Mosfilm
*Tima*
"Genre" Artists Association
THE COLD SUMMER OF 1953
By and by birds of passage are flying
In the autumnal clear-sky blue.
To warm climes in the South they're flying,
But I'll remain here with you...
Written by Edgar Dubrovsky
Directed by Alexander Proshkin
Director of Photography Boris Brozhovsky
Production Designer Valery Filippov
Music by V. Martynov Sound by A. Tsygankov
Shock work is our answer to the 1953 five-year plan!
Starring
Valery Priyomykhov
Anatoly Papanov
Victor Stepanov, Nina Ussatova Zoya Buryak
Yuri Kuznetsov, Vladimir Kashpur
With
S. Vlassov, V. Golovin A. Dudarenko, A. Zavyalov
A. Kolesnik, V. Kosykh B. Plotnikov, Ye. Solodova
Get off your ass.
Why should I sweat for both of us?
Am I any worse than you?
You ought to work,
or you'll go to pot.
I've seen guys like you.
I've seen even worse.
They were real thugs.
Hey, Chaff!
The old folks said they won't feed you anymore.
You've lived off them for a month. That's enough.
The guy with the fish is always right.
- You'll starve. - No...
Not in the summer.
They're coming back.
Here, sharpen the spoon. Do something.
Not a big catch this time, but enough to fill a small barrel.
Take it, Spade.
Lida! I want to rebuild a bath-house stove. Will you give me a hand?
Later, Ma.
What are you staring at?
I know your kind.
I wanted to ask you:
You ever been to Moscow?
I don't remember.
What d'you mean?
Why are you so scrawny?
You're hungry, aren't you?
I'll get you something when Ma's gone. Say 'bow-wow'.
Mother!
Ma, are you crazy?
You fool.
You make me mad.
Greetings to the captain of the roads!
- Have you brought what you promised? - It's in the boat.
- Good day! - You brought my order?
No, Yakov. I didn't have time to.
A little bit too small.
It's factory-made, though.
The photographer gave it to me.
- Send him some sturgeon. - What?
I say, send him some sturgeon.
Well, what's new in the country?
My buddy died the other day.
We were in action together.
- His wounds did him in? - The cons did him in.
At his doorstep. On his way home from work.
They took his uniform and gun.
And robbed a store, bastards.
Armed robbery... That's how they're celebrating the amnesty.
We thrashed them all right,
but six of them escaped to the woods.
They're out there in the area.
Too bad we're short of dogs.
What d'you mean, the amnesty?
Last spring, when Comrade Stalin died,
Beria proclaimed an amnesty
for all criminals.
I couldn't understand it:
the whole country was mourning, and all bandits were let free.
The Force has been run off its feet.
It's a fucking bloodbath...
No, they thought about everything.
Whatever is being done is right.
It means... it's the Party line.
At dawn I was filling up my boat
and saw Dmitryuk, the police chief, riding along,
with something tied up back of his saddle.
The fog was so heavy,
all I could see was the horse's head.
Dmitryuk had a portrait before him.
And not one, three portraits.
He tossed them down, dismounted and said to me: "Pour gasoline on them."
I say: "Is this an order?" " Yes, it's an order," he says.
And cursed loud and long.
So... we burned them.
Whose portraits they were, you say?
Beria's. Who else's?
Dmitryuk is an enemy of the people.
There was an announcement over the radio last night.
It was only transmitted once.
Dmitryuk called HQ, and they confirmed it.
Beria's been denounced.
Expelled from the Party.
Arrested.
- That's it! - No!
I haven't been notified.
Now you've been... notified.
According to regulations...
who has a right to destroy official portraits?
There're only two of us here.
Get lost.
Hey you, philosopher!
- Did you bring it? - Yes.
Let's have it.
I can't reach it, you ox.
It's the one I wanted.
Is it a foreign make?
It's a war trophy.
Cut it out.
Well, go ahead.
Trim the hair on my back.
Be careful!
This isn't a pigsty! Get out of the roads!
How many boats do you have?
Nine, counting yours.
What's so funny?
Why's the enemy of the people lolling around here?
He's harmless.
- He's got only 5 more years of exile. - I know how harmless they are.
When is the launch due?
Any day now. It's loading at the procurement office.
Is the investigation at the main office over?
No, still digging. Why, does it worry you?
Why should I worry? I quit working there after the war.
A trail may lead far back.
You mean you're as pure as the driven snow?
I see you're vigilant.
And you've got a strong argument in your pocket.
You know how to put that paper to use, don't you?
