# Polanski falls for the old "We'd Like to Give You a Lifetime Achievement Award" Trick!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 27, 2009, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742 "2009-09-27T11:49:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/61 "2009-09-28T00:39:55Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#):
>
> How long should he stay in prison? A ten year prison sentence in a California prison is pretty much a death sentence for a man his age. Should he die in prison? Is that excessive? I honestly don’t know.
It’s like the guy who kills his parents then argues for leniency cause he’s an orphan. He has to serve his 10 years (or however long the sentence is). It’s his fault that prison sentence will come now that he’s old.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/62 "2009-09-28T00:50:13Z")
Regardless of anything else with the actual crime Polanski fled. That action alone carries a lot of weight and deserves heavy punishment.
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### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/63 "2009-09-28T01:03:30Z")
I must admit that I’m of pretty mixed minds as to what should be done with him, but I also must admist I don’t understand the regular comments I’ve seen that he’s suffered enough or already been punished enough?
Is choosing to live in France to avoid incarceration really a punishment? Are we supposed to assume that he would have produced more than one quality film over the last 25 years if this hadn’t been hanging over his head?
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/64 "2009-09-28T01:14:01Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#):
>
> A death sentence for a man his age isn’t really that big of a deal.
It probably is to him.
However, from an above quote:
> [@](#):
>
> deliberately had non-consensual anal sex with her
I say we kill him.
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### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/65 "2009-09-28T01:58:05Z")
Seems possible. I believe there’s anal rape in 23.2% of Family Guy episodes.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/66 "2009-09-28T02:06:37Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#):
>
> Is choosing to live in France to avoid incarceration really a punishment?
Well, it comes pretty close, even for anal rape, but I _still_ say we kill him.
🙂
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### Author:  [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/67 "2009-09-28T02:09:00Z")
**obfus** , your last post now looks completely insane (guess they moved my reply but neglected yours).
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### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/68 "2009-09-28T02:41:23Z")
Well, I guess that’s fair. I imagine you’re post must look equally insane in the Family Guy thread.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/69 "2009-09-28T03:27:42Z")
The people he works with are utterly stunned that someone who drugged and raped a 13 year old girl and then fled the country is held to account?
OK, well, I got nuthin. We’ll just have to give him our own lifetime achievement award as compensation and hope the free chalet it comes with meets with his standards of dating.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/70 "2009-09-28T03:43:56Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#):
>
> Hard to believe that one wouldn’t think to look for a ready supply of condoms at Jack Nicholson’s house.
😛
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### Author:  [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/71 "2009-09-28T04:06:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> He should serve time in a US prison. He’s a child rapist and should pay for his crime. End of story.
Wait a sec…I’m a bit confused. I thought that he thought that the child was at least 18. Not to condone this sort of thing…BUT, this didn’t appear to be a case where he was attracted to the teen girl due to 13 being his age of attraction… Granted I’ve read the transcript…and it does sound like he was taking advantage of her naitve.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/72 "2009-09-28T04:14:05Z")
He knew how old she was (he knew her mother), but legally that would be no excuse anyway. Plus, it was not consensual. he drugged her. It still would have been rape if she’d been 50.
He was a 44 year old man who drugged and ass-raped a 13-year-old girl (and once again, he knew she was 13, and never claimed otherwise). He deserves no sympathy at all. If his victim had been a _boy_, he wouldn’t have a friend in the world. I don’t understand why people are so much more willing to shrug it off if the victim is a girl.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/73 "2009-09-28T04:18:03Z")
> [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](#):
>
> Granted I’ve read the transcript…and it does sound like he was taking advantage of her naitve.
To be clear, he wasn’t “taking advantage of her naitve[sic]”, he drugged her, confined her, ignored requests to stop, and then anally penetrated her without consent. Even if she were 18 years of age, this would be a vile crime perpetrated by a person who has no concept of boundaries and civilized conduct. He has not demonstrated anything approaching genuine remorse for his actions, nor accepted even a reasonable penalty for his action. There is no excuse for the apologism for his acts. He is, by his own admission, an unrepentant rapist, and if he were to die in prison it would scarcely be just deserts.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/74 "2009-09-28T04:21:30Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Cite for the judge accepting it and then going back on it?
I’m going off my memory of the documentary _Wanted & Desired_, which is surprisingly brutal towards Polanski’s character, even if it does lean toward taking his side in terms of how procedurally screwed up his trial was.
