Despite the many racist rants, I think some are missing the point, the location of the prison is irrelevant, the nationality of the guards matters little. The fact it is based on a true story which took place in Turkey dictates the setting, had it taken place in Asia, Morocco, etc etc the film would have been just as brilliant as it is. John Hurt is almost unrecognisable, ignore the political votes, watch it for its lingering and well directed depth. I love it.

1) great soundtrack 2) great actori am sorry friends, we are not ugly like that :) and we can speak turkish fluently..so if i can find the sountrack vinyl of this movie, it is enough for me.

Firstly my background is Turkish and my academic background is in history. The unfortunate Turks here claiming this film isn't historically accurate know nothing but a whitewashed version of our history.If anyone doubts this one can look at literally scores of peer reviewed works by Turkish historians documenting the TENS of THOUSANDS who died in Turkish prison in the 60's and 70's. With the single exception of the Soviet gulags, no country on earth had worse prisons with those kind of death rates.Another reviewer mentioned Abu Ghraib. More people died in Diyarbakir Prison in Turkey in any given week in the 1970's than died during the entire US administration of Abu Ghraib.Indeed there are now dozens of memoirs of Turks held in Turkish prisons that show the conditions, torture and sadism we see are accurate

I'll keep this review short. Midnight Express-1978-Directed by Alan Parker-Starring Brad Davis and the legendary John Hurt-Screenplay by the great Oliver Stone. This film is a 9/10. The film is based on the real story of a man called Billy Hayes who was imprisoned for trying to smuggle hash out of Turkey. The film really struck me on the harsh reality and how much grit was projected. The film is really a bleak reality filled with horror and violence with sadistic humans which creates true terror of a horrible place with true grit and real terror. The film is sickening and in places and saddening in others. I'm not sure what to do. From a sweaty, enclosed prison to a horrifying mental asylum where the talk of 'machines' rules and the slow demise of Billy as he discovers his meaning and sexuality and the power of his mentality is sometimes heartbreaking as he plans his escape to normality."if I stay here I'm going to die!"