Gorky Park (film)
Encyclopedia
Gorky Park is a 1983 film based on the novel Gorky Park
Gorky Park (novel)
Gorky Park is a 1981 crime novel written by Martin Cruz Smith set in the Soviet Union. It follows Arkady Renko, a chief investigator for the Militsiya, who is assigned to a case involving three corpses found in Gorky Park, an amusement park in Moscow, who have had their faces and fingertips cut off...

by Martin Cruz Smith
Martin Cruz Smith
Martin Cruz Smith is an American mystery novelist.-Early life and education:Born Martin William Smith in Reading, Pennsylvania, he was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing in 1964...

. It was directed by Michael Apted
Michael Apted
Michael David Apted, CMG is an English director, producer, writer and actor. He is one of the most prolific British film directors of his generation but is best known for his work on the Up Series of documentaries and the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.On 29 June 2003 he was elected...

 from a screenplay by Dennis Potter
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective. His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture.-Biography:Dennis Potter was born...

 (for which he won a 1984 Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...

).

The main stars of the film are William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...

 as Arkady Renko
Arkady Renko
Arkady Renko is a fictional detective who is the central character of seven novels by the American writer Martin Cruz Smith.-Character timeline:...

, Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...

 as Jack Osborne, Joanna Pacuła as Irina Asanova, Rikki Fulton
Rikki Fulton
Robert Kerr Fulton, OBE , more commonly known as Rikki Fulton, was a Scottish comedian and actor best remembered for writing and performing in the long-running BBC Scotland sketch show, Scotch and Wry. He was also known for his appearances as one half of the double act, Francie and Josie, alongside...

 as Major Pribluda, Brian Dennehy
Brian Dennehy
Brian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was...

 as William Kirwill, Ian McDiarmid
Ian McDiarmid
Ian McDiarmid is a Scottish theatre actor and director, who has also made sporadic appearances on film and television.McDiarmid has had a successful career in theatre; he has been cast in many plays, while occasionally directing others and although he has appeared mostly in theatrical productions,...

 as Professor Andreev, Michael Elphick
Michael Elphick
Michael John Elphick was an English actor. Elphick was known in the UK for his trademark croaky voice and his work on British television, in particular his roles as the eponymous private investigator in the ITV series Boon and later Harry Slater in BBC's EastEnders.Robust and ruggedly good-looking...

 as Pasha and Ian Bannen
Ian Bannen
Ian Bannen was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man.-Early life and career:Bannen was born in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, the son of Clare and John James Bannen, a lawyer. Bannen served in the British Army after attending St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College,...

 as Prosecutor Iamskoy. James Horner
James Horner
James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...

 wrote the score. Ralf Bode was cinematographer.

Pacuła was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year....

, and Elphick was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film also featured Alexei Sayle
Alexei Sayle
Alexei David Sayle is a British stand-up comedian, actor and author. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He was voted the 18th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-ups in 2007...

 as a black marketeer.

Synopsis

Three young people are seen ice skating in Gorky Park
Gorky Park (Moscow)
Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure is an amusement park in Moscow, named after Maxim Gorky.-History:...

. Three days later, Soviet militsiya
Militsiya
Militsiya or militia is used as an official name of the civilian police in several former communist states, despite its original military connotation...

 officer Arkady Renko
Arkady Renko
Arkady Renko is a fictional detective who is the central character of seven novels by the American writer Martin Cruz Smith.-Character timeline:...

 (William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...

) investigates the discovery of their bodies a short distance from the skating rink. All have been shot in the chest and mouth; their faces and fingerprints have been completely removed. The KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...

 refuses to take over the investigation. Renko enlists the help of Professor Andreev (Ian McDiarmid
Ian McDiarmid
Ian McDiarmid is a Scottish theatre actor and director, who has also made sporadic appearances on film and television.McDiarmid has had a successful career in theatre; he has been cast in many plays, while occasionally directing others and although he has appeared mostly in theatrical productions,...

