Film Review: MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978)

Director: Alan Parker
Writers: Billy Hayes & William Hoffer (book), Oliver Stone (screenplay)
Running time: 121 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Drama/Biography/Crime
USA Release date: 6^th October 1978

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 9^th September 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I first saw this film many years ago and I have to admit I wasn’t all that impressed with it back then. So I thought I’d give it another look having a much wider experience of the world of cinema and the world in general for that matter. I think this time I had a greater appreciation of it but at the same time I could still see things I didn’t like so much. Here’s a very brief summary then I’ll explain.

The film charts the true story of how Billy Hayes ends up in a Turkish prison for smuggling hashish. He is picked up at the airport and found to be in possession of two kilos of the stuff. Wishing to make an example of him, the authorities throw Billy into the brutal Shagmahr prison in Istanbul. Having been beaten by the cruel head of the prison guard, Hamidou, he is befriended by a fellow American, Jimmy Booth, an Englishman, Max and a Swede, Erich. They all have varying sentences but all live in the hope of getting out someday. A kind of trustee, Rifki, sells them tea and blankets and stuff, if the price is right, and he is universally hated because he’s always snitching to the guards. As time passes Billy never becomes accustomed to prison life and despite the efforts of the American Consul, his father and a local corrupt lawyer he finds himself stuck there with a four year sentence. Wishing to make a further example of him the prosecutor appeals to a higher court and Billy ends up being sentenced to thirty years! He now has no option but to try to escape. I will leave it there as I don’t want to enrage the Spoiler Police any more then I have to.

Very well made with some great visuals on show; you really get a feel for the place. I can’t say I was enamoured with the music though, yes there were a few Turkish themes but then there was this electronic music that seemed to cut right across the grain. How the music won the Oscar in 1979 I will never know! All the performances were very good; Brad Davis does a decent job in the lead roll as Billy Hayes without being particularly outstanding. Randy Quaid did some great scenery chewing as Jimmy Booth, John Hurt was excellent (as ever) and Max and Norbert Weisser did a decent job as Erich. Of the bad guys, I thought Paolo Bonacelli did a very good job as the slippery Rifki and Paul L. Smith did a great job as the brutal head guard Hamidou. Finally honourable mentions go to both Irene Miracle as Billy’s girlfriend, Susan and Mike Kellin as Billy’s father.

For a film that won two Oscars; ‘Best Music, Original Score’ and ‘Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium’; I found it a little disappointing. Other nominations included ‘Best Actor in a Supporting Role’ for John Hurt which I thought was well deserved. I think what lets it down is the performance of Brad Davis in the central role. He doesn’t quite carry it off and, because the whole film hangs on his part, it suffers because of it. It’s almost like he’s trying just a little bit too hard at times and you can see it on the screen. Even so, it’s an intriguing tale with some nice touches; for example the use of the sound of Billy’s heartbeat as he’s going through customs as the beginning of the film; very effective. Over all, well worth a look but not particularly for the central role; there is still much to admire though, hence my score.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 7.8/10

IMDb Score: 7.6/10 (based on 33,564 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0077928/

MetaScore: No Data: (Based on 0 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 95/100 (based on 21 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 62/100 ‘Want to See’ (based on 29,228 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/midnight_express/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Tex: Boy oh boy, you picked a bad time to fly, Billy. They're guerrillas all over the place blowing up planes and all. They hit four planes in four days. But I guess you young people don't read the news anymore. That, and with our people back home kicking up a shitstorm about the flow of heroin from Turkey...
Billy Hayes: I didn't have heroin. It was just a little hashish.
Tex: That doesn't matter. A drug's a drug.
Billy Hayes: It was only two kilos.
Tex: It doesn't matter if it was two kilos or 200 kilos. The Turks love catching foreigners. They want to show the rest of the world that they're fighting the drug trade.
Billy Hayes: Who are you? What's your name?
Tex: That's not important.
Billy Hayes: Are you with the American consulate here in Istanbul?
Tex: Something like that.

Jimmy: So... Billy, what are you in for? Hash?
Billy Hayes: Yeah.
Jimmy: Where'd they get you?
Billy Hayes: The airport... trying to get home.
Jimmy: You go through customs?
Billy Hayes: Yeah, I was busted right at the plane.
Jimmy: Aw, man that's heavy. That's very heavy.
Erich: It's bad if they get you for smuggling, but if they make it possession, the sentence is lighter. The best thing for you to do, Billy, is try to make bail. If you make bail, you're free. You can easily get yourself a fake passport on the black market, or get yourself across the border into Greece.
Jimmy: Dream on, Erich. They'll never grant bail to foreigners whom may be a flight risk.
Erich: But if you argue in court about you being innocent...
Jimmy: This ain't the good ol' USA! This is Turkey, man! It's a fuckin' accident here if you're innocent! There ain't nobody here that is innocent!

