“The meeting place cannot be changed” is a Soviet five-part television film directed by Stanislav Govorukhin based on the story by the Weiner brothers “The Era of Mercy” (the title of the film coincides with the title of the novel in the first publication in the magazine “Smena”, No. 15-23 for 1975).
The film tells about the work of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department in the post-war years. Filmed by the Odessa Film Studio, filming began on May 10, 1978 and took place in Odessa and Moscow.
Plot
The film takes place in post-war Moscow in August-November 1945.
Employees of the NKVD department for combating banditry, the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department (MUR) - experienced operative Gleb Zheglov (Vladimir Vysotsky) and hero-intelligence officer, front-line soldier, but new to the detective business, a little naive and idealistic Vladimir Sharapov (Vladimir Konkin) - confront a gang of robbers " Black cat”, which robs stores and mercilessly kills those who get in their way. On the first day of Sharapov’s service in the MUR, operative from Yaroslavl Vasily Vekshin, summoned to Moscow to infiltrate the gang, goes to a pre-arranged meeting with the bandit. Zheglov, Sharapov and other comrades are watching this meeting. But the arriving bandit, choosing the right moment, “says goodbye” to Vasily, and then jumps onto the running board of a passing tram. When the comrades approach Vekshin, who is sitting on a bench, it turns out that he has been killed: the bandit deftly stuck a shiv into him as he said goodbye.
Department employees respond to a call to a warehouse that is being robbed by a gang. Sharapov encounters one of the bandits, but he, pretending to be a front-line soldier, deceives Sharapov and leaves.
At the same time, Sharapov is investigating the murder of a certain Larisa Gruzdeva. The main suspect is her ex-husband, a respectable middle-aged doctor, because a murder weapon was found in his apartment. However, Sharapov, seeing inconsistencies in the testimony and realizing that such intelligent person He could hardly commit the murder of his own wife, he is not sure of Gruzdev’s guilt and seeks to unbiasedly understand the circumstances of the case.
During a citywide operation, operatives in one establishment check documents. A young lady suddenly runs away from the establishment. Sharapov, having discovered this, orders his colleague Nikolai Taraskin to stand in his, Sharapov’s, place, and he rushes in pursuit, detains that same lady and returns back with her. Zheglov recognizes the lady as the prostitute Maria Afanasyevna Kolyvanova, nicknamed Manka-Bond, on whom Larisa Gruzdeva’s bracelet was found. From Manka, the heroes learn that the bracelet was given to her by a repeat offender, Valentin Bisyaev, nicknamed Smoked. Smoked, after he is detained in the billiard room, reports that he won it at cards from pickpocket Saprykin, nicknamed Brick. Kirpich is caught red-handed on a tram while trying to pull a woman’s wallet out of her bag, and although he throws the wallet on the floor, Zheglov quietly puts this important evidence in front of him at the entrance to the police station, and as a result, Kirpich is exposed. During interrogation, he reports, in turn, that he won a bracelet from a certain Fox. Brick provides information about Fox, in particular, that he lives in Maryina Roshcha with Verka the milliner, who alters stolen clothes. There, the police also discover other things missing from Larisa Gruzdeva’s house. The operatives set up an ambush at Verka’s apartment. But due to the cowardice shown by Solovyov (one of the operatives), Fox manages to interrupt the ambush and leave. The second operative, Toporkov, is seriously wounded. Zheglov expels Solovyov from the authorities for cowardice.
Verka reports that Fox was introduced to her by Irina Sobolevskaya, who works at the Fashion House. She tells Sharapov the signs of Fox, and Sharapov recognizes the description of the bandit, whom he had previously missed when trying to detain a gang that was robbing a warehouse. Meanwhile, detectives find out that Sobolevskaya and Gruzdeva were friends, and that Fox was Sobolevskaya’s lover, whom he left for Gruzdeva. Sharapov rechecks the evidence against Gruzdev and proves his innocence. Sobolevskaya reports that Fox is spending the night with Pyotr Ruchnikov, nicknamed “Ruchechnik”. Zheglov and Sharapov catch Ruchechnik and his assistant Volokushina in the theater after Ruchechnik cleverly pulls out the number from the Englishman, and Volokushina gets the mink coat of the Englishman’s wife from this number. Volokushina is then used to lure Fox to a meeting at the Astoria restaurant. Zheglov sets up an ambush in the restaurant. Fox senses something is wrong and tries to leave, but after a car chase through the streets of Moscow at night, the police detain him. During the chase, Zheglov kills the driver of the truck in which Fox is escaping. After fingerprinting, it turns out that this driver is the same bandit who stabbed Vasily Vekshin to death.