I sure do.
So do I.
I'll be expecting you tonight.
You can cut my hair while you're at it.
Why'd they nickname you Chaff?
That's what I am.
Chaff.
You're such a liar.
And you don't know yourself why you're doing it.
Still not working?
You're a war veteran, damn you!
Where were you in action?
On the 1st Byelorussian Front.
How did you end up prisoner?
It's all in my file, chief.
You're too proud, aren't you?
I was storming the Carpathians while you...
were licking the Nazis' boots in some P.O.W. camp.
You and the old man are to report in.
If you keep quiet, we'll let you live.
Anybody else here?
No, only me.
Any strangers in the village?
No.
- Lead us in. - Bring out the grub!
Then there was Vanya, the sailor.
He was as dark-haired as a Gypsy. He was here before Fadeyich.
Ajolly fellow.
He was forever singing when he was sober.
But he'd beat Ma whenever he got drunk.
When I became a four-grader, he took me to the settlement.
Ma's saved up 300 rubles for a coat for me: "Hand it over to Aunt Nina."
And Vanya and his pals spent it all on drinks.
After that he must've got conscience-stricken.
Anyway... he ran off on the last boat.
When they opened the trading station,
this manager showed up.
I don't like him. He's greedy.
He said today: "Why don't you drop in?"
"What for?" I say.
"I've got candy and condensed milk." Can you imagine?
Listen to me, Shura,
you can's trust people nowadays.
They're all jerks, Shura.
What were you before?
Before?
Before what, Shura?
Ma wants me to go to college.
I said I'd stay and help her.
But she wants me to go.
I'd like to live in a city.
In Moscow.
- To study there. - To be what?
That's a secret.
Are you off your mind, Lydia?
Do you think we don't know who you are?
People aren't arrested for nothing in our country. You got it?
Shame on you, Ma!
- Codeine! - What are you doing?
Scram!
- Got any ammo for a TT? - What?.. No.
- And for a revolver? - Where'd I get any?
They're not hunting guns.
Yes, they are.
- Are the boats locked up? - No. Why?
So there's only one small-bore and one Berdan rifle in the village?
- Right. - Go make some.
We leave in an hour.
Baron, a woman's heading here.
Go out and meet her.
Out on the porch. Don't let her in.
If anything goes wrong, finish them both off, Hook.
Go home. I've got stomach cramps.
I don't want to.
Go to bed, too.
I don't want a haircut. Go...
It was the mute.
Listen... Want to swap?
- It's too big for you. - Never mind.
I could've told the mute in sign-language.
Why didn't I?
I guess you want to live.
The launch will be here...
tomorrow night or the day after.
It's bringing cash for the trading office.
There'll be five or six men aboard,
armed with one or two guns and a TT.
You won't get far in these boats.
But we will in a launch.
Who we?
You and your lice?
Nah, he's clean. He stinks of cologne.
There's a policeman here.
He arrived yesterday. He told me about the launch.
He's got a sub-gun.
Why didn't you warn us about the cop?
Well, am I with you now?
A motor launch sounds fine.
We can't get the cop at night.
The dogs will start barking, and he'll mow us down.
We can't move freely tomorrow, either.
Let's send him to lure the cop out.
No. I like things to be in full view.
So I can get the feel of them.
I forgot my paper.
The amnesty.
See anything?
An old hag.
Have a look, Hook.
What does she want?
I said I'd give her some kerosene.
Mankov, there're bandits in my house.
Help.
Tell Mankov to come here quick.
Say it's urgent.
- Give him this. - All right.
- Tell him, please. - Thanks a million.
I'll never forget it.
- Don't shake it. - I won't spill it.
He may not come. He doesn't take orders from me.
If he doesn't, that means you didn't ask him right.
He's not coming, shit!
I'll strangle you!
Shut up.
The cop swallowed the bait.
He's coming!
Hide, everyone!
Wake up, Mikhalych!
Leave the door open. We'll get him in the doorway.
Hide!
Sit down, you!
Go on.
Don't waste your ammo, you dope.
You're too trigger-happy!
Lock everyone up in their houses. No one is to go out.
Vitya!
Take those two guns and shoot the dogs...
Mikhalych, check the boats.
Don't touch the woman on the pier.
Listen, Chaff. Where did they escape from?
What camps?
The amnesty set them free.
To mark the death of Joseph Stalin, our leader and teacher.
- What are you doing, you bastards? - Take it away!
- Wait! - Where are you going?
Go!
I'm starved.
- Who are they? - Chaff and Spade.
Political exiles.
