Biyograficim
Paralı Askerler

You Can't Win 'Em All

Movie · 1970 · 13 people

With the flavour of a buddy comedy, the 1970 British-American war and adventure film Paralı Askerler was released internationally as You Can't Win 'Em All. Peter Collinson directed it from a script by Leo Gordon, who also appears in it. Gene Corman produced and Bert Kaempfert composed the score. Running about 99 minutes, it is also known as The Dubious Patriots.

The story takes place in 1922, near the end of the Greco-Turkish War. Two former American soldiers, Adam Dyer and Josh Corey, arrive in Anatolia as mercenaries. A powerful governor, Osman Bey, orders them to escort his daughters to Cairo and guard a fortune. Once under way, though, the pair forget their duty and think about taking the treasure, and they end up siding with the Kuvâ-yi Milliye. Tony Curtis and Charles Bronson lead, and Michèle Mercier plays Aila.

Of the Turkish actors, Fikret Hakan has an important part, Salih Güney a smaller one. It was shot entirely in Turkey. Because of censorship and a ban it went unshown there for decades, until TRT 1 broke the ban in 2011 by airing some scenes in a special programme. It opened in France on August 14, 1970 and in Germany on October 1, 1970.

DirectorPeter Collinson

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Cast

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Fikret Hakan Fikret Hakan Actor · died at 83 Salih Güney Salih Güney Actor · born 1945 Tony Curtis Charles Bronson Michèle Mercier Grégoire Aslan Patrick Magee Horst Janson Leo Gordon Tony Bonner Paul Stassino John Acheson Reed De Rouen

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Through different eyes

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

War, treasure, a long journey and two mercenaries: on paper it is a full adventure recipe. Tony Curtis and Charles Bronson are the film's engine, and the buddy-comedy feel keeps things fun. But that light tone waters down the sense of danger in places. If you want to see the last stretch of the Greco-Turkish War with real tension, this is too easy a ride.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

A foreign production that tells the last days of the Greco-Turkish War through the eyes of two American mercenaries who arrive in Anatolia: that viewpoint is interesting in itself. Two adventurers who first think of the treasure end up siding with the Kuvâ-yi Milliye, setting the events of the time against an outsider's self-interest. What is most thought-provoking, though, is the film's life off the screen: kept from Turkish audiences for decades by censorship and a ban, it reflects how sensitive the question of foreigners telling a national history can be. TRT 1 airing some scenes in a special programme in 2011 gives that contested past an added meaning.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Peter Collinson's film tries to fuse a war picture with a buddy comedy, and in my view the blend does not always work. The contrasting energy of Curtis and Bronson keeps the scenes lively, but the script never settles on a clear centre of gravity between the treasure plot and the war backdrop, so the tone swings between adventure and comedy. Shooting entirely in Turkey gives the setting real texture and sets it apart from similar adventures built on studio sets. Fikret Hakan's significant role is an added point of interest for Turkish viewers. Anyone looking for dramatic depth, however, may not find much beneath the entertaining surface.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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