Taras Bulba (1962)

In the 16th century Ukraine, the Polish overlords and the Cossacks fight for control of the land but frequent Turkish invasions force them to unite against the common Turkish foe.

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writers:

Waldo Salt (screenplay), Karl Tunberg (screenplay)

Stars:

Tony Curtis, Yul Brynner, Christine Kaufmann

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tony Curtis	...	Andrei Bulba
Yul Brynner	...	Taras Bulba
Christine Kaufmann	...	Natalia Dubrov
Sam Wanamaker	...	Filipenko
Brad Dexter	...	Shilo
Guy Rolfe	...	Prince Grigory
Perry Lopez	...	Ostap Bulba
George Macready	...	Governor
Ilka Windish	...	Sofia Bulba
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Old Stepan
Vladimir Irman	...	Grisha Kubenko
Daniel Ocko	...	Ivan Mykola
Abraham Sofaer	...	Abbot
Mickey Finn	...	Korzh
Richard Rust	...	Capt. Alex

Storyline

A "Romeo and Juliet" story that takes place in the late 16c. Ukraine. Taras has settled into comfortable farm life after years of adventures and swashbuckling with his cossack companions. Though not wealthy, he is able to send his son Andrei away to a Polish school. At this time the Poles are overlords of Ukraine and the origin of the cossacks is struggle of the Ukrainian serfs to free themselves and their land of Polish domination. Toward this end Taras hopes that his son will be educated in the ways of the enemy. Instead, Andrei falls in love with the daughter of a Polish nobleman, setting the stage for a clash between love, family honor, and a struggle for national identity.

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Plot Keywords:

cossack | battle | ukraine | russia | epic | 

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Taglines:

A Love Story of Flesh And Fire!

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | History | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

Yugoslavia USA

Language:

English Latin

Release Date:

19 December 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

Тарас Бульба

Filming Locations:

Salta, Argentina

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$4,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avala Film,Harold Hecht Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min 124 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Eastman Color Negative Film 5250) Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In addition to providing the film's narration, Paul Frees dubbed Daniel Ocko's voice.

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Goofs

When the cossacks are advancing on the steppe, the wheels of the filming vehicle are leaving visible tracks on the ground.

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Quotes

Governor: My son is dead, your brother killed by your Cossack lover. Tell your servant to pack your belongings. I'll arrange for an escort to take you out of the city. You cannot stay here after tonight. You'll be taken to Dubno. There you will serve as maid in waiting until you have been trained in the responsibilities of your birth.

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Crazy Credits

Thanks to the army of the Argentine Republic.

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Connections

Remade as Veer (2010)

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Soundtracks

The Wishing Star
Music by Franz Waxman
Lyrics by Mack David

User Reviews

Entertaining (but not in the "pampas")

I've seen the reviews here and a couple of comments set "Taras Bulba"'s location in the Argentine pampas. As a native Argentine I must say that's not correct; the pampas run all through the middle part of our Country but this film was shot in the Province of Salta way up in the northern part of Argentina (some 1400 miles from Buenos Aires); the pampas are a huge flat ground very fertile, but Salta is uneven with not too high hills ("cerros") very different from the pampas. Another reviewer says Tony Curtis declared once that when he and co-star Kristine Kaufmann got mixed up during the filming he was already divorced of Janet Leigh; I don't know about that but I can assure you that Leigh came to Salta with him (a friend of mine has a photo with her on the "cerros").

As to the picture, I really enjoyed it -also because I lived in Salta a couple of years and the landscape is very familiar to me- but I think a real classical epic could have come out of Nicolai Gogol's famous novel with a more elaborated script (as a reviewer correctly stated here).

J. Lee Thompson's product seems sort of "cheap" and lacks spectacle (except for some real good battle scenes) although I admit if has some very good moments. A somehow impressive one is when the big doors of the sieged city open slowly and André (Curtis) appears in a frontal close shot wearing a Polish armor and helmet for he will make a run for food too feed the starving citizens inside in a clear treason to his country and father for the love of a woman. Also the final dark atmosphere Thompson achieves when Taras (Yul Brynner) confronts his favourite son after a treason he can't possibly understand and even less when André just explains "I did what I had to do".

Brynner's performance though a little overacted is good enough and he fills the role of Taras easily. Tony Curtis makes a great effort and gets some good moments as André though he clearly lacks the appropriate "physic du rol". The rest of the cast gives a good support, among them Sam Wanamaker, Brad Dexter, Guy Rolfe and George MacReady. German actress Kristine Kauffman shows her beauty.

All in all "Taras Bulba" comes out as an entertaining and amusing film in its genre and a decent intent on Gogol's book, but no much more than that.