Tokatçı

A film about a man who goes from a village to Istanbul. Osman is in love with the headman's daughter. Hasan Ağa wants a bride price and the figure is six hundred thousand; nobody has that money. Osman goes to Istanbul. He works for years, saves the money, and sets off back to the village. He is swindled on the way. All of it goes and he is left with nothing. He returns to the city. He finds Şevket, a friend from his military service, and the man teaches him a trade: confidence tricks. From there the film is a story about a profession. Routines, roles, disguises, false papers and choosing a target. Osman learns well. He is making money quickly and becomes rich. Then he goes back to the village. What the narrative is interested in is not swindling but the bride price: the whole business of the film comes out of the cost of a custom, and the narrative questions it. The humour is in the known vein of the period's Turkish comedy. The jokes come mostly from the character's apparent simplicity and the difference between the city and the village. Kemal Sunal plays the part within his own type; a man who looks naive and wins in the end. It was shot in Istanbul, in the Reşitpaşa quarter of Sarıyer. The screenplay is by Suphi Tekniker. Kemal Sunal, Şevket Altuğ, Nazan Saatçi and Ali Şen are in the cast. Natuk Baytan directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes the comedy of Turkish popular cinema and Kemal Sunal's films. Who it is not for: anyone looking for something new; the narrative follows the template of the period exactly.