One of the most sought-after comedies of the Soviet Union period is the film Gentlemen of Fortune. The director of this picture for his entire career shot five films. But only the "Gentlemen of Fortune" received such recognition. What is this film about and what is the story of its creation?
"Gentlemen of Fortune". Director: Sery Alexander Ivanovich
Alexander Gray is the one who shot the legendary comedy about grief thieves. He is the director of Gentlemen of Fortune. Gaidai has nothing to do with this film, although many viewers mistakenly rank the picture as one of his works.
As for the person of Alexander Sery, he went for a rather long time to the directorial profession. Sery was born in the Voronezh region in 1927. His youth fell on the war years. After school, Alexander chose a mundane engineering profession. After graduating from the Moscow Aviation Institute, he worked for several years as a specialist in various enterprises.
In 1958, the future creator of āGentlemen of Fortuneā dramatically changes his sphere of activity: he graduates from higher directing courses at the Mosfilm film studio and begins working as an assistant director there. However, an unfortunate misunderstanding soon takes place with Alexander Sery: because of a fight with his wifeās lover, he was imprisoned.
Alexander Ivanovich managed to get ahead of schedule and return to directing. Soon āGentlemen of Fortuneā appeared on the screens. Apparently, no other director could reflect the everyday life of criminals like the one who had to live among them for some time.
How did the director make the film āGentlemen of Fortuneā? 1971 is the year of the premiere. The story of the comedy
Not only some knowledge of Alexander Sery about criminal matters helped to make a wonderful comedy film about criminals. The popularity of the tape is also a great merit of the scriptwriters who wrote the script for the film "Gentlemen of Fortune".
Director A.I. Sery collaborated this time with another famous director and concurrently screenwriter George Danelia. Together, they studied at the directorial courses of Mosfilm and maintained friendly relations, despite the imprisonment of Alexander.
Danelia is a peculiar master of the comedy genre: as a director, he directed Mimino, I Walk in Moscow and many other worthy films. George always wrote scripts for his tapes himself, so it cost him nothing to help a friend and write a good screenplay for his crime comedy. A. Sery, in turn, provided him with a detailed account of the life of prisoners and the jargon in which they speak. Victoria Tokareva, who also worked on the storyline of the film āMimino,ā also took part in writing the script.
A brief plot of the picture
This time, the director of the film āGentlemen of Fortuneā did his best, and he got a rich picture full of funny dialogues and events.
This story begins with the fact that archaeologists found a valuable artifact in the deserts of Central Asia - the helmet of Alexander the Great himself. But this little thing never got into the museum, because it was stolen by the legendary thief Associate Professor and his accomplices. When the police raid a gang, they manage to capture only Diagon and Khmyr. The assistant professor with the helmet is hidden from view.
Almost at the same time in Moscow, the head of the kindergarten Yevgeny Troshkin was attacked by Professor Maltsev, who was first mistaken for a madman. Maltsev requires Troshkin to return the helmet, the latter, of course, does not understand anything. A little later it turns out that Troshkin is like two drops of water similar to the Assistant Professor. Then a brilliant plan is born for the police officers: to introduce Evgeny under the guise of a thief-recidivist into the gang of Khmyr and Kosoy, so that he can find out where the ill-fated helmet is from them.
Evgeny Leonov as Troshkin / Assistant Professor
The director of the film āGentlemen of Fortuneā didnāt choose actors for the main roles on his own. The process was controlled by George Danelia, who was actually the artistic director of the project.
After long auditions, it became clear that Evgeny Leonov would do the best in a dual way: he was equally good at playing both the good-natured Troshkin and the embittered dangerous Associate Professor.
Eugene Leonov at that time was a fairly popular artist. He starred in 1948, but first became widely known after the release of the Striped Flight by Vladimir Fetin. This picture in Soviet times turned into a classic movie. She was filled not only with a fair amount of humor, but also with dangerous tricks involving predatory animals.
Then there was the role of Shibalok in the Don Story, the funny king Eric in the fairy tale Snow Queen and the role of photographer Oreshkin in Zigzag of Fortune. But only the film of Alexander Sery and George Danelia turned the artist into a star of the first magnitude.
George Vitsin in the role of Khmyr
George Vitsin began acting in films at about the same period as Leonov. He belonged to the actors of the "old guard" who carefully worked out each of their roles, even if it was episodic.
The main roles of Vitsin were not really spoiled. At the beginning of his career, he played only Vasya Vesnushkina in āThe Reserve Playerā and Kostya Kanareykina in āShe Loves Youā. But the artist was remarkably successful in supporting roles, especially when it was necessary to fit into some colorful company. For example, in Twelfth Night, he played the stupid Sir Andrew, who believed that the reason for his stupidity was beef. Also, George Vitsin in several films appeared in the image of a Coward, who was an invariable participant in a colorful trio (Experienced, Coward and Dunce).
