GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Cortechba Overrated

Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

thefinalcredits 'I gave you life. It is on me to take it away.'In an era where historical epics were received well both in the theatres and critical circles, this one failed to resonate, and ended costing United Artists the considerable shortfall of some $4.5million. Described by it's star, Tony Curtis as a 'Ukrainian Romeo and Juliet', this feature marked a turning point in the fortunes of its director, J Lee Thompson, who had previously enjoyed an unbroken chain of box office and critical successes from 1958's 'Ice Cold in Alex' onwards. One wonders whether he had this specific project in mind, and, in particular, the memorable scene featuring a test of courage of a deadly crossing of a ravine on horseback, when he mused: 'I've learned by experience that it's fatal to accept a poor script because it contains one or two good scenes which you long to shoot'. Originally slated as a Robert Aldrich project, with Anthony Quinn set to embody the titular character, financial constraints led to it being bought by the independent production company headed by Harold Hecht and Burt Lancaster. When this company dissolved in 1960, Hecht continued alone and his former partner relinquished the starring role which would pass to Curtis. As for Brynner, whose mother was said to have both Russian and Mongolian roots, he was at the height of his popularity and held out the highest of expectations for the production. Very loosely based on a short story by Nikolai Gogol, one major change in characterisation had Andrei transformed into the oldest brother to more easily enable the casting of 37 year-old Curtis in the lead role. In fact, Curtis was just five years younger than Yul Brynner who played his father, the eponymous Cossack rebel of the Ukrainian steppes. There can be no question that Brynner gives a barnstorming performance, while Curtis lacks both an appropriate physique and accent to be convincing in the slightest. Friction was constant on set as a result of Brynner's disatisfaction with not having received top billing. The offscreen antics of the cast also included the well- publicised love affair between Curtis, whose marriage to Janet Leigh was on the rocks, and his leading lady, Christine Kaufmann. On the evidence here, it is astonishing to believe that just twelve months earlier she was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Newcomer for her eye-catching role in 'A Town Without Pity' alongside Kirk Douglas. The overtly saccharine love- story she shares on screen with Curtis lacks enough depth to heighten the tragedy of the final father-son fight to the death. One wonders whether much of the film's weakness in terms of the plot was largely the result of the studio's comprehensive cuts imposed on the director.The studio had baulked at original screenplay writer, Howard Fast's wishes to bring much more historical accuracy to the story-line, especially concerning the Cossacks' anti-Semitic purges against Polish Jews. Consequently, the writing team of Karl Tunberg, Oscar nominated for 'Ben Hur', and previously blacklisted Waldo Salt, later to enjoy much greater critical success for the likes of 'Midnight Cowboy', produced a sub- standard bland vehicle for the heart-throb Curtis. By contrast, Thompson's direction is much more assured in capturing the spectacular battle scenes set in the expanses of the Argentinian landscape, substituting for the steppes. These scenes also benefit from the skilled hand of cinematographer, and three times Academy Award nominee, Joseph MacDonald, who a decade earlier had majestically shot his native Mexico for Kazan's biopic, 'Viva Zapata'. However, the picture's greatest feature has to remain the stirring score provided by Franz Waxman, which utilised Russian folk music, and was hailed by Bernard Hermann as one of the greatest scores ever written for the screen. How indelible an impression is made by the rousing accompaniment to the Cossacks' banding together on the 'Road to Dubno'.Yet, so disappointed at the final product was Brynner that he is said to have broken down and wept at his first private screening, and his belief in the artistic integrity of Hollywood irretrievably crushed.

swanningaround I love this movie. The theme song called the Wishing Star by Waxman caps it all off. I think it one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. The mass cavalry charges set in Argentina will never be repeated again. Similar scene are shown in the Soviet films War and Peace and Waterloo, both made around 1968. Christine Kaufmann is very beautiful and her later husband, Tony Curtis also as beautiful. Yul Brynner of course plays these sorts of parts with Aplomb. The only other actor I could think of is Kirk Douglas. Then again, they were always similar in these epic roles, weren't they. They just don't make movies like this any more.

