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Midnight Express
1978 121 min United Kingdom, United States of America R 18+
★8.1
Drama, Crime
Director: Alan Parker
📖 Based on the novel
«Midnight Express»
byBilly Hayes
Trailers
Description
Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of a country. The courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".
Budget:
$2.3M
US Gross:
$35M
Worldwide:
$35M
Starring
Brad Davis
Actor
Irene Miracle
Actor
Bo Hopkins
Actor
Awards
Golden Globe 1979
— Best Screenplay
Golden Globe 1979
— Best Picture (Drama)
Golden Globe 1979
— Best Original Score
Golden Globe 1979
— Best Original Score
BAFTA 1979
— Best Director
Academy Awards 1979
— Best Picture
Golden Globe 1979
— Best Debut
Golden Globe 1979
— Best Supporting Actor
BAFTA 1979
— Best Film Editing
BAFTA 1979
— Best Breakthrough
Golden Globe 1979
— Best Director
BAFTA 1979
— Best Supporting Actor
Academy Awards 1979
— Best Director
Golden Globe 1979
— Best Debut Actress
Academy Awards 1979
— Best Film Editing
Academy Awards 1979
— Best Adapted Screenplay
Academy Awards 1979
— Best Original Score
Cannes Film Festival 1978
— Palme d'Or
BAFTA 1979
— Best Picture
BAFTA 1979
— Best Actor
Academy Awards 1979
— Best Supporting Actor
Key opinion
Midnight Express is widely regarded as a visceral, harrowing, and technically masterful entry in the prison drama genre. While its powerful atmosphere and performances are frequently praised, the film remains divisive due to its arguably xenophobic depiction of Turkish culture and its manipulative approach to audience sympathy.
| Score | Giorgio Moroder’s haunting, atmospheric score provides an essential auditory backbone that lingers long after the film concludes. | |
| Direction | Alan Parker’s direction creates an intensely immersive, stark, and claustrophobic visual experience. | |
| Acting | Brad Davis anchors the film with a raw, physical performance that effectively conveys the protagonist's descent into despair and madness. | |
| Screenplay | The screenplay is praised for its ability to generate high tension, but it faces significant criticism for its hyperbolic and arguably racist stereotyping of the Turkish penal system and culture. | |
| Emotion | Viewers are split on the protagonist's culpability: some find his suffering deeply humanizing and evoke strong empathy, while others argue his self-inflicted legal predicament makes him an undeserving subject of the film's sympathy. |