Short story and guest actors: "Business People" - film diamonds of 1962

“Business People” is a film shot by Leonid Gaidai in 1962. It was the sixth directorial work of a comedian master. It is made in the genre of a collection of short stories, which subsequently fell in love with the director. How were the pictures taken and who played the main roles in it?

The creators of the picture

The script for the adventure film "Business People" Leonid Gaidai wrote on the basis of three novels by O. Henry. The name of the tape was borrowed from the collection of works of O. Henry 1910 release.

The first short story in the almanac was shot in the genre of tragedy unusual for Gaidai. But the next two are entirely related to the comedy genre.

Prominent actors were invited to the main roles. “Business People” - a tape starring R. Plyatt, Yu. Nikulin, G. Vitsin.

The shooting took place mainly in the Crimea: near the White Rock in the Belogorsky district, in the Nikitsky Gorge, as well as in the village of Kuybyshevo.

The main operator of the film is Konstantin Brovin. He also shot the main hits in Gaidai’s filmography - “Prisoner of the Caucasus” and “Operation Y.”

The main artist of the picture was Vladimir Kaplunovsky, who worked on The Test of Fidelity and the comedy Give the Complaint Book.

A brief plot of the first short story

What do the actors tell the audience in the first short story? “Business People” begins with a sketch entitled “The Roads We Choose.”

The action is transferred to the States during the heyday of the Wild West. Three desperate thugs robbed the postal express and try to hide with the prey, but one of them is killed. Tidball (Alexander Shvorin) and Dodson (Vladlen Paulus) successfully broke away from the chase, but at that moment there was a nuisance: the horse of one of the bandits turned up his leg. The tideball, which has lost its horse, offers a friend to load money on the remaining horse, and search for some other means of transportation themselves. However, Dodson, without hesitation, shot his friend, saying the phrase: "Bolivar (meaning the horse) can not stand the two of us."

After a minute, it turns out that Dodson was actually sleeping, and he dreamed about it all. The main character is not a bandit, but an ordinary broker. His old friend Mr. Williams (Victor Gromov) comes to him and asks for a deferment on loans. Otherwise, Williams will be ruined and dishonored. Dodson refuses him, and a friend commits suicide.

Brief plot of the second short story

In the second part of the film almanac, no less hilarious story was played by other invited actors. “Business People” is a picture in which the novel “Roads ...” is replaced by the sketch “Soul Mates”.

According to the plot, a thief with a revolver (Yuri Nikulin) enters a rich mansion. On the second floor of the house he finds a sleeping master in bed (Rostislav Plyatt). The robber orders him to raise his hands. But from the fright, the owner of the mansion aggravated rheumatism, so he could only raise one arm up. While the thief and the owner of the house sorted out the relationship, the robber also had an attack of rheumatism. And in a minute they were discussing the best remedies for this disease.

This funny incident ended with the thief inviting his own victim to drink in the pub at his own expense.

A brief plot of the third short story

The short story “The Leader of the Redskins” takes us to the US state of Alabama. Again, two fraudsters named Bill (Alexei Smirnov) and Sam (George Vitsin) appear before the viewer. In search of easy money, they kidnap the son of the local rich man, Mr. Dorset, and plan to demand a ransom of $ 2,000 from him.

However, as soon as the two kidnappers were left alone with little Johnny, the situation changed dramatically. It was Bill and Sam who became hostages of the little monster. He seriously thought that they were playing Indians, and he is the leader of the Redskins. The child tortured Sam and Bill so much that the criminals were ready to pay old Dorset themselves if he took his son home. And so this adventure of two loser kidnappers ended.

Actors: "Business People" and the cast of the film

Many directors prefer to work with the same cast. Leonid Gaidai also had “favorites” from the very beginning of his creative activity.

Firstly, the director is the creator of the legendary trinity called "Coward, Dunce and Experienced", the participants of which were two of his favorites at once - Yuri Nikulin and George Vitsin. They embodied in the film "Business People" the images of the unlucky thief and kidnapper Sam.

Yuri Nikulin also starred in the films of Leonid Gaidai under the title “Dog Watchdog and Unusual Cross”, “Moonshiners”, “Diamond Arm”, “Caucasian Captive”, “12 Chairs”. Georgy Vitsin participated in almost the same projects (except for “The Diamond Hand”), plus Gaidai’s comedy “Groom from the Other World”, “Can't Be”, “Behind the Matches”.

Rostislav Plyatt, who played the role of the owner of the mansion from the second short story, is known for his roles in the films “Battle of Stalingrad” and “Groom from the Other World”. Vladlen Paulus, who played the Dodson Shark, also starred in the films Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears and The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed.

Sergei Tikhonov, speaking in the guise of annoying Johnny Dorset, starred in the melodrama "Dubravka".