Lock them up with the rest, Fly.
So you're enemies of the people, Trotskyites, saboteurs?
No wonder you've got ugly mugs.
So you don't love our country?
Enough.
Come on.
Listen to me, you goners.
Start digging a grave
for this heroic cop who died at his post.
- Is the task understood? - You stay in the village, Fly.
Nobody trespasses on State property!
Don't you dare come any farther!
Why did you stop, bums? Dig over there, by the stone,
so that the pig's grave is in full view.
A step to the left or right means an attempt to escape.
I forbid you to trespass on State property!
Go down to the cabin.
Go.
Hey, you!
Cook dinner for seven persons.
Hey, you! Where's the broad?
That plump kid.
Think fast!
Where's the girl, Gramps?
You rats!
If I don't find her by this evening,
I'll drop you both.
Chaff... She's a goner.
Court and prison are all you can hope for.
Why?
Because you're bucking the State.
The State pardoned us.
It crossed off all our sins and will again.
What can your State do? Kill me?
Well, I can kill you, too. Or anyone else.
What'd your State ever give you? Poverty.
And look at me.
I live high off the hog.
I take all I need, and twice as much.
I live in style.
But they walk all over you, and you kiss their feet.
- I'm doing my duty. - Shut up, you smelly goat!
Let me tear him up, shit...
Where are you going?
Everybody's to be here when company arrives.
Well? Where's the girl?
Where's the girl?
What's the rush, fella?
They'll beat us up when they return.
I thought you'd be used to that.
I was hoping that was all over now.
- Forget it. - No, no such thing.
We've got to run.
What d'you say, Chaff?
My name's Sergei Bassargin.
Pleasure to meet you. I'm Nikolai Starobogatov.
A "British spy" and former chief engineer.
I was a captain in regimental reconnaissance.
We were encircled. I escaped
and rejoined our troops all alone.
What followed is obvious:
ten years of imprisonment and disfranchisement.
"Blessed is he who came Into this world
In time of trial..."
I spent less than a day in that encirclement.
That was by Fyodor Tiutchev.
The "Krasin" is approaching. We should warn them.
Sit still.
We gotta clear out!..
Relax. Understand?
Walk up and down.
To hell with her! We're leaving.
- Go! - We're leaving!
We're leaving, Fly!
Hello, Fadeyich!
How's life?
What're you doing for your piles?
Come on, say something.
Hello, Petya!
I have in my roads here nine small boats.
"Hi, my darling Murka, howdy and goodbye..."
Go change your pants, Murka.
Was that the launch?
It'll be here this evening.
Why are you here?
You want me to guard those two wrecks?
Vitya!
This goes into the pot.
- I'll buy it off you. - How about a game?
Fly, give us the deck.
That's mine.
Who do you think I am, some sucker?
Give it to me... Vitya!
Hurry!
Lay off!
I can't eat. There's no salt.
I'll go and fetch some.
Why are you running?
- What are you scared of? - Not you.
- Right. Let's go for a walk. - No.
Be quiet...
Don't!
Get away from here!
Don't be a fool.
They took the pistol.
Jesus!
Go to the woods, Mikhalych, and kill them.
Don't kill me, Hook!
I'll be damned, they slipped away.
Don't kill me! I'll get them! Don't kill me, Hook!
I hate to waste a bullet on you. You should be hanged on a tree.
Follow Mikhalych to the woods, Fly.
What is it?
D'you think you're better than him?
Maybe even better than me?
I'm a thief, and you're a marauder. You reek of corpses.
Let's go down to the bank.
It's all over... Calm down.
Hush, hush...Everything'll be okay.
Everything will be all right...
Chaff, he... he...
- No, don't go away. - Be still, I said.
I'll be right back.
I'll be right back, you understand?
Don't you remember me?
I'd been on the lam... The transit prison's hospital.
You sure were a bag of bones then, just about forty kilos.
Yes, yes...
They said over the radio that Beria's a spy and an enemy.
- Come on, that's impossible. - You're out of touch here, Gramps.
- Beria's done for. - You're lying.
- May I drop dead if I am. - But then it's...
Rejoice. There'll be an amnesty for you, too.
You'll be free soon. Understand?
I knew it was all a terrible mistake.
Of course, Beria's an enemy.
Well, Gramps? That seems to be it.
What are you gaping at? Why are you standing?
Sergei, Beria's an enemy of the people.
He's been arrested. This man just said so.
- What are you talking about? - It was on the radio.
That's been clear for a long time. This is only the beginning.
Everyone will realize now that you and I...
