“Murka” - the most popular of all songs in the chanson genre - had a very specific author. It was created by Odessa satirist and songwriter Yakov Petrovich Yadov. He also wrote other popular “folk” songs: “Bagels”, “Fried Chicken”, etc.
The heroine of "Murka"
The plot of the song “Murka” is perceived by listeners as a conventional, as if collective story from the life of criminals. At the same time, Murka, or, as specified in the song itself, Marusya Klimova, actually existed. Yadov wrote this song about the realities of the 20s, when the country was going through the era of the New Economic Policy and the criminal element literally multiplied in all cities.
Maria Prokofievna Klimova was a real woman. She was born in 1897 in the city of Veliky Ustyug. A copy of the document has been preserved, which accurately indicates this data. The most interesting thing is that Klimova’s occupation is also listed in the same document. Many listeners familiar with the song “Murka” may mistakenly decide that this lady was the lover of some repeat offender and therefore moved in a criminal environment.
Prototype of the famous thief
Historical truth testifies that Marusya Klimova was in fact a captain of the NKVD (originally the Cheka). The legendary Murka was a secret agent, a kind of “sent Cossack” in the criminal world. The woman worked in a special secret unit that fought organized crime in the new, young Soviet state.
Yadov wrote the song “Murka” about the secret operation of the Cheka, in which Captain Klimova was involved. For obvious reasons, the author of the hit could not write directly about this, so he slightly romanticized the laws adopted in the criminal environment. As a result, it turned out that the song was not about the operation itself, but about the frivolous girlfriend of a criminal who “surrendered” the gang to the MUR.
The song contains many hints and references to that time. For example, it is mentioned that a large gang in Odessa was “followed by the GubChK.” Documents preserved in the archives of the NKDV indicate that the Odessa ports in the 20s of the 20th century presented a great temptation for the criminal element, which was actually monitored.
In the finale, the thief meets his dear Murka in an elite restaurant wearing a “leather jacket.” This is exactly how employees of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department and the Cheka dressed at that time. Maria Klimova herself introduced herself in the gang as Margarita Dmitrievskaya. She “confidantly” told gang members that this was her real name.
Further fate
After the criminal group was captured, the woman served in the Cheka for some time. Then her traces were lost. All documentation about the Odessa special operation and Murka who participated in it were classified. There were various rumors about the real Dmitrievskaya, whose surname Klimova appropriated for herself.
They said that she was in Makhno’s group and emigrated somewhere to Romania. According to another version, the girl lived for some time in Odessa, then was raped and, unable to bear the shame, committed suicide. Many Odessa residents believed that Klimova and Dmitrievskaya were doubles.
“The meeting place cannot be changed” is a Soviet five-part television film directed by Stanislav Govorukhin based on the story by the Weiner brothers “The Era of Mercy” (the title of the film coincides with the title of the novel in the first publication in the magazine “Smena”, No. 15-23 for 1975).
The film tells about the work of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department in the post-war years. Filmed by the Odessa Film Studio, filming began on May 10, 1978 and took place in Odessa and Moscow.
Plot
The film takes place in post-war Moscow in August-November 1945.
Employees of the NKVD department for combating banditry, the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department (MUR) - experienced operative Gleb Zheglov (Vladimir Vysotsky) and hero-intelligence officer, front-line soldier, but new to the detective business, a little naive and idealistic Vladimir Sharapov (Vladimir Konkin) - confront a gang of robbers A “black cat” who robs stores and mercilessly kills those who get in their way. On the first day of Sharapov’s service in the MUR, operative from Yaroslavl Vasily Vekshin, summoned to Moscow to infiltrate the gang, goes to a pre-arranged meeting with the bandit. Zheglov, Sharapov and other comrades are watching this meeting. But the arriving bandit, choosing the right moment, “says goodbye” to Vasily, and then jumps onto the running board of a passing tram. When the comrades approach Vekshin, who is sitting on a bench, it turns out that he has been killed: the bandit deftly stuck a shiv into him as he said goodbye.
Department employees respond to a call to a warehouse that is being robbed by a gang. Sharapov encounters one of the bandits, but he, pretending to be a front-line soldier, deceives Sharapov and leaves.
At the same time, Sharapov is investigating the murder of a certain Larisa Gruzdeva. The main suspect is her ex-husband, a respectable middle-aged doctor, since the murder weapon was found in his apartment. However, Sharapov, seeing inconsistencies in the testimony and realizing that such an intelligent man could hardly commit the murder of his own wife, is not sure of Gruzdev’s guilt and seeks to unbiasedly understand the circumstances of the case.
