FILM : Parker’s ‘Midnight Express’ a Prisoner of Heavy-Handedness

When it came out in 1978, Alan Parker’s “Midnight Express,” about an American student’s five-year imprisonment in Turkey for drug possession, took shots from critics and others for everything from its sanctimoniousness to its failure to stay true to its autobiographical source. The Turkish government went so far as to denounce it officially as a sensationalized misrepresentation of the facts.

But along the way, the movie--being shown Friday night as the last installment in UC Irvine’s “Early Films by Acclaimed Directors” series--won converts to its down-and-dirty vision of a living hell.

The movie went on to garner five Academy Award nominations, including best director and best film. It didn’t win either, but Giorgio Moroder did pick up the Oscar for original score and Oliver Stone, who stuck to writing back then, got the screenplay adaptation award.

“Midnight Express” is egotistical in tone and not always satisfying. Stone’s script is typically heavy-handed; the sermon this time is against barbarity in backward countries. But through strong performances from Brad Davis (in his first feature, playing the student, Billy Hayes) and John Hurt (as a fellow prisoner), and Parker’s knack for elevating tension through provocative sounds and visuals, the movie is often riveting nonetheless. We wait nervously to see if Hayes can survive all that’s thrown at him.

From the start, Davis (who died recently of AIDS that he said resulted from drug abuse) portrays Hayes as an ordinary guy being devoured by extraordinary circumstances. After his arrest at the airport, perhaps the movie’s most taut string of scenes, Hayes is tossed into a snake pit where all the rules of civilization to which he is accustomed are abandoned. The eeriness of “Midnight Express” comes from everyone, including Hayes, adapting to this new world.

The fatalistic society inside the prison operates on its own perverse logic, and Hayes, Max (Hurt) and another American, Jimmy (Randy Quaid), change to reflect their environment. When Hayes finally reaches his point of no return, his attempts at escape are as much to regain his humanity as his freedom.

What: “Midnight Express” (1978) by Alan Parker.

When: Friday, June 5 at 7 and 9 p.m.

Where: Student Center Crystal Cove Auditorium, UC Irvine.

Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to Jamboree Road and head south. Go east on Campus Drive and take Bridge Road into the campus.

Wherewithal: $4.

Where to Call: (714) 856-6379.