Trying to smuggle drugs and having sex outside of marriage are two different things. America, I think, also protects victims of rapes or "honor" killings from being sent back to their countries. All of this "knowledge" by they way, is based on what I've seen on Law and Orders haha. Anyway, basically I was trying to say that I felt sorry for him because his sentence lasted way longer than it should've and it seemed like the guards we buttholes toward him.
People do stuff, it's a fact.

If he wanted the American justice system, he should have committed his crimes in America.
What if someone came to America from a country that is OK with "honor" killings of women who may or may not have had consensual sex outside of marriage? Or worse yet, for being raped? Should the killer be packed onto a plane and sent home for a comparative slap on the wrist for killing people here?
Should the woman be sent back to her home country, for harsh punishment under her own country's laws?

"Irregardless" is not a word. I also think it's normal for people to feel sorry for him. He was sentenced for way too many years than he deserved, also any american citizen should be sentenced in an american court. I also doubt americans think that they have a "god given right" to smuggle drugs. But oh well! It's a really good movie based on something that happened in real life.
People do stuff, it's a fact.

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The first time I saw the film, I couldn't figure out why I should feel sorry for him. Tonight, Nat Geo TV has him telling his story on the Locked Up Abroad show. Turns out he had smuggled hashish like 3x before that, thought he'd never get caught, etc. He says it was the Palestinians blowing up planes that heightened airport security etc.
Still don't feel sorry for him, no. Had he not been caught that time, I bet he would have gone back and done it again.

No, the Turkish authorities added the time because they wanted to charge him with smuggling instead of possession, four years after the fact. Up until this point, I don't see a lot to sympathize with Hayes as he pretty much received the punishment he deserved. However, the 30 years was completely excessive and vindictive, so I do feel sorry for him in this regard.
Anyway, the real Billy Hayes is a much more interesting person than the movie character. He's very honest and forthright about what he did, so I have no criticisms for him. Let's not forget, this was 40 years ago and he was just a young kid. He's obviously grown and matured, earning the second chance he took by escaping.

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I read in a interview with John Hurt (dont ask me where , cos i forgot) that the reason the exteneded the sentence to life was cos the turkish court did some research on Billy Hayes and found he had previously did some crime in the US such as robbery, John Hurt basically said that the real Billy Hayes was no innocent.

You know, that is a good point. He broke the law. Wouldn't you love to see Judge Joe Brown say something about this? He'd probably say, 'You ain't being a man, I'll tell you that, son.' As for thanking Turkey, I think our relations then were pretty bad, which was why it was so hard for Billy to get out to begin with. We might've said, "Well, you let him escape. Tough titty."

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Of course I felt sorry for him. That's the whole point of the film!
He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?

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

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!"

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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!

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.

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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

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!"

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