Gorky Park (1983)

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:

Conspiracy | Nudity | Place Name In Title | Reform | Skating

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

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (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:

The Irish Coffee Bar where Renko and the others discuss brandy and creme de menthe no longer exists but the Sheraton of course still stands at Tegelbacken.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Arkady's car stalls on the bridge on the way back to Moscow, the wipers are still running. As Arkady repeatedly tries to re-start the car, we see the wipers still running at full speed. In real life, each time he tried to restart the car, the wipers would slow from the drain of battery power away from the wipers to the starter motor.

Quotes:

Natasha: [Renko and his friend Anton are drinking brandy when Anton's wife, Natasha, brings them vodka] Wouldn't you two rather drink good Soviet vodka?
Arkady Renko: No, Natasha, wicked French wine will do.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

It's So Easy

One man versus the system

This is a fairly common story, that of an honest man fighting alone against a corrupt system. The setting is unusual, and the plot has some entertaining twists.

William Hurt plays Senior Investigator Renko, of the Moscow Militia (i.e. police). He is assigned to a high-profile murder case, and finds himself alternately prodded on, hindered or even threatened by his own superiors, by the KGB and by his obvious suspect. All these people are acting so self-confidently compared to Renko's plodding, that the sense of loneliness, or even of paranoia is very apparent.

Much of the action is contrived and unconvincing, both in its development and denouement, although the film does build to a good climax. On the other hand, all the characterisations of ordinary russians, who must have been strange creatures to film directors and audiences alike at the time, is very good.

The directors discarded one of the original novel's best tricks, that of sending Renko to New York (to recover valuable state property), and confronting him with the law enforcement system which gave rise to "Kojak" and the "Hill Street Blues".

Overall this is quite a good film, and fairly close to the novel. There are some sequels written which deserve to appear on the screen.