Danusha_Goska Save Send Delete "Taras Bulba" is a prime candidate for the Flamboyantly Bad Movie Hall of Fame. It's sad to give a thumbs-down review to a movie that features the late, and missed, Yul Brynner, but hey – I'm a Cossack, and I skewer babies for lunch."Taras Bulba" offers two attractions: exhibitions of burly Cossack manhood, and hatred of Poles. The lead singers of the Village People – a cowboy, a construction worker, a cop – look like little girls in comparison to "Taras Bulba"'s Cossacks.Burly macho Cossacks duel by racing their horses over a widening crack in the earth; the first to slip into the crack loses (and presumably dies), but receives a eulogy worthy of a Burly Cossack. Burly Cossacks walk a plank over a pit of fighting bears while chugging vodka, they lift up off the ground a fully grown horse on which sits a fully grown rider, they chop off the hand of an evil Polish character, they plunge their newborn baby boys into freezing cold streams, they lay siege to a city and party down while its citizens die of plague. Cossacks wrestle with their dads, kill their loved ones, trample their hetmans, ignore their wives, orgy with Gypsies, vault on extemporized trampolines, and thunder across the steppes in carefully choreographed ballet that would make Busby Berkeley's heart beat like those prancing horse's hooves and his eyes well up with envy and admiration.With all of that, how can this movie suck so bad, and be such a painful, boring slog to sit through? Direction, production, set design, dialogue: nothing works here. Other than Yul Brynner, nothing in this movie comes together. Well – the horses are nice.An epic doesn't have to be real – it has to create a conceivable alternate world. In what conceivable alternate world is it possible that Yul Brynner is the biological father of Tony Curtis? You get the picture.Neither Yul Brynner nor Charlton Heston is a believable ancient Egyptian, but they are utterly believable as each other's nemesis in "The Ten Commandments." Yul Brynner was a real live Russian wild man. When Brynner had lung cancer, he continued to do the demanding waltz in the stage production of "The King and I." Tony Curtis was Bernard Schwartz of the undying Bronx accent who, in fights, used to protect his pretty face because he knew it was his fortune. These two are not related; on screen they clash as if colliding while walking home from the sets of two different films.Movies can do hate in gripping, even if morally bankrupt ways; we've known that since "Birth of a Nation." But "Taras Bulba"'s hatred of Poles is laughable. Poles here are not dumb Polaks. They are, rather, snobbish noblemen, too effete to fight, and sadomasochistic Catholics who order the torture of Cossacks and then kneel before a crucifix as the torture is carried out. The real sadomasochists are the filmmakers who created these scenes and the audience members who receive a pleasurable, anti-clerical thrill while watching them. The caricature is so two-dimensional no matter what twisted thing the movie has the Poles do – eventually they tie a pretty girl to a stake – it's boring. Yeah, yeah, the viewer wants to scream at the screen. You want me to hate the Poles. Ho, hum. Can't you get this lead balloon of a movie off the ground? Who was behind this bomb, anyway? Was it a desire on some Hollywood mogul's part to get back at the Poles? But then why cast Cossacks as the heroes, given the many populations brutalized by this warrior people, including those who suffered under the Cossacks who allied themselves with Hitler? The source material, Nikolai Gogol's novel, is anti-Polish, but it is also anti-Semitic; Jewish characters did not make it into this film version. I don't know the backstory behind this film, and the film itself is such a bore I can't bring myself to research the question.

Poseidon-3 What could have been one of the strongest epic films of the early 60's is weakened by the miscasting of Curtis, a few studio-imposed cuts and some really juvenile-looking matte work in the city scenes. Brynner plays the title character, a Cossack warrior, fighting against the more civilized Poles who rule over the territory in which he lives (the Steppes.) For a time, the two peoples exist in a sort of peace, but eventually the restless and proud Cossacks tire of the oppression they feel from the Poles and a major conflict arises. Unfortunately for Brynner, he has shipped his sons off to Kiev in order to educate them in the civilized Polish ways and, not only has the education had an affect on one son's (Curtis's) thinking, but Curtis has fallen for a young noblewoman (Kaufmann) and this later complicates things greatly when the war erupts. Brynner felt more deeply about this role than practically any other in his career (including The King of Siam) and he immersed himself in it fully. Though he complained about the editing of his performance, he is clearly perfect for the part and does an admirable job. He took an extra $100,000 to soften the blow of second-billing to Curtis and it was that casting that throws the film off track. Aside from the fact that Brynner and his olive-skinned wife would hardly have produced a son with pool-blue eyes, a pompadour and a Brooklyn accent, Curtis adopts an acting style that is wildly erratic. Though he clearly tries to bring depth and passion to the serious scenes (with middling results), he offers a quirky, irreverent take during other scenes and this seems both out-of-place and cheap in the midst of the serious goings-on in the story. Kaufmann (only seventeen at the time of filming, but already a ten-year veteran of the cinema!) is lovely and cries beautifully, but that's almost all she is ever given to do. She and Curtis make an attractive and appealing couple, but their relationship is never as realistic or as fleshed-out as one might hope. (They fell in love during the filming and married soon after in real-life.) Other notable cast members include a nearly unrecognizable Dexter as Brynner's brother, razor-thin Rolfe as the chief Polish antagonist, MacCready as Kaufmann's stern father and Rust as her handsome, but detestable, brother. Rust is so mysterious and captivating in his few brief moments that one longs to have seen more of him. His career seems to have been stifled by type-casting as unsympathetic henchmen (see "Walk on the Wild Side" for more of him.) A truly marvelous score by Waxman is reminiscent of "The Sabre Dance" at times. It adds considerably to the film. What hurts is the focus on Curtis over Brynner and the cuts that were made in order to whittle this gigantic story down to a movie that could play three times an evening. Also, the sets and backdrops for Kiev look like something more suited to "The Student Prince" or "The Pirate" than a serious story like this. A few unfortunate rear-projection shots mar a few of the outdoor riding scenes as well. Though a few changes were made from the source novella, the story adheres fairly closely to the original. One thing that stands out here is an unintentional (?) homoerotic subtext. Brynner and Curtis can't keep their hands off each other and are often hugging, kissing, wrestling and even caressing in some scenes! Curtis and his brother sleep in a dormitory with many athletically-built students in skimpy pajama shorts and both gentlemen are stripped and whipped frequently. It's an imperfect film, but an interesting one with many virtues, many of which have been buried in the bad reviews and lost sands of time. A widescreen DVD would surely grant the movie more attention as it contains massive spectacle with the Argentine Army pitching in to make sure the battle sequences aren't puny looking. There's a lot worse out there in the way of historical epics than this.