Anniversary of the Kidnapping, Caucasian Style
On April 3, 1967, a film was released on the screens of Soviet cinemas, which the famous Russian film critic Yevgeny Nefedov called:
"a true legend and an indisputable milestone in the history of comedy, and besides, known from childhood by heart to almost everyone in the territory that the USSR occupied until recently – and we can even say that the Soviet Union as a kind of the historical socio-cultural space will continue to exist as long as citizens are united by such works."
We are talking about Leonid Gaidai's comedy "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style, or Shurik's New Adventures". In the very title of the picture lies a hint of the continuity of the film in relation to the comedy "Operation 'Y' & Other Shurik's Adventures". At least, it is assumed that both films are united by one hero. However, even a not very attentive viewer immediately notes that Shuriks in these pictures are different, although they are performed by the same actor - Alexander Demyanenko. In "Operation 'Y'", Shurik, apparently, studies exact sciences. In "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style", the subject of his study is "legends, rituals, toasts".
But this difference in the "qualifications" of the main character of both films is a trifle compared to the more significant, but nevertheless not immediately distinguishable differences between the two Leonid Gaidai's film masterpieces. It is necessary to remember that "Operation 'Y'" was created at the end of Khrushchev's "thaw", and therefore the satirical edge of this is directed against, in general, insignificant "sores" of society: a parasite hooligan, a petty robber of socialist property, etc. In "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style", the objects of satire are already more "serious" things: corruption and even repressive psychiatry. And, most importantly: Comrade Saakhov, the collective image of the Soviet party and economic functionary, evoked associations with Stalin and Beria.
That is why the artistic council of the Mosfilm film studio rejected "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style" at its meeting on November 16, 1966. Naturally, the motives for banning the film did not include claims to its satirical orientation. Instead, in the traditional official language, such "flaws" of the picture were called, as the presence of "unexpected and unnecessary accents" in the image of Comrade Saakhov, the absence of "semantic and plot loads" in the court scene, the absence of "genre signs" in the musical design, the "vulgar nature" of the song about the sultan, etc., etc.
The authors of the film had to make some minor edits to the picture and submitted it to the Goskino commission for approval in a corrected form. But here, too, "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style" suffered an obstruction. The chairman of the Cinematography Committee, Romanov, bluntly stated that this anti-Soviet thing would appear on the screen only over his corpse. Leonid Gaidai's film had every chance of being destroyed. But chance intervened. L.I. Brezhnev wanted to watch something new at the weekend, and one of his assistants brought him a film with "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style". The film delighted the Secretary General.
As a result, on January 6, 1967, the same Romanov gave the film a rental certificate and, moreover, the picture was assigned the first category, thanks to which the film was published in a huge circulation of 1,474 copies. On April 1, 1967, the premiere of the film took place at the Moscow cinema "Khudozhestvenny", and on April 3, its screening began throughout the country.
During the first year of the demonstration, Leonid Gaidai's film "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style" was watched by 76.5 million people, that is, every third, including babies! With this indicator, the film became the leader of the Soviet film distribution in 1967. And among the Soviet films created over 30 years, from 1961 to 1990 - the golden period of Soviet cinema, the film "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style" ranks 4th in the number of moviegoers. That's how the Soviet people and officials from Goskino disagreed!
It is not without some regret and even compassion that we have to state that Leonid Gaidai's film "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style" remained practically unknown outside the USSR. At least, such a conclusion can be made based on the complete absence of reviews from professional film critics both on the IMDB website and on the website rottentomatoes.com. I managed to find only one review by a foreign blogger (let's consider him a professional film critic) Chris Hewson, full of enthusiasm for the picture. Chris Hewson notes in his review:
"This film is not only rich in comedy, but also in social commentary. It examines the barbaric old brideal kidnapping custom through a comedic lens. Despite this kinda heavy subject matter, the film is never brought down by it. It manages to stay funny and lighthearted, giving the material the attention it deserves and not treating it as a joke, while also making the audience laugh. The movie also focuses on government corruption, and how easy it could be for an official to have an enemy committed to a lunatic asylum with just a word in someone's ear."
The masterpiece of Leonid Gaidai's film "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style" is confirmed by the ratings given to the picture by modern moviegoers. After more than half a century, these estimates remain extremely high. 81% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users rated the film from 8 to 10. And 37% of users rated the film with the highest score - "ten".
With that said, the rating of Leonid Gaidai's film "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style" according to FilmGourmand version was 8,454, thanks to which it took 341st Rank in the Golden Thousand.
