkey where smuggling was followed up very dense, but even the real character admits 'not that much' as Oliver Stone slightly(?) adjusts the facts to make some more money, MONEY! Yes he actually did. He win an award (no question about how awards are decided on in Hollywood) he made some 50 people, including me, to comment on this page. For what? One thing in last, anyone who have some background education & international experience in life, LIKE YOU PEOPLE, i.e. getting on the net, reading comments, searching books, etc. can understand the deviations in the film from the facts and purpose of making such a movie; BUT unfortunately, when this movie comes on screens anywhere else in the world, most of the people on our planet with a low knowledge of that nation and with a lack of judgemental capacities do and will continue to think how disastrous people the Turks are and how horrible a country it is to live in. That is what disappoints the Turks and the people who know the real Turks. I hope it was helpful; thank you for reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining, but don't take it too seriously
Review: I've seen "Midnight Express" several times since it opened its first theatrical run. When I saw it in the theater I was so caught up in the story that I didn't pay too much attention to its bargain-basement racism. Today, it's so heavy handed and obvious I'm amazed I could have missed it. This story of a young American caught smuggling Hashish out of Istanbul goes out of its way to depict Turkey as a brutal, corrupt country, full of "furriners." Oliver Stone's script is embarrassing in places, particularly when Billy Hayes gives his big speech in court, calling Turkey "a nation of pigs." Talk about begging the question! I would be surprised if anyone of Turkish descent were not deeply offended by this. As long as you don't take it too seriously, Midnight Express can be an enjoyable non-think action movie. John Hurt and Randy Quaid contribute superb performances, and Paul Smith does a convincing job of portraying the sadistic prison warden. (It's a safe bet that no actual Turks were used in the making of this film, which was shot in Malta.) Giorgio Moroder's disco soundtrack has dated badly, but is still catchy. The DVD features an anamorphic transfer (enhanced for 16x9 TVs)with an excellent picture. The soundtrack, unfortunately, is Dolby 2.0 and does not seem to have been remastered; much of the music sounds tinny and thin.
Rating: 
Summary: Emotionaly brutal but excellent film.
Review: Midnight Express is the true story of Billy Hayes who is thrown into a turkish prison for trying to smuggle hash out of the country.During the five years he spends in the prison,he suffers emotional,physical and mental torment.The prison is run by a brutal guard played by Paul Smith who seems to have a good time beating the prisoners which makes him a symbol of cruelty.Among with Brad Davis' great performance as Billy Hayes is John Hurt and Randy Quaid who both deliver really great performances as well.Brad Davis I think was overlooked by the academy which surprised me because he displayed his character with so much emotion that you had to feel sorry not just for his character but also for him.Midnight Express is the kind of prison film that makes other prison films too hard to compare.The Shawshank Redemption was also a film I enjoyed but wasn't as gut wrenching or emotional as this film.Midnight Express is in my opinion a film that is too horrifying to ignore which means that this film should not be ignored.It shouldn't be watched for entertainment value.That isn't why this film was made.Midnight Express I highly recommend.
Rating: 
Summary: Midnight Express: A great movie based in a real human drama
Review: Alan Parker's Midnight Express was created in 1978. This movie is a real masterpiece, dedicated to the human will. It is based in a real story, the story of Billy Hayes, a young american boy who, during his vacation with his girlfriend, is being arrested in Turkey for drugs. Finally he was condemned in many years imprisonment but the worst of all is the violence that he and his friends live in the turkish prisons... Our hero at the end of the story succeeds in escaping after an endless suffering... The movie shows in the best way the encroachment of the human rights by Turks, one of the greatest problems in Turkey that even in these days hasn't stopped at all. The film is, totally, an excellent result. Brad Davis (Billy Hays) has the best role of his short life (he died some years before of AIDS). Alan Parker's direction and Oliver Stone's script are unique as well as the soundtrack created by Giorgio Moroder (who composed many other great soundtracks, including the one of Electric Dreams). The whole movie is very touching and I suggest it to everyone, even to Turks because I believe it could be a good lesson for them.
Rating:
Summary: Exagerate or not ? Is this the real problem?
Review: Many reviews said that this is a bad movie because it was exagerate. But what happened in reality is for me already unacceptable. The thing is to think about what he did and how he was treated for that. Of course he knew the risk he took. He played poker and it doesn't work. But we have to ask us if it is normal to have this treatement only because you bought small amount of hashich (it is not cocain or heroin). And I want to add that this happened not only in Turkey. The movie was based (only based) on a real story which happened in Turkey, and I'am really sorry for Turkich people because there are really nice persons in this country. To conclude I think that this is a great movie (technically, actors, music) and it how the human rights can be violated in the world (I readd, not only in Turkey).
Rating:
Summary: Healthy Deterrence
Review: I watch this film at least once each year, as a reminder to myself not to get busted for drugs in a foreign country. (For conceptually similar reasons, I also make a point of viewing Fatal Attraction once a year.) An ounce, or a gram, or a kilo of prevention is worth a ton of consequences!
