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=> The Midnight Express...

The Midnight Express...
Posted by Jeff (Guest) jeff@attoz.com - Friday, March 5 2004, 0:55:01 (EST)
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...whew...Farid is right when he says that it's PUBLIC RELATIONS that matter more than anything else. The arts and humanities, film included, are what counts... public relations...public opinion...public relations.

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SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/156011_midnightexpress.html

The real Billy Hayes regrets 'Midnight Express' cast all Turks in a bad light

Saturday, January 10, 2004

By JOHN FLINN
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

In the history of cinema, has any film done more to blacken a nation's reputation among travelers than "Midnight Express"? A quarter of a century after its release, people still cite it as a reason for steering clear of Turkey.

The movie is based on the true story of Billy Hayes, a young American caught trying to smuggle 4 1/2 pounds of hashish out of Turkey in 1970.

Thrown into a hellhole of a Turkish prison, he's tortured by sadistic guards, betrayed by corrupt lawyers and toyed with by capricious judges before he finally escapes.

The 1978 movie, with its Oliver Stone screenplay, still holds up as a masterful piece of filmmaking -- a harrowing nail-biter from start to end.

There's no doubt the movie is a chilling and powerful cautionary tale, but here's the thing: Most viewers come away with the wrong message. That's the opinion of Hayes himself.

"The message of 'Midnight Express' isn't 'Don't go to Turkey,' " he said recently. "It's 'Don't be an idiot like I was, and try to smuggle drugs.' "

Hayes, now 56, lives in Los Angeles, where he works in the entertainment industry. He recently made his directorial debut with the indie film "Cock & Bull Story," but he'll always be known as the guy whose story was told in "Midnight Express."

He said he feels awful that the film gave a brutal reputation to the entire nation of Turkey. The cruel and barbaric prison conditions depicted in the movie were accurate, he said, but they were hardly unique to that country. Malaysia, Thailand and any number of other places were -- and are -- just as bad.

"This story," Hayes said, "could have happened in a variety of countries."

It also bothers him, he said, that "Midnight Express" depicts all Turks as monsters.

"I loved the movie, but I wish they'd shown some good Turks. You don't see a single one in the movie, and there were a lot of them, even in the prison. It created this impression that all Turks are like the people in 'Midnight Express.' ... I wish they'd shown some of the milk of human kindness I (also) witnessed."

Hayes said he wouldn't hesitate to return to Turkey -- if he could. "I'd love to go back. I really loved that country -- except for the five years I spent in prison. I loved the Turkish people."

For years, he stayed away because Interpol held a warrant for his arrest.

Interestingly, Turkey turned his name over to the international police agency not after he escaped from prison, nor after he wrote a book about the episode, but after the film came out.

The warrant expired five years ago, but Hayes has another reason for avoiding Turkey: He fears he'd be held responsible for all the trouble "Midnight Express" has caused its tourism industry.

"There's no doubt it changed the whole face of Turkish tourism," he said. "I'd really like to go back, but I'm afraid about the fallout from people who lost business. It's not fair. The burden fell on people who weren't to blame."

Amazingly, a large number of Americans have failed to heed the real message of the movie. Each year, on average, 1,000 Americans are arrested in foreign countries on drug charges.

While many are quickly released, roughly 1,600 are currently held in foreign prisons, often in conditions similar to those endured by Hayes, according to Stuart Patt of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs.

"Prison conditions in much of the world are pretty horrible," acknowledged Dick Atkins, a Philadelphia attorney who specializes in freeing Americans from these situations. "And the criminal justice systems in a lot of countries are just as bizarre as the one in the movie. It's important to remember that when you travel abroad, your rights as an American citizen don't come with you."

© 1998-2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer



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