During a citywide operation, operatives in one establishment check documents. A young lady suddenly runs away from the establishment. Sharapov, having discovered this, orders his colleague Nikolai Taraskin to stand in his, Sharapov’s, place, and he rushes in pursuit, detains that same lady and returns back with her. Zheglov recognizes the lady as the prostitute Maria Afanasyevna Kolyvanova, nicknamed Manka-Bond, on whom Larisa Gruzdeva’s bracelet was found. From Manka, the heroes learn that the bracelet was given to her by a repeat offender, Valentin Bisyaev, nicknamed Smoked. Smoked, after he is detained in the billiard room, reports that he won it at cards from pickpocket Saprykin, nicknamed Brick. Kirpich is caught red-handed on a tram while trying to pull a woman’s wallet out of her bag, and although he throws the wallet on the floor, Zheglov quietly puts this important evidence in front of him at the entrance to the police station, and as a result, Kirpich is exposed. During interrogation, he reports, in turn, that he won a bracelet from a certain Fox. Brick provides information about Fox, in particular, that he lives in Maryina Roshcha with Verka the milliner, who alters stolen clothes. There, the police discover other things missing from Larisa Gruzdeva’s house. The operatives set up an ambush at Verka’s apartment. But due to the cowardice shown by Solovyov (one of the operatives), Fox manages to defeat the ambush and leave. The second operative, Toporkov, is seriously wounded. Zheglov expels Solovyov from the authorities for cowardice.
Verka reports that Fox was introduced to her by Irina Sobolevskaya, who works at the Fashion House. She tells Sharapov the signs of Fox, and Sharapov recognizes the description of the bandit, whom he had previously missed when trying to detain a gang that was robbing a warehouse. Meanwhile, detectives find out that Sobolevskaya and Gruzdeva were friends, and that Fox was Sobolevskaya’s lover, whom he left for Gruzdeva. Sharapov rechecks the evidence against Gruzdev and proves his innocence. Sobolevskaya reports that Fox is spending the night with Pyotr Ruchnikov, nicknamed “Ruchechnik”. Zheglov and Sharapov catch Ruchechnik and his assistant Volokushina in the theater after Ruchechnik cleverly pulls out the number from the Englishman, and Volokushina gets the mink coat of the Englishman’s wife from this number. Volokushina is then used to lure Fox to a meeting at the Astoria restaurant. Zheglov sets up an ambush in the restaurant. Fox senses something is wrong and tries to leave, but after a car chase through the streets of Moscow at night, the police detain him. During the chase, Zheglov kills the driver of the truck in which Fox is escaping. After fingerprinting, it turns out that this driver is the same bandit who stabbed Vasily Vekshin to death.
At a subbotnik at the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, Sharapov again meets with Sergeant Varvara Sinichkina, a police officer with whom they took a foundling baby to the orphanage. Sympathy arises between the young people and they begin dating.
Sharapov tricks Fox into writing a note to his mistress Anya - through her, the police plan to convey to the gang the “plan for Fox’s release” and Fox’s threat to betray everyone if he is not released. Sharapov meets with the fake Anya, and she makes an appointment for Volodya in Sokolniki. The real Anya arrives and finds out about Fox, but the bandits kidnap Sharapov, push him into the “Bread” van and break away from Zheglov’s surveillance, passing the railway crossing right in front of the train. Sharapov manages (he was helped in this by Levchenko, a former front-line comrade who ended up in a gang) to convince the leader - a hunchback named Karp - of his honesty to him, and the bandits decide to go to the rescue of Fox.
At a meeting at the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, Zheglov decides: although contact with Sharapov is lost, he, as a military man, will understand that the agreed place and time of the operation cannot be changed, and sets up an ambush in the store, bringing Fox there “for an investigative experiment.” But how to save Sharapov? MUR operatives decide that a photograph of Sharapov’s beloved, glued to the closet door, can tell him what to do. When the bandits enter the basement, the lights go out. Sharapov, who discovered Varya’s portrait on the closet door while still in the light, takes refuge in that very closet. The bandits who lost Sharapov begin to call him. Levchenko, already sensing something was wrong, offers to leave, but the leader of the gang, Karp “Humpback,” objects: “Let’s finish with HIM (Volodya), then we’ll leave.” And suddenly Zheglov’s loud voice is heard through the ventilation hatch: “Citizens are bandits! Attention! Your gang is completely blocked!...” Further, Zheglov invites the bandits to surrender in an amicable way, warning that otherwise he has instructions from his superiors not to take them alive. The bandits, realizing that they cannot escape, decide to surrender to the police. And now, they are neutralized. Levchenko, not wanting to end up in prison again, attempts to escape and is forced to be killed by Zheglov. Saddened and depressed, Sharapov asks Kopytin to take him to the orphanage. Volodya decides to adopt the baby, but at the orphanage he is informed that the child has already been adopted. Sharapov comes to the apartment of Varya, a guard sergeant, with whom he arranged for the foundling in an orphanage. Here he sees her and the baby she adopted. This is the key difference between the film's storyline and the book, which ends quite pessimistically - Varya dies there.