Billy Hayes: [voiceover] To the Turks, everything is "shurla burla", which means "like this, like that". You never know what will happen. All foreigners are "ayip", they're considered dirty. So is homosexuality, it's a big crime here, but most of them do it every chance they get. There are about thousand things that are "ayip", for instance, you can stab or shoot somebody below the waist but not above because that's intent to kill. So everyone runs around stabbing everyone else in the ass. That's what they call Turkish revenge. I know it must all sound crazy to you, but this place is crazy.

Billy Hayes: What is a crime? What is punishment? It seems to vary from time to time and place to place. What's legal today is suddenly illegal tomorrow because society says it's so, and what's illegal yesterday is suddenly legal because everybody's doin' it, and you can't put everybody in jail. I'm not saying this is right or wrong. I'm just saying that's the way it is. But I've spent 3 1/2 years of my life in your prison, and I think I've paid for my error, and if it's your decision today to sentence me to more years, then I...
[he becomes overcome with anger]

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS (2010)

Director: Oliver Stone
Running time: 133 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12A

Genre: Drama
UK Release date: 6^th October 2010

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 3^rd September 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I must admit I did enjoy Oliver Stone’s 1987 film Wall Street, which tells the story of Gordon Gekko and how he manipulated people and events in order to make money. This cost him his liberty in the end, but as they say, that’s another story. This film picks up some time after that one left off with Gordon’s release from prison. It’s an interesting tale with quite a complicated plot, so no nipping out to make tea part way through now… Here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

Having witnessed Gordon’s release from prison we are introduced to his daughter, Winnie and her boyfriend, Jake Moore. Jake works for a Wall Street investment bank, KZI, where he deals with investments into green energy. In particular he has one project that is looking into fusion to produce cheap energy and he’s trying find investors when things start to go wrong at KZI. Due to rumours the company crashes on the stock market and the head of the company, and Jacob’s friend, Louis Zabel commits suicide. After this Jacob reaches out to Gekko and, because he wants to re-connect with his daughter, Gekko agrees to help Jacob find who was behind the rumours. The finger points at another investment bank, Churchill Schwartz, and the head of that company, Bretton James. There is much more to this, it’s so much more than a straight forward tale of revenge. There are many more twists and turns in the road to come and questions to be answered, like; “Has Gekko really reformed?”… All this and more is revealed, but, of course, I can’t tell you that here or the Spoiler Police will have me for insider trading… (or some other trumped up charge).

I must first say that this film is beautifully shot, Stone certainly has an eye for the visuals and he uses it to great effect here. The use of graphics and split screen is all done very well and, for the most part, fits the story perfectly. And so we move on to performances; well I can’t fault Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko, it’s a part he made his own in the first film. Shia LaBeouf as Jacob Moore on the other hand, well I’m still waiting to be convinced by the young man, I don’t want to be disrespectful so I’ll leave it at that. I thought Carey Mulligan did a good job as Winnie Gekko but I felt her character had more depth than she was allowed to show. Frank Langella did a great job as Louis Zabel, as did Josh Brolin as Bretton James. It was nice to see small parts from; Eli Wallach as Julie Steinhardt, Susan Sarandon as Sylvia Moore, Jacob’s mother, and a very brief came from Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox (uncredited).

Although I did enjoy this film to some extent, Oliver Stone does make very long films and this sometimes means they take the story a little too far. I was quite enjoying this one for about an hour and forty minutes and then it started to drag. I don’t quite know if it was down to events happening on the screen or what, but I kind of lost interest. On the plus side, there are some good songs by David Byrne and Brian Eno which pop up every now and again. I found this quite a tough one to judge because we’re supposed to engage with people who control finances and those people, in my book, have been grossly discredited of late. It’s hard to feel sympathy for someone living in a very nice New York apartment bleating on about being poor! Ok, rant over… I guess this one is worth seeing if you’re a fan of the original; Michael Douglas is very good value.

My Score: 6.4/10.

IMDb Score: 6.3/10 (based on 31,178 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1027718/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 54/100 (based on 211 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wall_street_money_never_sleeps/

FAVOURITE QUOTE:
Gordon Gekko: Payback. Except I’m not in that business anymore - because the one thing I learned in jail is that money is not the prime asset in life. Time is.

LINKS:
Trailer: