Çeko

Here we have a sepia toned western from Turkey. (Didn't the Turks have colour in 1970?)

Çeko is a very cheap film with little respect for copyrights; Ennio Morricones soundtrack for Per qualche dollaro in più, as well as other spaghetti western themes can be heard throughout. Also featured repetitively is the song Apache by The Shadows. This song has been a long time favorite of mine and I must say it works really well as background music for a western.

Anyway, Yilmaz Koksal has a lot of fun as the Clint Eastwood type title character. Of course Koksal is a joke compared to the icon, but then again this whole movie is a joke. I mean, how the hell is Turkey with its distinctive architectural style and -vegetation supposed to pass as Mexico, 1875?

Director Çetin Inanç, also responsible for the Turkish western Dag kurdu, was clearly visually inspired by spaghetti westerns. Here it's fun to see people messing around with a concept that was stolen in the first place. Even though its Turkish identity isn't remotely masked, the film has the vibe, the playfulness and wornout ingredients of a real spaghetti western: A macho über hero, lame fist fights, horse dragging, hiding in the closet for a surprise triple murder and a lethal mirror trick by Koksal that even Clint himself wouldn't be able to imitate. Some nice Turkish ladies in this one too, if you can appreciate them in glorious sepia that is. For senseless violence purposes this movie boasts an old woman getting shot in the face, nice!

I couldn't really follow the dialogues as the film didn't come subtitled and my Turkish is a little rusty. A pity, as the writing was done by the same guys who brought us the timeless classics Death Warrior and The Monster of Toros.

This 80 minute crapfest doesn't drag, which is a big plus. There's enough shooting or otherwise entertaining stuff going on. If you happen to stumble upon this rare 'gem', give it a try! Make sure you'll have plenty of alcohol nearby though. Otherwise -much like Çeko's enemies- you won't make it until the end.

Aanraders in overeenkomstige genres, volgens Yahhrrrrm:
- Compañeros (western : 8.5)
- Django (western : 8)
- Se sei vivo spara (western / horror : 8)
- Giù la testa (western : 8)
- Il mio nome è Nessuno (western / humor : 7.5)

Hoe beoordeelt Yahhrrrrm categorie western eigenlijk? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10