Cast
Captain Gleb Zheglov, head of the department for combating banditry of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department
Vladimir Konkin - senior lieutenant Vladimir Sharapov
Law enforcement officials:
Vsevolod Abdulov - Petyunya, duty officer Pyotr Solovyov
Andrey Gradov - Nikolai Taraskin
Natalya Danilova - Varya, junior sergeant Varvara Sinichkina, Sharapov's friend (voiced by Natalya Rychagova)
Evgeny Leonov-Gladyshev - Vasily Vekshin (credited as Evgeny Leonov)
Pavel Makhotin - Pavel Vladimirovich, investigator of the prosecutor's office
Alexander Milyutin - Ivan Pasyuk
Alexey Mironov - Alexander Ivanovich Kopytin (based on the book - Ivan Alekseevich Kopyrin)
Heinrich Ostashevsky - general giving a presentation at the Police Department club
Vladlen Paulus - Rodionov, MUR expert
Lev Perfilov - photographer Grigory Ushivin, nicknamed “Six-by-nine”
Evgeniy Shutov - Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Ipatievich Pankov
Evgeniy Stezhko - Lieutenant Toporkov
Sharapov's neighbors:
Zinovy Gerdt - Mikhail Mikhailovich Bomze
Nina Kornienko - Shurka, Alexandra Baranova
Igor Starkov - disabled Semyon, Shurka's husband
Witnesses in the case of Larisa Gruzdeva:
Juno Kareva - Galina Zheltovskaya
Svetlana Svetlichnaya - Nadya Kolesova, sister of Larisa Gruzdeva
Nikolai Slesarev - Fyodor Petrovich Lipatnikov, neighbor of the Gruzdevs
Natalya Fateeva - Ingrid Karlovna (Ira) Sobolevskaya
Sergei Yursky - Ivan Sergeevich Gruzdev (based on the book - Ilya)
Gang "Black Cat":
Alexander Abdulov - bread van driver, Loshak
Alexander Belyavsky - Evgeniy Petrovich Fox
Ivan Bortnik - “Blotter”
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan - Karp ("Humpbacked"), gang leader
Vladimir Zharikov - bandit with a knife (based on the book - “Cast Iron Face”)
Valeria Zaklunnaya - Claudia, Karp's friend
Victor Pavlov - Sergey Levchenko
Oleg Savosin - Alexey Diomidovich Tyagunov
Tatyana Tkach - Anna Petrovna Dyachkova, Fox's friend
Oleg Fedulov - Driver Yesin, Vekshin's killer
Natalya Chenchik - fake "Anya"
Rudolf Mukhin - driver of the Black Cat gang
Other criminals and semi-criminal elements:
Ekaterina Gradova - Svetlana Petrovna Volokushina, Ruchnikov’s assistant
Lyudmila Davydova - “Verka the Milliner”, Vera Stepanovna Markelova (based on the book by Motorina)
Evgeny Evstigneev - Pyotr Ruchnikov, nicknamed “Ruchechnik”
Leonid Kuravlev - Valentin Bisyaev, nicknamed “Smoked”
Stanislav Sadalsky - Konstantin Saprykin, nicknamed “Brick”
Larisa Udovichenko - Maria Afanasyevna Kolyvanova, nicknamed “Manka-Bond”
Other:
Zoya Vasilkova - the victim whose bag was cut by “Brick” on the tram
Misha Epifantsev - grandson of the store watchman
Natalya Krachkovskaya - singer in the cinema
Valentin Kulik - singer in the cinema
Nina Ozornina - restaurant worker
Valery Yanklovich - administrator of the Bolshoi Theater
Ella Yaroshevskaya - restaurant worker
Natalya Petrova - Marianna, restaurant worker
Sergey Mazaev - saxophonist in a restaurant and cinema
Larisa Guzeeva - a girl dancing with Taraskin
Larisa Golubkina - a railway worker at the crossing where the bandits got away from the “tail”
Film crew
Script writers: Georgy Vayner, Arkady Vayner
Stage director: Stanislav Govorukhin
Chief cameraman: Leonid Burlaka
Main artist: Valentin Gidulyanov
Composer: Evgeny Gevorgyan
Main consultants: K. Nikitin, V. Samokhvalov
Director: N. Popova
Cameraman: V. Shchukin
Costume designer: N. Akimova
Makeup artist: Vyacheslav Laferov
Editing: Valentina Oleynik
Sound engineer: Anatoly Netrebenko (Ukrainian) Russian.
