Miraza (1983) User Reviews

Take the money and run!

[chainsmoker · 7/10 · 22 May 2002]

Growing up in the former Soviet Union, I first saw this TV movie when I was in third grade and it left an indelible impression. It was made by a team of talented Lithuanian filmmakers -- before Lithuania separated from the USSR along with other Baltic republics. Enough with the history lesson. Mirage is based on James Hadley Chase's novel The World In My Pocket, adapted for the silver screen back in the '60s by German filmmakers in On Friday At Eleven, starring Rod Steiger and Nadja Tiller. SPOILERS AHEAD but since hardly anybody here in the States has seen this film it won't matter.

Mirage is a story of four men and a woman who carefully plan and implement a hijacking of an armored vehicle carrying millions of dollars. The band of misfits consists of a ruthless Frank Morgan, Vietnam vet Bleck, ex-boxer Kitson, safecracker Gypo, and down-on-her-luck con artist Ginny. After days of planning, come Friday 11 a.m. everything that can go wrong does. Trigger-happy Bleck shoots the guards. The driver with his dying breath manages to push a few buttons, locking the money inside the vehicle. The gang has no choice but to take the car with them hoping to break the code later.

With the police hot on their tracks, they hide out in the Nevada mountains. Soon the men are at each other's throats over their plight and -- yes, you guessed it -- the woman. It's a moving human drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat, make you laugh and cry. This story doesn't have a happy ending. Bleck and Morgan have a fight and shoot each other. Gypo attempts to escape and dies from a snake bite. Surrounded by the police, Kitson and Ginny jump off a cliff. Their brief romance is cut short when they choose death over life in prison, away from each other. In death they will be together forever... Beautiful music, superb acting, suspense, adventure and human drama. Time for a remake. Hollywood, are you listening?

An interesting Soviet "view" of the USA

[Zobens · 8/10 · 18 July 2006]

As a "Soviet" film, the idea for it first had to presented to and approved by the USSR Central Authority for film production and then (except for the "big" productions, which were done directly by MosFilm) it was farmed out by them to the regional film studios. So it was made by the Riga Film Studio in the City of Riga in the then "Latvian SSR", (Today the area has regained its freedom and is the independent Republic of Latvia - a NATO & European Union member state). The reason why it was given to them of course was never stated anywhere, but the most probable explanation is that the All-Soviet Union Motor Museum was located in Riga, which meant that it was the one place in the USSR with access to a substantial number of American cars. With about a dozen American cars (ranging in eras from 1960 to 1980) and another dozen Western European cars as backup, and the city of Riga (which at this point had been under Russian military/civilian occupation for 40 years and had largely been transformed into a Soviet Standard city) as backdrop, they set about showing their audience "life in America"!

It is based on a novel written by an American and, briefly, it tells the story of an Armored Car robbery that takes place in the United States. (I believe, the same novel was also the basis of the "Hollywood" film: "They Came to Rob Las Vegas", as major parts of the plots of both these films, are identical).

Unfortunately, I have no idea how one would go about seeing this, over four hours long, film in the US. But if you ever do, seeing it as an American will have you rolling on the floor with laughter, for its portrayal of life (and the "look") of the USA. For that reason, I highly recommend it (and give it an "8" - it WILL entertain you)!

(To be fair, "Hollywood" movie portrayals of Russia, Russians and Moscow in particular, have most real Russians rolling on their floors with laughter, as well.)

A great movie from different country

[danstancu · 27 January 2019]

I was in Romania circa 1987-1988 and saw this movie at the Bulgarian Television channel as we used to have antenna. What is interesting is that there was no season or episodes of this movie but just one movie alone. Must have been the pilot version unless they put it in 2 parts....which is possible. The movie was running on a late night show called Studio X in Bulgary (Bulgaria) and we all (romanians) knew that studio x was the best show for watching a good movie when nothing was on our TV (only Ceausescu propaganda news) So....i remember the name of it and the fact that there was a snake (viper) in the middle of the desert or dry plains.

It is with great pleasure after some old memory recalls to get back to remember and search for this movie....and finally to find it. This was a goof movie from my childhood.

The world in my pocket

[siggemannen-374-783473 · 9/10 · 21 November 2021]

4 robbers and a woman get together to make a robbery of a lifetime. Will they succeed and will the money bring happiness they've been missing?

