Kiliç Aslan (1975) User Reviews

"What did I tell you? He was raised on Lion's milk." Hugely entertaining 'bad' film.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 30 May 2006]

Aslan Adam, or Lionman as it's more commonly known amongst English speaking audiences, starts with an epic battle as King Solomon & his army defeats a load of guys although I'm not sure who they were & the film itself isn't too helpful in establishing the fact. Anyway, after King Solomon has slaughtered all these guys Princess Maria, Bishop Osorio & Commander Antoine are forced to sign a treaty which lets King Solomon rule just about everything in sight. Soon after Princess Maria seduces Solomon & they have sex, meanwhile in the shortest wedding ceremony ever (just two sentences long) Antoine weds Princess Maria & is planning to rebel against Solomon & gain some sweet revenge in the process. Antoine & his guards attack & kill Solomon even though his pregnant wife Princess Almunia escapes with her protector Rostin with Antoine's guards in hot pursuit, after the shortest labour ever (less than 5 minutes or the time it takes to run around a bush) Princess Almunia gives birth to a young baby boy who is hidden in some bushes away from Antoine's guards. Unfortunately when Rostin tries to retrieve the little fella he finds that the baby has been adopted by a pride of Lion's as one of their own! Year's later & the evil Antoine now rules treating his subjects with no mercy, Princess Maria has given birth & he has a son but Rostin is also still kicking around trying to put together a gang of rebels to overthrow Antoine, the task seems hopeless unless they can enlist the help of the legendary Lionman who is more beast than man...

This Turkish Greek co-production was directed by Natuk Baytan as Natuch Baitan & is a one of a kind type of film, I found it hilariously bad but at the same time immensely entertaining. The script never seems to take itself seriously, it is a pretty funny film at times, it moves along like a rocket & is never dull or boring & some of the English dubbed dialogue is just hilarious in context with what's happening on screen. None of it makes any sense, we get a boy raised by Lion's, an evil king, betrayal, dark family secrets, birthmarks that form the shape of Lion's in an element of the story that was present before the kid was raised by Lion's, crazy fight scenes, torture scenes where the posts people are supposed to be tied to wobble, ancient castle interiors that randomly contain zip wires & gymnastic rings, idiotic bad guys who all seem to have extensive facial hair & a central character who has a jaw line resembling a house-brick, can be stabbed twice, have his hands covered in acid (this acid can eat it's way through steel trapdoors but is kept in a ceramic jug!) & fall over 20 feet onto a concrete floor & yet maintain no serious injury! Aslan Adam is a terrifically entertaining film, I don't think I've seen another film quite like it that I can compare it too, if your looking for something serious then forget this but if you like 'so-bad-they're-good' type films & want to have fun, laugh & be entertained then Aslan Adam should be at the VERY top of your list. Total 100% gold for bad film fans & those with a taste for the different & bizarre. On the disappointing side Lionman only gets his steel claws 10 minutes before the end which is a shame.

Director Bayten certainly keeps things moving along at a brisk pace although it's far from well made, during the opening battle one moment guys are fighting on a sand dune the next their on a grassy hill with trees in the background! There is one point where Lionman uses a 'branch' to pole vault but it's obviously just a long tube with a vine wrapped around it! Then there's the scene when a bloodthirsty pack of bloodhounds are supposed the chasing Lionman down but the dogs used are obviously different breeds including some of the most harmless looking dogs ever! There are just so many individual scenes in Aslan Adam that are just hilarious, stupid, bizarre or all three that I could go on forever. Just check the ending out when Lionman is jumping & flying about everywhere like he can fly. There's lots of blood in Aslan Adam although not much actual graphic gore or violence, a few stabbings & someone has their hands cut off is as graphic as it gets.

Technically Aslan Adam is pretty ropey, the period costumes are bright & garish featuring purples, yellows, reds & various other bright colours. The fight scenes are cheap but at least the filmmakers tried to put as much action in as they could. The music seemed like it was more suited to a classical ballet rather than an action film & is yet another bizarre aspect to Aslan Adam. The acting was bad, even dubbed you could tell the acting was bad.

