Midnight Express 1978

7.6/10

Overview
Plot
Related Movies & Shows

NETFLIX Rating : 3.8

IMDB Rating : 7.6

FD Smart Rating : 7.6

Synopsis : Arrested in 1970 after trying to smuggle two kilos of hash out of Turkey, American student Billy Hayes faces a nightmare 30-year jail sentence.

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Regions Available ( 61 ) : show... Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Austria Bahamas Barbados Belize Bolivia Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Cayman Islands Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Curaçao Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador French Guiana Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Indonesia Italy Jamaica Kazakhstan Malaysia Maldives Martinique Mongolia Montserrat Nepal Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Saint Barthélemy Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin Saint Vincent Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Sri Lanka Suriname Switzerland Taiwan Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands United Kingdom Uruguay Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands, British Australia Portugal Spain

Languages:

Spanish , English , Brazilian Portuguese , Italian , French , German , English [Original] , European Spanish

Subtitles:

English , Spanish , Brazilian Portuguese , Simplified Chinese , Italian , Vietnamese , Traditional Chinese , Hungarian , German , French , Indonesian , Greek , Portuguese , Russian , Hindi , European Spanish , Romanian , Arabic

Genres:

Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Release Date:

1978

Run Time:

2h0m

Maturity Rating:

Recommended for ages 16 and up

On October 6, 1970 while boarding an international flight out of Istanbul Airport, American Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle 2 kilos of hashish out of the country, the drugs strapped to his body. He is told that he will be released if he cooperates with the authorities in identifying the person who actually sold him the hash. Billy's troubles really begin when after that assistance, he makes a run for it and is recaptured. He is initially sentenced to just over four years for possession, with no time for the more harsh crime of smuggling. The prison environment is inhospitable in every sense, with a sadistic prison guard named Hamidou ruling the prison, he who relishes the mental and physical torture he inflicts on the prisoners for whatever reason. Told to trust no one, Billy does befriend a few of the other inmates, namely fellow American Jimmy Booth (in for stealing two candlesticks from a mosque), a Swede named Erich, and one of the senior prisoners having already served seven years, an Englishman named Max, the latter two also in for hash related charges. One prisoner not befriended is Rifki, who wields power in the prison as the unofficial eyes and ears for the guards. As Billy, his family and his girlfriend Susan attempt through legal and diplomatic channels for Billy's release, Max tells him that the only way out is to 'catch the midnight express' aka escape, which is what Jimmy is continually trying to do. When Billy's situation changes, he becomes more desperate in every sense of the word. It seems as if Billy has only two options: to let the prison ultimately figuratively then literally kill him, or to somehow regain control of his life through whatever means available.