Artist assistants: Mikhail Bezchastnov, L. Tsygulskaya
Editor: I. Aleevskaya
Consultant: N. Kondrashov
Trick photography:
Cameraman: S. Melnichenko
Artist: K. Pulenko
Symphony Orchestra of the State Cinema Committee of the USSR, conductor - M. Nersesyan
Stuntmen: Vladimir Zharikov, Oleg Fedulov
Lighting master: Valery Logvinov
Film director: Dzhemilya Panibrat
Vladimir Vysotsky in the film
After the Weiners gave Vladimir Vysotsky one of the first copies of the newly published novel “The Age of Mercy,” he came to them and said:
I came to stake Zheglov...
The Weiners were surprised: - In what sense do you mean “stake out”?
- It will be a film. Probably big. And that's my role. No one will play Zheglov for you like I do...
From the memoirs of Stanislav Govorukhin it follows that Vladimir Vysotsky read the Weiner book “The Era of Mercy” only during the filming of the film. Before this, Vysotsky artistically lied to the authors about how impressed he was with the book.
About a month before the start of filming, Vladimir Vysotsky and Marina Vladi came to Govorukhin. At this meeting, Vysotsky refused the role of Zheglov: “I cannot lose a year of my life on cinema! I feel that I have little left, I want and must write...”
But the director convinced the actor that the film would not work without him. Vysotsky agreed.
Vysotsky made not only an acting, but also a directing contribution to the film. It was thanks to him that the film featured episodes with the lisping pickpocket Stanislav Sadalsky’s Brick, whose image was created at Vysotsky’s suggestion, and a photograph of Varya on the door of the basement closet, which was supposed to save Sharapov. When Govorukhin was absent from the set, he left Vysotsky “in charge.” It was thanks to this that the interrogation scene of Gruzdev, completely choreographed by Vysotsky, appeared in the film.
During filming, Vysotsky had a strong quarrel with Govorukhin and left. Therefore, the Fox truck chase scene was filmed without him. Close-ups of Zheglov (“Pasyuk! Vanya, hold me! - How to hold me? - Gently!”) were filmed later, when Vysotsky “moved away” and arrived.
This is one of the few films where Vysotsky sings songs other than his own. For the film, he wrote the song “About the End of the War,” but Govorukhin refused to include it in the film, as well as the proposed “Ballad of Childhood.” When Govorukhin invited him to sing an excerpt from Alexander Vertinsky’s romance “The Lilac Negro,” Vysotsky replied: “If you don’t want me to sing mine, I won’t sing Vertinsky either,” however, succumbing to persuasion, in one of the scenes, playing the piano , pronounces a few lines from “The Lilac Negro”, but, true to his word not to sing, each time he interrupts them with remarks addressed to Sharapov. The scene of playing the piano is also the only one in the film where Vysotsky’s hero is shown in the full uniform of an NKVD captain.
In 1987, Vysotsky was posthumously awarded the USSR State Prize for creating the image of Zheglov.
Vladimir Konkin about the film
Telling a correspondent for the newspaper “Arguments and Facts” about the film, Vladimir Konkin said:
“Zheglovshchina has not gone away even today - if you look at the touching faces of the police. How they love people, our police chiefs, how they burn at work!..”
“Our society needs ideals. Without them we will be lost. An ideal is a beacon to whose light millions reach out. And Sharapov was such a beacon. Why is this picture not outdated? Not only because the late Vysotsky filmed there. But also because Sharapov is there. Because burning is humiliating an innocent person and not apologizing. The authorities do not apologize to us! How to teach the authorities to be polite? So Sharapov is trying to teach them this.”
Editions
1997 Video CD: 5 Video CD, publisher: Krupny Plan, 1997
1999 VHS: 2 VHS Cassette, publisher: “Master Tape”, (professional quality Betacam sp VHS) Limited Edition series, 1999
2000 DVD: 2 DVDs, 5.1 sound, English and Russian subtitles, Twister publisher, 2000
2002 CD-Video: 5 MPEG-4 CD, publisher “IDDK”, series “Our Old Cinema”, 2002
2003 VHS: 3 VHS, publisher: Close-up, 2003
Facts about the film
Sharapov’s prototype was Vladimir Arapov, who later became the head of the MUR department. In a photograph from 1945, he bears a striking resemblance to Konkin. However, his character did not correspond to the image of Sharapov; he was a merry fellow and a joker. Zheglov did not have a prototype; his image was based on many acquaintances of the Weiner brothers.
The film uses materials from real-life criminal cases. In the first episode, Zheglov tells Sharapov about one case from his practice: a murder and a staged gang attack. Such a crime actually happened in Moscow - the case of the former deputy chairman of the military tribunal of the NKVD troops Krylov, which was investigated by one of Sharapov’s prototypes, Vladimir Pavlovich Arapov. The Gruzdev case also has its real basis (candidate of medical sciences Evgeniy Ilyich Mirkin in 1944 was accused of murdering his wife and sentenced to death, but MUR employees were able to prove his innocence).