Aslan Adam is pure gold from start to finish, there are so many things to like, laugh at & enjoy in this film that I just ended up really liking it. In no way whatsoever can Aslan Adam be considered a good film in any sense of the word but it's one hell of an entertaining one. I may have have to watch this one again sometime soon just to prove to myself that I didn't dream it all! The best Turkish action film about a man raised by Lion's you will ever see, period. Proved popular enough to spawn a sequel, Lionman II: The Witchqueen (1979).

Look out fellas, this cat's got claws!

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 30 December 2018]

This film sure gets a lot of mileage out of Lionman clawing people in the face. This is a good thing, because right here is the best Turkish film I've ever seen. And I've watched about five of them!

Lionman becomes Lionman because his daddy was a nice warlord who won a battle and tried to broker a peace agreement with the opposing force, only for them to turn nasty and assassinate him. Lionman mother died in birth but luckily his uncle or somebody sneaks him out of the castle, but then sets him down to have a pee or something and by the time he comes back, some lions have gone and taken him. Hence: ManLion.

He's like Tarzan only he likes to tear people's faces open with his fingers. People can be smart and say 'Yeah? Who told him how to make and wear underwear?' but that probably just happened naturally after he friction burned his balls on those vines he keeps swinging on. Years later, he's all growed up and so is his half-brother, who works for the evil warlord and thinks the warlord is his dad, and vice versus. If only the evil warlord has looked, just once over the last twenty years, at his 'sons' back and noticed the tattoo that all children of the nice warlords have. It's like a lion drawn with a biro by a drunk person.

Lionman gets caught up in all the crap with the evil warlord and the rebels when he rescues some guy by tearing everyone's face off, but then he also saves his half-brother from the rebels. Eventually, he does end up on the rebels side, being taught English and spending his spare time clawing people in the face.

The thing that's great about this film is that a huge fight erupts every couple of minutes which usually involves Lionman jumping up in the air and clawing at people's faces until they fall over all bloody. In the last battle alone he must do it to about one hundred extras with his iron claws. Did I say iron claws? He ends up with them because his real face-clawers get melted with acid.

Endless fun from start to finish. Daft too, like all the trapeze equipment that appears in the evil guy's castle so Lionman can do stunts. I nearly forgot to say that Lionman's roar is hilarious!

Strangely good

[djbone94 · 7/10 · 3 June 2022]

Strangely it is quite good, it's maybe the only turquish movie i like without only watching it because it's bad. Its better than the italian antique movies from these era.

The director is talented, we are never bored, combat are violent and suspenfull... sure its funny too sometimes but yeah.... i like this movie.

Simply irresistible!!!

[Funk Doctor · 23 July 2001]

Cüneyt Arkin is the godfather of Turkish Trash - or Turkploitation, as some might want to call it. His performance alone is worth seeing this incredibly funny movie about a baby, who gets raised by lions after his parents were killed. Surely he develops superpowers that should be helpful in avenging his parents deaths...

You think this sounds familiar? Well, forget everything you´ve seen, cause when Cüneyt strikes, nothing will be the same. His ways of getting rid of his enemies make Steven Seagal look like the easter bunny. With the power of a lion in his hands (???) he does severe damage to the stupid faces of hundreds of extras. But the greatest thing is his way of moving around: In the final 20 minutes of this little gem Cüneyt barely touches the ground. You see him flying around like there´s no tomorrow (with the catapults just out of the frame). I´ve never seen anything like this before - it´s like watching a rabid dog (frog?) in a drug frenzy thirsting for blood...but you´ve to see Cüneyts silly face. One of the funniest films I´ve ever seen

Two Kinds of Turkey

[kirbylee70-599-526179 · 3/10 · 30 January 2018]

AGFA (American Genre Film Archive) is a disc company unlike most. They're not interested in the newest hit release. As a matter of fact they rarely seem to consider a hit of any kind. Instead they focus on obscure films that most have never heard of but that do exist and give them as much preferential treatment as possible, knowing there is a fan base out there looking for the odd, the quirky and the offbeat. It may be a niche market to some but to fans it is the sustenance of their existence. It is what they crave. At the same time it is rescuing films that might never again see the light of day if it weren't for someone like AGFA.

