There are those who say everyone should be forced to pay the consequences for their actions. Others believe that everyone makes mistakes and deserves a second chance. In between these two extremes, we have the story of William Hayes, a young man who was caught smuggling hashish from Turkey while on his way back to the United States, and was placed in Sultanahmet Jail, one of the most brutal penal institutions in the region. The story of his life in prison – particularly the fact that he was sentenced to four years for possession of narcotics before having the Turkish high court extend it to thirty years based on redefining it as smuggling – has fascinated audiences for over fifty years, with both his highly successful writing and decades of public speaking engagements bringing his fascinating life to people across the world. Perhaps the most famous retelling is in the form of Midnight Express, the adaptation by Alan Parker, based on a screenplay by a young Oliver Stone, who had the task of taking Hayes’ epic criminal odyssey and finding a way to condense it into a two-hour piece, which turns out to be exceptionally successful. The film, which is a simplified version of roughly the five years that Hayes spent in prison, follows his initial capture right until his escape, where he managed to fool the guards to allow him to walk out without them being any the wiser, one of the most famous stories of a prison escape in history, and one that still amazes audiences to this very day. In the time between these scenes that bookend the film, Parker tells a thrilling story of a man whose resilience and determination to escape a terrible situation has now become the foundation for one of the great films of the 1970s, a provocative examination of human courage and the desire to be free, crafted by a master director whose ability to plumb the emotional depths of quite a cold, harrowing story should never be overlooked, especially in how he captures something so primal and provocative in the process. Midnight Express is a tremendous film, and a film built from some very raw but nonetheless poignant material.

Midnight Express is a film about a man being forced to pay the consequences of his actions – he’s not wrongly accused, nor is he even vaguely innocent, and his sentence (while harsh) is justified in the eyes of the law. Therefore, what is it about Hayes’ story that makes it so profoundly compelling? Naturally, we are predisposed to rooting for the underdogs, even if it means supporting someone who has done something that is objectively bad. In the case of Hayes, he’s not someone we feel guilty about supporting, since his crime (while objectively not a good idea) did not hurt anyone and was merely just his own poor judgment. This makes it far easier to understand why his story would be so effective – for those who hold some incredulity towards institutions that claim to be built around public order, but in reality are merely structures that allow for the exploitation of anyone whom they see as a threat, Hayes’ story reveals insights that are far more complex than we would ever imagine possible. He was someone who made a bad decision, and instead of being allowed to get a second chance (especially as the film suggests it was his first offence – we know now that he had a longer history before his capture, but for the sake of dramatic effect, it is shown as a first-time error on his part), he is thrown into a prison, and told that most of his adult life will be spent here before he is released – if he even manages to survive that far, since very few do. It’s a compelling story that sets out to underline the harsh conditions of prisons in the region, showing the lack of humanity and constant threat these people, who are supposed to be punished rather than subjected to around-the-clock torture, had of having their lives ended by the inhumane conditions. In this regard, we can easily understand why Hayes’ escape was less a matter of wanting to be free, and more the desire to get out of a situation where he would have most certainly been killed. Parker works closely with Hayes to create a version of his life in prison that is riveting and moving, underlining the conditions of his escape, and presenting them in a fascinating and compelling form that keeps us entirely entertained and invested in his journey.