At a subbotnik at the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, Sharapov again meets with Sergeant Varvara Sinichkina, a police officer with whom they took a foundling baby to the orphanage. Sympathy arises between the young people and they begin dating.
Sharapov tricks Fox into writing a note to his mistress Anya - through her, the police plan to convey to the gang the “plan for Fox’s release” and Fox’s threat to betray everyone if he is not released. Sharapov meets with the fake Anya, and she makes an appointment for Volodya in Sokolniki. The real Anya arrives and finds out about Fox, but the bandits kidnap Sharapov, push him into the “Bread” van and break away from Zheglov’s surveillance, passing the railway crossing right in front of the train. Sharapov manages (he was helped in this by Levchenko, a former front-line comrade who ended up in a gang) to convince the leader - a hunchback named Karp - of his honesty to him, and the bandits decide to go to the rescue of Fox.
At a meeting at the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, Zheglov decides: although contact with Sharapov is lost, he, as a military man, will understand that the agreed place and time of the operation cannot be changed, and sets up an ambush in the store, bringing Fox there “for an investigative experiment.” But how to save Sharapov? MUR operatives decide that a photograph of Sharapov’s beloved, glued to the closet door, can tell him what to do. When the bandits enter the basement, the lights go out. Sharapov, who discovered Varya’s portrait on the closet door while still in the light, takes refuge in that very closet. The bandits who lost Sharapov begin to call him. Levchenko, already sensing something was wrong, offers to leave, but the leader of the gang, Karp “Humpbacked,” objects: “Let’s finish with HIM (Volodya), then we’ll leave.” And suddenly Zheglov’s loud voice is heard through the ventilation hatch: “Citizens are bandits! Attention! Your gang is completely blocked!...” Further, Zheglov invites the bandits to surrender in an amicable way, warning that otherwise he has instructions from his superiors not to take them alive. The bandits, realizing that they cannot escape, decide to surrender to the police. And now, they are neutralized. Levchenko, not wanting to end up in prison again, attempts to escape and is forced to be killed by Zheglov. Saddened and depressed, Sharapov asks Kopytin to take him to the orphanage. Volodya decides to adopt the baby, but at the orphanage he is informed that the child has already been adopted. Sharapov comes to the apartment of Varya, a guard sergeant, with whom he arranged for the foundling in an orphanage. Here he sees her and the baby she adopted. This is the key difference storyline film from the book, which ends quite pessimistically - Varya dies there.
Cast
Captain Gleb Zheglov, head of the department for combating banditry of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department
Vladimir Konkin - senior lieutenant Vladimir Sharapov
Law enforcement officials:
Vsevolod Abdulov - Petyunya, duty officer Pyotr Solovyov
Andrey Gradov - Nikolai Taraskin
Natalya Danilova - Varya, junior sergeant Varvara Sinichkina, Sharapov's friend (voiced by Natalya Rychagova)
Evgeny Leonov-Gladyshev - Vasily Vekshin (credited as Evgeny Leonov)
Pavel Makhotin - Pavel Vladimirovich, investigator of the prosecutor's office
Alexander Milyutin - Ivan Pasyuk
Alexey Mironov - Alexander Ivanovich Kopytin (based on the book - Ivan Alekseevich Kopyrin)
Heinrich Ostashevsky - general giving a presentation at the Police Department club
Vladlen Paulus - Rodionov, MUR expert
Lev Perfilov - photographer Grigory Ushivin, nicknamed “Six-by-nine”
Evgeniy Shutov - Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Ipatievich Pankov
Evgeniy Stezhko - Lieutenant Toporkov
Sharapov's neighbors:
Zinovy Gerdt - Mikhail Mikhailovich Bomze
Nina Kornienko - Shurka, Alexandra Baranova
Igor Starkov - disabled Semyon, Shurka's husband
Witnesses in the case of Larisa Gruzdeva:
Juno Kareva - Galina Zheltovskaya
Svetlana Svetlichnaya - Nadya Kolesova, sister of Larisa Gruzdeva
Nikolai Slesarev - Fyodor Petrovich Lipatnikov, neighbor of the Gruzdevs
Natalya Fateeva - Ingrid Karlovna (Ira) Sobolevskaya
Sergei Yursky - Ivan Sergeevich Gruzdev (based on the book - Ilya)
Gang "Black Cat":
Alexander Abdulov - bread van driver, Loshak
Alexander Belyavsky - Evgeniy Petrovich Fox
Ivan Bortnik - “Blotter”
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan - Karp ("Humpbacked"), gang leader
Vladimir Zharikov - bandit with a knife (based on the book - “Cast Iron Face”)
