Gorky Park (1983)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Michael Apted

Writers:

Martin Cruz Smith (novel)
Dennis Potter (writer)

Release Date:

12 January 1984 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | Crime

Tagline:

It all began with three faceless bodies in the snow ...

Plot:

An investigator on the Moscow police force relentlessly pursues the solution to a triple homicide which occurred in Moscow's Gorky Park...

Plot Keywords:

Moscow | Conspiracy | Face Peeled Off | Smuggling | Detective

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

William Hurt	...	Arkady Renko
Lee Marvin	...	Jack Osborne
Brian Dennehy	...	William Kirwill
Ian Bannen	...	Iamskoy
Joanna Pacula	...	Irina Asanova
Michael Elphick	...	Pasha
Richard Griffiths	...	Anton
Rikki Fulton	...	Maj. Pribluda
Alexander Knox	...	General
Alexei Sayle	...	Golodkin
Ian McDiarmid	...	Prof. Andreev
Niall O'Brien	...	KGB Agent Rurik
Henry Woolf	...	Levin
Tusse Silberg	...	Natasha
Patrick Field	...	Fet

Also Known As:

Gorky Park (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Brottsplats: Gorkij parken (Sweden) [sv]
Eglima sto Gorky Park (Greece) [el]
El parque Gorky (Colombia) (cable TV title) [es]
Gorkij park (Hungary) [hu]
Gorkin puisto (Finland) [fi]
Mistério no Parque Gorky (Brazil) [pt]
Mordene i Gorkijparken (Norway) [no]
Moskova'da cinayet (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
O Mistério de Gorky Park (Portugal) [pt]
Park Gorki (Serbia) [sr]
Park Gorkiego (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Netherlands:12 | West Germany:16 (f) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Gamla Stan, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden

Company:

Eagle Associates

Trivia:

Burt Lancaster was due to appear in the film but had to withdraw through illness.

Goofs:

Continuity: Renko's very obvious black eye almost completely disappears in a matter of several minutes.

Quotes:

Professor Andreev: Promise me I can have your face when the breath has left your body.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Pod People (#4.3)" (1991)

Soundtrack:

It's So Easy

Good fun in Helsinki

I enjoy this film immensely, not only for the great acting of Brian Dennehey, William Hurt, and Lee Marvin, but for the fact that it is about police in some place other than New York or Los Angeles.

Hurt is very believable as a Russian cop who has to track down a murderer. Marvin is great as his adversary, the corrupt American businessman.

The primary complaint about this film is that it wasn't filmed in Russia. What people tend to forget is that it was made at the height of the cold war, and Soviet Premier Chernenko and the Politburo would not have opened Moscow to an American film crew, much less one that wanted to make a movie that depicts the various Russian agencies and beuraucrats as being as corrupt as Marvin.

In the end, they settled for Helsinki, Finland (which I guess is a fair trade-off, since Finland was technically a part of Russia for a few hundred years). Those who are familiar with Helsinki will probably mock this film (as my Finnish girlfriend did), but if you're not familiar, or willing to look past that shortcoming, then you will probably enjoy this movie quite a bit. They even went as far as to use Russian built "Ladas" (a brand of car) in the movie.

Today, this movie would have been made in Moscow or St. Petersburg, and would probably be better. But it's still good, well made overall, and worth watching.