Keeping that in mind their latest release has hit stores. THE SWORD AND THE CLAW might seem like an old Hong Kong kung fu movie if you just look at the box but it has nothing to do with that genre or even that country. Instead it's a movie made in Turkey by the same people responsible for the fan favorite TURKISH STAR WARS, an obvious remake/tribute/rip off of the famous film. This time around they go for their own story though.

The film opens with a major battle between two rulers that's somewhat lengthy and filled with swords, archers and bloodletting. It's loosely the Ottoman Empire in the middle of changes once the battle ends, the losing ruler now set in place as a subject of the new king. To add insult to injury the new king is seduced by the deposed ruler's wife and impregnates her before heading home. He shows her before leaving a birthmark that all male members of his family are born with.

A year later the deposed ruler sets out to reclaim his country just after the king has had a son by his own wife. The child and his nurse escape but before she can get to safety she leaves him in the woods and is killed. The child grows up in the wild with lions and develops into a muscular fighter.

Time passes and both boys grow up, one free in the wilderness and the other at his father's side, watching the tyrant impose his will with an iron fist. Of course the two will eventually find one another and it then becomes a question of which will change to be like the other or will they kill themselves trying.

It might sound interesting but for the casual viewer not much so. There are plenty of fight sequences and most are overlong and repetitive. The dubbing is what you would expect, along the lines of the previously mentioned kung fu movies. As for the claw in the title, the wild son is captured and his hands burned with acid so he has claws implanted in them so he can continue fighting.

But you have watch this movie in the context of which it was released. It wasn't made for American markets but for Turkey. Unfortunately I have no idea if it was a hit there or just another standard film. But odds are it was dubbed and released here to play on drive-in double bills and repetitive grindhouse runs.

Along with this film on the disc is a second feature, THE BRAWL BUSTERS. This one IS one of those Hong Kong style kung fu films complete with badly done dubbing and high wire leaps and fight sequences. The story has an abandoned girl growing up, learning martial arts and revenging herself against those that left her an orphan with her own specially selected team. At best it gives fans another movie to watch and at worst it's kind of confusing to catch what is going on when. The end result is not the best example of the genre.

While AGFA is releasing them on blu-ray with the first feature a 4k scan of the only 35mm print available it doesn't mean they've been cleaned up to perfection. There are still the scratches and splices seen on the screen while watching. But wouldn't that have been part and parcel with how they were viewed in those seamy grindhouses back when first released? So if you're a fan of those films it won't matter.

The extras are limited but the odds of finding a "making of" featurette or interviews with cast and crew are pretty much ridiculous to expect. Instead there is a collection of action film trailers for films that would fit right into playing with either of these films.

The end result is two movies that mainstream audiences would probably overlook but that fans of drive-in and grindhouse entertainment will love. It's the kind of movie you don't take to seriously, that drinking games could be based around and that would play well in the background while a party was going on. In short a movie that fans will adore and want in their collection.

Gloves of power

[Semih · 10/10 · 10 May 2001]

Hilarious film, I had a great time watching it. The star (Cuneyt Arkin, sometimes credited as Steve Arkin) is a popular actor from Turkey. He has played in lots of tough-guy roles, epic-sword films, and romances. It was fun to see him with an international cast and some real lousy looking pair of gloves. If I remember it was also dubbed in English which made things even more funnier. (kinda like seeing John Wayne speak Turkish).

Mind destructive power

[BandSAboutMovies · 10/10 · 16 September 2020]

If you're going to get into Cüneyt Arkin and you worry, "Will my fragile sensibilities be able to handle sub-VHS prints and an absolute lack of English and therefore no safety net for the absolute phantasmagorical leap into madness that I'm about to take," permit The Sword and the Claw - or Lionman - to be your gateway drug.