Needless to say, he had this coming, though I suspect most everyone out there assumed it would never actually happen. I don’t know if I would’ve necessarily expended the types of resources required to reel in this fish, but it’s still quite a catch, though largely a symbolic one (and an arguably empty one at that). He did the crime but not the time, and his decision to run was coldly logical and extremely self-serving, if not one that honored larger principles of American jurisprudence. I imagine his first priority wasn’t to trust a legal system that, in his eyes was capricious and arbitrary (remember, Charles Manson was first eligible for parole a year after Polanski’s trial), but nobody’s above the law, and his status as fugitive was undeniable. What he did was beyond ugly, but I have no dog in this hunt, so if he dies in prison or gets leniency (a gesture that would be generous beyond what he deserves), I won’t lose sleep over it either way.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/75 "2009-09-28T04:29:55Z")
From what I remember of the documentary (and a lot of this info came from the prosecutor, so it’s not just Polanski’s own mouthpieces), Polanski and the prosecutor had agreed to a plea bargain. Before the sentencing, Polanski then got permission to go to Europe for some allegedly work-related reason. While he was there, he was photographed partying with several nubile young women, and the photos were splashed across a lot of front pages. The judge was incensed by the pictures, felt like he’d been played for a sap by Polanski, and that he’d been personally made to look bad. That’s when he decided to rescind the sentencing deal.
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### Author:  [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/76 "2009-09-28T05:26:47Z")
It’s not very christian of me to say this, but a tiny part of me just hopes the wardens leave his door open…maybe the inmate next door has a 13 year old girl…as I said, not very Christian
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### Author:  [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/77 "2009-09-28T06:36:56Z")
Happy, happy, joy, joy!
The best news all week.
The message to all is crystal clear: regardless of the time that has passed, or the wonderful life you have made for yourself, no matter how guilty you feel, justice will not stop pursuing you if you have been convicted in a court of law.
Good on the Swiss, shame on all of the people supporting this douchebag.
He ass fucked a drugged 13 year old girl and people are defending him? Imagine if someone (even a Famous Director!) put his cock in your child’s anus.
He is a CONVICTED PEDOPHILE!!!
I have friends who work in California state prisons and they all tell me that child abusers are raped and beaten in the joint. Polanski is facing a hell of his own creation.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/78 "2009-09-28T07:02:03Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Cite for the judge accepting it and then going back on it?
Yeah, the stories i’ve read note that the judge aid he would reject the agreement, but none of them said that he first accepted it, and then went back on his word. Here’s an example from the [San Francisco Chronicle](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/27/MNG519TK7J.DTL):
> [@](#):
>
> When Polanski fled the United States in 1978, the facts of the case against him were no longer in dispute. He had pleaded guilty to having sex with an underage girl, and in exchange for that admission, the district attorney had agreed that he should be sentenced to the time in jail he had already served.
>
> But the judge in the case, Laurence Rittenband, sent word that he would not honor the plea bargain and was inclined to send a stern message. Rather than face as much as 50 years in prison, Polanski skipped bail. The consensus of the prosecutor, the defense attorney, journalists and others was that the judge’s decision was driven by his exceptional appetite for publicity.
I admit i probably would have been worried, had i been in Polanski’s shoes. But the reason he was in his shoes in the first place is that he raped a kid. There’s no excuse for fleeing the jurisdiction, and he deserves a prison term, IMO.
> [@Camus](#):
>
> Otherwise, anyone on the run, whether before or after a plea was signed, could simply wait out the clock while on the lamb.
Well, if Polanksi had been on the lamb, that probably would have been an entirely different charge altogether. 🙂
Or did you mean, “on the lam”?
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/79 "2009-09-28T07:13:34Z")
No new charges relating to the forcing Adrian Brody on the world?
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2009, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/80 "2009-09-28T07:17:21Z")
Can you believe [this fucking douchebag](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-farr/leniency-for-polanski_b_301269.html)?
He calls for “leniency for Polanski,” arguing that Polanski is “as much victim as predator himself” due to the other hardships he’s suffered in his life.
But, even more stupidly, he actually compares Polanski to Charlie Chaplin, saying:
> [@](#):
>
> I can’t help musing that here in America, we drove away Chaplin for all those years, and though Polanski’s crime was much harsher and more defined, I, for one, would welcome having him back among us once he’s paid his debt to society. Maybe he could even help us make better movies again.
What the fuck?
Charlie Chaplin did not flee America to avoid sentencing for a crime. He left for a vacation and had his passport revoked by a bunch of freedom-hating reactionaries. Not exactly the same thing. And not exactly a crime.
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