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It was just an opinion my friend , a rather generalized one at that.
I'm sure all Turkish people don't thankfully resemble the warden Or his behavior .
Live and let live I say. There's way more important issues in any country to worry about a persons choices . Be them wise or unwise choices.
But it doesn't take away what a harrowing film
It is.
And Oliver Stone won an Oscar for his adaptation written mostly coked out of his mind.
Ironic isn't it.
The "true story of Billy Hayes" is nothing like the movie.

Turkey is a great country, in spite of stupid politicians just like in the USA & EU. Bottom line, he shouldn't have tried to smuggle drugs. He knew the penalties, but he just wanted to show he could turn a quick buck back to Leftist pals back home.
I don't feel bad for him @ all, he got what he was asking for IMO. Don't get me wrong,
I think if an adult wants to experiment\use the herbs I could care less. But when you
flagrantly violate the laws expecting pity, you'll get non from me.
Also I have several friends in Turkey & went to church with a Turkish lady when
I was young. What a nice lady

http://www.youtube.com/user/loveunderlaw

Found it harrowing in '78 and just as harrowing today.
The brutality and lack of humility in the film has kept me firmly in the western part of the planet, thankfully.

I like the movie quite a bit. I hadn't seen it in a number of years, but with the recent news story about the poor US student getting sentenced to 15 years hard labor in a NK prison camp, I began thinking that there were parallels between that and the plot of this movie, and by sheer coincidence, I just happened to come upon it last night while channel surfing. So I figured I'd log on to IMDB today, to see what people were saying about it. I thought the production was pretty good for 1978.

Thoughts on the movie? I wouldn't choose either destination as a tourist.

I'd rather go to Turkey then North Korea, any day of the week.

I Made my mind up at the very same time friend, I never wanted to even do a stopover at Istanbul.
The moment I saw "Rifki" and the warden with the twitch I told myself.
I will never enter Turkey ever.
Loved the movie.
Nice one about Jaws.

Let me first say that I have never been much of a traveler. That being said, back in '78, when I first saw Midnight Express, I made up my mind right there and then, that I would never be visiting Turkey. In any case, 38 years later, this film still holds up very well for me.
If you play Jaws backwards, it becomes a film about a shark that keeps spitting up people until they're forced to open a beach.