In the film "Gentlemen of Fortune," the actor got the role of Gavrila Petrovich Sheremetyev, who in the band of the Associate Professor has the nickname Khmyr. The hero of Vitsin is gloomy and suspicious. His throat is constantly sore, and he hoars more than he speaks.
Savely Kramarov as Slanting
The director who shot The Gentlemen of Fortune was not mistaken with the choice of the actor for the role of Slant.
Oblique is the most stupid member of the gang, who constantly commits some ridiculous actions. He also sets out his thoughts rather chaotically: why is there only a scene where he explains to the taxi driver which tree he saw near the monument.
Savely Kramarov, who played this character, played the roles of fools and fools in life. In life, he was a rather intelligent man, enlightened, who simply loved to fool around.
The first notable role in the movie for Kramarov was the image of the bandit Ilyukha from The Elusive Avengers. In 1968, in the musical comedy "Trembita" Kramarov again acted as the first fool in the village named Petro.
The filmography of the actor also includes the films ā12 Chairsā, āBig Changeā and āIvan Vasilyevich Changes the Professionā.
Radner Muratov as Vasily Alibabaevich
There was a hero with oriental flavor in the film "Gentlemen of Fortune." The director for the role of a gas station worker who diluted gasoline with donkey urine looked for the artist for the longest time.
Initially, it was assumed that Vasily Alibabaevich from Dzhambul would be played by Frunzik Mkrtchyan (āVanity of Vanitiesā, āCaucasian Captiveā). But the artist could not take part in the project, so Vladimir Etush,
Ilya Rutberg and other actors tried on this role.
Radner Muratov initially tried in the movie "Gentlemen of Fortune" for the role of the head of the prison. Then the actor expressed a desire to undergo tests for the role of Vasily Alibabaevich. To the surprise of the entire crew, he fit perfectly into the image of the unskillful thief.
Vasily Alibabaevich attached himself to the associateās gang quite by accident and, one might say, without invitation. Because of his good nature, this character turned into a "servant" of the criminals: he cleaned the house, washed and cooked food. The phrase of Vasily Alibabaevich āSit down to eat, please!ā still quoted by different generations of viewers.
Other role performers
The director of the film āGentlemen of Fortuneā (1971) invited several more celebrities of Soviet cinema to his project.
Anatoly Papanov, known for the films āDiamond Armā and ā12 Chairsā, appeared in the frame as an unfortunate chess player who lost to Khmyryu all his clothes and a razor.
Beauty Natalya Fateeva played a supporting role - the daughter of Professor Maltsev, who unexpectedly rushed to the cottage, where criminals were hiding. Natalia can also be seen in the films ā3 + 2ā, āThe Drawā and āThe Man from the Capuchin Boulevardā.
No less spectacular actor Oleg Vidov got this time the role of a police officer. He was a liaison and adviser to the mishandled agent Troshkin. The most prominent role of Oleg Vidov in the cinema is participation in the western "Headless Horseman".
Critic Reviews
What can you say about the reviews of critics about the film "Gentlemen of Fortune"? The director, who released the film in the Mosfilm studio in Soviet times, listened to all criticism at the stage of preparation for the shoot. Rigid censorship operated everywhere, so first George Danelia had to defend every line of the script on the artistic council, and then the cast was approved only with the consent of the studioās management.
After the film was shot, the comedy was not released for rent until Brezhnev himself became acquainted with it. However, the leader of the USSR liked the material. He did not mind criminal jargon and other contentious issues.
When the painting was approved by Brezhnev himself, no one was right to criticize it. The next question is whether the viewer will like it?
Viewers reviews
The audience seriously and for a long time fell in love with the comedy āGentlemen of Fortuneā. Director A. Sery and the entire crew received praise even from the Interior Minister Shchelokov.
As for a simple audience, recognition is considered top notch when the film is parsed into quotes. This is exactly what happened with the comedy of Gray. The phrase āEat served. Sit down to eat, please! ā According to the results of the Komsomolskaya Pravda poll, this proposal turned into an aphorism and is on the eighth line of the rating of the main quotes of Soviet and Russian cinema.
Also, the comedy "Gentlemen of Fortune" is the leader in 1972 rental. At a cost of 400 thousand rubles, she earned 30 million rubles. The picture is included in the list of recommended for watching films according to the professors of VGIK.
Movie remake
Modern directors decided once again to return to the plot, which was once invented by George Danelia. In 2012, the production center of Timur Bekmambetov released a remake of his favorite picture. The director who made the film "Gentlemen, Good Luck!" - Alexander Baranov, who also shot the films "Plot" and "Gromov."