Midnight Express

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Well, yes it was pretty shit. It was prison after all. If it was meant to be a treat they'd have sent him to a 5 star hotel. And young Billy was a little bit on the silly side, oh yes, silly Billy trying to get on a US bound plane with a couple of k's of hashish jammed down your trousers. Regardless of your opinions on Bill's poor decision making and how he ended up in prison in the first place, the book does make compelling reading and he gets full marks for honesty. The writing style is a bit jagged and uneven, but he's not a polished or practised writer, simply a man with a story to tell. And tell it he does.

There was a film, screenplay by the wonderful Oliver Stone, which brought the descriptions in the book to life and made the escape much more exciting, as films do. Countries, like people, generally like to show the world only their good side and people certainly sometimes feel shame and humiliation when their unknown, other, darker side is exposed. Turkey certainly felt that the book, and to a much greater extent the film, harmed its international reputation. I wonder if it affected the prison system of the country or they were just careful to have some new, modern, model prisons to show journalists, the UN and other concerned organisations when they come calling? Champlin, Charles (October 22, 1978). "Brief Review of 'Express '". Los Angeles Times. Calendar, p. 7. Billy is introduced to Max (John Hurt), is a bespectacled, introverted, unkempt, 30-something junkie uninterested in small talk that injects himself with "gastro" a stomach medicine with codeine. Max has been in prison the longest for drug dealing (seven years and counting), while Erich has already served four years and Jimmy around three. Billy and Erich are conversing with him to get a lawyer and Max is in a haze telling Billy about the Turkish justice system and that all Turkish lawyers are crooked and that he just needs to escape the best way he knows how, catching the "Midnight Express", a train that doesn't stop at the prison. He refers to him a lawyer named Yesil that got off a Frenchman for smuggling 200 kilos. Quinn, Karl (March 24, 2015). "Billy Hayes: Convicted drug smuggler tells the true story behind Midnight Express". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved March 22, 2020.

I can't work up any sympathy for the author, a bisexual smuggler who brought his ordeal on himself through his selfishly motivated attempt to smuggle dope out of Turkey. My sympathies were with his parents who were brought to the brink of bankruptcy through their efforts to free him. But she turned out to be right. Her daughter had been one of four Americans arrested. Their van had been found filled with hashish. They were apparently on their way to Germany through Greece and were going to take a ferry boat from Turkey. In any case, from then on, I was deeply involved. In fact, later on, when I became the DCM [deputy chief of mission] in Ankara, the four were still in jail. I was there when they were finally released in the late ‘70s… Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrateded.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p.282. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. A made-for-television documentary about the film, I'm Healthy, I'm Alive, and I'm Free (alternative title: The Making of Midnight Express), was released on January 1, 1977. It is seven minutes long, and features commentary from the cast and crew on how they worked together during production, and the effort it took from beginning to completion. It also includes footage from the creation of the film, and Hayes's emotional first visit to the prison set. [7] Differences from the book [ edit ]

A little later, Billy is forced to stand naked with the customs officers staring and grinning at him and an unidentified southern American man (Bo Hopkins), presumably an agent with the DEA, walks in. (Note: the mysterious American is never named, but Billy refers to him as 'Tex' due to his strong Texan accent.) "Tex" is calm and kind with Billy and takes him to a local police station where he is is interrogated where Tex translates for a local Turkish detective whom offers Billy freedom if he points out who sold him the hash. Midnight Return: The Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey. Documentary directed by Sally Sussman Morina, 2016, (01:22:35-39)Billy is also given the truth about Rifki, the trustee, who informs on other prisoners for unheard-of privileges and favors and has a special distaste for foreigners. Rifki also sells watery tea, low-grade hashish, steals from his fellow inmates, and seems to have an unlimited (for incarceration) supply of money to bribe the poorly paid guards. When Max offends Rifki, the informant kills Max's pet cat.

Festival de Cannes: Midnight Express". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 2012-08-07 . Retrieved 2009-05-20. Billy Hayes’ chronicle of his horrific five years in a Turkish prison doesn’t read like tense existentialist struggle against impossible odds, but rather like a Hallmark movie of the week. In the movie, Hayes is in Turkey with his girlfriend when he is arrested. But in real life, he was traveling alone. Riding The Midnight Express With Billy Hayes". plays411.com. Archived from the original on October 17, 2018 . Retrieved July 6, 2017.As the family sat down for dinner, Kate voiced her concerns. Kate knew that the Midnight Express would pass through Moingona station (near her house) and it would not stop there. She knew that it would cross the bridge over Honey Creek bridge. But was the bridge safe enough? Hayes is still active in the entertainment industry, specifically acting and writing. He appeared in the Charles Bronson 1987 film Assassination, as a hired killer.