Midnight Express

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Hayes has a great deal of time to ponder that irony, during an imprisonment that supplies the bulk of the movie. His years in prison are stunningly well seen by the film's director, Alan Parker -- whose last film was the engagingly odd " Bugsy Malone," in which a cast of children played gangsters. Parker found an old British fortress on Malta to use as his prison, and he populates it with a freemasonry of the world's criminals. There's Randy Quaid, as the totally strungout American; John Hurt, as the pensive British prisoner, absorbed in his drug habit; and Norbert Weisser, as the Swedish kid who becomes Hayes' lover in the year's strangest romantic scene. In more recent times, Billy has travelled round the world with a one man show Riding the Midnight Express, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013. He has written two sequels to his original book both published in 2013: Midnight Return (Escaping Midnight Express) and The Midnight Express Letters – from a Turkish Prison, 1970 – 1975, a collection of letters written to his friends and family from prison. In the same year, the story was made in to a ballet, which was the subject of much speculation when the lead dancer, Sergei Polunin, left the show one week before opening. In 2016, the story was the subject of a documentary, Midnight Return: The Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey. 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. The writing wasn't particularly special, but it told the story well and came across honestly. The book tells of the corruption within the prison system, the violence of the prison authorities - the beatings, the rapes (mostly of the child prisoners), the availability of drugs, and the horrific prison conditions. It also tells the stories (or part of them) of Hayes' fellow inmates,although whether these are true or not is probably up for debate. In likelihood he probably changed their details around etc. Película El expreso de medianoche - crítica El expreso de medianoche". Fotogramas.es. 2008-05-29 . Retrieved 2022-03-16.

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. Siskel, Gene (October 30, 1978). "Book-to-screen trip bumpy for 'Express '". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 2. Si bien yo me esperaba "más acción", por así decirle, creo que sucede todo muy rápido al final, pero eso no quiere decir que no me gustó.In desperation, Billy accompanies Jimmy and Max to try to escape through the catacombs below the prison. They give up after running into endless dead-ends. A particularly sycophantic prisoner named Rifki, who routinely acts as an informant in exchange for favors, tips off the guards about the escape attempt. Hamidou suspects Jimmy of being responsible for what happened during the first escape attempt. Jimmy is taken away again for punishment and is never seen from then on. Billy's imprisonment becomes harsh and brutal: terrifying scenes of physical and mental torture follow one another, and Billy has a breakdown. He brutally beats Rifki, killing him. He is sent to the prison's ward for the insane, where he wanders about in a daze among the other disturbed prisoners. Max is also sent there too. He is seen running from guards for an unknown infraction and is grabbed by Hamidou and thrown across the place and is severely injured. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrateded.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p.282. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. Alfred Noyes (1880-1958) was a renowned English poet who is best known for his ballads, The Highwayman and The Barrel-Organ. Midnight Express is an edited version of one of his most famous short stories of the same name.

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 both the book and the movie were very damaging to U.S.-Turkish relations. Americans, as with most people, are only too willing to blame foreigners for their problems. The drug problem was already headline material at the time; President Nixon had declared “war” on the drug trade. I really shudder at those words now. Expreso de medianoche nos narra la historia de William, "Billy", el mismo escritor, quién es condenado a 30 años en una prisión de Turquía. a b Smith, Helena (16 December 2004). "Stone sorry for Midnight Express". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 28 August 2013 . Retrieved 14 January 2012.

Midnight Express' team to watch film with Turkish prisoners". Hürriyet Daily News. 2010-05-20. Archived from the original on 2021-05-05 . Retrieved 2010-07-31.

Bad Machines: Title Track video

In October 1975, Billy has now been reduced to a catatonic and unkempt shadow of his former self in the prison's ward for the insane where he wanders in a daze among the other disturbed and catatonic prisoners, many of which look mentally incapacitated. His activities seem to consist solely of walking in a circle around a pillar with other prisoners. Max is running from guards for an unknown infraction and is grabbed by Hamidou and thrown across the place and severely injured. One day a prisoner, named Ahmet, a convicted child rapist and college-educated philosopher tries to talk to him about "bad machines" to no avail.