I found an old VHS tape of this film among my film collection: I don't think I've watched it for 30 years so I put it in the machine. I thought it was a strong movie with good performances and held up very well. I've always liked the music. I was amazed to read the reviews and find that the film was treated like a cinematic diatribe against Turkey and the Turkish people. The film is not about Turkey. That's simply the setting. it's no more about the Turkish people than "I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang", "Cool Hand Luke" or "The Shawshank Redemption" is about the American people.
The film works on two levels. It's about a guy who foolishly decides to ignore the laws of a foreign country and smuggle hashish from ti to make some quick money. He gets caught and confronts a series of policemen, lawyers, judges and prison guards, none of them sympathetic characters. Those are the "Turkish people" presented to him and to us. They are little different from the sort of people who would hold those jobs in any country, including ours. A couple of prisoners make comments about disliking Turks but that's because this is their experience of them. There's no implications that all of the Turkish people are like these characters. On this level the film is just a stark reminder that if you travel to a foreign country you must be aware of and obey their laws. Just because you are an American, you have no special status.
The other level of the film and the part that makes it special is the psychological. the "Midnight Express" is not a train but it's not just an escape attempt. When Billy winds up in the asylum, he gets into a battle to hold on to his mind. He doesn't want to be a "bad machine", which is the other way to escape his dismal reality. he's losing that battle when his girlfriend show up to give him hope and reason to use it. That's what the movie is really about.
