| Battal Gazi Destanı | |
| Starring: | Cüneyt Arkın Fikret Hakan Meral Zeren Kerim Afşar Reha Yurdakul Erden Alkan Melek Görgün Ali Taygun Aynur Akarsu |
| Director: | Atıf Yılmaz |
| Producer: | Memduh Ün |
| Runtime: | 85 minutes |
| Country: | Turkey |
| Language: | Turkish |
Battal Gazi Destanı (Battal Ghazi Legend) is a 1971 Turkish historic action film.[1] Starring Cüneyt Arkın, it is a depiction of the life of the legendary Muslim Serdar of Malatya, Battal Gazi. Moreover, it is the first one of four "Battal Gazi" series and one of the numerous historic movies of Cüneyt Arkın.
Hüseyin Gazi, the father of Battal Gazi, is killed in an ambush by three Byzantine 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 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.