Sightlines · reception
How Midnight Express was received
1978 · Alan Parker · Midnight Express on Sightlines
The arc
A massive hit in 1978 — six Oscar nominations, two wins, and one of the year's most talked-about films — but its lurid demonization of Turks aged badly fast; it's now the textbook case of the acclaimed film that became a national-stereotype scandal, with both screenwriter Oliver Stone and the real Billy Hayes later apologizing to Turkey.
What’s debated
Fans still argue whether it's a gut-punch prison masterpiece or an irredeemably racist caricature you have to hold at arm's length — the definitive problematic-fave debate of 70s cinema.
Its footprint
Giorgio Moroder's pulsing synth score ('The Chase' was an actual hit single) outlived the controversy and became a club and sampling touchstone, and the film single-handedly cemented the 'Turkish prison' trope in pop culture — Turkey banned the film and blamed it for years of damaged tourism.
Where it stands
A canon fixture with an asterisk: essential Alan Parker and essential 70s, but almost always discussed alongside its politics rather than despite them.
Did you know? It won Oliver Stone his first Oscar (Best Adapted Screenplay), and Giorgio Moroder's win made it the first electronic score ever to take Best Original Score.