Midnight Express
(1978)Midnight Express 1978
William Hayes, a young American tourist, is on vacation in Turkey with his girlfriend, Susan. Hayes tries to take two kilos of ferrets with him when he returns home after the holidays to sell to his friends and earn money. Small bags of drugs, which he placed on his body like a suicide bomber, were found by the police after a surprise search by the security guards while he was about to board the plane, and his detention period in Istanbul Sağmalcılar Prison began. Differences between the movie and the book • Actually, in the movie, William Hayes is alone in Turkey with his girlfriend. • Torture scenes were completely added later. William Hayes never mentioned that he was tortured or sexually abused by Turkish guards. However, he stated that he had a homosexual relationship of his own free will, as in the movie. • In the book; William Hayes doesn't bite his prison pal's tongue. • The endings of the book and the movie are also different: In the book, Hayes is transferred to another prison on the island of Imrali and escapes by sea; In the film, Hayes escapes from prison by disguising himself as a security guard in the uniform of the chief of security he accidentally killed. Although the film was primarily set in Turkey, the entire film was shot in Malta after the Governorship of Istanbul refused to host the film. Although most of the players are Maltese; The film also features Italian, American, Greek and Armenian actors. Midnight Express, which Turkey protested before its screening, won 2 Oscars in 2 of the 6 categories it was nominated for at the 52nd Academy Awards (Best Original Score: Giorgio Moroder and Best Adapted Screenplay: Oliver Stone) [3] on May 18 In 1978, Midnight Express was screened to the audience at the Cannes Film Festival with the participation of journalists from different countries. 43 days later, the United States and Turkey entered negotiations on the prisoner exchange. Oliver Stone, the screenwriter of the movie adapted from the book, admitted that he over-dramatized what he wrote during the shooting during his visit to Turkey in December 2004 and apologized. William Hayes, in his last statements to the American press, states that his thoughts and memories about Turkey are not completely negative as in the movie, and that he feels guilty about the distorted image of Turkey in the movie.
