You might not associate frivolous caper comedy with the dour Soviet Union of gulags and five-year plans, but that’s what Gentlemen of Fortune is. A larky affair that probably works best if you get all the cultural specifics, it’s perfectly entertaining even with very little knowledge of the USSR. It’s one of the most successful comedies ever produced under the communist system – doesn’t that tickle your curiosity?
It’s a very familiar story, of one man posing as another, kicking off with the theft from an archaeological dig of a solid gold helmet reputed to have belonged to Alexander the Great. The thieves are soon caught and sentenced to prison, but where’s the helmet? With the gang leader in one jail and his two accomplices in another, a plan is hatched, involving the recruitment of a meek school teacher who happens to look like the gang leader. Posing as the boss, Troshkin is sent to the jail where the other two members of the gang are incarcerated. Maybe, the thinking goes, they’ll relax enough to tell him where the helmet is.
So there it is, the sort of thing that might have been made in any country almost at any time, a comedy of mistaken identity and breezy ineptitude, with Evgeniy Leonov playing both the brilliant kindergarten teacher and the tough gang boss nicknamed Docent. The humour comes in two forms: Troshkin blundering about in jail failing to get the hang of the criminal life, mangling the slang – “I’ll clobber him, whap him, gouge his blinkers out” – but busking through largely because the real Docent’s henchmen are terrified of him; and of the teacher treating the criminal fraternity like a class of kids. But, big warm aah, sometimes if you treat people with warmth and respect they react in kind.
There is more plot, designed to keep the ball in the air for as long as possible (88 minutes in fact), involving a prison break and a cross-country chase after the helmet, winding up where the film started, at an archaeological dig. This allows various new characters to be introduced and opens up space for more elaborate slapstick scenes, like the one where the gang hides out in a truck that gets filled with wet cement. The action also pauses a couple of times for a song. But eventually Troshkin and Docent must meet, in a sequence that is very well done, especially considering this is 1971.
Leonov is the obvious star and does the bulk of the dramatic work. But Saveliy Kramarov and Georgiy Vitsin as henchmen Khmyr (rendered as Sad Sack in the subtitles) and Kosoy (Crosseyes) pull their weight in the comedy department. That said, it’s light-hearted and jaunty rather than gut-bustingly funny, a Sunday-afternoon movie that’s enjoyable to watch but doubtless means more if you are familiar with the actors and the era. Think The Three Stooges.
Technically, it’s a bright and breezy film too – nice sharp image, well translated subtitles (the mangled slang is particularly well caught) and with a loungecore soundtrack that frolics about like the actors.
To foreign eyes there are some fascinating aspects. Like the many scenes filmed in the desert landscapes of what was then the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, but is now Uzbekistan. Camels abound, and people in Asiatic costume and with oriental looks fill the frame. We (meaning I) tend to think of the USSR as a largely European place. But this is a reminder of how vast the USSR was (ten time zones) and Russia still is.
The film is available to buy Amazon, but there’s also a very good version of it – sharp image, well subtitled – on the Mosfilm YouTube channel, a goldmine of interesting stuff, and all for free. As said, it probably means more to people familiar with the lead actors, and the various supporting actors, but slick caper comedy works best when it looks like it is all happening effortlessly. And that’s what’s happening here.
Gentlemen of Fortune – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
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© Steve Morrissey 2026
