Meaning I cannot make up my mind how people might look. Okay this is nonfiction so it is not a big deal but this is why I always try to read the book first. I like to make up in my mind how characters look and how they talk and such. Jimmy wants Billy to join an escape attempt through the prison's subterranean tunnels. Billy, due to be released soon, declines. Jimmy goes alone and is caught, then brutally beaten. Fifty-three days before his release, Billy learns the Turkish High Court in Ankara has overturned his sentence after an appeal by the prosecution. The prosecutor who originally wanted Billy convicted of smuggling rather than the lesser charge of possession finally had his way. Billy has been resentenced to serve 30 years. In 1978, the Turkish government unsuccessfully attempted to prevent the film from being screened in Israel. [24] Awards and nominations [ edit ] Award Billy τον ρουφάει στην κυριολεξία με αποτέλεσμα να παρατήσει τις σπουδές του και να αρχίσει να ταξιδεύει ώστε να ζήσει στο μέγιστο τα χρόνια της νιότης του που δεν θα ξαναγυρίσουν. Μέσα σε όλα αυτά δοκιμάζει νέες εμπειρίες όπως το να καπνίζει μαριχουάνα και δυστυχώς αυτό είναι που στην ουσία θα του καταστρέψει και τη ζωή αλλά και τα ανέμελα χρόνια της νιότης του που τόσο ήθελε να ζήσει στο έπακρο.

Hayes καθώς περνούν οι ώρες, οι μέρες και τα χρόνια που περνά στη φυλακή αρχίζουμε και εμείς να ωριμάζουμε μαζί του και να αναγνωρίζουμε τον αγώνα που δίνει ο ίδιος με τον εαυτό του αλλά και με όσους τον περιβάλλουν προκειμένου να καταφέρει να ξεφύγει από ένα μέρος που κυριολεκτικά τον πλακώνει και του δημιουργεί ένα αίσθημα ασφυξίας. Ο εγκλεισμός του στις Τουρκικές φυλακές του δίνει το χρόνο να κάτσει να σκεφτεί και να αναλογιστεί τι έκανε μέχρι τώρα στη ζωή του, στον εαυτό του αλλά και στους δικούς του ανθρώπους και να αναθεωρήσει πολλά από όσα θεωρούσε δεδομένα στην μέχρι τώρα πορεία του. Η επιθυμία του να βρεθεί και πάλι στο ασφαλές περιβάλλον της οικογένειας του και περιτριγυρισμένος από οικεία πρόσωπα θα τον κάνει να θέσει νέους στόχους για το μέλλον με πρώτο και κύριο την απόδραση του παρόλο που όλοι του λένε να κάνει υπομονή και να εκτίσει την ποινή του. It really is a powerful story and another important difference....the real Billy takes responsibility for what he did and recognizes what he did was wrong....in sharp contrast to the Billy in the movie who is little more than a whiner who never really owns up to what he did or the fact that he broke the law. I sympathize with the real man much more than the one portrayed by Brad Davis.

This movie is based loosely on Billy Hayes' book Midnight Express about his five year experience in the Turkish prison system. The movie was exaggerated for dramatic effect. Awards Winners". wga.org. Writers Guild of America. Archived from the original on 2012-12-05 . Retrieved 2010-06-06. Charny, Israel W. (2021). Israel's Failed Response to the Armenian Genocide: Denial, State Deception, Truth Versus Politicization of History. Academic Studies Press. p.48. ISBN 978-1-64469-523-4. Rifki finds their secret in the kitchen the next morning after their unsuccessful escape attempt and immediately tells Hamidou. Hamidou suspects Jimmy of being responsible after what happened the first time and drags him off for punishment again, and is never seen from then on.