This is the question that this movie (actually a 3 part series showed on Soviet TV) is asking us.

The plot is very true to the the original novel by James Hadley Chase, a Brittish author, who was wildly popular in Soviet Union. Most of his books took place in USA, without him actually living there, instead he constucted the books and dialog from travelogues and slang dictionaries. This gave the books a somewhat artificial feel. The movie, made "foreign" by a couple of ad boards but mostly getting a lot of cars on the road, shares this feeling of being fake. Every russian could recognize the armoured truck to be a pimped up Lada Niva. But in general, it was pretty convincing, especially with all the americans they could put on the road at the same time, but also casting non-russian actors who looked more foreign. One amusing tidbit besides the Niva is seeing a Captain America T-shirt on the boy who makes friends with the robbers. That could've been a Marvel hero debut behind the Iron Curtain.

Besides the technical side, what drags you in is the always impressive work of Latvian master of detective: Aloizs Brencs. He introduces the players early, and by using simple means builds a compelling technical and psychological "seed" for the rest of the movie. Ginny, a fatherless tough girl and Morgan take the command, but every actor is given a clear place and time to shine. Also, he doesn't spend time just on technical and action parts, we could see frustrations of Morgan when they're trying to get the safe, Gippo's desire for peace and calm in the home land as well as Kittson's and Ginny's dreams and life goals changing over the course of the events.

For a kid watching this in the 90s, it was an amazing production. Still with me to this day is the last shot of the movie, as well as seing Blake's gray hair with the gun in the mountains.

When rewatching it 30 years later, it still feels fresh. I love the play between Kitson and Ginny, as well as Gippo's struggles. The only complains i have is the somewhat melodramatic overdubbing which perhaps robs the actors of their more true performances (most Baltic productions were over-dubbed in russian, and i'm not sure there's actually an original latvian version). Otherwise, it's a very well done soviet production about having that one last chance in life at happiness.

A great movie about US

[yel2006 · 9/10 · 14 December 2009]

I grew up in USSR, but has been living in the US for nearly 20 years now. I (with my family) watch a lot of Russian movies. Originally it started as a way to get our kids introduced to the language and culture, but now it has become a habit. I remembered this film since childhood: it made an impression on me and my husband, too. I couldn't recall the name and found it by accident a week ago. We are through second episode (of 3), and so far none is disappointed, including my son, born and raised in the US. If you look at the details carefully, of course, you'll notice things like soviet cars camouflaged to look American. But in spirit, it shows US pretty well. Of course, part of it is that we weren't here in the 70s, so the movie reflects our idea of US of that time, which maybe inaccurate. The fact is we are enjoying the movie. The suspense, acting, plot - all is superb. Of course, knowing Russian helps. I'm not sure if there is a subtitled version. I would recommend the movie to those Americans who are adventurous and intellectually curious. In my view, this movie gets at the American culture much better than any American film about Russia gets at Russian culture. Zhivago and balalaika is such an unreal combination, and the whole interpretation is ridiculous, yet the movie is considered a classic. Mirazh represents American reality much better. But this reality is not pretty, and many Americans won't like to face it.

Dumped in your pocket.

[Zlomov · 4/10 · 16 February 2024]

Living in the Soviet Union, I am skeptical of most Soviet films made about the West, as well as Western films made about the USSR. Fortunately, there are pleasant exceptions on both sides. But this movie is not one of them.

This is a film about a robbery in the "sinister west", where a man is a wolf to a man. It was filmed for television, so it's quite long and sometimes drawn out.

The efforts of the transportation department are of the greatest interest to film historians. Apparently, the largest number of civilian vehicles from the USA and Western Europe were collected for this film. Dozens of foreign cars.

Unfortunately, for one of the main vehicles, a bank armored car, a Soviet car was chosen and it is very clearly visible under heavy tuning.

Otherwise, it is a crime drama based on a story by James Chase. It is difficult for me to note any special performance of the actors due to the fact that they made too many faces portraying foreigners. It looked pretty stupid and did not allow them to see the human nature of their characters.

The garish moments of "Western" life, like the bare breasts of the main character or hairstyles in the Western manner or uncanny commercial and news on TV did not save the situation much.

Perhaps this film will look better in other countries, but for me, all efforts were spent on collecting transport and clothes. The result is mediocre.