Beregis avtomobilya (1966)

User Rating:

8.8/10   

Director:

Eldar Ryazanov

Writers:

Emil Braginsky (writer)
Eldar Ryazanov (writer)

Release Date:

3 February 1967 (East Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Romance

Plot:

The hero of the film is an insurance agent who is also a car thief. He steals cars only from various crooks and never from the good people...

Cast

Innokenti Smoktunovsky	...	Yury Detochkin
Oleg Yefremov	...	Maxim Podberezovikov
Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya	...	Detochkin's Mother
Anatoli Papanov	...	Sokol-Kruzhkin
Olga Aroseva	...	Lyuba
Andrei Mironov	...	Dima Semicvetov
Georgi Zhzhyonov	...	Militiaman
Evgeni Evstigneev	...	Acting coach
Donatas Banionis	...	Priest
Lyubov Sokolova	...	Judge
Vyacheslav Nevinnyy	...	Car mechanic
Gotlib Roninson	...	Senior Insurer
Galina Volchek	...	Customer
Tatyana Gavrilova	...	Inga Semicvetova
Antonina Maksimova

Also Known As:

Берегись автомобиля (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Beware of the Car
Uncommon Thief
Watch Out for the Automobile (USA)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Moscow, Russia

Company:

Mosfilm

Trivia:

Is Pavel Pronin's favourite comedy.

Goofs:

Continuity: There is a mirror when the car is on the tow-trailer during the car chase (in which we see the goof #1 - a man in a hat), but there is no mirror at the end of the chase during Detochkin's dialogue with a policeman

Quotes:

Senior Insurer: ...and a very good worker!
[speaking about Detochkin]
Senior Insurer: And if you don't know, then be quiet
[speaking to a man who didn't say a word]

A popular Russian black comedy

It is a good movie but not great.

Though it is a black comedy, it still lacks colour (suppose they could make it in colour back in 1966) and sometimes it lacks style (the background voice making wise comments in a "TV news" manner is a downer) - this is very subjective fault-finding. But no complaints regarding the actors' performance. The story is fine with its "Robin Hood" touch. There is quite a number of memorable scenes ("Hamlet" performance, the Soviet shopping, a funny monologue about "our" Shakespeare, etc.) and there are tons of enjoyable sayings. All these things are, unfortunately (or fortunately), well understood by Russian people (especially of older generations), as to people from other countries - I don't think so.

Just to expand on this matter. Perhaps you think that my vote concerning this film is very pessimistic, but don't forget that I try to judge it on the universal basis. For us, Russians, the movie is one good piece of entertainment and even a historical lesson (clothes, relations between people during the Soviet era, first businessmen a la "spekulianti", Soviet "drama clubs", etc.). For the rest of the world... hardly. If you live in some sort of USA, was born there, have been living there your whole life, have just watched this movie and now are ready to give it a 10 out of 10 with a frank heart, post me a few lines and I will reconsider my rating then.

Upon the DVD box it is written: "popular videos". It really belongs to that class of movies. I would add "our popular videos", not yours.

Quite objectively, it is 6 out of 10 (but there should be a place for this film in our national top 250). Thanks for attention.