rating: 
company: Anit Film
and Kunt FIlm
year: 1983
runtime: 75′
director: Çetin Inanç
cast: Cüneyt Arkin, Emel Tümer,
Salih Kirmizi, Hüseyin Peyda,
Nejat Gürçen, Baykal Kent
writers: Çetin Inanç
and Cüneyt Arkin
cinematography: Sedat Ülker
music: Various . . . stolen
Not available on home video in the USA
company: Anit Film
and Kunt FIlm
year: 1983
runtime: 75′
director: Çetin Inanç
cast: Cüneyt Arkin, Emel Tümer,
Salih Kirmizi, Hüseyin Peyda,
Nejat Gürçen, Baykal Kent
writers: Çetin Inanç
and Cüneyt Arkin
cinematography: Sedat Ülker
music: Various . . . stolen
Not available on home video in the USA
You would be forgiven after a viewing of Çöl, the Turkish Jaws, for failing to grasp the tenuous connection between it and the American blockbuster it is purported to imitate. The actual title of the film, which translates as ‘wasteland’ or ‘desert’, offers nothing in the way of commonality and the narrative never touches on either the existential horror or sea-faring adventure of Spielberg’s classic. To be fair much of Çöl does take place on a boat, albeit of the very big and permanently docked variety, and it does recycle a few of the cues from the Jaws franchise. There is even a shark, though its prominence within and importance to the narrative is far from what many will suspect.