So many innocent people!..
No, that's a tall tale. It's impossible.
Hands up!
Drop your gun.
Sergei, give me some cartridges.
- What's the matter? - I won't give you any.
We're duty-bound to wipe out those bastards.
I'm not duty-bound to anyone.
Shura!
You miser!
- You think they've left? - Maybe.
- Let's go to the village. - Stay put.
What I regret most are my wasted years.
I want to live like a human being. And work.
Yes, and work.
Even People's Commissar Ordjonikidze valued my work high.
Believe me, Sergei, everything's going to change.
Everything...
I was... arrested in 1939.
I'd been abroad. So they labeled me a spy.
I had a wife and a son at college...
Can you imagine what was in store for them?
I managed to pass a note to them from jail,
telling them to disown me and not to write.
And they haven't written?
Not in fourteen years.
They must be weary of wondering
whether I'm guilty or not,
alive or dead.
Listen to me carefully.
Fire when they've passed the barn.
Not necessarily at them, you may fire into the air if you wish.
- Don't stick your head out. Got it? - Yes.
They must've killed Ma.
She'll be okay. Now go away. Fast.
Don't fire, you louse!
Spade!
Hold her! Where're you going?
Look near the fence, by the stones.
Come on out.
And go home.
Did you find all of them?
Get Yakov, too.
What about the corpses?
Wait.
We'll bury Yakov in the cemetery.
Mankov's body goes back to town...
where he lived.
The authorities will take over.
What about these?
- I wouldn't even bury such scum. - Are they going to lie like that?
There're no dogs to keep the wild beasts away.
They'll come for the corpses at night.
- This is none of your business. - They got to be identified.
- We'll put them in the ice-house. - The fish is there.
Throw it out!..
- How many coffins do we make? - One, for Yakov.
Get everyone here before it's dark. There're three of them in the woods.
You go, too. There's a horse and a wagon.
Go take it.
Go on, men. Go.
Me?
I had a gun trained on me all day,
and now you want me to lug them?
If not for me, you'd all be dead now.
I'm not going anyplace.
You louse! Son of a bitch!
Leave him be, or you'll get another sentence.
All my life, because of people like you...
Your kind should be imprisoned, but they set you up as guards!
I'll make you eat dirt!
Let go of me!
Shura!..
Spade should be buried here.
The authorities will decide. He was an exiled ex-convict.
We'll bury him here.
- As the captain of the board, I... - We'll bury him here!
It's a bad wound.
Give him strong tea.
I bet you haven't worn a white shirt for years.
Listen, Chaff, or whatever your name is, comrade...
When they ask you about what happened here,
you say you were following my orders.
Did you get all of them?
Yes, seven of them. The ice-house is packed tight.
Mankov weighed a ton, like a rock. What a man he was...
We put Yakov in his house.
The old women are lighting candles...
- What about Spade? - He's in with the others.
I don't get it: why are there only seven of them?
There were six cons, Mankov and Spade. There must be eight.
There're seven. We got them all.
- Give me the sub-gun. - No. I locked up the arms.
- What?! Give me the key. - I can't.
Oh, God!
- He was hiding in the ruins, bastard. - Why'd she go to the boat?
N. Starobogatov. 1953
By and by birds of passage are flying
In the autumnal clear-sky blue.
To warm climes in the South they're flying,
But I'll remain here, with you.
Remaining with you, as one whole,
My native, forever-loved land,
I need not to go to Turkey,
Nor to Africa's southernmost end.
That's Tusik and Volodya.
The latecomers pay a ransom!
- Hello. - Hello.
I'd like to see the Skorobogatovs.
Ring twice for them. Second door on the right.
When did he die?
He was killed in action two years ago.
Are you done? Go out and play.
Come on, go.
We got to talk.
Here's the address.
The villagers know where his grave is.
Do you believe we should've followed him and perish?
What right do you have to judge us?
There was a note passed on to us from him, secretly.
He insisted that we disown him.
I didn't want to. I was going to write...
to Stalin, of course.
Mother wouldn't let me.
Please, hear me out.
Mother decided that he knew best.
We didn't know anything...
Why he'd been arrested...
The rumors were monstrous.
We didn't believe any of it, of course, but...
So many people were just vanishing.
If he'd have written to us, it would've given us strength.
It was a terrible time...
Tell me...
He wasn't guilty, was he?
No.
What I regret most...
...are my wasted years.
I want to live like a human being. And work...
Anatoly Papanov.
That was his last scene
in his last film.
The End. Mosfilm, 1987