Midnight Express is a 1978 prison drama film directed by Alan Parker, based on Billy Hayes's 1977 memoir of the same name. The film received positive reviews from critics and was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 1979, where Parker was also nominated for Best Director nomination for the film. The film won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay (Stone) and Best Original Score (Giorgio Moroder). It also won six Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture – Drama and BAFTA Awards for Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (John Hurt).
The film was first released on VHS and Betamax by Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment in November 1979 as part of the company’s first wave of 20 videocassette releases. It was then reissued in the red border clamshell in summer 1980.
The original 1979 Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment VHS release is considered to be lost media since it is extremely hard-to-find, and has never turned up on Amazon or eBay in a very long time. The 1979 copy has yet to resurface on auction sites like eBay.
The cover can be found here, even though it’s unknown if this was the real cover:
https://angry-grandpas-media-library.fandom.com/wiki/Midnight_Express_(1979-1993_VHS)