''Midnight Express'' is a 1977

nonfiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

book by Billy Hayes and William Hoffer about Hayes' experience as a young American who was sent to a Turkish prison. The US had declared a "War on Drugs" in the early 1970s, and Hayes was made an example of for trying to

smuggle Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

hashish Hashish ( ar, حشيش, ()), also known as hash, "dry herb, hay" is a drug made by compressing and processing parts of the cannabis plant, typically focusing on flowering buds (female flowers) containing the most trichomes. European Monitoring ...

out of Turkey. When his sentence was extended to 30 years, he decided to make his escape. The book was adapted by

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...

and directed by

Alan Parker Sir Alan William Parker (14 February 1944 – 31 July 2020) was an English filmmaker. His early career, beginning in his late teens, was spent as a copywriter and director of television advertisements. After about ten years of filming adverts ...

into a 1978 feature film of the same name that took many liberties with the book. After reading the book, Australian country music singer Shane Nicholson recorded an album and title track, '' Bad Machines'', which was inspired by the book.

Editions

*Dutton, 1977. (First edition)

References

1977 non-fiction books Autobiographies adapted into films Law enforcement in Turkey Turkey–United States relations Works about cannabis trafficking Memoirs of imprisonment Cannabis in Turkey E. P. Dutton books {{crime-book-stub