Members of the criminal group (by the name of the MUR employees “The Tall Blonde Gang”), which became the prototype of the “Black Cat” gang, lived in Krasnogorsk near Moscow. They worked at the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant, and in their free time they lived by robbing savings banks. The legendary detective Igor Skorin took part in the liquidation of this gang, who served as the prototype for Colonel Danilov, the main character of a series of works by E. Khrutsky, two of which were filmed: “According to the Criminal Investigation Department” and “Proceed with Liquidation.”
Initially, the film was planned to be called the same as the book - “The Era of Mercy”, but since film officials categorically did not like the “non-Soviet” word “mercy”, the name was changed.
The authors of the film were given a categorical condition: not to kill Levchenko and Varya, as in the novel. This immediately distorted the entire ideological meaning. After much debate, a choice was given: one person must be killed. I had to “sacrifice” Levchenko.
Contrary to the agreement between the USSR State Television and Radio and the Odessa Film Studio, the film turned out to be not seven episodes, but five. Two “extra” episodes were shortened by re-editing at the request of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Among the deleted scenes were several fragments at the front, explaining the reasons for the friendly relationship between Sharapov and Levchenko. In the original version, a large piece on the front was shown immediately after the silent scene when Sharapov recognized Levchenko, and as a flashback of Sharapov during their conversation at night.
Larisa Udovichenko claims that the catchphrase “Bond or Abligation?” escaped her accidentally, since at that moment she really did not know the correct spelling of this word. This episode is included in the final version of the film.
When in the fifth episode, Hunchback and Blotter demand Sharapov to play the piano, Sharapov performs Chopin - etude in f minor, Op. 25 No. 2.
In the restaurant where Fox is dancing with the waitress, at the same table with Zheglov sits the daughter of the writer Arkady Weiner Natalya Daryalova and the son of Vysotsky’s friend Vadim Tumanov, Taraskin dances with Larisa Guzeeva, and in the background Sergei Mazaev plays the saxophone among the musicians. He also plays in the orchestra in the last episode, in the cinema before the screening of the film (the song “Bad Date”).
At one time there was an idea to make a sequel to the film. On the Weiners' desk there was a folder with a draft script written by Vysotsky. However, Govorukhin put an end to the discussion of the topic: “Zheglov is dead, Sharapov is old, with whom and why should we continue?”
In 1990, the group “Lube” sang the song “Atas” about the main characters of the film.
Mikhail Sheleg’s song “Black Cat” is dedicated to the heroes of the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed”: “Captain Zheglov tracked down Fox, Gruzdev asks Sharapov for questioning
The monument to V. Vysotsky in the image of Gleb Zheglov was erected in Mariupol in the city center, next to the “Meeting Place” restaurant.
On April 14, 2009, a monument to Zheglov and Sharapov was unveiled in Kyiv near the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
The film's credits indicate the son of Marina Vladi and Robert Hossein, Pierre Hossein, who was present on the set, although Pierre himself, while watching the film, could not find himself. In fact, he participates in the episode where Varya Sinichkina leads him by the hand.
S. Govorukhin's first wife, Juno Kareva, starred in the role of Galina Zheltovskaya.
In the role of Sharapov, V. Vysotsky wanted to see another artist - A. Molchanov, but he refused the role.
Scenes in the film: the identification of Fox and the release of Gruzdev were filmed under the direction of Vladimir Vysotsky.
The matches of the 1946 USSR football championship "Zenit" - "Spartak" and CDKA - "Dynamo" (the film does not specify which one - Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk or Tbilisi) actually took place at different times. On August 19, there really was a match between CDKA and Dynamo (Moscow) (1:0), but it was not Zenit that played against Spartak, but another club from Leningrad, Dynamo (Leningrad). The murder of Larisa Gruzdeva in the film occurred on August 21, when there were no scheduled matches.
Phrases that have become catchphrases
A number of phrases and expressions from the film have firmly entered the phraseology of the modern Russian language, becoming popular. Among them:
"A thief should sit in jail!" (Zheglov)
“What a face you have, Volodya! What a sight you have, Sharapov!” (Zheglov) (this phrase is usually used in a form that is not in the film: “What a face you have, Sharapov!”)
“Treat the lady with a match, citizen boss!” (Manka Bond)
“We have doubts that you, dear man, are a snitch” (Humpbacked)
“Mercy is a priest’s word” (Zheglov)
“You are not consciousness - you have lost your conscience” (Zheglov)
“And now - Hunchback!” (Zheglov)
“Don’t be afraid, we won’t hurt you. Chick - and you’re already in heaven” (Humpbacked)
“Don’t teach a scientist, Citizen Smoked!” (Zheglov)
“Bond or Bond?” (Manka Bond)
"wallet, wallet, what wallet?" (Konstantin Saprykin(Brick)
It is well known that when the film episodes were shown, trams and trolleybuses ran almost empty, and crime in the country decreased. Its creators told us how the film masterpiece was born.
