Word: turkish
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...95th Congress, Carter was able to count on the occasional, indispensable services of Minority Leader Howard Baker. Without Baker, the Panama Canal treaties would not have been ratified, the Turkish arms embargo lifted or the three-way Middle East weapons sale approved. But Baker may no longer be able to come to the aid of the President. No sooner were the election results apparent than conservative Republicans started plotting to take over at least some of the leadership positions in the Senate, including a challenge by Helms for on-floor leadership. Taking no chances, Baker dashed back to Washington...
...bear scarlet blooms rather than the more common white petals of opium flowers, they flourish undetected in the hinterland. What Grotrian does not realize is that heroin from his little flowers causes instant, hideous death. In England alone, more than 500 addicts are wiped out by the new-strain Turkish dope...
Although based on the outlines of a true story, "Midnight Express" is more akin to fantasy, albert a nightmarish one. How else can one explain the wholesale brutality of the Turkish characters, the unreal prison conditions, and the imaginary arbitrariness of the Turkish judicial system, not to mention Billy Hayes' unbelievably easy escape? Not one technique is spared to impress on the audience the repulsiveness of Turkey. Violent scenes are accompanied by Turkish folk music as if to show the necessary relationship between the two. Even the normally beautiful Istanbul skyline is transformed by the camera into somber and gloomy...
...puts the country once again in the culprit's seat: this time not because it is lax in its regulation of opium cultivation, but because it is harsh with misguided foreigners who try to smuggle hashish out of the country. If Billy Hayes got a "raw deal" from the Turkish government, this was due not to any wickedness on the part of the Turks, but to the constant American pressure on Turkey which led to the government's decision to show once and for all how serious it indeed was in its enforcement of drug laws...
...this is lost in the gibberish of the Turkish prosecutor, and, for lack of subtitles, Mr. Contreras may be excused for not quite grasping the motives of the Turkish government in sentencing Billy Hayes to life imprisonment. Nonetheless, I find it inadmissible to acclaim a movie which is so outrageously biased in its depiction of a whole nation. "Midnight Express" is offensive only not only to Turks, but to all self-respecting human beings. Dani Rodrik...