Does anyone feel sorry for Bill Hayes after seeing the movie?
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bmodica — 15 years ago(July 27, 2010 01:51 PM)
Gee, DLY. How so very pithy. What's wrong with my assessment? He knew he was breaking the law, and he knew of the conditions of incarceration. Do I enjoy what happened to him? Of course not. But he did it to himself. No one forced him into smuggling. So, he got caught in a barbaric country, and paid the price those peoples felt was justified.
Billy the Kid -
bmodica — 15 years ago(July 27, 2010 03:17 PM)
I stand by my statement, DLY. He did it, he knew what he was doing, he went ahead and did it anyway. Should I feel sorry for a family man of 4 kids, who holds up a 7-11, and gets 15 years? Not at all.
Billy the Kid -
lem15 — 15 years ago(September 30, 2010 08:29 PM)
You're a real tough guy, Billy.
You'd be servicing every guy in your section of the Turkish prison if they locked you up for even one night for jaywalking. You'd hand over your own daughter if they looked at you sideways.
Punk. -
lambiepie-2 — 17 years ago(November 10, 2008 11:35 PM)
I don't think you are to feel sorry for him about the crime he committed, you are to feel sorry for him as they way he (etc) were treated in jail and the backwards justice that was handed down to him and others.
He tried to smuggle Hash into to America back in the day. That is a crime in Turkey. (America too if he got caught on the other side, think about that?) He should have served time? Possibly. Point is, he didthen they tacked on 30 more yearsand, life? For what? Was it because they could? Because he was an American? Was justice fair to THIS man's crimes? That's the point. And it shed light to how others were being treated in the prision/court systems as well.
"Whoever is bitten by a werewolf, becomes one himself!" -
mu00fck — 17 years ago(November 21, 2008 06:30 PM)
well are you talking about fictional billy hayes or the real billy hayes? the fictional one obviously went through a lot, but it is not the true experience of billy hayes
in his interview, he says that besides being locked up he did not have any problems at all in jail..
part1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHjLMnGkedU&feature=related
part2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JTRs8e-FRk&feature=related -
WatchAnythingOnce — 14 years ago(November 20, 2011 04:44 PM)
From Midnight Express Truth Revealed - Part 2 (0:39 seconds in)
"Once I learned how to acclimate, how to move within the world of the Turkish prison, I got alongI didn't have too many problems, other than the fact that I'm in jail and you miss the life, you miss women, you miss the fact that life is going on outside and it's not happening for you and eventhe worst for me is, I miss my parents"
He makes it clear that he experienced the expected difficulties that would be found in any prison, but he did not suffer the unrelenting brutality depicted in the film.
I think you would have to have a heart of stone not to feel some sympathy for the film version of Billy Hayes because what he suffered was out of all proportion to the crime he committed. The real-life Billy Hayes? Not as much - the extension of his sentence is the only aspect of the story that prompts a little sympathy in me. Otherwise, he committed a crime, he went to jail. That's what happens
The real-life Billy Hayes is much more likeable than the film version, though. -
kellymariekitty — 10 years ago(February 15, 2016 06:54 AM)
I believe the 30 years extra was a charge for smuggling. Originally he was caught for possession - but the prosecutor wanted a smuggling charge because of how much he had. And considering Billy himself confessed this was his 4th time - smuggling is accurate!
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ManicMuse — 16 years ago(September 07, 2009 06:56 AM)
I didn't feel bad, but I think that is because of how the movie was made. It is skewed toward american's being good guys regardless of what they do (especially white males), and I felt it through the whole film. it really turned me off. i liked the very beginning then it was all down hill.
maybe if it was a less sensationalized and prejudiced portrayal of the situation, i could have focused on the idea of a short sentence being extended to the extreme, and a young guy being used as a pawn in that political game. of course he should serve time, but extending it that long had nothing to do with billy's crime, it was about politics. this is something that goes on in america too.
i also think all the characters were to one-dimensional, including billy, which makes them hard to care about.
"WHO'S ON TOP & WHO'S ON BOTTOM NOW, huh?! WHO'S ON TOP & WHO'S ON BOTTOM NOW!" -
sonofbeach-sheet — 16 years ago(September 08, 2009 11:50 PM)
I personally couldn't stand the Billy in this movie and thought he was too whiny. The real Billy Hayes took it much better and owned up to what he did. And the Turks were portrayed as dumb or monstrous for the most part. There was no alien warden in the book, like the one in the movie; he was just based on several of the guards in the book, including one that was shot to death by a former prisoner