Turkey Gets Tough

February 7, 2006 10:35 AM

Turkey gets toughin Valley of the Wolves Iraq. Previously, Turkey has reenvisioned Star Wars and the Wizard of Oz to the delight of many. Now, Turkish movie-goers are clamoring for this Rambo rip-off in which a Turkish intelligence officer seeks out a rogue unit of U.S. troops led by Billy Zane! The film, which also features Gary Busey, begins with a scene based on the U.S. raid of a Turkish special forces office.
posted by lunalaguna (34 comments total)

wow! this should be great for US interests, especially after that huge gift the danes gave certain muslim states.
posted by brygo at 10:52 AM on February 7, 2006

the part where Gary Busey -- the most Goyisch actor evar -- supposedly a doctor and a Jew, rips organs out of Iraqi casualties and ships them off to Israel is particularly fun. the Iranians will love it.
posted by matteo at 10:52 AM on February 7, 2006

also:

Troops are urged to avoid theaters with Turkish film
Army says “Kurtlar Vadisi Irak” depicts GIs as indiscriminate killers
posted by matteo at 10:54 AM on February 7, 2006

Would the appropiate answer to this be to torch a Turkish embassy or two?
posted by AwkwardPause at 10:58 AM on February 7, 2006

I'm not doing anything till Reverend Fallwell issues a fatwah to kill the director...
posted by stratastar at 11:02 AM on February 7, 2006

Would the appropiate answer to this be to torch a Turkish embassy or two?

Depends on what you do for a living. What would benefit you more? More wars and higher oil prices? or to continue to stabalize our oil interests.
posted by brygo at 11:04 AM on February 7, 2006

I'm curious about this movie. Not because I think I'll find it any good, but because I'm interested in how we (Americans) are portrayed. Do we look like the villains of our nationalistic action films, like "Red Dawn," "Missing In Action," or "Rambo"?
posted by justkevin at 11:17 AM on February 7, 2006

But I thought Gary Busey was a Promise Keeper Christian, what ever happened to his redemption?
posted by johngoren at 11:17 AM on February 7, 2006

You just know that Zane's and Busey's phones are getting tapped, then they'll be audited, then Busey will end up dead of a "drug overdose."
posted by lunalaguna at 11:18 AM on February 7, 2006

But I thought Gary Busey was a Promise Keeper Christian, what ever happened to his redemption?

But he's playing a Jew.
posted by lunalaguna at 11:21 AM on February 7, 2006

I don't think Gary Busey dying of an overdose is that big of a stretch of the imagination.
posted by dammitjim at 11:21 AM on February 7, 2006

Ah Billy Zane, it doesn't get any worse.
posted by 517 at 11:25 AM on February 7, 2006

An overdose of awesome.
posted by billysumday at 11:25 AM on February 7, 2006

This is the type of porn that Americans and Iranians should be able to bond over. Amen.
posted by bardic at 11:33 AM on February 7, 2006

This is truly the day the music died. Gary we hardly knew ye.
posted by Gungho at 11:41 AM on February 7, 2006

I'm curious about this movie. Not because I think I'll find it any good, but because I'm interested in how we (Americans) are portrayed. Do we look like the villains of our nationalistic action films, like "Red Dawn," "Missing In Action," or "Rambo"?

One would presume. Is it any wonder that Americans would be viewed as badly in films as they are in real life?

And who cares? It's a MOVIE and like any form of escapist entertainment, the producer wants to appeal to popular tastes. Only self-important Hollywood blowhards like Spielberg think they are making statements.

This is truly the day the music died. Gary we hardly knew ye.

No. The music died for Gary Busey when he starred in Plato's Run. He's an actor. A bad one, but you can't blame him for taking a role you don't like.
posted by three blind mice at 11:52 AM on February 7, 2006

Best Simpsons EVAR was when Busey voiced himself. That one role is what earned him my undying respect.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:06 PM on February 7, 2006

Valley of the Wolves imdb listing.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:12 PM on February 7, 2006

Is there a scene where the Turkish intel officer melts down the US soldier's weapons and makes a bitchen pair of gloves and boots that he employs to pummel furiously on America's muppet allies?

