''Battal Gazi Destanı'' (''Battal Ghazi Legend'') is a 1971 Turkish historic action film. Starring Cüneyt Arkın, it is a depiction of the life of the legendary Muslim ''Serdar'' of

Malatya Malatya ( hy, Մալաթիա, translit=Malat'ya; Syro-Aramaic ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ku, Meletî; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a large city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city h ...

, Battal Gazi. Moreover, it is the first one of four "Battal Gazi" series and one of the numerous historic movies of Cüneyt Arkın.

Plot

Hüseyin Gazi, the father of Battal Gazi, is killed in an ambush by three

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

warlords. His son decides to take revenge. Two of the warlords are rather easy targets and Battal manages to eliminate them but the last warlord turns out to be the Byzantine Emperor, Leon. In his journey, Battal faces with the greatest Christian knight, Hammer. After a fight between the two, Hammer loses and converts to Islam and becomes the best friend of Battal Gazi. The film carries on the classical patterns of the Turkish cinema in many fields. First, there are clear prejudices about the Byzantine side. They are depicted as vandals. Second, there is a couple of battles where Battal fights against a whole army and defeats them all. Third, the fancy medieval costumes, like plumed helmets, are present in the film too. It is also a well known film for its quotes which are even used as samples in songs. The most famous one is being ''"Ben senin kancık kelleni ödlek bedeninden ayırmaya geldim!"'' (I came here to sever your bitchy head off your cowardly body!). Another setback in the film is the depiction of Battal Ghazi as a Turcoman. While, there is a possibility of such a thing, Battal was probably an Arab. Malatya wouldn't fall under the Turkic control until the arrival of

Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

in the 11th century. Still, the film is a popular milestone in the "wave of history" in the Turkish cinema between the late 1960s and early 1980s.

Cast

Cüneyt Arkın Fahrettin Cüreklibatır (8 September 1937 – 28 June 2022), better known by his stage name Cüneyt Arkın, was a Turkish film actor, director, producer and martial artist. Having starred in somewhere around 300 movies and TV series, he is wi ...

... Battal Gazi / Hüseyin Gazi * Fikret Hakan ... Ahmet Turani / Hammer *

Meral Zeren Meral Zeren (born 1956) is a Turkish actress whose popularity started to flourish during the early 1970s and is known to have collaborated with some well-known actors of that era. Biography Meral Zeren's given birthname was Çiğdem Gümüş an ...

... Ayşe * Reha Yurdakul ... Hileryon * Kerim Afşar ... Imperator Leon * Melek Görgün ... Irene * Aynur Akarsu ... Faustina * Erden Alkan ... Delibaş Kiryos Alyon * Ali Taygun ... Bizans Kargası Polemon * Niyazi Er ... Budala Testor * Ekrem Gökkaya ... Vezir Abdusselam * Atıf Kaptan ... Ömer Bey * Baki Tamer ... Tevabil Usta

Production

Release

References

External links

*
Hammer converts to Islam in a brothel named ''Kırk Bakire Tapınağı'' (Temple of the Forty Virgins).Sinematurk profile.
Films set in Turkey 1970s action films Turkish historical adventure films Turkish swashbuckler films Turkish films about revenge Turkish action adventure films Films set in the 8th century 1970s historical adventure films Interfaith romance films Historical action films {{1970s-action-film-stub