King Suleiman may have conquered the Christians, but he's a kind man who has spared the women and children. This pleases Princess Maria, who of course gives him a one night all expenses paid guided tour of her spoils of war before Commander Antoine (Yildirim Gencer, who is in Thirsty for Love, Sex and Murder) blackmails her into becoming his wife, then kills the King, but not before Suleiman wipes out nearly hundreds of people. Antoine cuts the hands off of his enemy and then hunts down the King's wife, who gives birth all by herself in the woods, and servant Rhestim, who promptly loses the baby to some lions.

Antoine rules the land along with his son Altar (Cemil Sahbaz, who was Captain Kirk in Turist Ömer Uzay Yolu'nda, the Turkish take on Roddenberry's space Western), placing his wife into the dungeon to die. Anyone who can't pay taxes is crucified and killed, in that order, while Rhestim and his daughters have been starting an army. And the son of the King? Well, he was raised by lions to become a 38-year-old Cüneyt Arkin, a maniac ready to trampoline jump and claw his way into your face, if not your heart.

Of course, one of Rhestim's daughters wants to get in with the rich and powerful, revealing that the Lionman and the King's son have the same birthmark, one that can only come from the long-dead king. She narcs on her own sister and when our hero saves her, nearly losing his hands to acid.

This would end the fighting of almost any hero. This isn't any hero. Now that he gets metallic lion claws, he's ready to kill everyone - and seriously, I mean everyone and then some - to get his revenge.

Imagine, if you will, that this is the most restrained Cüneyt Arkin movie I've seen. Like I said, you should take your first steps into this world slowly. Do not dive headfirst into a shallow pool filled with only whiskey like I did. Take small sips, my friend, before you gulp deeply on films where hundreds of ninjas drive cars through brick walls for no reason at all.

The Sword and the Claw is the kind of movie that I could only dream of as a teenager, hopped up on Lemonheads and too many games of Bad Dudes, wishing of a film where people bounce off the walls and kill with aplomb. It feels like the kind of sub-Conan comic book, something even crazier than Warlord or Kull or even Claw the Unconquered.

As Awful (And Entertaining) As It Gets

[Michael_Elliott · 28 January 2018]

The Sword and the Claw (1975)

** (out of 4)

A King is brutally murdered so an assistant takes his young son and hides him in the woods. The young boy is raised by lions and when he reaches an adult (Cüneyt Arkin) he is thrown into battle against the man who murdered his father.

If you're unfamiliar with the world of Turkish cinema then sadly I'm not good enough of a writer to fully explain how bizarre and outrageous their movies are. If you thought Edward D. Wood, Jr. and Jerry Warren were bad filmmakers then the next time you view their work you might put them in the same league as Hitchcock and Kubrick. I say that because films from Turkey have gained a reputation for being some of the worst ever made and that certainly fits THE SWORD AND THE CLAW.

Technically speaking, this movie deserves a BOMB rating unlike any other. There's honestly not a single good thing to be found here. The performances are beyond awful. The dubbing makes those old Godzilla movies seem like masterpieces. The music score is embarrassingly horrific and doesn't fit anything in the movie. There's a really awful screenplay and even worse is the editing, which is perhaps the worst I've seen from any movie. All of these things makes this one of the worst movies ever made but.... We're talking Turkish cinema and this stuff helps make it entertaining.

Yes, this film certainly fits into the "so bad it's good" category because there are some major laughs to be had here. All of the stuff I mentioned will make you laugh as long as you enjoy these types of bad movies but where the film really comes to life is in the final ten-minutes when it's an all out assault as the "lionman" goes full vengeance and takes out dozens of bad guys. The lion claws put on his hands are just priceless and adds a lot of entertainment value.

Fantasy trash

[Terzo-3 · 8 August 1999]

A nice and involving tune takes you along while Lionman (which is a big boy with stupid gloves which he wears when he wants to use his "powers") and his fellowmen. He must rescue the ugly princess passing the Dead Man valley.

He nearly cannot speak and uses a stupid expression all the time , not speaking of the utter cry he cast whenever he gets angry for something (lions roars are being heard in the same time). He was grown up by lions in the forest and this gave him "great" powers , which are those of using his stupid hands with gloves when he wants to fight or climb. A must for trash.