Midnight Express. (1978). Cert 18. Director - Alan Parker. Writer - Billy Hayes. Starring - Brad Davis, John Hurt & Randy Quaid.

Premise - Midnight Express is the story of Billy Hayes whom is caught trying to smuggle Hash from Turkey to America. He is thrown in a Turkish 'hell hole' prison and we follow his hardships. Midnight Express is a very brutal film, no punches are pulled in its depiction of life inside a Turkish jail. Beatings are shown in a very explicit manner causing the viewer to wince at the screen. Even young children are beaten. Many scenes were difficult to watch, none more so perhaps then the scene where his girlfriend comes to visit him. Powerful stuff throughout, very hard to watch. Rewarding in the long run, however. Hayes is played excellently by Brad Davis, I see he didn't even receive an OSCAR nomination! Very surprising, his performance was very commendable. I would like to see who did get nominated that year. I would also like to know what happened to Davis, I checked him on IMDB, apart from The Player and Chariots Of Fire he has done little of note since. Elsewhere the ever-reliable John Hurt is good as the permanently stoned Englishman and a surprisingly good performance from Randy Quaid of all people! I liked the way that when the guards and other Turks spoke they spoke in Turkish without subtitles it really puts the viewer in the head of Hayes. All these people speaking around him and he has no idea what they're saying, he learns Turkish eventually of course. One thing that did irk me however was early on in the film (especially in the chase scene) there was an over abundance of cheesy synth music. It dated the film badly and spoiled my enjoyment of the early scenes. Apart from that though I really enjoyed Midnight Express. Dark, disturbing, but I was unable to stop watching. Highly recommended.

8/10 for Midnight Express. Poster Quote - Catch the express.