) to reconstruct their faces.

During his investigation, Renko crosses paths with NYPD detective William Kirwill (Brian Dennehy
Brian Dennehy
Brian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was...

) who is in Russia investigating the disappearance of his brother James. At a weekend getaway at the dacha
Dacha
Dacha is a Russian word for seasonal or year-round second homes often located in the exurbs of Soviet and post-Soviet cities. Cottages or shacks serving as family's main or only home are not considered dachas, although many purpose-built dachas are recently being converted for year-round residence...

 of Chief Prosecutor Iamskoy (Ian Bannen
Ian Bannen
Ian Bannen was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man.-Early life and career:Bannen was born in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, the son of Clare and John James Bannen, a lawyer. Bannen served in the British Army after attending St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College,...

), Renko also makes the acquaintance of American sable importer Jack Osborne (Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...

) and his girlfriend Irina Asanova (Joanna Pacuła).

Renko is able to piece together the victims' identities: James, plus two young Russians who were friends with Irina. He discovers that the three were busy constructing a chest for Osborne. Renko's suspicion of Osborne mounts over the film, during their polite but wary conversations in social settings. When Irina is attacked by a KGB officer who attempts to inject her with a fatal overdose, Renko saves her. Nursing her back to health in his apartment, they begin an affair.

Kirwill finally locates the barn where the three victims were building Osborne's chest. It was designed to smuggle six sables out of the country and break the Russian monopoly on their fur, potentially earning Osborne millions. Irina stubbornly continues to believe that her friends are alive. Osborne had promised to smuggle them out of Russia in return for their work; he tells Irina that they were successfully freed.

Renko confronts her with Prof. Andreev's reconstructed head of one of her friends, forcing her to realize that they have been murdered by Osborne. She confesses the full details of the plot to him and then runs away. Renko and Kirwill go to Andreev's to retrieve the second reconstructed head, but a KGB spook emerges with it in a box. They follow him, and Renko is crushed to find they are back at Iamskoy's dacha. They watch from a distance as Osborne and Iamskoy supervise the destruction of the head by the KGB spook. To Kirwill's horror, it is his brother's head.

Renko confronts Iamskoy in a bath house. Iamskoy cordially admits that he kept Renko on the case because Osborne was unwilling to pay a high enough price to smuggle out the sables. Renko's investigation was intended to frighten Osborne into paying more. He offers to cut Renko in on Osborne's kickback. Renko reveals that he has recorded the conversation, and Iamskoy tries to steal the recorder. In the ensuing scuffle, Renko shoots and kills him.

Osborne flees to Stockholm. The KGB allows Renko to supervise an exchange. He is to receive the sables from Osborne, whereupon everyone will be allowed to walk away. Renko is shown into a bedroom where Irina is waiting for him. She confesses that she fled to Osborne, who has worked her freedom into the deal for the sables. She promises Renko that his freedom can also be part of the deal.

Disgusted by her treachery, Renko tells Irina she has blood on her hands. He meets with Kirwill and the two assume that as soon as the exchange is complete, the KGB will kill Irina, Renko and Osborne all at once.

The next morning, at a remote farm, Renko and the KGB approach Osborne. They see Kirwill tied to a tree and realize he is dead. Osborne announces that Kirwill had killed his dogs; so, he gutted him. Osborne throws six dead sables onto the field and asks the men to lower their weapons. Renko realizes that neither side will let the other live. When Osborne shoots a man, Renko grabs Irina and runs for cover in the woods. Pribulda then kills the other man before Osborne kills Pribulda in a stand off.

Osborne tries to shoot Renko in the woods. Renko finds more live sables in their cages. Irina emerges from the woods and Osborne threatens to kill her if Renko does not surrender. When Renko emerges to give up, Irina shoots Osborne. Renko, too, shoots Osborne before Irina fires multiple rounds, killing him. She asks Renko to go away with her, but he does not want to leave Russia.