Valeria Zaklunnaya - Claudia, Karp's friend
Victor Pavlov - Sergey Levchenko
Oleg Savosin - Alexey Diomidovich Tyagunov
Tatyana Tkach - Anna Petrovna Dyachkova, Fox's friend
Oleg Fedulov - Driver Yesin, Vekshin's killer
Natalya Chenchik - fake "Anya"
Rudolf Mukhin - driver of the Black Cat gang
Other criminals and semi-criminal elements:
Ekaterina Gradova - Svetlana Petrovna Volokushina, Ruchnikov’s assistant
Lyudmila Davydova - “Verka the Milliner”, Vera Stepanovna Markelova (based on the book by Motorina)
Evgeny Evstigneev - Pyotr Ruchnikov, nicknamed “Ruchechnik”
Leonid Kuravlev - Valentin Bisyaev, nicknamed “Smoked”
Stanislav Sadalsky - Konstantin Saprykin, nicknamed “Brick”
Larisa Udovichenko - Maria Afanasyevna Kolyvanova, nicknamed “Manka-Bond”
Other:
Zoya Vasilkova - the victim whose bag was cut by “Brick” on the tram
Misha Epifantsev - grandson of the store watchman
Natalya Krachkovskaya - singer in the cinema
Valentin Kulik - singer in the cinema
Nina Ozornina - restaurant worker
Valery Yanklovich - administrator Bolshoi Theater
Ella Yaroshevskaya - restaurant worker
Natalya Petrova - Marianna, restaurant worker
Sergey Mazaev - saxophonist in a restaurant and cinema
Larisa Guzeeva - a girl dancing with Taraskin
Larisa Golubkina - a railway worker at the crossing where the bandits got away from the “tail”
Film crew
Script writers: Georgy Vayner, Arkady Vayner
Stage director: Stanislav Govorukhin
Chief cameraman: Leonid Burlaka
Main artist: Valentin Gidulyanov
Composer: Evgeny Gevorgyan
Main consultants: K. Nikitin, V. Samokhvalov
Director: N. Popova
Cameraman: V. Shchukin
Costume designer: N. Akimova
Makeup artist: Vyacheslav Laferov
Editing: Valentina Oleynik
Sound engineer: Anatoly Netrebenko (Ukrainian) Russian.
Artist assistants: Mikhail Bezchastnov, L. Tsygulskaya
Editor: I. Aleevskaya
Consultant: N. Kondrashov
Trick photography:
Cameraman: S. Melnichenko
Artist: K. Pulenko
Symphony orchestra Goskino USSR, conductor - M. Nersesyan
Stuntmen: Vladimir Zharikov, Oleg Fedulov
Lighting master: Valery Logvinov
Film director: Dzhemilya Panibrat
Vladimir Vysotsky in the film
After the Weiners gave Vladimir Vysotsky one of the first copies of the newly published novel “The Age of Mercy,” he came to them and said:
I came to stake Zheglov...
The Weiners were surprised: - In what sense do you mean “stake out”?
- It will be a film. Probably big. And that's my role. No one will play Zheglov for you like I do...
From the memoirs of Stanislav Govorukhin it follows that Vladimir Vysotsky read the Weiner book “The Era of Mercy” only during the filming of the film. Before this, Vysotsky artistically lied to the authors about how impressed he was with the book.
About a month before the start of filming, Vladimir Vysotsky and Marina Vladi came to Govorukhin. At this meeting, Vysotsky refused the role of Zheglov: “I cannot lose a year of my life on cinema! I feel that I have little left, I want and must write...”
But the director convinced the actor that the film would not work without him. Vysotsky agreed.
Vysotsky made not only an acting, but also a directing contribution to the film. It was thanks to him that the film featured episodes with the lisping pickpocket Stanislav Sadalsky’s Brick, whose image was created at Vysotsky’s suggestion, and a photograph of Varya on the door of the basement closet, which was supposed to save Sharapov. When Govorukhin was absent on film set, then left Vysotsky “in charge.” It was thanks to this that the interrogation scene of Gruzdev appeared in the film, completely choreographed by Vysotsky.
During filming, Vysotsky had a strong quarrel with Govorukhin and left. Therefore, the Fox truck chase scene was filmed without him. Close-ups of Zheglov (“Pasyuk! Vanya, come on, hold me! - How to hold me? - Gently!”) were filmed later, when Vysotsky “moved away” and arrived.
This is one of the few films where Vysotsky sings songs other than his own. For the film, he wrote the song “About the End of the War,” but Govorukhin refused to include it in the film, as well as the proposed “Ballad of Childhood.” When Govorukhin invited him to sing an excerpt from Alexander Vertinsky’s romance “The Lilac Negro,” Vysotsky replied: “If you don’t want me to sing mine, I won’t sing Vertinsky either,” however, succumbing to persuasion, in one of the scenes, playing the piano , pronounces a few lines from “The Lilac Negro”, but, true to his word not to sing, each time he interrupts them with remarks addressed to Sharapov. The scene of playing the piano is also the only one in the film where Vysotsky’s hero is shown in the full uniform of an NKVD captain.
