IMDb > Stalker (1979)
Stalker
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Overview

User Rating:
8.1/10   18,766 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 2% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Andrei Tarkovsky
Writers:
Arkadi Strugatsky (novel) &
Boris Strugatsky (novel) ...
more
Contact:
View company contact information for Stalker on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
17 April 1980 (Netherlands) more
Plot:
Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, an alien place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers. Over his wife's numerous objections... more | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
2 wins & 1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
(4 articles)
Top 10 Films of 2009 so far.
 (From SoundOnSight. 17 August 2009, 11:33 PM, PDT)

'Lost': The core themes and mysteries
 (From EW.com - PopWatch. 31 July 2009, 10:01 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Journey into Fear more (183 total)

Cast

  (Credited cast)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Сталкер (Soviet Union: Russian title)
more
Runtime:
163 min
Language:
Russian
Color:
Color (Sovcolor) | Black and White | Color (Eastmancolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Filming Locations:
Dolgopa, Russia more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
When the Stalker is referred to as 'Chingachgook' and 'Leatherstocking', these are references to characters in James Fenimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans". more
Quotes:
Writer: My conscience wants vegetarianism to win over the world. And my subconscious is yearning for a piece of juicy meat. But what do I want? more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Uzak (2002) more
Soundtrack:
La Marseillaise more

FAQ

A NOTE ABOUT SPOILERS
Where does the title "Stalkers" come from?
Who wrote the poems recited by the characters in the film?
more
55 out of 64 people found the following comment useful.
Journey into Fear, 8 February 2003
9/10
Author: William Ploch (wbploc0@pop.uky.edu) from Lexington, Kentucky

The characters at the heart of Tarkovsky's "Stalker" are people who embark on an arduous journey only to discover that they had no idea what they wanted to gain from it. The central character is a "stalker," a man who makes a living by illegally escorting people through a restricted area to The Room, a place where their greatest wish will supposedly come true. Exactly why the area is restricted is never made perfectly clear; in the novel this film is partially based on, "The Roadside Picnic," it was a site where aliens briefly landed, and The Room was an object they left behind almost as if it were refuse. But Tarkovsky would rather not settle for such a flat explanation. To him, The Room is a place that means different things to the people who journey there, and the stark, ravished landscape they must journey through consists of the phobias and anxieties that they can hardly bear to face. The expedition the men experience is a long and often maddening one, and there are many scenes where the camera lingers on a beautifully composed shot so that the viewer can take time to understand how the characters fit into the settings and how those settings form both natural and supernatural obstacles.

Andrei Tarkovsky was an artist who did not like giving solid answers to the questions his films posed. He sculpted his stories so that viewers who had the patience and self-discipline to stay attentive all the way through could draw their own conclusions. If there is any specific meaning to "Stalker," it is that we have to fully understand anything for which we are willing to alter our lives.

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No. 1 in anyone's list? LuxNatalis
Great example of 'received wisdom'.... cinema_show
Other 'visually beautiful' films? mmeerrtt
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Question on a scene near the end chupon
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