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's girlfriend, Susan, visits him at the insane asylum section of the prison, just before Susan enters there is a reflection of a crew member on the left side of the screen giving the shot a ghostlike image. (01:35:15)
Billy Hayes: Dear Susan: Poor Jimmy was caught and beaten so badly he got a severe hernia, and lost a testicle. He's been in the sanitarium for months. In comparison, my problems seem very small.
Question: What has ended up with Max? Billy promised to go back and release him, but we never see that happen, and no explanation is given for that in the Epilogue. Is Max a real figure? If he is, what has happened to him? Did he manage to escape, or did he die in prison?
Answer: It's never stated what happened to Max. The film was a heavily fictionalized version of Billy Hayes' book, and the Max character appears to be fictional as well or at least a composite of other real-life imprisoned Westerners that Hayes met while in a Turkish prison.
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Answer: Max WAS a real character, and a Dutchman in real life, rather than an English one as portrayed in the movie. He eventually got paroled and later treatment for a severe drug addiction he had too.