You should read reviews with the real guy on whose account the book and film were based. Billy Hayes. He said the film made all Turkish people look bad and he said he loves the people as a whole, he just hates their court and prison system. Also, interestingly enough, he said in real life he had smuggled drugs out of the country 4 times prior to getting busted on his 5th trip. He said he deserved to be in jail for possession, but not a life sentence that was handed to him.

He seems like an interesting guy though and even apologized to the people of Turkey for the affect the film had on the decline of tourism to the country. He returned for the first time in 2007 and publicly apologized.

I had read a little about the Billy Hayes. I hadn't heard any of the anti-Turkish stuff though but it doesn't surprise me. And Hayes traveling there to apologize, wow, amazing it had that big of an impact on the countries image and tourism but not surprising honestly.

I can say from personal experience that there are parts of Turkey that are absolutely beautiful and I would visit there again in a heartbeat.

Still, even with the fabrications and other stuff the movie was very well done in that it is unsettling.

I never saw this one but it brings to mind a movie (might have been a TV movie) that I saw back in the 70's or 80's that was similar. Maybe someone here can tell me what it is.

A young man (college student I think) is talked into trying to smuggle drugs out of Turkey by some other guy. They both are caught at the airport because the kid is all sweaty and nervous and the guards all catch on. In the movie drug smuggling is a death sentence and the whole rest of the movie is his mother coming to Turkey and talking to US reps and stuff to get her son out of the death sentence. I thought the mother was played by Julie Christie but when I look her up on IMDB nothing like this comes up. In the end both the guys were put to death and the mother had to live with that. That's all I can remember of it.

Any suggestions?

That sounds so much like Midnight Express other than the ending. Although I think in ME Billy Hayes wasn't arrested with a friend. It has been a while since I watched it, so I may be wrong.

I found it! I went back thru Julie Christie's movies. I was wrong. It was Malyasia not Turkey. It was driving me crazy. Its called Dadah is Death (although it was called A Long Way From Home back when I saw it).

[URL="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094937/"]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094937/

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I found it! I went back thru Julie Christie's movies. I was wrong. It was Malyasia not Turkey. It was driving me crazy. Its called Dadah is Death (although it was called A Long Way From Home back when I saw it).

[URL="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094937/"]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094937/

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Seems vaguely familiar. I may need to hunt up a copy of this. Thanks Medusa.

My dad recommended this film to me when I was a teenager in the 80's. He then proceeded to buy it for me on VHS one Christmas. I couldn't help thinking he was trying to warn me about bad choices... :decision:

It has been a while since I saw it, but I do remember it being completely absorbing and very scary in places.

Midnight Express came out when I was a senior in high school and my girlfriend and I were movie junkies. We'd see a movie, then review it while driving to Lovers Lane to watch the submarine races. We left the theater (the same family owned place where I took my wife on our second date and she lost her cell phone) and walked like zombies to the car. We got in the car... and just sat there, staring straight ahead. One of us probably muttered "Holy crap" and the other said, "Yeah." I think it might have been a half hour before I could think to turn the ignition. Can't say for sure if we headed for Lovers Lane that night, or if we just went for coffee and muttered "Holy crap" every ten minutes or so.

I rented the movie a couple of years ago and it didn't have the same effect. I remember laughing at a long shot of Hayes running down an outside staircase; below him you could see a man running with a boom mic.

Ya'll got me interesting in watching this now. I added it to my Netflix Que but I have to wait until we figure out how to set up the WiFi connection on the new TV/Surround Sound System we bought. Yes, we finally broke down and got our HDTV. As far as I can see I am doing everything correct on the Network connecting but it won't work so we have a friend coming over tonight to fix it for us.