In 1987, Vysotsky was posthumously awarded the USSR State Prize for creating the image of Zheglov.
Vladimir Konkin about the film
Telling a correspondent for the newspaper “Arguments and Facts” about the film, Vladimir Konkin said:
“Zheglovshchina has not gone away even today - if you look at the touching faces of the police. How they love people, our police chiefs, how they burn at work!..”
“Our society needs ideals. Without them we will be lost. An ideal is a beacon to whose light millions reach out. And Sharapov was such a beacon. Why is this picture not outdated? Not only because the late Vysotsky filmed there. But also because Sharapov is there. Because burning is humiliating an innocent person and not apologizing. The authorities do not apologize to us! How to teach the authorities to be polite? So Sharapov is trying to teach them this.”
Editions
1997 Video CD: 5 Video CD, publisher: " Close-up", 1997
1999 VHS: 2 VHS Cassette, publisher: “Master Tape”, (professional quality Betacam sp VHS) Limited Edition series, 1999
2000 DVD: 2 DVDs, 5.1 sound, English and Russian subtitles, Twister publisher, 2000
2002 CD-Video: 5 MPEG-4 CD, publisher “IDDK”, series “Our Old Cinema”, 2002
2003 VHS: 3 VHS, publisher: Close-up, 2003
Facts about the film
Sharapov’s prototype was Vladimir Arapov, who later became the head of the MUR department. In a photograph from 1945, he bears a striking resemblance to Konkin. However, his character did not correspond to the image of Sharapov; he was a merry fellow and a jokester. Zheglov did not have a prototype; his image was based on many acquaintances of the Weiner brothers.
The film uses materials from real-life criminal cases. In the first episode, Zheglov tells Sharapov about one case from his practice: a murder and a staged gang attack. Such a crime actually happened in Moscow - the case of the former deputy chairman of the military tribunal of the NKVD troops Krylov, which was investigated by one of Sharapov’s prototypes, Vladimir Pavlovich Arapov. Has its own real basis and the Gruzdev case (candidate of medical sciences Evgeny Ilyich Mirkin in 1944 was accused of murdering his wife and sentenced to death, but MUR employees were able to prove his innocence).
Members of the criminal group (by the name of the MUR employees “The Tall Blonde Gang”), which became the prototype of the “Black Cat” gang, lived in Krasnogorsk near Moscow. They worked at the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant, and in their free time they lived by robbing savings banks. The legendary detective Igor Skorin took part in the liquidation of this gang, who served as the prototype for Colonel Danilov, the main character of a series of works by E. Khrutsky, two of which were filmed: “According to the Criminal Investigation Department” and “Proceed with Liquidation.”
Initially, the film was planned to be called the same as the book - “The Era of Mercy”, but since film officials categorically did not like the “non-Soviet” word “mercy”, the name was changed.
The authors of the film were given a categorical condition: not to kill Levchenko and Varya, as in the novel. This immediately distorted everything ideological meaning. After much debate, a choice was given: one person must be killed. I had to “sacrifice” Levchenko.
Contrary to the agreement between the USSR State Television and Radio and Television and the Odessa Film Studio, the film turned out to be not seven episodes, but five. Two “extra” episodes were shortened by re-editing at the request of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Among the deleted scenes were several fragments at the front, explaining the reasons for the friendly relationship between Sharapov and Levchenko. In the original version, a large piece on the front was shown immediately after the silent scene when Sharapov recognized Levchenko, and as a flashback of Sharapov during their conversation at night.
Larisa Udovichenko claims that she has become catchphrase“Bond or Bond?” escaped her accidentally, since at that moment she really did not know the correct spelling of this word. This episode is included in the final version of the film.
When in the fifth episode, Hunchback and Blotter demand Sharapov to play the piano, Sharapov performs Chopin - etude in f minor, Op. 25 No. 2.
In the restaurant where Fox is dancing with the waitress, at the same table with Zheglov sits the daughter of the writer Arkady Weiner Natalya Daryalova and the son of Vysotsky’s friend Vadim Tumanov, Taraskin dances with Larisa Guzeeva, and in the background Sergei Mazaev plays the saxophone among the musicians. He also plays in the orchestra in the last episode, in the cinema before the screening of the film (the song “Bad Date”).
At one time there was an idea to make a sequel to the film. On the Weiners' desk there was a folder with a draft script written by Vysotsky. However, Govorukhin put an end to the discussion of the topic: “Zheglov is dead, Sharapov is old, with whom and why should we continue?”
