There are some movies of the '70s and '80s that haven't aged a bit and feel as vital as when they were released, maybe even more so with the passage of time. A trio of them - Blade Runner, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Tootsie - were all recently released on DVD in special editions. They're all must-owns. But there are some movies that feel like products of their era and I don't mean that as a slight on the movie. Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca doesn't feel like a movie that would be made today but it's still one of my favorites. Watching Midnight Express, recently released in an Anniversary Edition by Sony, the film feels like a product of its time and it's not just because it tells a story from the '70s. It's the kind of film that you watch and marvel at how young Randy Quaid and John Hurt look or wonder whatever happened to Brad Davis (which is a sad story, if you look it up). And when you remember that it was Oliver Stone's screenwriting debut (for which he won the Oscar), it feels even more like a product of another era. Having said that, it's still a powerful film (although it does seem a bit xenophobic and fear mongering now), even if its more like a time capsule of power than one that feels vital to today.

Midnight Express tells the true story of Billy Hayes (Davis), a young American tourist who picks the worst possible time to try and smuggle drugs out of Turkey. After a few plane bombings, poor Billy runs into a lot more airport security than he was expecting and under the thumb of a corrupt and ineffectual Turkish legal system. They hand Hayes 30 years behind bars and it's not pretty back there. He's subjected to torture, brutality, and his own insanity and he has to fight to stay alive and make it home. Midnight Express was a huge hit when it was released both critically and commercially and earned six Academy Award nominations three decades ago, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Supporting Actor (for John Hurt), Best Score, and Best Adapted Screenplay, and it won the last two.

The 30th Anniversary Edition of Midnight Express comes with a startlingly good video transfer - the picture looks like it hasn't aged at all - and a competent audio transfer. The special features are all heavy on director Alan Parker, who shows up for a commentary and on the three new featurettes - "The Producers," "The Production," and "The Finished Film" - which total about an hour of behind-the-scenes info. Parker isn't the only one who looks back at Midnight Express and fans will be happy to hear from Hurt, Stone, and even producers Peter Guber and David Puttnam. It was an interesting and unusual production - they filmed in Malta, not Turkey, and, in fact, in several scenes the officials are speaking Maltese - and that makes for interesting featurettes. There's also a cool booklet that details the making of the movie for those who like to read instead of listening to a commentary or watching a featurette. For a film like Midnight Express, you really couldn't ask for more than the 30th Anniversary Edition.