"Irregardless" is not a word.
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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!
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Mixalidis — 9 years ago(December 29, 2016 03:28 PM)
No. You'd get a lot more than 3-4 years in most countries today for that, am I correct? He was already dissatisfied with that initial court decision. And yes, he acted like a self-entitled American at that point. I mean, what was he expecting?
Obviously, the 2nd court decision and happened to him in prison was awful.
Ironically, the real Billy Hayes is much worse- he smuggled drugs multiple times, enjoyed the support of the State Department throughout, managed to escape and became a celebrity.