in the movie it doesn't show it, but did billy come back for him in real life?
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tessany — 18 years ago(May 30, 2007 10:18 AM)
Since the book was co-written by Billy Hayes, doesn't it kinda follow that he got out of the prison? Or were we to think he was still languishing away in a foriegn prison, his story being smuggled out to the entire world to let people know "Hey, drug smugglers in Turkey are treated harshly and unfair."
Thanks for giving me a good giggle with your apparent gullibility.
http://xsorbit30.com/users5/megawired/index.php -
tyranny-message — 18 years ago(May 07, 2007 07:14 PM)
OK, I guess we all know by now that there are spoilers on this thread. And there's gonna be a bunch more in this post, so be aware
I want to repeat the post above me because the original poster may not have seen this answer since it's nested down here. Max is actually released from prison before the book is published. I read the book because I absolutely had to know what happened to Max!!!!
This is one of the many liberties that Oliver Stone takes with Billy Hayes' book. Max was not languishing in section 13, he was actually being fairly well cared-for in the hospital ward due to his severe drug addiction. Thank goodness, cuz that last scene with Max nearly broke my heart!!!!
Billy never was raped, he never killed a guard, and actually didn't escape from section 13 at all (he was only in section 13 for about a month early on in his sentence). He was transferred to another prison on an island and escaped in a boat during a storm. A very exciting read, I'm not sure why the real escape wasn't used in the film.
But anyway, the last that Billy had heard, Max was free. -
tyranny-message — 18 years ago(May 26, 2007 12:35 PM)
Well, I think Oliver Stone made a very compelling movie about the horrors of being in a foreign prison. The beatings alone would have been enough to make his point, though. I'm not sure why he had to make ALL of the Turkish people bad. Maybe they shouldn't have called it a "true story" with the major changes that were made. And Billy's real escape was pretty amazingI don't know why they had to change it.
There's another thread on this board that has a link to an interview with Billy Hayes on youtube; Billy regrets how anti-Turkish the movie turned out to be, because even now that Interpol no longer has an escaped-prisoner alert out for him, he still can't return to Turkey to see his friends because of the damage this movie did. So, yeah, I agree that Oliver Stone is really off his rocker sometimes ("JFK", anyone?). -
stevenackerman69 — 18 years ago(January 08, 2008 08:11 PM)
The thing that gets me about the film is the way no subtitles are used when the Turks speak. I guess the idea was to show everything from Billy's point of view where he couldn't understand the language at first and had to learn it. It is like in Not Without My Daughter, which was written by the same person who co-wrote Midnight Express.
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tyranny-message — 18 years ago(January 09, 2008 06:09 AM)
You make a very good point about the language issue. There's that initial confusion when he doesn't even know what's going on when they are searching and interrogating him, and the film portrays that very well. In the book, there was one person after another after another coming in and shouting at him, it went on for most of the day. Despite Oliver Stone's hyperbolizing about the Turkish people, it really is a very powerful film that really captures the essence of Billy's experience.
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tyranny-message — 18 years ago(November 09, 2007 06:30 AM)
I agree - John Hurt's portrayal makes Max one of my favorite movie characters of all time. And very powerful, enough to make me run to the library for Billy's book to make sure Max was ok!!!!!! I didn't know about him not bathing though makes me glad there's no such thing as smellavision.
Of course, John Hurt is one of my favorite actors anyway. I'd be completely mesmerized by him just reading the phone book out loud.
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tyranny-message — 18 years ago(November 09, 2007 07:33 AM)
Wow!!! You are so lucky to have met John Hurt!!! I think he's amazing.
What is it about British actors? They are so good at really bringing a role to life. In American movies, they end up playing the villian so often because they are just the best at projecting that charisma in a believable way without chewing the scenery. I absolutely adore Peter O'Toole, too. I was completely mesmerized by him in "Lawrence of Arabia." -
tyranny-message — 18 years ago(November 09, 2007 08:13 AM)
LOL!!! Yeah, I would've loved to be there to see Hurt cutting loose!!! Damn, he is the shiznit. Max is actually Dutch in "real life", but I wouldn't change a thing about him in the movie, it was a perfect character.
It's weird, I feel EXACTLY the same way as you do about Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber!!! Been a huge fan of Rickman ever since!!! He's actually what I had in mind when I mentioned Brits as villians. Of course, the bad-guy is often the best part of a movie, so those are usually my favorite roles to see great actors in. I only watch "The Patriot" to see Jason Isaacs as Col. Tavington. Tom Wilkinson was really good in that, too. I feel kind of like a traitor being more interested in the Redcoats than the Patriots, but there it is -
tyranny-message — 18 years ago(November 09, 2007 09:09 AM)
Yeah, I'll be the first to admit that I do not consider "The Patriot" to be a documentary; it's very loosely based on real events, with emphasis on the "very". It's not even a great movie, but Isaacs and Wilkington are really brilliant anyway.
Historically, "the Butcher Tarleton" was actually rather ruthless in his dealings with the colonial rebels. They changed his name to "Tavington" in the movie because they needed the Colonel to commit some additional atrocities that the real Tarleton did not commit (like burning the church with the people in it). But he was still not exactly a nice guy. Besides, it's the victors who write the history books. Sorry, old chap
I never saw Robert Shaw in that movie, but thanks for mentioning it, I will try to rent it because Shaw is so much fun to watch, too. -
tyranny-message — 17 years ago(May 19, 2008 06:08 AM)
The last time I checked (2 minutes ago), Ireland is part of Great Britain and therefore its people can be referred to as "British". P.S. Even though he was born in Ireland, he was actually raised in Leeds, England. It's right here on IMdb. Please check your facts before you correct someone.