The White Sun of the Desert
All actors and roles (10)
All team (34)
Short description
Set on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, in what is now Turkmenistan, the film follows Fyodor Sukhov, a Red Army soldier who has spent years fighting in the Civil War in Russian Asia. Newly discharged from hospital and eager to return to his wife, he is instead drawn into a desert pursuit involving a Red Army cavalry unit and Basmachi fighters. The unit's commander, Rahimov, persuades Sukhov to stay behind and guard the women of the guerrilla leader Abdullah's abandoned harem, leaving the young soldier Petrukha to help him. Sukhov brings the women to a coastal town, where Abdullah and his men soon arrive in search of a sea route across the border.
Vladimir Motyl directed, working from a screenplay by Mark Zakharov, Valentin Ezhov and Rustam Ibragimbekov. Anatoliy Kuznetsov plays Sukhov, with Pavel Luspekayev as Vereshchagin, Spartak Mishulin as Said, Kakhi Kavsadze as Abdulla, Raisa Kurkina as Nastasya and Nikolai Godovikov as Petrukha, among a credited cast of 38.
Released in 1969 by Mosfilm and Lenfilm, the film runs 83 minutes and blends action, adventure, comedy, drama, romance and war. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.6 from about 8,600 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 7.2 from roughly 180 votes, indicating a solid and widely shared appreciation that is especially pronounced among the larger IMDb audience.
What's left behind the scenes
- Initially, actor Georgy Yumatov was invited for the role of Comrade Sukhov. But he had serious alcohol problems at the time. The director set a condition: if you go on a bender, I’ll remove you from the film. However, on the eve of filming, Yumatov relapsed: he got drunk and got into a fight. The actor’s face was badly beaten, despite his pleas to his attackers not to leave bruises, as makeup wouldn't be able to hide them. But they hit him specifically in the face. There was no question of a leading role after that. Anatoly Kuznetsov was then invited, and was urgently summoned from Moscow.
- In the full version of the film, in the finale, the wives run out, rush to the dead Abdullah, and weep. This episode was cut by censorship.
- In the finale of the film, after the fight with Abdullah's gang, when Fyodor Sukhov is sitting by the fire and saying goodbye to Rakhimov, a clear bruise is visible under Fyodor's left eye. Neither before this, nor in the next shot, when Sukhov says goodbye to the women, is there a bruise on his face.
- Filming of the film took place from July 24, 1968, to September 1969. The first scenes filmed were Sukhov's dream, where he fends off a sickle and then drinks tea with his wife and the rest of the harem. These fragments were filmed at the production base of the Lenfilm studio in the village of Mistolovo, Leningrad Region.
- The working title was "Save the Harem!". Filming took place in the Leningrad region, in Karakum and near Makhachkala on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
- After Vereshchagin throws the sub-lieutenant from Abdullah's detachment out the window, the latter, brushing himself off and mounting his horse, utters the now-famous phrase, "He doesn't have grenades of the right type." This phrase was not in the script; it was born spontaneously.
- The blood on Vereshchagin's face in the barge scene is real. Actor Pavel Luspekayev arrived on set with a knife wound to the face, which he had sustained in a scuffle with locals at a nearby pub.
- According to the script, Vereshchagin's name was Alexander, but Pavel Luspekayev put so much soul into his character that even the character's name was changed.
- Throughout the entire filming process, actor Kakhi Kavsadze never learned how to ride a horse. In every shot, he is either sitting motionless while the horse is held firmly by the bridle, or he is being carried on the shoulders of an assistant.
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