Guys,

I saw this movie so many years ago and watched it again on one of the movie channels the other night. The story of Billy Hayes, and the harsh realities that he suffered in that brutal Turkish prison were not easy to watch. When he was sentenced to 4 years for hashish possession and when the appellate court recommended a life-sentense for him, the pain and emotion that you see in him is shattering and heartbreaking. He was eventually sentenced to 30 years, escaped after serving 5 years and wrote a book about his experiences.

The book isn't anywhere near as anti-Turkish as the movie is. For instance the movie depicted Turkey as this hellish place where Billy hated everything and everyone within the prison. He made a few friends with his cellmates in the movie. However, the ending of the movie is totally fabricated. You might recall that in the movie, Billy tries to bribe the main prison guard with escape money, the guard tries to beat him, and Billy rams the guy's head into a hook on the wall in the sanatarium by charging at him. Seeing that he is dead, he steals the guard's gun, cocks it, ready to shoot him, but instead walks out of the prison with the guard's uniform on. In the book, Billly just escaped by swimming accross the boarder into Greece. There wasn't this decent to madness that Billy experienced in the movie according to the book. Only one guard treated him badly in the book. The CONDITIONS of the prison however are depicted even worse in the book than in the movie! There is some pretty disturbing stuff in the book and the movie.

The Turkish government however hated this movie, and wouldn't allow Alan Parker the director, or screenwriter Oliver Stone the rights to film there. Most of the film takes place in England and the island of Malta in several prison bunkers. The acting is first rate! Great movie, even though it deviates from the truth.

Jack

I thought this was a great movie.

I read that the real Billy Hayes said that the movie's depiction of his abuse was very exagerrated. But there are some things that have to be fabricated to make a movie better. Here's an example.

In the movie "Catch Me If You Can", Frank Abagnale Jr. escapes the United States to France. He is then followed there by Carl Hanratty (the man on his trail). He was later caught and brought into a French jail and extradited. But that's not how it happened to the real Frank Abagnale Jr. In reality, he didn't leave the country. He was caught when several police officers noticed him walking on the street, recognized him, and apprehended him. If that were to be put into the movie, that would be a real yawner. It's nothing exciting and nothing entertaining.

A second example is "The Day After Tomorrow." All the events in the movie are based on faulty science. But it wouldn't be entertaining if the scienctific stuff and whatnot were exagerrated and created, like giving New York an Ice Age and having a series of tornados ravaging downtown Los Angeles. Without that, we wouldn't have an entertaining movie. As a matter of fact, we wouldn't even have a movie considering virtually all the events and sciences were made up.

I've seen the movie quite a few times and though I'd heard about how differently things were depicted, I've yet to read the book. Reading through your post, I'll have to do just that.

The movie, as depressing and hard to watch as it is at times, is one of the best I've seen. Brad Davis was a wonderful actor who brought a lot to his portrayal of Billy Hayes, I think. Same goes for Randy Quaid and John Hurt.

Originally posted by little insomniac
I've seen the movie quite a few times and though I'd heard about how differently things were depicted, I've yet to read the book. Reading through your post, I'll have to do just that.

The movie, as depressing and hard to watch as it is at times, is one of the best I've seen. Brad Davis was a wonderful actor who brought a lot to his portrayal of Billy Hayes, I think. Same goes for Randy Quaid and John Hurt.

The sad truth is that Brad Davis, who REALLY LOOKED AND ACTED LIKE THE REAL BILLY HAYES, died of a drug overdose (of all things) in 1991.

Jack

Originally posted by Jack1000
The sad truth is that Brad Davis, who REALLY LOOKED AND ACTED LIKE THE REAL BILLY HAYES, died of a drug overdose (of all things) in 1991.

Jack

Yes, I remember when he died. But I thought he died of complications due to AIDS. :(

Originally posted by little insomniac
Yes, I remember when he died. But I thought he died of complications due to AIDS. :(


That's what I thought, too. It said so on his IMDB page.

Thanks for the info on Brad Davis. I'll have to check that out further....At any rate, this URL has a brief but interesting interview with the REAL Billy Hayes, check it out:

Jack

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/156011_midnightexpress.html

Originally posted by Jack1000
Thanks for the info on Brad Davis. I'll have to check that out further....At any rate, this URL has a brief but interesting interview with the REAL Billy Hayes, check it out:

Jack

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/156011_midnightexpress.html

It's no problem, Jack, and thanks for providing that URL.