“Midnight Express” quotes
(1978)
Title Midnight Express
Year 1978
Director Alan Parker
Genre Drama, Crime, Thriller, Biography
Year 1978
Director Alan Parker
Genre Drama, Crime, Thriller, Biography
Plot – American William Hayes is on holiday in Istanbul. There a taxi driver saddles him with two kilograms of hashish while going to the airport. He's arrested and sentenced in a Turkish prison, where he befriends Jimmy, Erich and Max. The jail is terrifying and the guards are brutal. Jimmy tries to escape but in vain, while William is granted a new trial but he's sentenced 30 years more. When accidentally Hayes kills the prison's director, there's a new hope of freedom.
All actors – Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins, Paolo Bonacelli, Paul L. Smith, Randy Quaid, Norbert Weisser, John Hurt, Mike Kellin, Franco Diogene, Michael Ensign, Gigi Ballista
show all“Midnight Express” Quotes 25 quotes
“I just wish you could be standing where I'm standing right now and feel what that feels like; because, then, you would know something that you don't know, Mr. Prosecutor: mercy! You would know that the concept of a society is based on the quality of that mercy; its sense of fair play; its sense of justice! But I guess that's like asking a bear...” (continue)(continue reading)
“There are no straight lawyers in Turkey. All bent. Bent, as happens, occupational necessity. They have special classes in corruption at night school. If you get suspected of honesty, then you get disbarred.”
“Good morning, my American friend. It will be trouble if you go this way. A good Turk always walks to the right! Left is communist! Right is good. You see, you must go the other way. The other way is good!”
“- Billy Hayes: What about you? What are you in for?
- Erich: Hashish. 90% of the foreigners here are in for hashish or drug related charges from smuggling to posession. My advice is you get yourself a very good lawyer and try to argue down the charge you face. If they make it posession, the sentance is lighter.”“- Jimmy Booth: What you in for? Hash?
- Billy Hayes: Yeah.
- Jimmy Booth: Where?
- Billy Hayes: The airport - trying to get home.
- Jimmy Booth: That's heavy.
- Billy Hayes: You think so?
- Jimmy Booth: Yeah, I think so. This isn't the good old USA. This is Turkey, man. It's a fucking accident here if you're innocent. They is nobody here who's...” (continue)(continue reading)“Dear Susan: 1970 has now passed into 1971. You can drift in here and never know you're gone. You can fade so far out that you don't know where you are anymore or where anything else is.”
“I find loneliness is the physical pain which hurts all over. You can't isolate it in one part of your body.”
“- Billy Hayes: Peacocks? Why peacocks?
- Jimmy Booth: The Turks use them instead of dogs. They scream like mad if they're disturbed and they don't get rabies. The old sultans used to use them to guard their harems.”“Can I have a blanket? You think I could have a blanket? It's cold. Could I have a blanket? A blanket!”
“Oh, Billy, I wish I could make it better for you.”
“You seem like a nice guy, Billy. I really do feel sorry for you. But if you still try anything or try to run away again, I'll blow your fucking brains out!”
“You're going to eat a lot more fasolia beans, Billy Baby, before you taste - hamburger again. Cause you broke the law, man, and you got caught.”
“Dear Susan: poor Jimmy was caught and beaten so badly he got a severe hernia, and lost a testicle. He's been in the sanitarium for months. In comparison, my problems seem very small.”
To the Turks, everything is "shurla burla", which means "like this, like that". You never know what will happen. All foreigners are "ayip", they're considered dirty. So is homosexuality, it's a big crime here, but most of them do it every chance they get.
“- Billy Hayes: How do you like it? Istanbul?
- Mr. Hayes: An interesting place. I tell you the truth I think the food is lousy. The crap they sell in these little restaurants. I had to run to the toilet. You should've seen the toilet. Anyway, I'm not taking any more chances. I'm going to eat at the Hilton, every night, with steak and French...” (continue)(continue reading)“Sit down for a moment, Billy. I'm afraid I have some bad news for you.”
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