Casting was certainly key when constructing this film, which is a far more nuanced piece of filmmaking than we would expect based on a cursory glance. The film essentially required a group of actors to agree to participate in what is clearly a challenging set of roles, since they had to effectively play people who have been placed in a prison and subjected to conditions designed to not only strip them of all humanity, but essentially reduce them to shells of who they were before they entered, where any concern for their lives are entirely dismissed, where the simple act of living is seen as defiance, and where survival becomes optional. Brad Davis was an extraordinary actor who delivered stellar performances over the course of his tragically short career, and this film contains some of his most interesting work. Despite being quite young, he has a world-weariness and complexity to him that is difficult to overlook, and while he is essentially playing someone who borders on unlikable based on his actions, he is shown to be quite a heroic figure, someone whose resourcefulness is admirable, even if we may not resonate with him based on the situation in which he found himself. However, the film is equally as focused on the supporting cast – John Hurt is absolutely unforgettable as Max, a heroin addict with a sunny disposition and a gentle demeanour that stands in stark contrast with the gruff, overly masculine attitudes of his fellow prisoners. Randy Quaid is a riot as the brute Jimmy, who may seem dim on the surface, but who is secretly quite smart, at least when putting together the plan. Paolo Bonacelli is equally as fascinating as Rifki, the sycophantic prisoner whose own desire to see his fellow inmates punished for their transgressions turns him into the villain of the film. Even actors who only appear in a few scenes – Mike Kellin as Hayes’ overly emotional father watching his son’s humanity fade away and Gigi Ballista as the sympathetic judge who, by his own admission, “has his hands tied by Ankarra” when it comes to sentencing Hayes, bring so much complexity to roles that could have been one-dimensional in the hands of other actors. It’s splendid work from all of them, and they bring so much impact to a film that was certainly not lacking when it came to offering unique perspectives.

One of Parker’s greatest gifts as a filmmaker was his versatility – he was comfortable directing films in just about every genre (something that his recent passing reminded us of – few filmmakers have been able to cover as wide a range of films as he did over the years), and while Midnight Express is not usually cited as amongst his greatest works, it certainly is still a very strong film, and the precise kind of story that required a director who was adaptable and flexible, but also able to bring his own insights. Considering he was caught somewhere between auteur and journeyman filmmaker, his skills were always useful here, and we find that the film moves at a tremendous pace – despite being over two hours long, it feels so much faster, especially since Parker knows when to pause to focus on a particular idea, and where to speed the action up, creating something that is always very exciting. Midnight Express was not filmed on location in Turkey (primarily because the authorities resented how Hayes presented their country, and were not sure that the film production team wouldn’t be just as negative), but rather in Malta – and this is worth mentioning, since somehow they manage to so effectively capture the spirit of the city of Istanbul, despite only being able to film very briefly in the city through guerilla methods. It is a gritty film that doesn’t attempt to glamourise the experience of being in prison, with the grimy design of the prison, standing in for Sultanahmet Jail, creating a very particular image that is both nauseating and unsettling. It’s a well-crafted film made by someone who has the skill and knowledge to very effectively explore these ideas, while never going too far when it comes to capturing the spirit of the material and giving the audience the same kind of visceral, harrowing response as a result.

There is something very special about a film like Midnight Express, which is the kind of old-fashioned drama that is simply not made anymore. There are no overly elaborate narrative twists, and instead it focuses on telling a simple story with precision, having a clear destination (both narratively and physically), and working laboriously to get to that point. It’s not an overly flowery, ornate film that spends too much time emphasising specific points – and frankly, it never seems particularly compelled to explore these ideas beyond the bare minimum. It’s a very effective film, and a piece of filmmaking that knows how to keep the audience engaged without doing more than was appropriate. Instead, it focuses on the underlying themes, which it handles with deft precision and a lot of sincerity, capturing the spirit of the material and focusing wholeheartedly on the creation of something deeply meaningful and always very profound, even in those moments where it feels like it is simply just built around a prison escape. It’s far from the first film on the matter (but much like Escape from Alcatraz and The Great Escape, it forms the foundation for the gold standard of the genre), while still being compelling enough to not be derivative. It has a lot of complex ideas simmering beneath the surface, and it never quite understands where it is supposed to be going, but rather depends on the audience not only rooting for these characters, but being able to understand their plight, beyond just their desire to escape. One of Parker’s most interesting works, filled with exceptional performances and a sincere energy that is nothing if not wholeheartedly infectious, Midnight Express is a tremendous work, and something that has remained relevant and compelling to this day, being just as intriguing and entertaining as it was when audiences first encountered this captivating material.