In 1990, the group “Lube” sang the song “Atas” about the main characters of the film.
Mikhail Sheleg’s song “Black Cat” is dedicated to the heroes of the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed”: “Captain Zheglov tracked down Fox, Gruzdev asks Sharapov for questioning
The monument to V. Vysotsky in the image of Gleb Zheglov was erected in Mariupol in the city center, next to the “Meeting Place” restaurant.
On April 14, 2009, a monument to Zheglov and Sharapov was unveiled in Kyiv near the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
The film's credits indicate the son of Marina Vladi and Robert Hossein, Pierre Hossein, who was present on the set, although Pierre himself, while watching the film, could not find himself. In fact, he participates in the episode where Varya Sinichkina leads him by the hand.
S. Govorukhin's first wife, Juno Kareva, starred in the role of Galina Zheltovskaya.
In the role of Sharapov, V. Vysotsky wanted to see another artist - A. Molchanov, but he refused the role.
Scenes in the film: the identification of Fox and the release of Gruzdev were filmed under the direction of Vladimir Vysotsky.
The matches of the 1946 USSR football championship "Zenit" - "Spartak" and CDKA - "Dynamo" (the film does not specify which one - Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk or Tbilisi) actually took place in different times. On August 19, the match between CDKA and Dynamo (Moscow) (1:0) actually took place, but it was not Zenit that played against Spartak, but another club from Leningrad, Dynamo (Leningrad). The murder of Larisa Gruzdeva in the film occurred on August 21, when there were no scheduled matches.
Phrases that have become catchphrases
A number of phrases and expressions from the film have firmly entered the phraseology of the modern Russian language, becoming popular. Among them:
“A thief should be in prison!” (Zheglov)
“What a face you have, Volodya! What a sight you have, Sharapov!” (Zheglov) (this phrase is usually used in a form that is not in the film: “What a face you have, Sharapov!”)
“Treat the lady with a match, citizen boss!” (Manka Bond)
“We have doubts that you, dear man, are a snitch” (Humpbacked)
“Mercy is a priest’s word” (Zheglov)
“You are not consciousness - you have lost your conscience” (Zheglov)
“And now - Hunchback!” (Zheglov)
“Don’t be afraid, we won’t hurt you. Chick - and you’re already in heaven” (Humpbacked)
“Don’t teach a scientist, Citizen Smoked!” (Zheglov)
“Bond or Bond?” (Manka Bond)
"wallet, wallet, what wallet?" (Konstantin Saprykin(Brick)
Vladimir Konkin in the film “The meeting place cannot be changed” got the role of an ideal policeman who, like a young pioneer, “does not smoke, does not drink, does not bite seeds,” rarely uses weapons and does not allow himself any liberties. Disputes about whether he coped with the role or not, whether he looks like a front-line reconnaissance soldier, etc. are still going on. But many people can no longer imagine another Sharapova.
Photo tests for the role of Volodya Sharapov
The Weiner brothers, in their novel The Age of Mercy, had their own exact description of Sharapov: Sharapov is a blond man with a very thick hair, one of his front teeth is chipped or missing, he has a snub nose and small eyes. During the filming of the film, Konkin had one tooth specially made up to make it look like it had been chipped off. But were there any others? common features from the artist Konkin and the man from whom the Weiner brothers based their Sharapov?
Vladimir Konkin with his wife Alla in the courtyard of the Odessa film studio. May 1978 Photo from the personal archive of Vladimir Konkin
The director of the film, Govorukhin, did not immediately imagine his Sharapov. He chose from many candidates. We can clearly talk about three - Sergei Shakurov, Evgeniy Gerasimov and Evgeniy Leonov-Gladyshev. Sergei Shakurov notes that the role of Sharapov is, of course, interesting, but he and Shakurov would hardly work well with Vysotsky
The head of the USSR State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Sergei Lapin wanted Konkin to be Sharapov. That's it! In fact, if it weren’t for Konkin, the film might not have been allowed to be filmed at all. The Weiners and Govorukhin had to agree
The debate on the topic “whether Vladimir Konkin is suitable for the role of Sharapov” has not subsided for almost 40 years. Opponents say that Konkin's Sharapov is too intelligent and gentle for a reconnaissance company commander. Supporters - that there were many such pure Komsomol members among the front-line soldiers. The Weiners saw their hero as "a convincingly strong man." Konkin does not fit this description. So how did it happen that Vladimir Konkin played Sharapova?
There are many stories from different journalists about this. And the majority say that Konkin was “imposed from above.” That the creators had no choice.
