Desert Eagle (Çöl Kartalı) (translated)

Written and directed by Halit Refiğ, the 1972 Turkish film Çöl Kartalı (Desert Eagle) follows two Ottoman cavalry captains who have been inseparable since childhood. Murat and Faruk are devoted friends, yet both secretly love the same woman: Leyla, the daughter of Kamil Pasha, and neither dares to confess his feelings to the other.

After returning from the Balkan front, the pair is sent to the desert to rescue the kidnapped heir of Yemen's ruler. Murat is gravely wounded and presumed dead; a young desert woman named Hacer nurses him back to health. When Murat finally reaches Istanbul, he learns that Leyla has married Faruk to spare her father's worries, and he retreats to the desert in despair. Fate reunites them all in Yemen, where loyalty, sacrifice and jealousy build toward a violent reckoning.

Cüneyt Arkın stars as Murat, with Bahar Erdeniz, Süleyman Turan, Hayati Hamzaoğlu, Meral Zeren, Atıf Kaptan and Kazım Kartal in supporting roles. Shooting took place in Istanbul, Diyarbakır and Mardin.