I'm a huge fan of Mr. Hurt's work, this is one of his very best IMO (maybe his absolute best). While watching this I was engrossed in every line of dialogue. It was also a much different character than he has ever played before or since. I think he is such an underrated actor and deserves to have won an Oscar by now.
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I agree, John Hurt is wonderful in everything I've seen him in. I especially love the scene when Billy thinks he's getting out, and he tells him he'll come back for him, and kisses him on the forehead. The expression on Hurt's face is heartbreaking.....
shareHe also has the funniest line in the film "I think I can hear dead Christians singing...."
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Hahahahaha I know - watched this last night for 1st time in ages & I forgot that line - hahahahaha I love John hurt, he is amazing in just everything!!
He also has the best voice I have ever heard!! I love it :)
I agree, John Hurt is wonderful in everything I've seen him in. I especially love the scene when Billy thinks he's getting out, and he tells him he'll come back for him, and kisses him on the forehead. The expression on Hurt's face is heartbreaking.....
I don't think it's fair to judge this actor based on his performance in Midnight Express. This was in my opinion his best performance ever. He didn't do so well in 1984, The Commissioner, or his other films. That's not to say he's a bad actor. Just that this seemed to be the role made for him.
shareI was judging him on every film i've seen him in. You think he didn't do so well in all his other performances? Have you seen The Elephant Man? Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? Alien? Recount?
shareI haven't seen The Elephant Man but as you bring up TTSS, I think that's a more representative showcase of Hurt's acting skills. He has skills and from his movies it's clear he is a well trained, good actor. However for me there is a wall of impenetrability about both his face and his voice. It's often very difficult to pick up the feelings he's trying to transmit to the audience. I don't think I'm the only one who thinks that. By contrast, in Midnight Express he plays the part perfectly. In fact he fits so easily into that mold of the intelligent but depressed hash-smoking hippy that with his acting he paints with consummate skill a very interesting, tragic and believable figure. His despair is portrayed as the sobering bridge between the imagined (humane and tolerant) Orientalist paradise of the (imagined) (Near) East, and the grim reality (or rather, as others have pointed out, unreality) of Turkey in the modern world. While the director's vision was extreme and unrepresentative of Turkey today, Hurt sells it really well. Without him in this movie we would be significantly more detached from our empathic sense. When he's trying to be more-English-than-English, as happens so often in movies where he's the main character, it's just not great.
shareWell, to each their own. I love his narrating voice though.
shareOh watch him in 10 Rillington place then, you will be bawling - his portrayal of Tim Evans is heart-breaking - you will be sobbing!
shareI hated the script for not putting his character in a position to be rescued by billy.
shareI think he is such an underrated actor and deserves to have won an Oscar by now.
The Elephant Man is probably his greatest performance imo but yes he's incredible in Midnight Express. The dude never gave a mediocre performance in his career.
shareHe was brilliant in this, also gave great performances in The Elephant Man and 1984.
Dude was a good actor.