But I would like to know about this, so to speak, first-hand, from the creators. And the phonogram came to my aid creative evening Weiner brothers, held in Leningrad in 1983. There was a lot of interesting stuff there about the filming of the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed”
Here's what Arkady Weiner said:
"...The screen tests began. The main actors were presented. One undeniable hero is Vysotsky for the role of Zheglov. The second is his constant partner, his second “I” in this film is Sharapov. Suddenly Govorukhin tells us: “I propose Vladimir Konkin ". We say: “Who is he?” He says: “He played Pavka Korchagin.” I can honestly admit to you that we didn’t watch that picture, but one day I saw something like that out of the corner of my eye on the box, and I didn’t like the performance. I somehow always imagined Pavka Korchagin differently, not the way Konkin imagined him.
Govorukhin said: “He’s wonderful! This is what Sharapov needs. You haven’t seen his eyes, his face is pure, noble.”
We did screen tests and watched it. We definitely didn't like him. And not because he is a bad artist or an unimportant person... We didn’t like him on screen in the form of Sharapov. We imagined Sharapov, and then described him in our very large novel, and then in the script, as a front-line intelligence officer who walked across the front line forty-two times and returned with a “tongue” on his shoulder.
You don’t have to be a front-line soldier yourself, you don’t have to be a veteran and have seven spans in your forehead to imagine that a scout who captures a fascist on his territory and drags him on his shoulders across the front line must be a convincingly strong man. Volodya Konkin could not look like such a man; he was not born one.
When these tests were shown on Central Television, it turned out that our opinion was fully shared by the artistic council - not a single vote was cast for Konkin, and the director was officially asked to look for another artist...
A few days later he calls: “Please, come, we will test candidates for the role of Sharapov in front of you. I found ten people.”
We arrive at the studio, he introduces us to the dressing room, where the future “Sharapovs” are putting on their makeup. We saw these eight or nine “Sharapovs”, fell to the floor and started crying and laughing. All the signs of hysteria were there.
He brought us ten more Konkins, only worse and thinner. Where he was able to get them in a week is incomprehensible to the mind, but he is generally a very energetic comrade. When we saw this, we said: “Slava, stop. No need to waste the film, no need to do screen tests. Apologize to people, pay them what they are supposed to.”
We realized that in some kind of directorial twist, the image of Konkin stuck with him forever as Sharapov, and if we start to break it, we can break his creative spirit. So the question was closed and, in fact, they didn’t give it to us, but we ourselves took Konkin. The very first material began to show that our fears were not in vain, but there was nowhere to go..."
Here is an interesting excerpt from Stanislav Govorukhin:
"...Konkin played well, who can argue, but I saw a different Sharapov. I intended to call Gubenko first. And then Vysotsky argued: where, we will paint with the same paint... Indeed, it would be Sharapov to match Zheglov , himself with some sneaky cunning. And I needed an intellectual. And only when half of the picture was shot, I remembered Filatov. They would have worked well with Vysotsky, and this would have been the Sharapov I wanted from the very beginning. strength, who does not give in to him. Only the strong are suitable for a strong partner..."
Sources
www.v-vysotsky.com/Vysotsky_v_Odesse/tex t06.html
www.vysotsky.ws/
www.fotki.yandex.ru/users/sura-sid2010-a/a lbum/199624/
www.lgz.ru/article/-48-6489-3-12-2014/iz menit-nelzya/
www.msk.kp.ru/daily/26372/3253655/
www.blog.fontanka.ru/posts/182583/
www.aif.ru/culture/movie/43178
www.1tv.ru/sprojects_edition/si5901/fi23 536
Zheglov and Sharapov
Immediately after the premiere, reviewers formed a rare consensus regarding the controversial figure of Captain Zheglov. And this was not a definite plus. Everyone recognized the image’s bright individuality and extraordinary charisma, coming directly from the actor Vysotsky, but in the personality of Gleb Zheglov, reviewers saw, first of all, a reflection of the character of the post-war time, difficult and difficult. Zheglov’s fury was too conspicuous; it could not be ignored, missed, or attributed to his difficult character, because it led to official excesses and reminded the older generation of the heavy hand of the punitive authorities in the Stalin years. And yet, in the opinion of film critics, this quality of Gleb Zheglov was justified by the fact that the character did not fit into the simple circuits. He was alive, real, the viewer believed in him as a genuine hero, composed not of literary formulas, but of nerves, torn veins, hoarse voice, out of audacity (sometimes in the face of the authorities), out of ingenuity and life experience. Thanks to these qualities, Vysotsky’s Zheglov looked head and shoulders above his colleagues, an almost outstanding person, and at the same time he surprisingly fit into the era, he was the very “cog” of the justice machine. It is impossible to remove at least one of the features from the image of Zheglov, as Vysotsky played him. Gleb Zheglov is both dangerous and attractive with his pressure, sweeping away everything superficial and small. The phrase “a thief should be in prison!” in the mouth of the actor became a crowning one - almost a popular slogan that could be written on a red red banner for Police Day. But its continuation – “...and it doesn’t matter how I hide it there” – is not acceptable for everyone.
