"Irregardless" is not a word.
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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.