"Irregardless" is not a word.
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averagejoeman2013 — 14 years ago(July 08, 2011 11:45 AM)
Not sorry for him but inspired. A little more of that treatment in the prisons in the states would be a nice start.
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." - Albert Einstein -
PussyCrusher_Principal — 14 years ago(July 24, 2011 04:37 AM)
oh, I guess I signed on just in time for the "law and order" contingentor at least the tough-talking-from-behind-a computer branchletting anyone treat another living thing that way - allowing them that power - is a tremendously bad idea and a slippery slope. What a dumb thing to say (or type).
Anyway, about this post:
"On the flip side, I have little tolerance for drug users, and it is typical American thinking that other countries should think as we do in terms of punishment for certain crimes."
You have little tolerance for drug USERS? Is that what you meant to say? Why would you care what anyone else puts into their own body? Other than wanting to control the behavior of all citizens, right up until they close their doors and get under the covers at night, that is. I'd say THAT'S more typically American than what you said.
"How do you feel?"
"Like the Kling-Klang King of the Rim-Ram Room!" -
Elmware — 14 years ago(July 24, 2011 10:47 PM)
Why would you care what anyone else puts into their own body?
Because the foolish behavior of others affect the rest of us in many ways. Much like how you see families torn apart because one person makes this bad choice to put these substances in their bodies, or they resort to stealing from us so they can get their next fix at our expense.
I remember watching a Steve Wilco Show awhile ago, and there was this woman who was hooked on crack and she sold everything the family had to get her fix. The family had no furniture, TV, or hardly anything left because of one selfish crack addict in the family. She even sold her nephew's PSP and blamed it on her own son. This is one of many ways the rest of us are affected by these people who do this to themselves.
So why should I care if my stuff gets stolen so someone can pump it into their veins? Would you care if it happened to you? -
just_a_guy — 14 years ago(November 15, 2011 07:44 AM)
This is what happens when you live life through TV. Have you done any research into addiction? DO you have any first hand experience? Have you given any thought to the fact that drugs are expensive because they are illegal? What a crack/heroin/etc addict pays on the street is marked up thousands of percent by the time it gets to them. Punishment has NEVER cured a drug addict so why lock them up? It is insane on the face of it.
Do a little investigating and find the truth behind this so called drug war. If it doesn't open your eyes and change your opinion about it, consider it a failed IQ test.
Love the Christian, Hate the Dogma
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lomd — 14 years ago(November 28, 2011 01:06 AM)
I can see a fair case for diplomatic efforts for reducing his sentence, but otherwise you represented my feelings quite accurately.
I don't know how faithful the movie is to the book (although what I have heard isn't at all flattering to the real Hayes), but the movie character strikes me as a self-righteous criminal, a whinny hypocrite that took a selfish gamble that he was not at all prepared to handle and attempted to take refuge in some particularly sick form of proud nationalism.
In a way it is fascinating, how the story sets up a fascinating premise and merrily runs away from it towards a far less interesting plot. Then again, this is based on a book, so I guess they can only stray so far. And unfortunately, from what I have read Oliver Stone's script seems to have strayed towards attempting to present the protagonist as some sort of implausible "macho" action hero, Rambo-style. That is not missing a plot opportunity, it is deliberately obfuscating it in order to avoid the thorny feelings and questions.
This movie is often accused of racism, but I think the racism is actually rather accidental (both in the book and the movie). It does exist, but it is needed only as a means for the (rather gross) attempt at nationalist, ufanist self-justification of the hypocratical protagonist, who needs a straw to grab in order to run away from the rather obvious fact that he is a criminal that was caught red-handed and is now feeling sorry for himself. -
badgerking10 — 13 years ago(August 05, 2012 07:16 AM)
I want to read the book and find out the "real" story. But, as far as the film's concerned, I think there is an element of: "I'm American, therefore I'm invulnerable" Having said that and putting to one side the question of prison conditions, what's the point of keeping him locked up - at the expense of Turkish tax-payers - for an excessive amount of time Make him serve a sensible sentence, deport him and ban him from coming back So, while I certainly don't feel sorry for him - he brought the situation on himself - the punishment was excessive.
