So what do you think of Roman Pulanski?

LauraMax

Cathlete
CNN's ticker this morning said "film makers are outraged over Pulanski's arrest." I don't get it. The man had sex w/a 13 YO girl. Whether she consented or not, courts say it's non-consentual b/c a child cannot consent.

Then he skips bail & flees to Europe.

I'm kind of outraged that film makers are outraged. The guy broke two laws--statutory rape & skipping bail. Why should he not be tried & sentenced? I won't pass judgement on what his sentence should be, but I cannot figure out for the life of me why Hollywood thinks he should get off scott free. Talent is not an excuse for breaking the law. :mad:
 
What gets me is that the man is trying to get bail. He may be the biggest bail-jump risk of all time!

I think a lot of why people think he should be let off the hook is:

- it was so long ago
- Sharon Tate
- the "consent" of the victim
 
I think Polanski is a wonderful director, and his films Replusion, Rosemary's Baby, and Tess are among my favorites. I was looking forward to his upcoming, yet now stalled film, The Ghost.

As a citizen of the world, he needs to face up to his crime. It's been too long.
 
Laura - I think it's sick. It was not consentiual either. He gave her Alcohol and Quaalude and then raped her. If you read up on the details, it will make you lose your lunch. He paid her off though and now she wants it to all go away. I can understand where she is coming from. This happened years ago and she doesn't want to get dragged back into court to testify if they bring him back and prosecute him. However, it doesn't erase the fact that this man lured a 13 year old kid (where were the parents by the way) to a friend's home for a photo shoot and then proceeded to rape her in ever way imaginable. He is a SICKO and deserves to be punished for what he has done to a little kid, regardless of whether she has moved on with her life or not. The fact that people are acting "shocked and outraged" that he was detained is beyond belief.

Link to the transcripts from the original trial:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/polanskicover1.html
 
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Here is what is confusing to me...where has he been? It said he fled the country. Did he move somewhere with no extradition laws? He has been making movies the entire time. Why is he just now arrested? It is just disgusting that 1 - this happened 2 - he has been allowed to be free this entire time and 3 - Hollywood is "shocked and outraged" that he will have to pay for his crime!!!!

Carrie
 
i dont normally jump on these OD discussions but i just cant help myself.

even if she had not been a 13yo child...the victims testimony was that she did not consent and that she said no repeatedly. she has never recanted this, only said that she wishes the case would not be pursued because she wants to put it behind her. posted this on my FB page this morning. this article states it perfectly, IMO:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/09/28/polanski_arrest/index.html
 
Here is what is confusing to me...where has he been? It said he fled the country. Did he move somewhere with no extradition laws? He has been making movies the entire time. Why is he just now arrested? It is just disgusting that 1 - this happened 2 - he has been allowed to be free this entire time and 3 - Hollywood is "shocked and outraged" that he will have to pay for his crime!!!!

Carrie

He's been living in France most of the time and no, they do not typically extradite French citizens (which he is). He only moved between countries that were lax on extraditing. The warrant for him has been outstanding the entire time, they just could never get to him.
 
Here is what is confusing to me...where has he been? It said he fled the country. Did he move somewhere with no extradition laws? He has been making movies the entire time. Why is he just now arrested? It is just disgusting that 1 - this happened 2 - he has been allowed to be free this entire time and 3 - Hollywood is "shocked and outraged" that he will have to pay for his crime!!!!

Carrie

He's been living the good life all over Europe and has actually been to Switzerland (where he got arrested) many times. And it was no secret when he visited Switzerland those other times. He has been very visible.

If this guy was some broke "nobody", not one person would be taking his side.
 
Yeah, I'm trying very hard to listen to both sides here. She says rape, he says no. But one thing that's not in question is the fact that she was a child. Yes Liann, I agree, it's just disgusting. What kind of man wants to sleep with a child? :mad: The fact that his pregannt wife was tragically murdered & that this incident happened a long time ago is irrelevant to his case.

Carrie, I believe he's been in Switzerland all this time, & they've finally agreed to extradition. I think anyway, I'm a bit sketchy on all the facts.
 
To me, even if she went to that photo shoot planning to get drunk, take some drugs and sleep with the man, he is still a sick perv who broke the law. She was 13. I have a niece that age and she IS a little kid. Heck, even my 16 year old niece is a little kid to me. I really don't see another side to it. The argument about it being so long ago it doesn't matter is bull, him doing it because he was bereaved over the death of his wife and child is a joke - you lost a child, so you decide to go bang someone else's??? No sympathy for the guy here. This part is ALL speculation, but there have been those who knew him and his wife who have said he was a cheating husband and was against his wife having that child in the first place. That is all speculation of course, but it does show that there's the possibility that he's played this "saintly victimized" husband part up a little more than is reality.
 
