{"id":1539,"date":"2006-10-02T14:05:32","date_gmt":"2006-10-02T21:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1539"},"modified":"2023-01-26T11:32:45","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T18:32:45","slug":"midnight-express-1978","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1539","title":{"rendered":"Midnight Express (1978)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;The concept of a society is based on the quality of its mercy, its sense of fair play, its sense of justice.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Midnight-Express-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Midnight-Express-Poster-205x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"205\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-22494\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Midnight-Express-Poster-205x300.jpg 205w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Midnight-Express-Poster-87x128.jpg 87w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Midnight-Express-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 205px) 100vw, 205px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nTwenty-year-old Billy Hayes (Brad Davis) is caught smuggling two kilos of hashish across the Turkish border, and sent to prison for three years. When he finds out his sentence has been extended to thirty years, he decides to break free via the &#8220;Midnight Express.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Alan Parker Films<\/li>\n<li>Escape<\/li>\n<li>John Hurt Films<\/li>\n<li>Prisoners<\/li>\n<li>Randy Quaid Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nThe primary problem with this sensationalist movie (based on a true story) is that it&#8217;s impossible to feel much sympathy for the film&#8217;s protagonist. Played by Brad Davis (with, as Peary puts it, a &#8220;slight build and weak, guilty eyes&#8221;), he is <em>so<\/em> consistently stupid, whiny, and racist that any of the film&#8217;s other merits are overshadowed by one&#8217;s disdain for this insufferable American. As stated in the Prison Flicks review (see link below), Billy is basically a &#8220;spoiled brat&#8221; &#8212; after all, what kind of a moron would try to sneak <em>two kilos <\/em>of hash out of a foreign country, then yell out in a Turkish courthouse (in the middle of his own sentencing): &#8220;For a nation of pigs, it sure is funny you don&#8217;t eat &#8217;em! I hate you, I hate your nation, and I hate your people! I fuck your sons and daughters because they&#8217;re <em>pigs<\/em>!&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>With that said, the movie is still quite powerful when it comes to showing the inhumanity of Turkish prisons; apparently negotiations began just a few months after the film&#8217;s release for the exchange of prisoners between America and Turkey. Since that time, however, several other (better) films have showcased similarly bleak situations for Americans stuck in international jails &#8212; for instance, 1998&#8217;s <em>Return to Paradise<\/em> (set in Malaysia) and 1999&#8217;s <em>Brokedown Palace <\/em>(set in Thailand). As Peary notes, &#8220;the wrong impression that many viewers [of <em>Midnight Express<\/em>] got is that such prisons are peculiar to Turkey and not found all over the world.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The genuinely tense opening sequence, when Billy fears (rightfully so) that he will be caught at the border<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Tension.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Tension.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1536\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Randy Quaid and John Hurt as Billy&#8217;s eccentric cellmates<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Trio.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Trio.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1537\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Effectively grim prison sets<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Brutality.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Brutality.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1538\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo. While it holds some historical interest, it&#8217;s ultimately not must-see viewing. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0077928\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The concept of a society is based on the quality of its mercy, its sense of fair play, its sense of justice.&#8221; Synopsis: Twenty-year-old Billy Hayes (Brad Davis) is caught smuggling two kilos of hashish across the Turkish border, and sent to prison for three years. When he finds out his sentence has been extended to thirty years, he decides to break free via the &#8220;Midnight Express.&#8221; Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Alan Parker Films Escape John Hurt Films Prisoners&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1539\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1539"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89492,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1539\/revisions\/89492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}