Harrowing Midnight Express on DVD

The movie that made everybody think twice about stashing hash on the way out of a foreign country is out in a new 30th anniversary release.

Midnight Express - slang for a prison escape - is a tense, violent, sensational thriller. Brad Davis is Billy Hayes, a young and inept American caught at the Turkish border trying to smuggle hashish. All the efforts of his parents and the U.S. Embassy to rescue him come to naught. He's left in the hands of brutal captors, and things go from bad to worse in a big, ugly hurry.

Based on a true story, the movie was controversial for its portrait of the Turkish authorities as complete villains, and the real-life Billy Hayes has rejected that portrayal. It may not work as history, but as a movie - written by Oliver Stone and directed by Alan Parker - it's hard to forget. The new DVD includes a number of production featurettes, and commentary by Parker.

Midnight Express DVD Cover