![]() ![]() "Mister Twister" (1963- 15m, Directed by Anatoly Karanovich) is based on a popular Soviet children's rhyme that tells the story of the millionaire from Chicago who goes with his wife and daughter on a trip to St. Outside he advertises “real human targets” and charges double the admission fee. There is the shady businessman in the "Shooting Range" (1979, 19 minutes, directed by Vladimir Tarasov) who takes advantage of the unemployment crisis to lure young people to work in his shooting range. West is not the only American millionaire to grace the Soviet screen, though later on his naivete is augmented by more sinister character flaws.Īlmost always depicted with a cigar and tuxedo, the American millionaire is the subject of many short Soviet animations from later periods. West, waving a small American flag and carrying more luggage than he can keep track of, is portrayed as gullible, naive and a sucker for flattery. Mr. West sends a message home, telling his wife to throw away the magazines from New York and put up a photo of Lenin in his study. Together they go to an orderly Bolshevik parade in Red Square. West is rescued by his trusty sidekick and a “real” Bolshevik police officer. West under their influence, the thieves reassure him that everything he read about the dangerous Bolsheviks is true, all the while orchestrating various scenarios to extract more and more money from him. West is taken in by a band of thieves who are out to “take him for every penny.” To keep Mr. Inevitably, the two get separated and Mr. West brings along a trigger-happy cowboy, Jed, as his bodyguard. He travels with a stack of magazines from New York describing the dangerous Bolshevik “beasts.” Frightened of what he will encounter, Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks" touched upon how pervasive cultural stereotypes could be in shaping public opinion. To understand our current political climate, let's study where we've been, by revisiting the rich cadre of Cold War films in our collective cultural archives.Īs early as 1924, Lev Kuleshov's satirical Soviet slapstick "The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. Presidential Election would have sounded as far-fetched as the plot outline of a dystopian Soviet-invasion film from the early 1980s. Even two short years ago the scale of Russian intervention in the 2016 U.S. The ideological battle between America and Russia has gone largely under the radar in recent years, but it certainly didn't end with the fall of the Iron Curtain. During the Cold War the ideological basis of these depictions was clear it was a battle for the hearts and minds of each nation's population. Russian and Soviet cinema is no different in their films Americans are either morally deplorable or totally naive, and always filthy rich. This is an excellent movie well worth your time and money.Russian villains have been terrorizing Americans onscreen with regularity since World War II the KGB officers, ex-KGB officers, gangsters and scientists are all deeply familiar stereotypes in the Hollywood canon. He's the best in the business and if he only did these for the rest of his career I'd be a very happy man. It's not that the other stuff he's doing is bad ('Swept Away' being an obvious exception), it's just that he is so damn good as this style of movie. Every time I see that Ritchie has made a movie that isn't a crime-thriller I get a little disappointed. It breaks the story up and gives room for creativity in the story-telling process and also humour. This one is actually told in quite a unique way with a couple of characters going over events that have already happened and it works masterfully. The pacing moves at lightning speed, the dialogue is quick, clever and deeper than you first realise and the conflict is always multi-layered. If you've seen any of Ritchie's previous similar films ('Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', 'Snatch', 'RocknRolla') then you know what I'm talking about. The style this movie possesses is just so much fun to watch. In fact Grant was so good I didn't even recognise his voice and had to wonder if they'd dubbed it. Matthew McConaughey is in his element in a role that he was born to play, Charlie Hunnam plays one of the coolest characters I've seen perfectly, Colin Farrell is hilarious and ridiculously cool as well and then Hugh Grant gives one of the best performances I've ever seen from him. The cast in 'The Gentlemen' is admittedly fantastic, but it doesn't change the fact that they are an absolute treat to watch. There are a few directors around who specialise in this but Ritchie is right near the top. He has an ornate ability to take average actors and make them great, and to take already great actors and get even more out of them. Has there ever been a bad performance in a Guy Ritchie movie? If there has I haven't noticed it. ![]()
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