Gentlemen of Fortune

Gentlemen of Fortune (Russian: Джентльмены удачи, romanized: Dzhentlmeny udachi) is a 1971 Soviet crime comedy film, filmed at Mosfilm and directed by Aleksandr Sery. The stars of the film include famous Soviet actors such as Savely Kramarov, Yevgeny Leonov, Georgy Vitsin, and Radner Muratov.

Gentlemen of Fortune
Film poster by A. Troshchenkov
Directed byAleksandr Sery
Written byGeorgiy Daneliya
Viktoriya Tokareva
StarringYevgeni Leonov
Georgi Vitsin
Savely Kramarov
Music byGennady Gladkov
CinematographyGeorgi Kupriyanov
Edited byM. Renkova
Distributed byMosfilm
Release date
  • 1971 (1971)
Running time
88 minutes
CountrySoviet Union
LanguageRussian
Box office65.02 million tickets

The film was the leader of Soviet distribution in 1972, drawing 65.02 million box office admissions.[1]

Plot summary

The movie follows the story of an amiable kindergarten principal named Troshkin who looks exactly like a cruel criminal nicknamed Docent (Доцент, literally associate professor) that has stolen Alexander the Great's helmet at an archaeological excavation. Docent and his gang are caught by police, but Docent is imprisoned in a different jail than his mates. Since Troshkin looks identical to Docent, the police send him undercover to prison with the real criminals to get information about the stolen helmet. He must pretend to be the real felon Docent, so in order to be convincing, Troshkin, a well-educated and good-natured man, has to learn slang and manners of criminals.

Cast
  • Yevgeny Leonov as Eugene Ivanovitch Troshkin and Beliy (Docent)
  • Savely Kramarov as Fedya Yermakov (Cross Eyes)
  • Georgy Vitsin as Gavrila Sheremetev (Sad Sack)
  • Radner Muratov as Vasily Alibaba
  • Erast Garin as professor Maltsev, archeologist
  • Nikolay Olyalin as Colonel Verchenko
  • Oleg Vidov as Lieutenant Slavin
  • Natalya Fateyeva as Lyudmila, professor's daughter
  • Anatoli Papanov as chess player in hotel
  • Lyubov Sokolova as kindergarten principal
  • Zoya Vasilkova as sweeper woman
  • Aleksei Vanin as reformed criminal
  • Roman Filippov as Nikola (Nicky) of Peter (vulgar name for Saint-Petersburg), brutal guy in jail
  • Anatoli Yabbarov as Mityai, criminal
  • Pavel Shpringfeld as cloakroom attendant in theater, criminal

Production

The film was directed by Aleksandr Sery who had just come out of prison. Georgiy Daneliya assisted him and wrote the script. Sery used his prison experience to design many situations in the movie, and he also introduced numerous expressions from Russian criminal slang (known as fenya).[2]

References to other films

The film references Three Poplars in Plyushchikha. In one scene, the Sad Sack says: "We are sitting here like three poplars in Plyushchikha!" – when the three prison escapees are sitting in an empty sports stadium. After this film, the phrase "Like three poplars in Plyushchikha" became a famous quote.

References
  1. "Лидеры проката". KinoKultura (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2012-05-10. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
  2. "Джентльменский набор" "Джентльменов удачи". Segodnya (in Russian). 169 (921). 2001-08-01. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
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