1978 prison drama film directed by Alan Parker
Midnight Express is a 1978 American prison drama directed by Alan Parker and adapted by Oliver Stone from Billy Hayes's 1977 memoir. It stars Brad Davis, with Irene Miracle and Bo Hopkins in supporting roles. The film centers on Hayes, a young American student, who is sent to a Turkish prison for trying to smuggle hashish out of the country. The film's title is prison slang for his escape attempt.
Hayes and others criticized the film for portraying the Turkish characters as violent and villainous and for deviating too much from the source material for added shock value.
Midnight Express received generally positive reviews from critics. The film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director for Parker at the 51st Academy Awards in 1979, and won Best Adapted Screenplay for Stone and Best Original Score for Giorgio Moroder. It also won six Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture – Drama and BAFTA Awards for Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (for John Hurt).
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.