Revealing mistake: Watch carefully during the fight scene between Billy and Rifki, you can see the stuntmen a few times.
Midnight Express (1978)
1 revealing mistake
Directed by: Alan Parker
Starring: Bo Hopkins, Irene Miracle, Paolo Bonacelli, Brad Davis
Visible crew/equipment: When Billy bribes the main guard, who then drags him up to his office, the camera pulls back dramatically to reveal a crew member tracking them with a boom mic.
Tex: How much did you pay this joker? This cab driver?
Billy Hayes: Two hundred dollars. It was my last two hundred.
Tex: How much did you figure to make?
Billy Hayes: I was only gonna sell some of it to my friends. I'm not a pusher. Honest.
Tex: It beats workin'. Do you get a family back home?
Billy Hayes: Yeah, a mother, father, brother, sister in Babylon, Long Island.
Tex: It'll be tough on 'em.
More questions & answers from Midnight Express
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Answer: I don't recall that it was explained, but it was probably stolen from a guard at some point and later traded from another prisoner.
raywest ★
I could assume that, sure, but I was looking for a more precise explanation. The more likely explanation is that they needed a light and the writers hoped no-one would notice. Seems like they could have used some sort of burning torches instead.
Smokyoak
There is no precise explanation because it's not revealed in the plot how they got it. What they "could" have used is fan speculation, which opens dozens of possibilities, none of which are substantiated or relevant. They obviously obtained the flashlight, so that is what they used. How they got it, we don't know.
raywest ★