favorite "Russian" movie

[Johnny Z]

I just got back from a week in Russia and was was wondering what was your favorite "Russian" movie? I have never seen a movie here that was made in Russia, but have seen some great cold war movies, being a child of the 80's.

[Eirik]

I have never seen it, but the Soviets filmed an answer to Rambo.  It takes place in El Salvador or Nicaragua and has a patriotic Soviet commando go it alone against evil goons from the CIA and US Army.  Of course he mops the floor with them and rescues many revolutionary-minded Latin Americans from our fiendish capitalist-imperialist clutches.  I've seen clips from it (looks like it was shot with the Zapruder camera) and it looks almost as bad as the Stallone movies.  This one could be worth a review on this page.

[i luv dolma]

JACK FROST

Yes there is a Russian version, and it came out in the 60s. No killer snowman though.

[raj]

I've only seen parts of it, but was it Eisenstein who directed that epic silent film Potempkin (possibly the name, I don't remember) about the Russian revolution.

For some reason I like those old silent epics, with big sets and a cast of thousands.

[JohnL]

I've never really seen any Russian films. The only one I can think of is the parts of Planet of Storms that were used in Voyage to a Prehistoric Planet/Voyage to the Planet of Pehistoric Women. I taped Solaris, but never watched it.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Although I love foreign films, I haven't seen too many from Russia.  The best one I have seen though is "Lilja 4-ever".  It is a strange, documentary style film about a young Russian girl who must decide between leaving her impoverished life or moving to another country with a man she has just met.

Great drama.    



As for Eirik's mention about the Russian version of Rambo; that flick sounds great!  I'd love to know the name of that, so that I could track it down!

[Deej]

I've only seen 2...The Battleship Potemkin, and Alexander Nevsky. Nevsky was good, but I found myself thinking...this flick really needs Ronald Colman! Shallow American!!

[Yaddo42]

I've seen "Alexander Nevsky", "Stalker", "Solaris", probably parts of some of the Russian scifi films that Corman acquired the footage from for his films and some scifi movie from 1980 that I have no idea what it's called. All I remember was a guy in a black turtleneck sweater and a Van Dyke goatee running from some mostly unseen homing robot trying to kill him. The man ran from location to location with no transition scenes just different locations every few seconds. This took up about 10 minutes of the movie, just the guy running. He finally turned confronted the thing and shot it, destroying it with one shot. Then it was revealed this was part of some training, but the dubbing may have had little to nothing to do with the original story. Wish I knew what it was.

Not a lot to base a decision on but of these I'd pick "Solaris".

During the late 80s (before the collapse)I remember seeing a news story about Russian TV producing a miniseries about noble KGB agents fighting corrupt (drug dealing, white slavery, underminding governments) CIA agents around the world. The news report said the plot was very soap opera-like, with lots of sex and violence and little talky propaganda unlike most Soviet entertainment of the time. As close to pure Western style escapist entertainment as the Russian had gotten on TV at that time. I'd love to see it, it looked so over the top even then, it might be pure unintended camp (the best kind usually) now.

[Scott]

My favorite is Alexander Nevsky without a doubt.

Alexander Nevsky - This is one of the best. I really liked the Tutonic Knights and how everything reminded by of the Stromtroopers and the Emperor Palitine from Star Wars. Alot of the images were similiar.

Battleship Potemkin - The best part is the famous Odessa staircase scene where the lady looses the baby carriage down the steps. Another scenes is when the navy makes the decision to help.

Andrei Rublev - This one is ok, but I couldn't find it that interesting.

The Alexander Nevsky and Potemkin are Eisenstien films and also feel like Russian propaganda films. Neat stuff. I guess that propaganda statement isn't fair because I'm sure some of our famous WWII films look like propaganda to foriegners.

[BoyScoutKevin]

"Waterloo," directed by one of Russia's better directors, Sergei Bondarchuk, w/ Rod Steiger as Napoleon and Christopher Plummer as Wellington and an all-star cast that included Virginia McKenna, Jack Hawkings, Dan O'Herlihy, Orson Welles, and Michael Wilding. Steiger overacts, but, it is supposedly a fairly accurate portrayal of what happened that eventful day. The U.S. version runs 123 min., but, there is suppose to be a longer Russian version.

A couple of years before that, the director did the Russian version of "War and Peace." The U.S. version runs 390 min., the U.K. version runs 511 min, and there is suppose to be an even longer Russian version. What I remember most is a couple of the killings done in slo-mo.

And there was before this, from the early '60's, a Russian fantasy film, which I have never seen, but, which I would like to see, as I remember it from the comic book version of the film.

An interesting story arose from the filming of "Waterloo," which makes me think that someone should bring back the horse cavalry. Most of the extras in the film were soldiers from the Russian army, and there was a scene in the film where the French cavalry charged the Allied infantry. As soon as the cavalrycharged, the  extras playing the infantry bolted, though, they weren't suppose to.  They brought the extras back, told them: "Look . The cavalry  is only going so far. So stay in your positions." The cavalry charged again, the extras playing the infantry, bolted again, though, they weren't suppose to. They brought the extras back, and this time they laid a white tape down, where the cavalry was suppose to stop, and they told the extras: "Look! The cavalry  is not going to charge pass this white line. So stay in your positions!"The cavalry charged again, and again the extras playing the infantry bolted a third time, though, they weren't suppose to.  At that, they gave up and threw out the scene.

[Scott]

BoyScoutKevin you know your films. WATERLOO is one of my favorite war movies. Stieger is very good as Napoleon (and in FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE).

Saw WAR AND PEACE and it's ok, but not one of my favorite. Now Woody Allen's LOVE AND DEATH is a riot of a film that takes place in Russia.