The mustache “didn’t take root”
“The Era of Mercy” was first supposed to be filmed by Alexey Batalov, who, as they said, wanted to play the main role in the film,” recalls Galina Lazareva, former editor-in-chief of the script and editorial board of the Odessa Film Studio. - But he didn’t show up at the studio. We invited the young director Yuri Novak. He and the Weiners began writing the film script. And at the same time, director Stanislav Govorukhin read the published novel in Moscow. He was friends with Vysotsky, called him and encouraged him to go visit the Weiners. On the way, Govorukhin recounted the contents of the novel to Vysotsky. They dined at the Weiners, Vysotsky praised the novel, which he had not read. They agreed, called us at the Odessa studio and asked to approve them in this composition. Director Novak did not object and left the film.
The Weiners themselves recalled that Vysotsky impudently told them: “I came to stake a claim on Zheglov!”
The authors imagined their Gleb as broad-shouldered, tall and with a mustache. But for the sake of Vysotsky, they agreed to change the appearance of the movie character. At the first auditions, Vysotsky was filmed with a mustache. However, then they decided to give up the mustache.
Photo: Nail VALIULIN
Vladimir Konkin: “I’m glad for the happy ending”
Each episode of the film was cleaned not only by the director, but also by the management,” Vladimir Konkin, who plays Sharapov, told KP. - Every two weeks, Govorukhin and I flew from Odessa to Moscow. The television management of that time treated me favorably (not long before that, Konkin played Pavka Korchagin, received the Lenin Komsomol Prize and was loved by the nomenklatura. - Ed.), so Stanislav Sergeevich took me with him in the hope that they would torture me less. But editor-in-chief Heysin exhausted the entire scenario. But it was he who owned the title of the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed,” which we screened under the title “Era of Mercy.” I know that on television they immediately said that there would be no death for Varya Sinichkina. They said: “We need these two heroes to stay.” I then thought: Lord, what a cranberry! But over the years, especially now, when violence is rampant everywhere, I realized that this was the right decision. A wonderful fairy tale, a chimera - but you cannot live without this chimera. And the fact that Sharapov comes back from the mission alive, but the baby he wanted to take in is no longer in the orphanage. He comes to his home, and at the window, like Madonna, stands Sinichkina with her foundling. Such a good happy ending - two young people are happy! I love this episode. It's tiny, but accurate. And then, when I was young, it seemed too syrupy...
Photo: Nail VALIULIN
My wife asked me to take care of Vysotsky
Few people know that we filmed a prologue - an episode from Sharapov’s military life, in which Marina’s son Vladi Pierre Hossein played,” continues Vladimir Konkin. - They filmed how Viktor Pavlov’s hero Sergei Levchenko (who would later end up in the Black Cat gang, but would not betray Sharapov) and I were climbing across the front line for the tongue at night. He was played by Pierre. We tie him up, put a gag in his mouth, and drag him away. The Germans spot us and shooting begins. We run to the lake where we have a boat. There are explosions all around. Our boat really leaked, and during a take we started sinking, not according to the script. It was shallow, but Pierre was tied up and couldn’t swim. Either Vitya or I lift the guy so that he doesn’t choke. We spent two nights filming all these “bangs”, horrors in the mud and water... When Vitya Pavlov took off his tunic, I saw red circles on his back. It turned out that two days ago he was given cupping because he suffered from pneumonia. But he came for this terrible shoot...
Then Govorukhin cut out the entire military prologue. Vladi's son remained only in the credits. I didn’t immediately realize that the director was right - this kept the intrigue. Sharapov sees Levchenko’s face in the “Black Cat” gang and tenses up. What "Why? Only later does it become clear that this is his comrade in arms...
No, the real reason why the prologue was cut out was different, stuntman Vladimir Zharikov told KP. - I was on these filmings. In the shot, Konkin had to draw tongues. But he can’t do it - he’s physically weak. We show him how to throw a person - on his back. And he drops it on his head! In general, we suffered a lot with Konkin. Replacing him with a double would have made the editing noticeable. So we decided to abandon the prologue. In general, Volodya Konkin had a hard time. He came to the shooting as a star, and Vysotsky, despite his fame, was not an honored artist. Konkin was not liked in the group. Off-screen, Vysotsky and Konkin did not speak at all. But they worked efficiently on the set.
Photo: Nail VALIULIN
By the way, Marina Vladi dissuaded Vysotsky from playing. She asked Govorukhin not to touch Volodya: they say he is sick, let him take care. Vysotsky himself said that he did not know how much time he had left and whether he should spend a year on cinema when he could write... And yet he could not let his friend down. Often the director turned to him for tips and advice. It was Volodya who, already during the dubbing, after the director complained that the shot with Sadalsky was somehow boring, suggested that Brick should have a lisp. Moreover, the artist began to lisp so zealously that the director even shook his head: as if the management would not find fault. “And you tell me that this is an actor who talks like this in real life,” Sadalsky found himself.
