A co-worker of mine has granted my wish:
The Man Who Saves the World (Turkish Star Wars)
Turkish-made film commonly known as Turkish Star Wars because of its notorious bootlegging of Star Wars film clips worked into the film. Released in 1982, Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam was created in Turkey caught in the midst of massive political upheaval. As a result, American-made films were not easily acquired and were often remade with a Turkish cast and setting. The musical soundtrack is entirely lifted from Western film hits of the time, primarily using Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are also scenes incorporating the music of Moonraker, Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, Planet of the Apes and Disney’s The Black Hole.
Complete with sub-titles, all 91 glorious, rotten minutes of it. I look forward to watching with morbid fascination.
More Turkish low-budget remakes can be found here:
http://www.fantent.com/2007/02/04/turkish-star-wars-superman-et-and-more/
There is one comment on that page that mentions that these films were made as parody, not as serious attempts at remaking Western films. With the exception of the Star Trek clip, I’m not inclined to believe that. Quite simply, they are too stupid to be parody, and there are no obvious attempts at comedy – they appear to be quite serious for the most part. I suppose more research would be needed to know for sure the exact motivations of these filmmakers, more than I’m willing to put into it, but I think that’s a pretty safe assumption at this point.
I have never seen this stuff before, and for some reason I’m fascinated. Obviously the people who made these films saw the originals – what did these people honestly think they were doing when trying to remake them?