Half a century of the Gentlemen of Fortune

On December 13, 1971, the comedy film "Gentlemen of Fortune" was released on the screens of Soviet cinemas. The film was directed by Aleksandr Seryy. But a huge contribution to the production of the film was made by Georgiy Daneliya, who was officially listed as the co-author of the script, as well as the artistic director of the film.

The film became the leader of the Soviet film distribution in 1972, gathering more than 65 million cinema viewers in cinemas in a year, or 27% of the country's population. And according to the results of the decade (1971-1980), the film took 6th place in the box office.

Thanks to its, I'm not afraid to say, wild popularity, Aleksandr Seryy's film "Gentlemen of Fortune" has not left the screens to this day. At least television. Naturally, due to this, a huge number of publications, documentaries, television programs, etc. are devoted to the film. There is no point in retelling them. For those interested in the history of the creation of this film, I can recommend the memoirs of Georgiy Daneliya.

Since, as I have repeatedly emphasized, my blog also has an English-language version, I always pay attention to how Russian-language films are perceived in the West, in particular in the United States. And vice versa. So that's it. Judging by the data of IMDB and rottentomatoes.com, the film, which is one of the leaders of the Soviet distribution, remains practically unknown in the West. No, not that unknown at all. After all, the technical capabilities of the XXI century allow especially advanced film lovers to get acquainted with this masterpiece of Soviet cinema. Meet and have fun. This is evidenced by reviews (albeit few) of ordinary moviegoers on IMDB, also the so-called AUDIENCE SCORE (rating of the sympathies of ordinary viewers) on "rotten tomatoes". She, this estimate, is equal to 84%. Rather good result.

And the reviews of professional film critics are completely absent. Both IMDB and rottentomatoes. From which we can conclude that either the picture of Alexander Seryy was not allowed to the wide distribution, or someone or something simply imposed a ban on any advertising of this film in the West.

In connection with the above, I have a question for everyone: what explains this situation? Just want to brush aside the version about the lack of commercial potential in the film "Gentlemen of Fortune" in the western box office. The above data on the success of the film in the Soviet box office, coupled with the high ratings of ordinary moviegoers on IMDB and on rottentomatoes, make such an explanation laughable.

I only have two versions left. 1) The presence of the most severe censorship in the US film business. And given the dominance of the American film business around the world, the spread of this censorship is ubiquitous. 2) The firm belief of American film distributors in the impenetrable stupidity of ordinary American moviegoers, which, stupidity, will not allow them to understand "Soviet" humor.

There may be other versions as well. I would very much like to know your opinion on this issue.

And now, according to tradition, the figures on the evaluation of the film Aleksandr Seryy "Gentlemen of Fortune" by contemporary cinema audiences around the world. 82% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave this film ratings from 8 to 10. And 38% of users rated the movie with the highest score - "ten". Taking this into account and the above, the rating of the film Aleksandr Seryy "Gentlemen of Fortune" according to FilmGourmand's version was 8,527, making it 315th in the Golden Thousand.