Rating:
Summary: If I were Alan Parker
Review: April 23, 2000 As you know, Alan Parker is a director and Midnight Express, won two Academy Awards in 1978, was directed by him. He said that this movie was his most effective movie. Midnight Express was showed as based on true story belonging to Billy Hayes and its lead player was Brad Davis. Sure, it directed by Alan Parker and written by Oliver Stone. Shortly, the movie begins with Brad Davis' caught while he is smuggling drugs out of Türkiye. Then he was sent to prison and he faced lots of events out of humanity. The most effective parts of the movie are these torture scenes thought as horrible by the viewers. We can see that Midnight Express, caused many arguments about Türkiye and Turks because of these terrible scenes blame them. In my opinion, these scenes were exaggerated and especially included racism, so it does not depend on the art principles that are to be international and uniting the nations. Therefore, I can say that if I were Alan Parker with his knowledge and experiments, I would make a better job for art and humanity than this movie. ____If I were Alan Parker, firstly I would start to change this wrong thesis of the movie that 'This movie was adapted from a real story' (?) because Billy Hayes, has the true story, said that this movie had been changed a lot and exaggerated very much to make more effective. So I ask you that if I had not done that, how could I have been realistic and having common sense director or human? Secondly, I would continue to change the general atmosphere that all of the people in the movie apart from main character are sadist because this opinion causes to many prejudices about a nation, Turks and this is not realistic. So I would show the prison as extremely instead of showing everything any parts of Türkiye. As you know, every country can have these unexpected events but certain they are not general because there is no systems whose aims are to hurt humans. So I would have caught a good point for discussing some prisons in Türkiye. Perhaps many actors and actress would have helped me to make the movie and I could have used the real Turks on the movie instead of their fakes. In my opinion, that would have been more effective, more realistic and more useful. Thirdly, I would have used some of good character in Turks and emphasize again that all Turks are not bad people, they have some problems like all nations. So I would have behaved universally and not do injustice to lots of people live and lived friendly and fraternally in Anatolia. Fourthly, perhaps the most important thing, I would have been sorry for making mistakes because I could not have done all of them and turn my movie, full of the prejudices and racism, to more objective and humanistic way. ____In my opinion, all of the people whose goals are to be universal and uniting of whole humanity like art's would make better if they were Alan Parker. They never hurt any other nations in the world, Turks and whose unique leader, Atatürk who says 'Peace at home, peace in the world' and presented April 23, written date of this essay, to all children in the world as a symbol of peace and friendship.
Rating:
Summary: Superb film, but unrelentingly vicious
Review: First of all, I don't believe that a filmmaker should compromise their beliefs purely to avoid annoying a certain group of people. Certainly, Midnight Express does no favours to Turkey and I notice that, not surprisingly, a lot of Turkish people are upset about this. However, most people would agree that this kind of treatment of any prisoner, especially who is not a hardened criminal but a misguided youth, is simply unacceptable. And then to change the sentence after the trial... Don't get me wrong - other countries, even the UK, have done this, but I don't believe the accusations of racism are founded - nobody should draw back from criticising any country just because they might be called racist; although it is based on a true story it is not always true to that story - the liberties which are taken are there to dramaticise events, not to encite racism. The biggest problem comes when people try to claim that none of this happened and that it doesn't represent the real Turkey - well, some or even most of it did happen, and of course it doesn't represent the real Turkey - it's simply a dramatic and extremely well made film. Of course it's biased and there is nothing at all wrong with that - it's a film, not a documentary, after all. The film features some great performances, particularly from Brad Davis and John Hurt, a taut and well-written story by Oliver Stone, and an excellent soundtrack from Giorgio Moroder, which matches the on-screen events suitably.
Rating:
Summary: Cinematically Brilliant; Morally Reprehensible
Review: On a cinematic level, Midnight Express is an extremely powerful movie. It has a terrific, moving soundtrack. The acting is terrific. The late Brad Davis, who played the lead in this film, threw away what could have been a fantastic acting career because of his own drug use. (The actor was pretty much blackballed after he gained a reputation for showing up to Hollywood parties and film shootings stoned. He eventually died of AIDS.) Some of the speeches in the film are extremely powerful. However, the main character is simply put, a drug smuggler who got caught. The movie does an excellent job of making him extremely sympathetic. If you purchase the newest edition, there's a brief documentary on the real life Billy Hayes. I find his general lack of remorse most interesting. Additionally, the movie takes some liberties with the facts. From what I understand, the first half of the film is fairly accurate. He did caught smuggling drugs out of turkey. He was sent to prison. He did get his feet beaten with a club, and was hit in the groin with the club. (He was not raped, as many reviewers have indicated.) When he had less than two months left on his sentence, he was sentenced to more time. However, it wasn't another 30 years, like the movie indicates. Between time off for good behavior, a partial amnesty to all prisoners, and time served from his first sentence, Billy Hayes had roughly 3 years left when he escaped. The extreme brutality in the last third of the film is simply the product of Oliver Stone's imagination. In fact, Billy Hayes has said that he'd like to make another movie to properly reflect what really happened. (Personally, I think he's just trying to profit more from his crime.) Many reviewers have complained about the brutal way the prisons are portrayed. This movie is certainly exaggerated. However, prisons are brutal places. Additionally, the Turks do beat prisoners on the feet. As another reviewer commented, it's worse than the U.S., but not as bad as other countries. I'd like to refer you to a previous customer review in which the reviewer hypothesizes what would have had happened if he hadn't been caught.
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