The writing wasn't particularly special, but it told the story well and came across honestly. The book tells of the corruption within the prison system, the violence of the prison authorities - the beatings, the rapes (mostly of the child prisoners), the availability of drugs, and the horrific prison conditions. It also tells the stories (or part of them) of Hayes' fellow inmates,although whether these are true or not is probably up for debate. In likelihood he probably changed their details around etc. Fellner, Dan (2013). "Catching the Midnight Express in Malta". global-travel-info.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015 . Retrieved 23 June 2015.Giorgio Moroder's work "The Chase" is often used as bumper music on the American late-night radio talk show radio program Coast to Coast AM. [ citation needed]

Siskel, Gene (October 30, 1978). "Book-to-screen trip bumpy for 'Express '". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 2. An amateur interview with Billy Hayes appeared on YouTube, [36] recorded during the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. He describes his experiences and expresses his disappointment with the film adaptation. [37] In an article for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Hayes is reported as saying that the film 'depicts all Turks as monsters'. [38]That being said apparently the movie was not true to the real story. They changed some things and added others. Well, yes it was pretty shit. It was prison after all. If it was meant to be a treat they'd have sent him to a 5 star hotel. And young Billy was a little bit on the silly side, oh yes, silly Billy trying to get on a US bound plane with a couple of k's of hashish jammed down your trousers. Regardless of your opinions on Bill's poor decision making and how he ended up in prison in the first place, the book does make compelling reading and he gets full marks for honesty. The writing style is a bit jagged and uneven, but he's not a polished or practised writer, simply a man with a story to tell. And tell it he does. Billy θα βρεθεί πίσω από τα κάγκελα της φυλακής θα ανακαλύψει ότι δεν είναι καθόλου εύκολο να καταφέρει να επιβιώσει μέσα σε ένα περιβάλλον που θυμίζει εποχές Μεσαίωνα και ότι θα πρέπει να σκληρύνει τον εαυτό του για να μπορέσει να βγει αλώβητος και σωματικά αλλά και ψυχολογικά από αυτή την κατάσταση. Γιατί ενώ όλοι του λένε ότι ίσως εκτίσει γύρω στους 20 μήνες ποινή ο ίδιος αρχίζει να συνειδητοποιεί εκείνα τα «ψιλά γράμματα» που κανένας δεν συνηθίζει να διαβάζει και ότι τα πράγματα θα είναι πολύ δύσκολα για εκείνον παρόλο που έχει ξεκινήσει άμεσα ένας ανελέητος αγώνας για την απελευθέρωση του. Και τελικά, όσο περνάει ο καιρός, ο Hayes καταλήγει ότι ο μόνος τρόπος για να αναπνεύσει και πάλι τον αέρα της ελευθερίας είναι να δραπετεύσει. Κάτι που φαντάζει εντελώς αδύνατο να γίνει από τις Τουρκικές φυλακές αν δεν καταλήξει στο νεκροτομείο. Over the next several months, Billy slowly adjusts to prison life. Jimmy gets stabbed in the behind for treating a Turkish prisoner badly during a volleyball game. Another time later, Billy and others witness the prison warden beat four of the young boys on their soles of their feet, believing them to have raped a new young inmate, with the warden's two pudgy sons looking on and him warning them about what happens if they ever break the law.

The 51st Academy Awards (1979) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on October 17, 2014 . Retrieved October 31, 2011. Unfortunately, there is never any real depth to his writing of these relationships. At most, the depth is in Hayes’ mindset itself, which would be a good thing except that it’s covered only in the chapters dealing with his stay in a Turkish mental institution. So it's hard to feel much pity for Billy Hayes. He took his chances and lost. It is possible, however, to discover the irony in the fact that Turkey, whose economy is richened by an opium poppy crop that supplies much of the world's heroin, should have such draconian drug laws at home. Festival de Cannes: Midnight Express". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 2012-08-07 . Retrieved 2009-05-20.

He was young and apparently headstrong and I so felt for his parents. I have made mistakes in my life so I do not make judgement on him(like some other reviewers) Admittedly there are many better written books on Turkey to peruse, including Istanbul: The Imperial City, Lords of the Horizons A History of the Ottoman Empire, Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans in Istanbul and many others besides, but Billy Hayes story is famous and compelling because of the sheer fascinating horror afforded by life in a foreign jail. It's a weird form of voyeurism after the fact (he gets out - no this is not a spoiler). Also the production of an award winning Hollywood movie, generated from Billy's transcontinental woes and bookish rememberings also helps lodge certain events in the public cinema-going psyche. But will she be able to get there in time? And how will she be able to navigate the thundering storm and pouring rain to get to the station? Kate must fight wind, rain and darkness and make her way over another bridge to get to the station.