If not, I'm not buying. There are standards, people!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:12 PM on February 7, 2006

And who cares? It's a MOVIE and like any form of escapist entertainment, the producer wants to appeal to popular tastes. Only self-important Hollywood blowhards like Spielberg think they are making statements.
-three blind mice

That's just a stupid thing to believe. Any form of expression, mass-media escapism or otherwise, makes a statement.
posted by es_de_bah at 12:22 PM on February 7, 2006

Were Turks torching embassies, AwkwardPause?
posted by ghastlyfop at 12:28 PM on February 7, 2006

three blind mice wrote: And who cares? It's a MOVIE and like any form of escapist entertainment, the producer wants to appeal to popular tastes. Only self-important Hollywood blowhards like Spielberg think they are making statements.

Hmm, I don't think we can so glibly write off the power of storytelling - even of bad or cheap storytelling.

Our most powerful religious institutions originated out of fable, gossip, and myth. Yes, some of these parent stories seem artistically unsophisticated, even in comparison to a modern comic book. Yes, some fables can be read as little more than cheap escapism, entertainment, or barebones allegory. Despite this, their statements have been effective enough to survive, to enliven and to haunt us (depending on your outlook) for millennia, and to shape understandings and assumptions about the world.

A familiar example of bad art transcending into religious cult: How about going from this (www.galaxypress.com) to this (www.scientology.org/), within the span of one lifetime?

Some of the gossip we commit to film may seem cheap, but consider: for years, cinema has steered consumer taste and buying habits, and has peddled everything from cars to cigarettes to slang. Bad movies can sell brand loyalty, so why not party loyalty?
posted by kid ichorous at 1:19 PM on February 7, 2006

That's it - when is Van Damme gonna kick some Islamofascist ass?
posted by iamck at 1:32 PM on February 7, 2006

I've got a copy of Turkish Star Wars, It is really really terrible. Nothing to do with Star Wars, except for all the clips from star wars they inserted into their movie. It's really funny.
posted by blasdelf at 1:32 PM on February 7, 2006

That's just a stupid thing to believe. Any form of expression, mass-media escapism or otherwise, makes a statement.

OK es_de_bah.... Stupid is as stupid does.

Plato's Run... what was the statement there? Or 101 Dalmations? What "statement" was Disney trying to make with that? Cynic that I am, I just assumed they were out to make money. Just like the Turkish producer of this film.
posted by three blind mice at 1:36 PM on February 7, 2006

three blind mice: look up "reactionary".
posted by dhartung at 1:43 PM on February 7, 2006

Best IMDB discussion board headline:

"Turks even the Score for MIDNIGHT EXPRESS"
posted by Space Coyote at 1:44 PM on February 7, 2006

three blind mice: look up "reactionary".

Please. A little more help, dhartung. Is it wrong to suggest that the Turkish producer is interested in filling theatres and making some coin? It's the American way, after all.
posted by three blind mice at 2:36 PM on February 7, 2006

tbm wrote: Or 101 Dalmations? What "statement" was Disney trying to make with that? Cynic that I am, I just assumed they were out to make money.

In the case of Disney, the corporation, you may be right. But for all the individual writers, musicians, and visual artists who worked on the film, I think the chief motivation was to inject some small, compromised part of their personal vision into a piece of commercial art. That's why they chose to work for Disney as underpaid scriptwriters, animators, and musicians, rather than work for Disney as well-compensated lawyers and execs.

So the intelligible statements I'd look for in a Disney movie would usually be small, maybe hidden gestures - caricature of popular archetypes or personalities, visual homages to famous art styles, one animator's imagining of the "perfect woman" or "perfect man," etc.
posted by kid ichorous at 2:45 PM on February 7, 2006

I always get Gary Busey and Nick Nolte confused, and all I can think of when I think of Nick Nolte is Patton Oswalt doing him playing Han Solo. Which brings us back (almost) full circle to Star Wars again, at least, I guess.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:31 PM on February 7, 2006

Or did I dream that? Christ, I don't know anymore.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:33 PM on February 7, 2006

This film could be improved through the liberal use of Michael Ironside.
posted by moonbiter at 11:59 PM on February 7, 2006

stav - you remember correctly so don't worry, at least half your synapses are firing today.
posted by longbaugh at 1:41 AM on February 8, 2006

Goyisch?
posted by Yakuman at 11:15 AM on February 8, 2006