The death of Kuneit Arkin: Nanarland tells us all about ‘Alain Delon the Turk’

As actor Kuneit Arkin passes away this week at the age of 85, let’s take a look back at the career of the man nicknamed “Alain Delon the Turk,” known for appearing in more than 300 feature films and most notably for the original Star Wars ripoff. .

In order to get a better understanding of who this extraordinary actor really was, we were able to speak to the creator of the main site, Fabien Gardon. Nanarland and host of the Escale à Nanarland program, which AlloCiné deans know well.

Discover Nunarland, Fabien Gardon’s site dedicated to film noirs…

AlloCiné: Why was Kuneit Arkin nicknamed “Alain Delon the Turk”?

Fabien Gardon: Simply because the resemblance is striking, especially young. If we compare the photos, there is air. The comparison also stems from the fact that the two actors somewhat embody the “alpha male” (or at least some form of masculinity) in their respective countries.

When we learned about existence Cüneyt Arkın I talked about it on the site with Turkish acquaintances who emigrated to France. Some have confirmed to me that when they were very young and came across an Alain Delon film on TV, they thought it was Cüneyt Arkın on the screen.

It’s hard to guess in France, but how popular was it?

Difficult because Cüneyt Arkın’s success has not been exported much further than Turkey. Only three or four films have been translated here. His career there was such that several generations of people saw his performances, whether on film or television.

It’s a very prolific popular cinema, fast-moving, sometimes really low-budget, and where Cüneyt Arkın has been a bit on all fronts: action movies, obviously, but also adventure, romance, dramas, etc. Therefore, his death caused an uproar in Turkey. If we had to compare with the French actor, we have to imagine Belmondo’s career… if he had made another 200 films.

What were the main characteristics of his films, the elements that made them stand out from others?

The most powerful Nanars in his career, they cannot be associated with the director Cetin Inanc, with whom he made his craziest films. (Turkish Star Wars, that’s it, En Buyuk Yumruk too.)

When we discovered these movies on Nunarland, they were like nothing we’d ever seen before: ultra-cut but illogical editing, crazy but incomprehensible action scenes, soundtracks with no real mixes, very random copyright values. Sometimes it’s hard to see for people who are not “sophisticated”, because it all adds up to something fun, generous, fun, but, I must say, exhausting.

That said, he has also acted in other Nanar films, but still less tiring to watch, such as the Battal Gazi series. To admit all this, we are far from going through his entire filmography.

How much did his Turkish Star Wars plagiarize the George Lucas saga?

From memory, most of the Star Wars movie spaceship shots are behind the actor, who is content to pose with a moped helmet, pretending to be the pilot of a flying machine. This is outright theft, not plagiarism, let’s face it.

Do you have any particularly Nanardesque nuggets to recommend?

On our site you will find some reviewed films. His most famous film actually Turkish Star Wars. For my part, I would recommend the movie from the series Battery gas (Named after a famous Turkish historical figure) as Savulun Battal Gazi Geliyor.

The good news is that many movies are available for free on Youtube through the Fanatik Film editor. The bad news is that there are no versions with French subtitles yet.

If you want to go deeper, I recommend our documentary Nanaroscope #14, which talks about Turkish cinema of that time.

(Re)discover the episode “Escale à Nanarland” dedicated to Cüneyt Arkin…