Midnight Express

By Sean Howe
Published on February 1, 2008 05:00AM EST

After U.S. student Billy Hayes (Davis) is caught smuggling hash out of Turkey, he gets 30 years in prison?a bad rap even without the sadistic guards and insane inmates. With an Oscar-winning script by Oliver Stone, Midnight Express melds Hayes’ real-life (but heavily fictionalized) jailbreak thriller with misery and bombast (Hayes to a judge: ”I f— your sons and daughters because they are pigs”). Director Alan Parker’s smoke machines and backlighting influenced ’80s flicks from Flashdance to Top Gun. EXTRAS In a commentary, Parker (sort of) apologizes for villainizing every Turk on screen. B

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