Episode 193: Cüneyt Arkın: The Man Who Stole Star Wars

## Show Notes

We discuss the history of the insane genre Turkish film industry and the career of its daredevil mega-star Cüneyt Arkın, along with his films TURKISH STAR WARS, TURKISH FIRST BLOOD and DEATH WARRIOR.
## Films Discussed

* Films starring Cüneyt Arkın
	+ *The Sword and the Claw* (a.k.a *Lionman*) (1975) Dir. Natuk Baytan
	+ *Turkish Star Wars* (a.k.a. *The Man Who Saved the World*) (1982) Dir. Çetin İnanç
	+ *Turkish First Blood* (a.k.a *Turkish Rambo*) (1983) Dir. Çetin İnanç
	+ *Death Warrior* (1984) Dir. Çetin İnanç
	+ *Ringo Kid* (1967) Dir. Zafer Davutoglu
* *Dracula in Istanbul* (1953) Dir. Mehmet Muhtar
* *Turkish Laurel and Hardy* (a.k.a. *Tosun and Yosun*) (1963) Dir. Nuri Ergün
* *Dry Summer* (1963) Dir. Metin Erksan
* *Batman* (TV Series) (1966-68)
* *3 Dev Adam* (a.k.a *3 Giant Men* a.k.a. *Captain America and Santo vs. Spider-Man*) (1973) Dir. T. Fikret Uçak
* *The Holy Mountain* (1973) Dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky
* *Turkish Star Trek* (a.k.a. *Ömer the Tourist in Star Trek*) (1973) Dir. Hulki Saner
* *Turkish Death Wish* (a.k.a *The Executioner*) (1975) Dir. Memduh Ün
* *Star Wars* (1977) Dir. George Lucas
* *Faces of Death* (1978) Dir. John Alan Schwartz
* *Turkish Superman* (a.k.a *The Return of Superman*) (1979) Dir. Kunt Tulgar
* *Yol* (1982) Dir. Şerif Gören & Yılmaz Güney
* *Filipino Batman* (a.k.a. *Alias: Batman and Robin*) (1991) Dir. Tony Y. Reyes
* *Turkish Machine Gun Kelly* (????) Dir. ????

## Discussion Notes

* The last International Cinema Club of 2019!
* Turkish cinema and the art of rip-off movies
	+ No copyright laws in the country led to a boom in rip-off films
	+ Post WWII-boom focused the industries 60's efforts on piggybacking European trends
	+ Single audio-track limits meant that the film score stopped for the sound effects
	+ Most films had to be made in four days
	+ Military junta took over in 1980, its censorship effectively ending the film industry
* Cüneyt Arkın, the square-jawed Turkish Chuck Norris with over 300 film credits
	+ Received training as Russian acrobat, became a doctor, turned into romantic lead actor, shifted to action
	+ Does all of his own stunts
	+ Will - "I love the fact of this man"
* *Turkish Star Wars*
	+ $300,00 budget, broke Turkish box office records!
* *Turkish First Blood*
	+ They (very possibly) used real ammunition - they're cheaper than blanks!
* *Death Warrior*
	+ Justin - "It feels like the cameraman is being hunted by someone with a knife!"
* *The Sword and the Claw*
	+ Does not pay off the poster's promised claws until the last five minutes

## Listener Letters

* Chris -
	+ ICC: takes the podcast gold for having no awkward silences!
* Sends their thanks for solving a film memory puzzle over a unique blood-drinking/kick-split scene
	+ It's from Kung-Fu Zombie! (1981) Dir. Hwa I Hung
		- Our hosts on thoughts on the film? - "Better than *Equinox!*" (1970) Dir. Jack Wood
* What do our hosts think about a *Crash* v. *Crash* podcast?
	+ *Crash* (1996) Dir. David Cronenberg
	+ *Crash* (2004) Dir. Paul Haggis
* Our hosts discuss unsolved film memories, and early life film nightmares
	+ Will's senior kindergarten unsolved film memory
		- A film narrated by a Christmas Tree (who gets murdered!)
		- Also a screening preshow featuring kung fu rollerskaters with sparklers
			* Kind of like Starlight Express!
	+ Justin's early film memories/nightmares
		- *The Peanut Butter Solution* (1985) Dir. Michael Rubbo
		- *The Log Driver's Waltz* (1979) Dir. John Weldon

## Post-Outro Discussion

* Will and Justin's annual trip to Toronto's Horror-rama convention
	+ Our hosts discuss the classic Q&A problem - not having 'good' questions for people because you already know so much about the person
* Will's dream Q&A question - to ask Clint Eastwood about Gregory Walcot
	+ Famous cast member of Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) Dir. Ed Wood
* Our hosts discuss their feelings on the film works Mr. Eastwood
	+ Will finds his right-wing nature fascinating (conservative yet empathetic through his art)
	+ Justin came to like Clint and his films much less after the ICC episode
* Films discussed:
	+ *A Fistful of Dollars* (1964) Dir. Sergio Leone
	+ *Unforgiven* (1992) Dir. Clint Eastwood
	+ *Gran Torino* (2008) Dir. Clint Eastwood
	+ *Invictus* (2009) Dir. Clint Eastwood
	+ *Jersey Boys* (2014) Dir. Clint Eastwood
	+ *15:17 to Paris* (2018) Dir. Clint Eastwood
	+ *The Mule* (2018) Dir. Clint Eastwood