Midnight Express

REVIEW
Based on the autobiography of Billy Hayes, this intense film explores the hellish years Hayes spent in a Turkish prison for drug smuggling. Violent, raw and powerful, Midnight Express works on both an emotional level as Hayes witnesses, experiences and fights back against the brutality of the prison staff, and as an exposé on corruption and examination of camaraderie. The film does contain one false note, however, as in real life Hayes was lovers with a fellow prisoner, but here he is politely brushed aside. Oscar-winning screenplay by Oliver Stone. Davis gives a remarkably complex performance as Hayes, and Hurt is outstanding as a drugged-out fellow prisoner.