If you like Robin Askwith movies, you’ll love….

Turkish Delight – 1973

I’m going to get sidetracked this week and do a “recommendation” post.

Ten to twelve years ago I went through a major, Robin-esque obsession with Dutch actor Rutger Hauer.

If there was such a thing as a blog back then, perhaps I would have done one on his movies. I went crazy for awhile and started buying up all his movies on VHS. At least most of them were pretty easy to find! He was hottest in the early ‘70s, with his long blond hair and piercing blue eyes.

Anyway, I decided to watch this one again for old time’s sake. And I noticed quite a few things in it that reminded me of some of the Robin movies. Besides his hair and nakedness and doing bunches of naked girls, I mean. If you’re not familiar with it, you should check it out.

The story: Rutger plays Erik, a sculptor who takes home girl after girl to sexually torment. He seems bitter, angry, and cruel. Then we flash back two years to when he was happy-go-lucky. He meets the woman of his dreams, a carefree teenaged Olga. They marry and have a passionate relationship that soon turns tumultuous. A turn of events soon show why Erik has become bitter and angry at the world. This is probably simultaneously the raunchiest and tenderest, saddest movie I’ve ever seen.

I can’t say I can see Robin playing this part. Rutger has a type of brooding and darkness that Robin does not. When Rutger gets angry, you do get scared. When Robin gets angry, he more often has the appearance of a scowling child, ready to burst into giggles again.

But there were some nice silly moments in this that are reminiscent of a Confessions film. And others too: 1.The driving scene. When Erik first meets Olga, she has picked him up hitchhiking. He tells her to pull over, and what happens next is straight out of “Confessions of a Driving Instructor”!

2.Meeting the parents. Erik is making out with Olga on her parents’ couch and they come home and interrupt. Reminded me of Timmy and Liz on the couch in “Window Cleaner”.

3.The Wedding Scene – all the running around, trying to get to the wedding on time…didn’t quite turn out the same as in “Window Cleaner” but the hectic rush still made me think of it.

4.Bicycle riding - Erik riding recklessly around the busy narrow European streets was just SO Timmy Lea!

5.Sculptor - Wasn’t Robin’s character a sculptor in the movie “Bless This House”? I’m already forgetting!

6. Queen visiting the hospital - Erik sells a sculpture to be placed outside a hospital, and the Queen is coming for the unveiling. Hospital staff are rushing around in a panic to make sure things look proper for her. Just like in “Britannia Hospital”!!

7.Erik and Olga standing out in the rain, hair drenched. They look SO much like Jason and Judy in “Horror Hospital”, don’t they?

8.Seeing his girl make out with another man – Erik sees this from a distance when she thinks he’s not watching, similarly Timmy sees Liz making out with his brother in law. In this one, he throws up on her as revenge….in Timmy’s case, he turns the hose on her.

9. And….the good ol’ Bubbles scene! This one Erik is simply taking a bath. But, he’s enveloped in bubbles, and who can NOT be reminded of that infamous “Window Cleaner” Bubbles scene??? Wonder if Rutger complained about it as much as Robin does!!!

A lot of Rutger’s later movies are action-packed and really stray far away from what he did in the early ‘70s, so don’t worry, I’m not going to flood this with Rutger movies now. Perhaps one more. We’ll see.

Rutger is about 7 years older than Robin and still looks absolutely fantastic these days! He keeps a very professional website that’s fun and informative (hint, hint, Robin!) Back when I was more into him I’d visit his chatroom, not sure if that’s there anymore, but it was funny how possessive his fans were. Middle-aged ladies, talking jealously about his wife and stuff like that. Really weird. Robin’s fans seem saner and nicer.

Anyway, the videoclips I put on above are from my copy, which I had to watch with its bad dubbed in English which makes Rutger's voice sound dorky. Here's more scenes I found on YouTube with their real voices: