Based on a true story, this is the film that put the term Turkish Prison into the national vocabulary. Billy Hayes (Brad Davis, CHARIOTS OF FIRE) and his girlfriend Susan (Irene Miracle, PUPPET MASTER) are on a trip in Turkey. Unknown to Susan, Billy has decided to smuggle hashish out of the country to sell in the States. He gets caught at the airport and imprisoned.
In jail, Billy becomes friends with kind Swede Erich (Norbert Weisser, POLLOCK), drugged out British intellectual Max (John Hurt, THE ELEPHANT MAN) and angry American Jimmy Booth (Randy Quaid, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW). Billy and his friends have to endure unthinkable torture physically, mentally and sexually. Hamidou (Paul L. Smith, DUNE) is the harsh head guard of the prison and finds enjoyment in beating the prisoners. He’ll even come on his day off to beat prisoners with his two young boys in tow. The last scene with him opens up a whole new psychological dimension to the character who seemed simply cruel at first. Also a key person in the prison is Rifki (Paolo Bonacelli, JOHNNY STECCHINO), a prisoner who serves as a snitch to the guards and a supplier of tea and drugs to the prisoners.
The film chronicles the psychological effect of abuse and an uncertain future within a judicial system that can sentence a person than change their mind and re-sentence the person under a different political climate. At times, the film is brutally honest about how the experience affects the inmates. Billy’s second court appearance displays his anger and mental anguish with his angry and racist rant that is spewed out of hopeless frustration and a sense of injustice. The film is a harrowing look at the meaning of justice and the soul sucking nature of hopelessness and abuse.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