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan: “Humpbacked is my child”
-Are you satisfied with your role? - we asked the actor playing the role of the bandit Hunchback Armen Dzhigarkhanyan.
I love my hero because I invented him myself! This hero is my life. And I’m already 80. Well, the “child” is growing up. For some reason, the director offered to make me a wig, which I struggled with. We had to re-shoot takes many times: the wig came off, resulting in a defect. They made a hump out of cotton wool for me, and it was quite comfortable for me.
- Rolan Bykov refused your role. I was afraid: they say, he’s already small, and then there’s a hump.
I'm not afraid of anything! The main thing is that I did not intend to play evil. I hope my hero is still charming.
- Larisa Udovichenko admitted that after the role of Manka Bonds she received letters from the zone: criminals offered her marriage. Did the crime bosses appreciate your game?
Don't know. But when my car was stolen, certain people came to me and promised: if the car is not yet outside Moscow, we will find it. Not found.
Photo: Nail VALIULIN
- Did you notice the confrontation between Vysotsky and Konkin on the set?
It's none of my business. Having gotten to know Konkin better, I noticed that he was a good guy, intelligent, vulnerable. And why now tell us how many times Vysotsky bit him?! You know, Vysotsky is a phenomenon, but from a professional point of view he is a rather average actor. And in this film he acted, in my opinion, averagely. There are other artists there who played better and more subtly.
- Who?
I ( laughs).
STORIES ON THE SET
A blotter was mistaken for a real hooligan
Initially it was planned that Sharapov would play “Murka” on the piano in the “Black Cat” gang. Konkin promised to learn the composition in a week. “We need to film it today - then the scenery will be dismantled,” Govorukhin snapped and looked at the hands of the film’s music editor. He ordered her to put Sharapov’s coat on her and play something. She, to demonstrate her skill, played Chopin. "Amazing!" - the director was delighted. So what's in the frame when Sharapov plays isn't actually his hands.
Ivan Bortnik, who played Blotter, during the filming of the scene when the criminals come out of the basement, came up with a way out with a criminal song
“And on the black bench, in the dock...” And then he took it and impromptu spat at Zheglov. Vysotsky was taken aback. The police officers in the crowd immediately, out of character, attacked Bortnik and twisted his hands, deciding that he was some kind of hooligan who had sneaked into the filming.
Photo: Nail VALIULIN
PERSONAL VIEW
By the tail and to the ceiling
Denis GORELOV
By the way. With his tomboyism and sheriff's ways, Zheglov ruined the investigation, with his anger towards the intellectual arrogance of Gruzdeva, he almost cut the thread to the gang, and it was Sharapov, not he, who brought the ghouls under the rifles of the convoy. And the glory was his, and the love of his nation, and the passion for the erotic black raglan. For they love the commander, not the commissar, courage, not rightness, Chapai, not Furmanov. So from the novel about Sharapov “The Era of Mercy” the film about Zheglov “The meeting place cannot be changed” came out. As he himself said: “The era of mercy will come soon.”
BLOOPS
1. At the very beginning of the first episode, after Sharapova’s shoes have been shined, a spotlight is reflected in the window of a passing car.
2. When Blotter draws a black cat on the wall during a store robbery, it is noticeable that the outline of the cat is already on the wall. They were drawn by Govorukhin himself.
3. In the scene of the interrogation of the accused Gruzdev, Sharapov’s hairstyle changes (from smoothly combed back to a parted hairstyle).
4. In the episode with the foundling, Sinichkina first wears the shoulder straps of a private, but swaddles the child with the stripes of a junior sergeant.
5. When a car with Fox hits a traffic police girl, one person falls under the wheels, and another person rolls on the asphalt (black knee pads are visible on her legs, which the girl was not wearing).
Vladimir Konkin in the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed” got the role of an ideal policeman who, like a young pioneer, “does not smoke, does not drink, does not bite seeds,” rarely uses weapons and does not allow himself any liberties. Disputes about whether he coped with the role or not, whether he looks like a front-line reconnaissance soldier, etc. are still going on. But many people can no longer imagine another Sharapova.
Photo tests for the role of Volodya Sharapov
The Weiner brothers, in their novel The Age of Mercy, had their exact description of Sharapov: Sharapov is blond with very thick hair, one of his front teeth is chipped or missing, he has a snub nose and small eyes. During the filming of the film, Konkin had one tooth specially made up to make it look like it had been chipped off. But were there any other common features between the artist Konkin and the man from whom the Weiner brothers based their Sharapov?