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Laura - I think it's sick. It was not consentiual either. He gave her Alcohol and Quaalude and then raped her. If you read up on the details, it will make you lose your lunch. He paid her off though and now she wants it to all go away. I can understand where she is coming from. This happened years ago and she doesn't want to get dragged back into court to testify if they bring him back and prosecute him. However, it doesn't erase the fact that this man lured a 13 year old kid (where were the parents by the way) to a friend's home for a photo shoot and then proceeded to rape her in ever way imaginable. He is a SICKO and deserves to be punished for what he has done to a little kid, regardless of whether she has moved on with her life or not. The fact that people are acting "shocked and outraged" that he was detained is beyond belief.

ITA with Liann. I need to add Angelica Huston and Jack Nicholson to the list of people I find repulsive in this sick-tuation, as it was Nicholson's home in which the rape took place and Nicholson's then-"girl"friend Huston who asserted publicly that the 13-year-old was a seductive tramp who was not raped. I admire the jurisdiction (Los Angeles?) that is pursuing this case, old as it is, if nothing else but to send a message that running away from the consequences of your actions and hiding behind the admiration of other cases of oversexed arrested development (read: American film directors) won't be rewarded. Just like Susan Atkins wasn't rewarded for getting brain cancer with a compassionate release (may she rot in hell) and just as Sara Jane Olson (t/n Kathleen Soliah, one of the Symbionese Liberation Army who evaded the full criminal consequences of her crimes under a false name in Minnesota) in the end was sent to prison.

A-Jock
 
Oh I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm trying to view it from a legal perspective. The statute of limitations doesn't even apply b/c he was charged w/in the time limit, which is when he broke the law again. I cannot believe European govmts refused to extradite him. I know they're not puritan like Americans, but it's difficult to comprehend that they'd think this is OK.


P.S. PLEASE leave my one star alone! Let the delightful women who continue doing this (I know who's doing it *cough* SUB & CB). It only reflects on them, not me. One of actually one starred me in the Ask Cathe forum. I mean, hate me if you want (as much as you can hate someone you don't know), but at least respect Cathe on her own website. :rolleyes: And I'm guessing you're too stupid to know she can see it was you. How embarrasing for you! :D
 
ITA with Liann. I need to add Angelica Huston and Jack Nicholson to the list of people I find repulsive in this sick-tuation, as it was Nicholson's home in which the rape took place and Nicholson's then-"girl"friend Huston who asserted publicly that the 13-year-old was a seductive tramp who was not raped. I admire the jurisdiction (Los Angeles?) that is pursuing this case, old as it is, if nothing else but to send a message that running away from the consequences of your actions and hiding behind the admiration of other cases of oversexed arrested development (read: American film directors) won't be rewarded. Just like Susan Atkins wasn't rewarded for getting brain cancer with a compassionate release (may she rot in hell) and just as Sara Jane Olson (t/n Kathleen Soliah, one of the Symbionese Liberation Army who evaded the full criminal consequences of her crimes under a false name in Minnesota) in the end was sent to prison.

A-Jock

:eek::eek::eek: I did not know that. Oh man, that's just sick. :confused: Huston (I'm surprised) & Nicholson (I'm not surprised) are nothing more than glorified child pimps.
 
Laura - Oh, I know you don't think he should be let go. I was just lashing out at the people who do, not you! :)
 
What I don't understand though is why he was able to roam in Europe freely for the past 30 years. It's not like no one knew where he was, he's lead a pretty public life. The arrest warrant was not issued until recently and that's when the Swiss authorities arrested Polanski.

It's not that the Europeans refused to extradite him. There are extradition laws in Europe and the only time Europe will not extradite is in death penalty cases.
 
What I don't understand though is why he was able to roam in Europe freely for the past 30 years. It's not like no one knew where he was, he's lead a pretty public life. The arrest warrant was not issued until recently and that's when the Swiss authorities arrested Polanski.

It's not that the Europeans refused to extradite him. There are extradition laws in Europe and the only time Europe will not extradite is in death penalty cases.

It was a provisional warrant that was recently served, but it was based on the original outstanding 1978 warrant. The conspiracy folk think the reason they only just now arrested him has to do with the statute of limitations on some alleged misconduct by the judge in the original case. Who knows, it's all a little fishy to me. They should have gone after him immediately after he fled. Even that in itself is a crime.
 

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