This is the original review of Midnight Express by Siskel & Ebert on "Sneak Previews" in 1978. All of the segments pertaining to the movie have been included.
this is a great movie I remember it scared the hell out of people about misbehaving and foreign countries it makes you never want to even go to a foreign country and risk going to any kind of jail or prison I'd rather be incarcerated in the USA thank you very much
My reaction was somewhat between theirs: the harshness of the prison is cranked up a bit too much, and making the main character heroic (particularly in his courtroom appearance) didn't work for me, but on balance I did like it. The intensely negative reaction that some critics had towards this film has always interested me; had this same story, with all the flaws I mentioned above (excessively cruel prison guards and a heroic, drug-smuggling protagonist), been set in an American prison, then would people like Kael or Rosenbaum have hated it the way they did? My suspicion is that they wouldn't have.
It's a harrowing film. Gene Siskel wanted facts when he knows as a critic the film would be dramatized more. Please watch if you haven't yet. Midnight Express is a film that will stay in your mind long after it's over.
Damn right!. Remember Siskel disliked movies that were hugely well liked and stand the test of time. Many movies he disliked are agruably the best classics today of movie making. But Ebert was a socialist extreme leftest for his time. But he was a better critic than Ebert in speech and in print.
Yep. It's a famous scene to cinema buffs. I find myself almost always in agreement with Roger. Gene was great but often biased toward specific types of films, especially if the film didn't uphold some ethical or moral high ground.
Damn, Gene be hard on a film...I absolutely Loved Midnight Express...I think he judged it way to harshly, but that Is just mo, and my biasness bc I really loved that movie, like Every said, "it kept you involved from beginning to end"...
Decades have passed. 50 years in fact. Time has judged this movie to be a cult classic. Its an incredible true story. Sometimes life is more interesting than fiction.
It is a great film. Whether or not they took dramatic license is beside the point. I saw this when I was about 14 years old, and it was one of the first movies that my parents weren't able to shield me from. It subsequently opened me up to, what could be, the harsh realities of life no matter how exaggerated they might be depicted in this film. It was a "coming of age" experience for me and I no longer looked at the world through a child's eye. I also later read the book and it taught me the true nature of the human spirit.
i absolutely love this film , in my opinion better than the shawshank Redemption , by the music, the raw charismatic acting , the setting the great cinematography , subtle but manage to lay your eyes about all the details and vivid prison environment with their subworld and ways , energetic interactions make this plot inside the prison felt like a fast pace movie ready to get more fresh as it progress ...what can i say is a masterpiece ....
i'm a little relentless about Gene's Benevolence towards other No Original source Movies...sure as hell didn't have bad Opinion on Goofellas 1990 which is also lose very much times about what really happens...he is not objective , while rogert take the movie for what it is...A Movie, and a very effective Thriller...Midnight Express is A Classic , perfect Sophisticated hybrid of entertainment and Magnificent Scenario Stage , Brutal perfomances , excellent Writting despite the clear controversy of the Screenplay ...A must SEE!
I think you have to take each film on a case by case basis. Maybe he felt Henry Hill and the mobsters in Goodfellas were better written. Also, Scorcese showed them to be scum. With Billy Hayes, you think of him as a hero, but really, he was this drug smuggler who shouldn't have done the shit in the first place.
@@sha11235 I know, but at the end , not all the protagonists have too be on a cleansing vibe....that was strong in the 70's sometimes antiheroes take the big role...he was a stupid coky boy, but you'll got to give credit to brad Davis, he's pain in the movie is so tangible that as his character, you are staring to wondering what is crime, what is Punishment...I are the movie as a " don't break the law on a country you don't know"...and goodfellas is another example of good storytelling...the cameras , the music, the dialogue , you're in for a ride no matter the protagonists principles
While Midnight Express strays from the book and the real life facts of Billy Hayes' case, it is still a brilliant film with an amazing story. It powerfully reflects the problems of violence and the lack of justice in Third World countries prison systems.