This is Captain Zheglov, head of the anti-banditry department of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department of the 1945 model. It is difficult to imagine a police detective more organic to his time, despite the fact that Zheglov was born not on the pages of post-war prose, but decades later in the novel “The Era of Mercy.” In theory, such a bright detective should seem like a black sheep - criminal investigation workers appeared on the Stalinist screen in a tightly buttoned jacket. He looks like something out of a gangster film noir - he sports a leather coat, a wide-brimmed hat, a striped jacket and civilian trousers tucked into chrome boots. And his casually dropped phrase about the dress uniform: “These are like home pajamas for me, I’ve never worn them, and I probably won’t have to,” can be taken as frontiersmanship. Gleb Yegorych Zheglov is too informal, he is not for the podium, he is all in menial work - he cleanses Moscow from gangs of robbers and murderers, and he has no time to show off with gold shoulder straps.
The trick is that Zheglov’s image is half woven from a seventies-era retrospective view of the post-war period. Soviet cinema of the so-called “stagnation” era suddenly discovered the other side of things: it turned out that Stalin era(like any other) has its own “background”, not only monochromatic - romantic, tragic or comic, but also purely everyday, that the heroes are people who also live - in modest apartments and communal apartments, overcoming daily difficulties.
We do not see any varnishing in the image of Zheglov, although panache, posing, and a kind of artistry are very characteristic of him. In this he is close to the English detective Sherlock Holmes, who preferred to put on a show instead of catching a criminal. Captain Zheglov is also not averse to playing on the nerves of the antisocial element, “morally crushing” (as the critic V. Mikhalkovich put it) - let them know what Gleb Zheglov’s principles are. Therefore, we cannot explain the performance staged by Zheglov in the Bolshoi Theater administrator’s office using operational ingenuity alone. Here, take it higher, social pedagogy!
Zheglov is a convinced man; in his daily and often dangerous work, he sees his social mission. It seems that he is a team man - his task force works so harmoniously, but by his character he is a typical lone wolf. Of all the criminal investigation officers who are shown to us in the film, he is the most “charged” person. The most purposeful and emotionally involved. Sometimes it seems that Zheglov revels in single combat with bandits. He, so to speak, keeps a personal score with the underworld - here's another parallel with Sherlock Holmes.
It's no surprise that such extraordinary personality fate presented its “Doctor Watson”, not inferior to his boss either in emotional charge or in personal motivation, although in a completely different way. I don’t know whether the Weiner brothers consciously came to this decision - to repeat Conan Doyle’s formula, create a duet of detectives, choosing a demobilized officer to play the role of the detective’s friend.
Unlike Zheglov, the image of Lieutenant Sharapov provoked controversy among reviewers.
The debate about Sharapova went beyond the discussion of one character, and especially the performing actor. The image of Lieutenant Sharapov performed by Vladimir Konkin turned out to be something like cornerstone or, if you like, a stumbling block.
One can argue whether Konkin played well, whether he had enough skill, especially in the scenes in the thieves' raspberry - audiences are still scratching their heads about this topic. In my opinion, he played well. Dissatisfied critics, giving an actor a “bad” rating, are confusing two different concepts, two different games, two different performances, when they claim that Konkin played unconvincingly, that with such a performance he would inevitably fail in front of seasoned repeat offenders. But the artist Vladimir Konkin actually played not for them, but for us, fulfilling the task set by the director - to reveal all the precariousness of the inner position of his hero. The task was to broadcast to us Sharapov’s game on the verge of a foul: the hero is pierced by the thought that he is on the verge of death, and the operation is one step away from failure - and life forces him to improvise, to play an unprepared role. It is in such moments that the most unexpected reserves of the personality are activated.
We know the whole truth about Sharapov, but the bandits are only guessing about this “big-eared fellow.” Unlike Zheglov, a man of mystery, Sharapov is extremely clear to us from the first second of the film. He is, so to speak, transparent to us. As a behavioral model - in what his character really is, his attitude towards the world, what his potential is. And this circumstance is both inherent in the plot and justified by the choice of actor Konkin for this role, who previously played one of the most iconic roles in Soviet drama, the role of Pavka Korchagin. Sharapov is straightforward, sometimes tearful, but this is due to the fact that his character was formed suddenly, overtaken and hardened by the war, to which he went almost from his school days. It is very possible that when asked about a loved one literary work Volodya Sharapov will answer honestly: “How the steel was tempered” by N. Ostrovsky. Therefore, when Zheglov tells him, fearing to send him on a mission: “Volodya, you have ten classes written on your forehead,” this is not a figure of speech.
