No other film in the world serves better to describe the idea of a Russian movie classic. This verdict could be undersigned by millions and millions of people in the former USSR.
On the other hand, this film is the best one ever made in that peculiar genre which flourished in the Soviet times under the unofficial name of "Ostern", labeled thus by some highbrow wits. What is Ostern? Plainly and simply, it is Western Russian style, with West replaced by East and the word "Ostern" itself being a pun on the German equivalents for "East" and "Easter". The genre of Ostern is strictly limited by the following rules:
The place, Central Asia; the time, the 20's, or the early 30's. The main conflict is the re-conquering by the Soviets of those parts of the region that had belonged to the Russian Empire before the revolution. The good guys are Red Army men. The bad guys are local rebels, pictured strictly as highwayman and cutthroats, known by the generic (Turkic) name of "basmachi" - imagine some Mexican banditos from your horse opera, dressed like the Taliban and headed by a Calvera (The Magnificent Seven) conveniently renamed to suit the time and place.
Now, the way the particular Ostern winds up, is this good guy Sukhov (a Russian Clint Eastwood) has to wipe out, almost single-handedly, a whole gang of smugglers and outlaws terrorizing a certain region of the Caspian (or maybe Aral?) Sea coast and headed by a gruesome yet not entirely unlikable desperado named Abdulla, who is Sukhov's main adversary.
The movie combines several genres. Sometimes it's a simple shoot-em-all, sometimes a drama, and sometimes even a bit of comedy, with all this mixed in a perfect proportion. The sparks of humor look especially good on the rather tense general background, thus creating a unique atmosphere and spicing up the whole thing.
Being the best Ostern ever made, the movie is a tolerably good action flick, but actually it's a thousand times more than that. For the Russians it's a cult movie number one, with almost every line being a celebrated catch-phrase. Especially well-known is this one, "The East is a delicate matter", said by Sukhov to his young partner Petrukha. The baleful significance of this wisecrack, made in the early 70's, has been finally appreciated only after the Afghan campaign and from then on never fails to remain on the national political agenda.
The soundtrack has become truly famous, with the theme song "Your Excellency Lady Luck" (name translated) a top hit for decades, and, no doubt, for many, many years to come.
Most of the principal characters have become heroes of numerous jokes, and therefore, part and parcel of the national folklore.
If you haven't seen this one, you don't know Russian cinematography, simply because this film alone is worth hundreds and hundreds of others made in that country.