This is one of those films that you have to see because it is a great film. However once you see it you will never want to see it again (thereby putting it into the same category with other well-made but extremely harrowing films like _American History X)._ Billy Hayes, of course, is no hero. He was a stupid college kid who took a really stupid chance, lost and found-out in the hardest way possible. It stars the late Brad Davis in what should have been a star-making, and Oscar®-nominated, performance. Maybe the Academy® got gun-shy because of the controversy, but then again it was also nominated for Best Picture, Director and it won for Screenplay Adaptation (Oliver Stone's first-ever Oscar®), so I really can't understand why they didn't nominate Brad Davis too. 🤔 Very strange, really.
The movie on its won was a great film. Very well acted for the most part. Historically accurate it was not. I agree with Gene on that point, but I can't penalize the film for it because I thought it was very well made.
What's interesting is that I read the original Critical Review by Siskel where not only he doesn't care for the film but also criticized Davis for Over acting and being uncomfortable in his role. And even though I've loved the film since I'm a child....I've always thought the same thing subconsciously. Strange he doesn't mention those flaws here?
@@highwaystar3780I felt the same way ever since I saw it. It is certainly a well made film but the acting can be a bit hammy at times. It's more of a beloved cultfilm than a stone cold classic these days
I saw the movie at 18 and loved it but with time, once I learned that the last third of the film was complete b.s., that Hayes got his sentence reduced and had 3 years to go, that he didn’t kill anyone, didn’t go crazy, that he was sent to a idyllic prison island and could walk on the beach and chill, that he escaped by sea by stealing a boat (much more spectacularly) and that prior to his imprisonment, he had smuggled hash out of Turkey three times - this really was a downer. Also, his dad was trying to buy his freedom which is completely understandable but the film portrays the Turks as corrupt when the reason they didn’t let him go was because they weren’t corrupt enough. You do the crime, you do the time.
Most Movies are Fiction....but We still love them. The ones We like anyway. We know most movies are bs and that's why we see them in order to escape reality. I Never cared if Express was depicted accurately Or Not as I've always loved it since I was 12 when it was released. Besides, take away the Violence and sadistic Guard awesomely portrayed by Paul Smith and you would have NOTHING! My issue with the movie and its weakest aspect is Davis. He just wasn't a very good actor...or didn't feel comfortable in his role. He's Over Acting to a fault and even as a kid I always picked that up. Girlfriend is beyond awful. But it's OK when I overlook those shortcomings. $2M budget...$50M+Profit..
Yeah Siskel was right it wasnt very factual and Hayes was no hero but rather a survivor. Ebert was right it felt like a bone chilling thriller which is why the movie works its that good
On the surface the guards are horrible, but if you take it apart I would imagine a Turkish prison in the 70s was actually a better place to be than a maximum security joint in the US for a small young white guy. With the exception of Billy getting a blanket, all the beatings are for obvious violations- escape attempts, stealing money etc. If you notice they are kind of left alone to do drugs or chat or hang out as long as they don't violate the prison rules. The warden needs to be made extra sadistic so we can know what Billy faces if his escape attempt fails. If it was simply that he is he returned to serve out his sentence, then we don't get so invested in him attempting to get out. The other thing that was changed was that Billy had done this 3 or 4 times before. I think if that was alluded to the audience would lose a lot of sympathy for him. He was actually lucky he chose Turkey to do this in, there are still a lot of countries today where drug smuggling gives the death penalty. Still, the way they kind of treat it as possession, giving him a reasonable sentence and then changing the sentence really puts us into his place, and how shocking that would feel. I could totally sense how he felt he could do the initial time, but the enhanced sentence was just too much.
Oliver Stone wanted the rowboat/island escape to Greece by bus, swimming rivers, capture by Greek soldiers and release...the producers/director changed the ending due to cost considerations.
I read the memoir written by Billy Hayes this film is based on (also titled Midnight Express) and the true account of how he escaped prison and made his way to Greece. It was far more harrowing, suspenseful and believable than the abrupt and contrived means depicted in the film. Siskel was right the inaccuracies drag the film down. I blame screenplay author Oliver Stone.
Stone is a Deranged Fuck that has to ridicule Everything and Exaggerate it to the extreme...just look at scarface. But, I love this movie since childhood with all its flaws. Davis is overacting and uncomfortable in the role and that Girl Can't act period. The rest of the cast and material are great. Late Paul Smith is unforgettable in the role!
I saw Midnight Express when I was 16. It gave me chills. But now that I am older, wiser and more discerning, I think this movie was untruthful and sensationalistic. I think Brad Davis is a worm.
