
As he and his girlfriend Susan are about to board a plane back to the United States, Billy is frisked by soldiers (who are on high alert for terrorist attacks) who discover the drug.

On vacation in Istanbul, Turkey on 6 October 1970, American college student Billy Hayes straps 2 kg (4.4 lb) of hashish bricks to his chest. It also won six Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture – Drama and BAFTA Awards for Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (for Hurt). The film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director for Parker at the 51st Academy Awards in 1979, and won Best Adapted Screenplay for Stone and Best Original Score for Moroder. Hayes and others criticized the film for portraying the Turkish prison men as violent and villainous and for deviating too much from the source material. Many praised Davis's performance as well as the cast, the writing, the direction, and the musical score by Giorgio Moroder. Upon release, Midnight Express received generally positive reviews from critics.

The cast also features Irene Miracle, John Hurt, Bo Hopkins, Paul L. The film's title is prison slang for his escape attempt. The film centers on Hayes (played by Brad Davis), a young American student, who is sent to a Turkish prison for trying to smuggle hashish out of the country. Midnight Express is a 1978 prison drama film directed by Alan Parker and adapted by Oliver Stone from Billy Hayes's 1977 memoir of the same name.
