NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Mark Turner 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.

Michael_Elliott 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.

Funk Doctor 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

Terzo-3 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.