How many times has it happened that people who went through the front, who showed unparalleled courage and extraordinary ingenuity in war, found themselves with no lot in peaceful life. They showed their inability to cope with civil life and acted naively and absurdly. Life after the war is also a test. But Volodya Sharapov is again at the front, mobilized for the war against crime. He did not have time to become confused in peaceful life. “Eyes are burning” - this is about him, he also has the passion for fighting. Having survived and won, returning from the human meat grinder young and healthy, ready to build a new life, Lieutenant Sharapov personifies the generation of winners. It's like he's looking into his face bright side existence is the hope of a generation, while Zheglov’s face is darkened by close acquaintance with dark sides human nature. Together, both heroes are like two sides of the same coin.
When critic V. Revich writes that Sharapov, as played by Konkin, is timeless, equally suitable for both the 50s and the 70s, this, oddly enough, may testify in favor of the accused. It is clear that the critic wanted to stigmatize the hero played by Konkin, accusing the image of stiltedness and schematism. A clear allusion to the one replicated in Soviet literature and cinema type of “fiery Komsomol member”. But here, it seems to me, it’s different. Sharapova's integrity may be naive, but it is sincere. His social optimism beats in unison with his youth and the historical moment in the life of the country. Both, as time shows, are transitory, but this does not mean that they are not real.
Writers the Weiner brothers and director Govorukhin laid down a kind of Ariadne thread of idealism in the image of Sharapov, stretching it from the victorious 1945 to the late 1970s. In the late Brezhnev USSR, there was a shortage not only of fashionable wardrobe items, but also of this type of hero. This greatly explains the internal affinity of the film’s viewers, and initially the story’s readers, with Volodya Sharapov. The hero performed by Vladimir Konkin - with his idealism and doubts, with sincere impulses and disappointments - seemed like a man in his place. And at the same time he was read as “one of our own,” as a “transparently understandable” hero, impressive with his not always appropriate directness, similar to very, very many, and by no means unique.
analytical in Murka: who was the heroine of the criminal song in real life“Murka” - the most popular of all songs in the chanson genre - had a very specific author. It was created by Odessa satirist and songwriter Yakov Petrovich Yadov. He also wrote other popular “folk” songs: “Bagels”, “Fried Chicken”, etc.
The heroine of "Murka"
The plot of the song “Murka” is perceived by listeners as a conventional, as if collective story from the life of criminals. At the same time, Murka, or, as specified in the song itself, Marusya Klimova, actually existed. Yadov wrote this song about the realities of the 20s, when the country was going through the era of the New Economic Policy and the criminal element literally multiplied in all cities.
Maria Prokofievna Klimova was a real woman. She was born in 1897 in the city of Veliky Ustyug. A copy of the document has been preserved, which accurately indicates this data. The most interesting thing is that Klimova’s occupation is also listed in the same document. Many listeners familiar with the song “Murka” may mistakenly decide that this lady was the lover of some repeat offender and therefore moved in a criminal environment.
Prototype of the famous thief
Historical truth testifies that Marusya Klimova was in fact a captain of the NKVD (originally the Cheka). The legendary Murka was a secret agent, a kind of “sent Cossack” in the criminal world. The woman worked in a special secret unit that fought organized crime in the new, young Soviet state.
Yadov wrote the song “Murka” about the secret operation of the Cheka, in which Captain Klimova was involved. For obvious reasons, the author of the hit could not write directly about this, so he slightly romanticized the laws adopted in the criminal environment. As a result, it turned out that the song was not about the operation itself, but about the frivolous girlfriend of a criminal who “surrendered” the gang to the MUR.
The song contains many hints and references to that time. For example, it is mentioned that a large gang in Odessa was “followed by the GubChK.” Documents preserved in the archives of the NKDV indicate that the Odessa ports in the 20s of the 20th century presented a great temptation for the criminal element, which was actually monitored.
In the finale, the thief meets his dear Murka in an elite restaurant wearing a “leather jacket.” This is exactly how employees of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department and the Cheka dressed at that time. Maria Klimova herself introduced herself in the gang as Margarita Dmitrievskaya. She “confidantly” told gang members that this was her real name.
Further fate
After the criminal group was captured, the woman served in the Cheka for some time. Then her traces were lost. All documentation about the Odessa special operation and Murka who participated in it were classified. There were various rumors about the real Dmitrievskaya, whose surname Klimova appropriated for herself.
They said that she was in Makhno’s group and emigrated somewhere to Romania. According to another version, the girl lived for some time in Odessa, then was raped and, unable to bear the shame, committed suicide. Many Odessa residents believed that Klimova and Dmitrievskaya were doubles.