Vladimir Konkin with his wife Alla in the courtyard of the Odessa film studio. May 1978 Photo from the personal archive of Vladimir Konkin
The director of the film, Govorukhin, did not immediately imagine his Sharapov. He chose from many candidates. We can clearly talk about three - Sergei Shakurov, Evgeniy Gerasimov and Evgeniy Leonov-Gladyshev. Sergei Shakurov notes that the role of Sharapov is, of course, interesting, but he and Shakurov would hardly work well with Vysotsky
The head of the USSR State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Sergei Lapin wanted Konkin to be Sharapov. That's all! In fact, if it weren’t for Konkin, the film might not have been allowed to be filmed at all. The Weiners and Govorukhin had to agree
The debate on the topic “whether Vladimir Konkin is suitable for the role of Sharapov” has not subsided for almost 40 years. Opponents say that Konkin's Sharapov is too intelligent and gentle for a reconnaissance company commander. Supporters - that there were many such pure Komsomol members among the front-line soldiers. The Weiners saw their hero as "a convincingly strong man." Konkin does not fit this description. So how did it happen that Vladimir Konkin played Sharapova?
There are many stories from different journalists about this. And the majority say that Konkin was “imposed from above.” That the creators had no choice.
But I would like to know about this, so to speak, first-hand, from the creators. And the phonogram of the creative evening of the Weiner brothers, held in Leningrad in 1983, came to my aid. There was a lot of interesting stuff there about the filming of the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed”
Here's what Arkady Weiner said:
"...The screen tests began. The main actors were presented. One undeniable hero is Vysotsky for the role of Zheglov. The second is his constant partner, his second “I” in this film is Sharapov. Suddenly Govorukhin tells us: “I propose Vladimir Konkin ". We say: “Who is he?” He says: “He played Pavka Korchagin.” I can honestly admit to you that we didn’t watch that picture, but one day I saw something like that out of the corner of my eye on the box, and I didn’t like the performance. I somehow always imagined Pavka Korchagin differently, not the way Konkin imagined him.
Govorukhin said: “He’s wonderful! This is what Sharapov needs. You haven’t seen his eyes, his face is pure, noble.”
We did screen tests and watched it. We definitely didn't like him. And not because he is a bad artist or an unimportant person... We didn’t like him on screen in the form of Sharapov. We imagined Sharapov, and then described him in our very large novel, and then in the script, as a front-line intelligence officer who walked across the front line forty-two times and returned with a “tongue” on his shoulder.
You don’t have to be a front-line soldier yourself, you don’t have to be a veteran and have seven spans in your forehead to imagine that a scout who captures a fascist on his territory and drags him on his shoulders across the front line must be a convincingly strong man. Volodya Konkin could not look like such a man; he was not born one.
When these tests were shown on Central Television, it turned out that our opinion was fully shared by the artistic council - not a single vote was cast for Konkin, and the director was officially asked to look for another artist...
A few days later he calls: “Please, come, we will test candidates for the role of Sharapov in front of you. I found ten people.”
We arrive at the studio, he introduces us to the dressing room, where the future “Sharapovs” are putting on their makeup. We saw these eight or nine “Sharapovs”, fell to the floor and started crying and laughing. All the signs of hysteria were there.
He brought us ten more Konkins, only worse and thinner. Where he was able to get them in a week is incomprehensible to the mind, but he is generally a very energetic comrade. When we saw this, we said: “Slava, stop. No need to waste the film, no need to do screen tests. Apologize to people, pay them what they are supposed to.”
We realized that in some kind of directorial twist, the image of Konkin stuck with him forever as Sharapov, and if we start to break it, we can break his creative spirit. So the question was closed and, in fact, they didn’t give it to us, but we ourselves took Konkin. The very first material began to show that our fears were not in vain, but there was nowhere to go..."
Here is an interesting excerpt from Stanislav Govorukhin:
"...Konkin played well, who can argue, but I saw a different Sharapov. I intended to call Gubenko first. And then Vysotsky argued: where, we will paint with the same paint... Indeed, it would be Sharapov to match Zheglov , himself with some sneaky cunning. And I needed an intellectual. And only when half of the picture was shot, I remembered Filatov. They would have worked well with Vysotsky, and this would have been the Sharapov I wanted from the very beginning. strength, who does not give in to him. Only the strong are suitable for a mate..."
Sources
www.v-vysotsky.com/Vysotsky_v_Odesse/tex t06.html
www.vysotsky.ws/
www.fotki.yandex.ru/users/sura-sid2010-a/a lbum/199624/
www.lgz.ru/article/-48-6489-3-12-2014/iz menit-nelzya/
www.msk.kp.ru/daily/26372/3253655/
www.blog.fontanka.ru/posts/182583/
www.aif.ru/culture/movie/43178
www.1tv.ru/sprojects_edition/si5901/fi23 536
