|
Adapted by Oliver Stone from Billy Hayes’ 1977 non-fiction book recounting his nightmarish five year incarceration in a grim Turkish prison, Alan Parker's Midnight Express premieres in London. Featuring a powerhouse, go-for-broke performance by Brad Davis as Hayes, with outstanding support from John Hurt, Randy Quaid and a very sinister Paul Smith, the film, its perceived xenophobia notwithstanding, prompts one critic to describe it as an immersive ”head-banging thriller that panders to its audience’s worst instincts magnificently”. Stone wins the Best Screenplay Oscar.