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Bad-Show — 13 years ago(September 09, 2012 08:25 AM)
I imagine most folks will baulk at the fact that they changed his sentence years after the fact. But I wonder; would it make a difference if they had told him 'life' from the get go? Yes, it sounds extreme. But what about Thailand? Their tourism industry hasn't suffered, nor have idiots stopped trying to smuggle drugs over there for the extra cash. Yet they have the death penalty for smugglers!!! I saw a documentary once where there were all these Brits and Aussies sitting out LIFE sentences, presumably because the Thais defer the death sentence with westerners.
Personally, watching Banged Up Abroad today (the episode relating to this story) all I could think was 'their country their laws'. And why did he do it? He claimed it wasn't for the money but for 'the adventure'. Drug smuggling? An adventure? And he did it another THREE times - and was caught on the fourth! -
ss336 — 13 years ago(September 11, 2012 05:41 AM)
No country should be allowed to enact such draconian laws. It's inhuman and abhorrent. The people banged up in Thailand for smuggling hash broke the black-and-white letter law, not any moral law. It's tyrannical and an abuse of a country's sovereignty. Is it worth having such countries in our world? Respect isn't demanded, it's earned. Who will cry for Thailand if one day it's invaded?
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Bad-Show — 13 years ago(September 17, 2012 07:13 AM)
Are you kidding?!?! I'm against the death penalty. But there's a simple way to avoid such a horrible fate : DONT SMUGGLE DRUGS IN OR OUT OF THAILAND!
It's not tyrannical. Who will cry for Thailand? What a juvenile way of looking at things. It's also not an abuse of any countrys sovereignty. What planet are you living on? When you go somewhere you abide by their rules. If you DON'T like those rules, don't go there!!!
Drug smuggling. It's not something you do by mistake, you know? -
ss336 — 13 years ago(September 20, 2012 05:35 AM)
If and when Thailand needs aid for some natural disaster, it will need all the international goodwill and sympathetic sobs it can get. So be realistic about what the exact level of independence and sovereignty a very minor player in the world stage can wield. It's easy to beat up and execute a couple of foreign tourists smuggling bits of hash but when things get difficult you need friends. If you don't like the laws of karma, that's your business. It doesn't suit little places like Thailand to act so arrogantly. Thailand needs tourists more than tourists need Thailand.
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geoffrey-jackson — 13 years ago(September 14, 2012 08:18 PM)
I have mixed feelings towards both the Billy the character and Billy the person.
From what people have been posting on these threads, the writer added a lot of things to the film. The only reason I can see why the writer would want to build up a disrespectful attitude of the character is to make the character less liked by the viewer.
The character seemed to have no respect for the law at all. He seems to be selfish. He would have let his father swap places with him.
Billy the person was lucky he wasn't caught in countries that hand down death penalties for such crimes.
I do feel that the character and person underwent a lot of suffering which is tragic I guess.
Nonetheless, he did seem to get the same treatment as others for similar crimes. Some might say he received a relatively light sentence initially but that was successfully appealed by the prosecution.
Good film. Good story. Acting good to average - John Hurt acted well. Good sets. Could have done with better production design. 7/10. -
Errington_92 — 11 years ago(May 03, 2014 09:01 AM)
Midnight Express
was flawed in its attempts to make Bill sympathetic. He chose to smuggle the drugs for a pathetic reason. Though I take nothing away from
Midnight Express
' aesthetics and story telling of experiencing hostile prison life.
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not". -
Splarne — 11 years ago(September 17, 2014 09:19 PM)
the movie, i felt sympathy for him.
now, i just got finished watching this nat geo thing with the real billy hayes. and let's just say he should face extradition back to turkey. i would have no problem believing that he has been shuttling back and forth to thailand doing the same thing now.
he was a ballsy smuggler and pretty much typical of a wide portion of the american population at the time. he had no clue there were any negative consequences to his actions, and then miraculously had a moment of repentance because they threw him in a cell with no blanket.
boo hoo, billy.
Go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!