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Karateci Kiz
Golden Karate Girl
Karate Girl / Golden Girl Karate Girl
Turkey 1974
produced by Turker Inanoglu for Erler Film
directed by Orhan Aksoy
starring Filiz Akin, Ediz Hun, Bülent Kayabas, Hayati Hamzaoglu, Kudret Karadag, Nubar Terziyan, Necati Er, Ahmet Kostarika, Oktay Yavuz, Yesim Yükselen, Turgut Borali, Ramazan Akboga
written by Fuat Ozluer, Erdogan Tünas
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Mute flowergirl Zeynep (Filiz Akin) and her dad (Nubar Terziyan) live a
happy life together, and dad does his best to save up for surgery so she
can speak again. But then, five convicts, led by Bekir Bulut (Hayati
Hazaoglu), escape prison, break into Zeynep's house, kill dad, steal the
surgery money, rough her up and try to gangrape her, and only make a hasty
escape when the police's almost by the door. The one positive effect this
has on Zeynep, she finds her voice again ... The police try to get
Zeynep to identify the convicts as her assailants, but she refuses to do
so, planning to have revenge on them instead. But that's easier said then
done, as when she tries her hand on shooting gun, she has to realise she's
a terrible markswoman. Enter Murat (Ediz Hun), a vagrant who just happens
to be a perfect marksman and who's looking for work. Zeynep implores him
to teach her how to shoot guns, but he refuses to teach her, but accepts a
job as her farmhand, pretty much continuing her father's work. Then one
night, one of the convicts, Ferruh (Bülent Kayabas), a sex maniac,
returns and tries to rape her, but fortunately Murat is there to chase him
off. But now he understands that he needs to teach her not only how to
fire guns but also karate for self defense. Of course, it's not long
before Zeynep and Murat fall in love. And then one of the escaped convicts
is recaptured,and the detective behind it all is ... Murat, who has come
to Zeynep's farm as an undercover agent. Suffice to say, she's more than a
little pissed off, but ultimately he confesses to her that his love is
real, and they both work for the same goal, to punish the convicts, just
his way is more lawful. Zeynep pretty much gives up the idea of revenge,
but then, trying to arrest Ferruh, Murat is killed ... and now Zeynep
knows what to do: Go to police school, then demand to be handed over the
case of the escaped convicts, then track them down one by one, and either
take them in or kill them - which she does, putting on a couple of
disguises to get into the circles of her opponents and using all her
karate skills to get close enough to them. Things get really hairy when in
the finale Bekir takes a baby hostage and climbs from rooftop to rooftop
to shake the authorities, but of course, Zeynep always knows what to do
... Now this film has gained some notoriety for having one of
the most ridiculous dead scenes ever filmed, that of Ferruh/Bülent
Kayabas, who terribly overacts it while pretending to be in slow motion
(also see below), and taken by itself, the scene deserves all the
reputation it has gotten. This though doesn't do the film as a whole
justice, which might be anything but a masterpiece, but an ok low budget
action flick that tells a story much more coherent than above-mentioned
scene might suggest, the action's mostly very ok even (apart from a couple
of other scenes that also use pretend-slo-mo) and that tells a slightly
simplistic story in a likeably straightforward way. Again, no masterpiece,
but if you're into 1970s action and Turkish cinema, you could do far
worse.
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