In the movie "Only Old Men Go to Battle", the actors who performed the main roles received positive reviews from critics and viewers. This famous film dedicated to the war against the Nazis was shot by Leonid Bykov. The picture was released in 1973. She talks about the everyday life of fighter pilots fighting the Nazi invaders.
Plot of the film
Many note that in the film "Only Old Men Are Going to Battle" the actors showed themselves in full glory. The film takes place in the summer of 1943. The Soviet army is fighting to force the Dnieper. Everyone except the commander, Captain Titarenko, returns from the next sortie. He has the nickname Maestro in the air regiment. When everyone around them was already desperate that he would be able to return alive, the German Messerschmitt, controlled by a Soviet ace, sits on the airfield.
It turns out that he was shot down by the Germans behind the front line, but he catapulted. The infantry came to the rescue, and at the airport, where he was taken, a Nazi plane was presented as a trophy.
The next day, the replenishment arrives at the regiment. Many young officers ask Titarenko for a second squadron, the fame of which is already booming throughout the Union. Choosing fighters for himself, Titarenko is interested in each of his musical talents. After all, his squadron is known as singing. He regularly gathers fighters in an amateur orchestra, which he conducts. Their main work is the song "Darkie".
So begins this fascinating drama, which for many years has become one of the most beloved domestic films about the war.
Leonid Bykov
The director of the picture, Leonid Bykov, plays the main role in the film "Only Old Men Go to Battle". The actor appears in the image of the same Maestro. He is an Honored Artist of the RSFSR. Since childhood, he dreamed of being a pilot, so in this tape, to some extent, his dream came true. He tried to enter a flight school, but was not accepted because of his small stature.
The acting career was not easy either. He was not accepted to the Kiev Theater Institute, he had to graduate from the acting department at a Kharkov university.
He made his film debut in 1952 in the melodrama of Isaac Shmaruk, co-authored with Viktor Ivchenko under the title "The Fate of Marina". Glory came to him in 1955, when he played the role of Maxim Perepelitsy in the film of the same name by Anatoly Granik.
He first tried on the profession of director in himself in 1961, when he released the film "No matter how the rope twists." Then in his career there was the comedy "Bunny", as well as the tape "Where are you, knights."
"Only old people go into battle" for the actor Bykov became the fourth full-length film in which he simultaneously served as a director.
After the success of this picture, in 1977 he shot the military drama "Aty-bats, soldiers were coming ...", in which he also played the main role. This was his last work in cinema. Two years later, he crashed in a car accident.
Sergey Podgorny
In the film "Only Old Men Are Going to Battle", actor Sergei Podgorny plays junior lieutenant Viktor Shchedronov, known under the nickname Smuglyanka.
Podgorny - Ukrainian and Soviet actor. The painting "Only Old Men Are Going to Battle" became his creative debut. Leonid Bykov himself invited him to the shooting, who urgently had to look for a replacement for Anatoly Mateshko , who refused to act at the last moment .
After that, Podgorny actively starred in many films. True, he was mainly involved in episodes and in secondary roles. In the mid-90s, it turned out to be unclaimed. Only in 2009 appeared in an episode in the series "The Return of Mukhtar" and the Ukrainian film "Cinderella from the Paradise Island." It is known that after Bykov's death he began to drink a lot. He died in 2011.
Sergey Ivanov
Not only Bykov had a nickname in this film. Sergey Ivanov played Lieutenant Alexandrov, nicknamed Grasshopper. For the actor, "Only the elderly go into battle" - this is also one of the first films. Before that, he played only in a few films, the most famous was the biographical drama by Timofei Levchuk "The Kotsyubinsky Family".
Popularity came to him in the mid-70s. He played Lariosik in Vladimir Basov’s drama “Turbine Days,” Sergeant Tsybulu in the military comedy Nikolai Litus and Vitaliy Shunko in the film entitled Summer Holiday Trip of Sergeant Tsybuli, Alyosha Metelkin in the musical comedy “Ar-hi-me-dy!”, Shot Alexander Pavlovsky, Lavkina in another military drama by Leonid Bykov, "Aty-bats, soldiers were coming ...".
In the late 90s, on Ukrainian television, Ivanov began filming his own project on castles in the west of the country, but managed to finish only the first issue. In 2000, he died after a heart attack.
Alexey Smirnov
After the film "Only Old Men Are Going to Battle" the fate of the actors has developed in different ways. Most became popular, got new roles.
In the picture you can see the master of the episode Alexei Smirnov. Everyone remembers him as a mechanic Makarych. In his career, there were practically no main roles, but this did not prevent him from becoming a famous artist thanks to unforgettable characters who are deeply remembered.
His most popular works are the parasite Fedya in the comedy Operation Y and other adventures of Shurik, the musical comedy The Wedding in the Robin, and the children's film Aibolit 66.