Midnight Express

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A few weeks later, Billy's father (Mike Kellin) arrives and embraces him, forgiving his mistake and introduces him to Stanley Daniels (Michael Ensign) of the American Consulate and his requested lawyer Yesil to defend him. Yesil is a fat, shifty, greasy-haired, chain-smoking, ever-smiling man with gold teeth that promises Billy to get him the right court and judge and not to worry. Their goal is to get bail for Billy and a fake passport to get him across to Greece to leave. En la cárcel parecía que todos permanecían a la expectativa de algo. Se esperaba que abrieran la celda y que llegara el pan por la mañana; se esperaba la comida a mediodía; se esperaba que llegara el agua, para poder ir al baño o lavarse; se esperaban las visitas; se esperaba el juicio; se esperaba la libertad..." 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… In 1978, the Turkish government unsuccessfully attempted to prevent the film from being screened in Israel. [24] Awards and nominations [ edit ] Award

So this one of those books I am surprised I haven't read before now. Fairly well known, the plug on the cover says 'A harrowing true story in the great Papillion tradition', which it really is. So it's hard to feel much pity for Billy Hayes. He took his chances and lost. It is possible, however, to discover the irony in the fact that Turkey, whose economy is richened by an opium poppy crop that supplies much of the world's heroin, should have such draconian drug laws at home. That is clearly the miracle he has been waiting for four years. He seizes the opportunity to escape by putting on a guard's uniform and walking out of the front door. During his first night in holding at a local jail, a freezing-cold Billy sneaks out of his cell and steals a blanket. Later that night, he is rousted from his cell and brutally beaten by chief guard Hamidou for the theft. Billy Hayes and the Real Midnight Express | Manolith". Archived from the original on 2010-07-03 . Retrieved 2010-10-10.

Bad Machines: Album inspired by the book

Midnight Express is a 1978 American/British/Turkish prison drama action adventure film from Columbia Pictures, based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Billy Hayes and William Hoffer. It was directed by Alan Parker, starred Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Paul L. Smith, Randy Quaid, Mike Kellin, Bo Hopkins, and John Hurt, and was adapted into the screenplay by Oliver Stone. Arnold, Gary (October 28, 1978). "Sensationalistic Trip on The 'Midnight Express '". The Washington Post. B4.

Charny, Israel W. (2021). Israel's Failed Response to the Armenian Genocide: Denial, State Deception, Truth Versus Politicization of History. Academic Studies Press. p.48. ISBN 978-1-64469-523-4. Quest'estate ero in Svizzera, gironzolavo tra le bancarelle di Lugano e da lontano ho visto la copertina di questo libro, non sapevo neanche che prima del film ci fu il libro, potevo immaginarlo certamente, ma ci sono delle cose che dai per scontato e basta. Ammetto che ho tenuto da parte questo libro per un po' perchè avevo una paura folle che mi offuscasse uno dei miei film preferiti. Ma come ormai è regola poteva essere il libro inferiore al film? Certo che no, perchè se il film è maraviglioso, il libro è stupendo e ci sono voluti solo due giorni per leggerlo. Expreso de medianoche es quizá una de las narraciones autobiográficas más crudas con las que me he topado. Un joven norteamericano detenido en una cárcel turca por tráfico de drogas. Sometido a la brutalizad de un contexto que le resulta ajeno y, en primera instancia, inverosímil.Hayes has now written the sequel books, "Midnight Return (Escaping Midnight Express)" and "The Midnight Express Letters--from a Turkish Prison, 1970-1975", a collection of the original letters written home to family and friends during his imprisonment" Billy Hayes. Στους τίτλους τέλους παρατήρησα ότι πρόκειται για την αληθινή ιστορία του Hayes και η ταινία βασίστηκε στο αυτοβιογραφικό βιβλίο του το οποίο για κάποιο λόγο δεν είχα διαβάσει μέχρι σήμερα 25 περίπου χρονιά αφού είδα την ταινία. There is a fleeting reference to The Pudding Shop restaurant in the bazaar. It was/is not there - it is on Divan Yolu. Admittedly there are many better written books on Turkey to peruse, including Istanbul: The Imperial City, Lords of the Horizons A History of the Ottoman Empire, Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans in Istanbul and many others besides, but Billy Hayes story is famous and compelling because of the sheer fascinating horror afforded by life in a foreign jail. It's a weird form of voyeurism after the fact (he gets out - no this is not a spoiler). Also the production of an award winning Hollywood movie, generated from Billy's transcontinental woes and bookish rememberings also helps lodge certain events in the public cinema-going psyche. Hayes χωρίς όμως να καταντά βαρετό στο μάτι του αναγνώστη καθώς η γραφή του, που δεν είναι συγγραφέας αλλά ένας άνθρωπος που εξιστορεί τη ζωή του, δημιουργεί ποικίλα συναισθήματα στους αναγνώστες. Από τη μια θέλουμε να συμπονέσουμε τον ίδιο και να συμπάσχουμε μαζί του για όλα όσα περνάει μέσα στις Τουρκικές φυλακές αλλά από την άλλη θέλουμε να του φωνάξουμε με όλη τη δύναμη της ψυχής μας πόσο ανόητες ήταν οι πράξεις ενός νέου που κυριολεκτικά δεν υπολογίζει, λόγω του νεαρού της ηλικίας του φυσικά, τις ανυπολόγιστες συνέπειες αυτών ακριβώς των πράξεων.

In the movie, Hayes is in Turkey with his girlfriend when he is arrested. But in real life, he was traveling alone. 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.David Denby of New York criticized Midnight Express as "merely anti-Turkish, and hardly a defense of prisoners' rights or a protest against prison conditions." [21] Denby said also that all Turks in the film – guardian or prisoner – were portrayed as "losers" and "swine", and that "without exception [all the Turks] are presented as degenerate, stupid slobs". [21] An Old West-style adventure in which the participants must use the Midnight Express to arrive in time to rescue the town of Pumpkin, Arizona.

The film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director for Parker at the 51st Academy Awards in 1979, and won Best Adapted Screenplay for Stone and Best Original Score for Moroder. It also won six Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture – Drama and BAFTA Awards for Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (for Hurt).

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Billy goes along with a prison break that Jimmy has masterminded. Billy, Jimmy, and Max try to escape through the catacombs below the prison, but their plans are revealed to the prison authorities by fellow-prisoner Rifki. His stay becomes harsh and brutal: terrifying scenes of physical and mental torture follow one another, and Billy has a breakdown. He beats up and bites out Rifki's tongue and is sent to the prison's ward for the insane, where he wanders in a daze among the other disturbed and catatonic prisoners. These scenes are moving and show Billy's profound pain.