Renko frees all of the sables, which run off into the woods as we hear Irina's voice repeat Renko's promise that they will see each other again one day.

Cast

  • William Hurt
    William Hurt
    William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...

     as Arkady Renko
  • Lee Marvin
    Lee Marvin
    Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...

     as Jack Osborne
  • Brian Dennehy
    Brian Dennehy
    Brian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was...

     as William Kirwill
  • Ian Bannen
    Ian Bannen
    Ian Bannen was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man.-Early life and career:Bannen was born in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, the son of Clare and John James Bannen, a lawyer. Bannen served in the British Army after attending St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College,...

     as Iamskoy
  • Joanna Pacula
    Joanna Pacula
    - Early life :Pacula was born in Tomaszów Lubelski, Poland to a pharmacist mother and an engineer father. In 1979, she graduated from the Aleksander Zelwerowicz State Theatre Academy.- Career :...

     as Irina Asanova
  • Michael Elphick
    Michael Elphick
    Michael John Elphick was an English actor. Elphick was known in the UK for his trademark croaky voice and his work on British television, in particular his roles as the eponymous private investigator in the ITV series Boon and later Harry Slater in BBC's EastEnders.Robust and ruggedly good-looking...

     as Pasha
  • Richard Griffiths
    Richard Griffiths
    Richard Griffiths, OBE is an English actor of stage, film and television. He has received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor...

     as Anton
  • Rikki Fulton
    Rikki Fulton
    Robert Kerr Fulton, OBE , more commonly known as Rikki Fulton, was a Scottish comedian and actor best remembered for writing and performing in the long-running BBC Scotland sketch show, Scotch and Wry. He was also known for his appearances as one half of the double act, Francie and Josie, alongside...

     as Maj. Pribluda
  • Alexander Knox
    Alexander Knox
    Alexander Knox was a Canadian actor and author of adventure novels set in the Great Lakes area during the 19th century.-Biography:...

     as General
  • Alexei Sayle
    Alexei Sayle
    Alexei David Sayle is a British stand-up comedian, actor and author. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He was voted the 18th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-ups in 2007...

     as Golodkin
  • Ian McDiarmid
    Ian McDiarmid
    Ian McDiarmid is a Scottish theatre actor and director, who has also made sporadic appearances on film and television.McDiarmid has had a successful career in theatre; he has been cast in many plays, while occasionally directing others and although he has appeared mostly in theatrical productions,...

     as Prof. Andreev
  • Niall O'Brien
    Niall O'Brien
    Niall O'Brien may refer to:*Niall O'Brien *Niall O'Brien *Niall O'Brien , Colombian missionary...

     as KGB Agent Rurik
  • Henry Woolf
    Henry Woolf
    Henry Woolf ,is a British actor, theatre director, and teacher of acting, drama, and theatre who lives in Canada, and a longtime friend and collaborator of 2005 Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter, having stimulated Pinter to write his first play, The Room in 1956...

     as Levin
  • Tusse Silberg as Natasha
  • Patrick Field as Fet

Filming

Gorky Park was filmed in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

 and Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, as the crew were denied access to Moscow.

Critical reception

The film has a 77% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Janet Maslin called it "a taut, clever thriller throughout, with Mr. Apted's direction establishing its intensity immediately and sustaining it well. Ralf G. Bode's cinematography and James Horner's score go a long way toward setting a hauntingly bleak mood, and the supporting players, particularly Brian Dennehy and Ian Bannen, are excellent". Though she found it odd that Hurt would affect an English accent, she found his performance "rivetingly strange".

Roger Ebert found the depiction of Russian society to be the most interesting aspect of the film, and he credited Apted's direction for never letting the procedural lag. Ebert also praised the casting, even if it relied on typecasting an actor like Marvin. "He uses actors who are able to bring fully realized characters to the screen, so we don't have to stand around waiting for introductions".
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK