Gulag (TV 1985)

Mickey Almon is a sports star turned reporter covering the athletics in Moscow. Framed by the KGB and forced to confess that he was spying for America, he is sentenced to detention in a ... See full summary »

Director:

Roger Young

Writers:

Yehousha Ben-Porat (story), Dan Gordon (screenplay),

Stars:

David Keith, Malcolm McDowell, Warren Clarke

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Keith	...	Mickey Almon
Malcolm McDowell	...	The Englishman
Warren Clarke	...	Hooker
John McEnery	...	Diczek
Nancy Paul	...	Susan Almon
Brian Pettifer	...	Vlasov
George Pravda	...	Bukovsky
Shane Rimmer	...	Jay
Bruce Boa	...	McHenry
Eugene Lipinski	...	Yuri
Ray Jewers	...	T.V. Interviewer
Bogdan Kominowski	...	Stolypin Guard
Barrie Houghton	...	Wisinski
Alexei Jawdokimov	...	Vikstrom
Ivan Lee	...	Chinaman

Storyline

Mickey Almon is a sports star turned reporter covering the athletics in Moscow. Framed by the KGB and forced to confess that he was spying for America, he is sentenced to detention in a Gulag, a barbaric prison camp in the wilds of Siberia. Unable to prove his innocence, Mickey must either put up with the inhuman conditions or engineer an escape.

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Plot Keywords:

prison | escape | spy

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Taglines:

They gambled their lives to escape a frozen hell [Australia Theatrical]

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 January 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Goulag

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Home Box Office (HBO), Lorimar Pictures, MFI Furniture Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min 119 min (VHS) 107 min (theatrical)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Rankcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Last film of George Pravda.

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Quotes

Diczek: [Discussing the impossibility of escape with Mickey] For a break to succeed, you'd have to *start* it a thousand kilometers away from here. And then you'd have to cross ice in winter, or tundra and swamps in the summer. Not to mention the problem of food.
The Englishman: Well, that's no problem. Just take along a sandwich. You know what a sandwich is, don't you, old boy?
Diczek: Let's just play cards...
The Englishman: [to Diczek] No, wait a minute, wait a minute! Look, we got a new boy here, and it's time he knew the facts.
[to Mickey]
The Englishman:

User Reviews

typical anti-Soviet film of the cold war period

Having watched the very first scene (where Russians were singing "Kalinka" and dancing at the bar), I felt sick. I immediately thought, "Oh, one more idiotic film by ignorant ones who know nothing about Russia but any stupid cliches". Some scenes are indeed idiotic. Honestly, I laughed at them alot (for example, the episode where the main character, Mike, was taken to the jail full of water). However, there are some of quite good episodes. In fact, many scenes in a camp ( in 80s those camps weren't called Gulag, btw. Gulag existed in Stalinistic period before early 50s) are reliable.

I guess, this film was made with very clear intention. Typical anti-Soviet propaganda. If you want to get knowledges about Russia (or Soviet Union of that time), don't see this film. There are many stupidities in this film.

The best thing about this film is that all the actors played guards were Russians as they have spoken Russian without terrible accent. Very rare (and pleasant) thing. As for the characters, the only attractive one was Jewish professor Matvei (David Suchet). He was played with great power.This characters imbodies this horror and sadness of being prisoner. The only character I will be keeping in mind for a long time after watching this film.