Pembe Panter Gangsterlere Karşı

aka Pembe Panter \ Temel Reis: Gangsterlere Karşı aka Pink Panther and Popeye Against Gangsters

1975
Written by Muzaffer Hepgüler
Directed by Oguz Gözen

One of the joys of watching weird and obscure movies from around the globe is finding things that not only make no logical sense but also make perfect sense. Pembe Panter \ Temel Reis: Gangsterlere Karşı is one such beast, because the concept of Pink Panther and Popeye teaming up to rescue a woman kidnapped by the mob not only seems like low tier fanfic but also seems completely acceptable as a live-action movie coming out of Turkey! If you wanted to see a live-action Pink Panther which is basically a guy in a Pink Panther onesie wandering around with a guy in a saior’s costume who looks way closer to Bluto than Popeye, then this is the perfect movie for you, person who doesn’t exist! Pembe Panter is basically a live-action cartoon, in fact it is pretty close to a children’s movie except for a few examples, like the nude photos in the background, some risque jokes that cause a female character to sound like she’s having an orgasm, and both of our heroes trying to look up her skirt. But that’s probably perfectly acceptable in a world that regularly produces movies like Pembe Panter in the first place!

The copy we have is recorded off of a television broadcast, appears to be missing a bit near the end, and has most of the major instances of smoking blurred out. It’s probably the best copy we are going to get without a major miracle happening, as I probably don’t have to tell you this isn’t exactly a 100% legal use of the characters. Or even 1% legal use! There is also no subtitles, but at TarsTarkas.NET, we don’t need no stinking subtitles! And it helps that the film is low on dialogue in the first place. I guess the Pink Panther theme song also has lyrics? Or at least this Turkish version does during the opening credits, which play over a slideshow featuring a stuffed Pink Panther toy being posed. Poor Popeye isn’t even even acknowledged in stuffed slideshow or music form. Sometimes the title I see in articles/databases about the film is listed Pembe Panter Gangsterlere Karşı, and sometimes it is Pembe Panter \ Temel Reis: Gangsterlere Karşı (it is the latter on this print!), I’m not sure if they just renamed the film later or what is the deal.

But enough talk, let’s get to the magic that is Pink Panther….and Popeye….teaming up and taking down the mob!

Pembe Panter (Ahmet Sendil) – Pink Panther is a guy in a Pink Panther Onesie, and is actually Pink Panther, not a detective or a diamond. He loves hanging out and doing goofy stuff, but is also girl crazy like every character in every Turkish movie ever made. Unlike the cartoon, he talks, but as he’s played by a comedian being funny, he’s also often shrieking or making other weird noises. Temel Reis (Muzaffer Hepgüler) – Popeye is the least Popeye looking Popeye I’ve seen in a live action film, and I’ve seen the Popeye in Dragon Lives Again! Don’t worry, it is all planned, as actor Muzaffer Hepgüler also wrote this film, so he obviously loves these characters and made this goofy tribute film.