The harrowing and uncompromising story of a young American, Billy Hayes (strenuously imitated by Brad Davis) who got four years in a Turkish jail for drug-smuggling - a sentence that was later extended to life.

Alan Parker's film of Hayes's horrendous time inside is serious enough in intent, but somewhat betrayed by the mistily glossy photography and cunning lighting, which seem at odds with the subject: this is particularly so in the gay love scenes.

In the roles of other prisoners, Randy Quaid and John Hurt are allowed to give rather more than 100 per cent, although Hurt does create a memorable character out of the drug-besotted Max with his cracked, Sellotaped spectacles.