Taras Bulba

It's early 16th century. The Ottoman Empire is spreading across the world. On the frontiers of Poland, they are threatening to conquer the Steppes. After defeating the Turks, the Poles turn on their allies, the Cossacks. Cossack colonel Taras Bulba (Yul Brynner) vows revenge on the Poles no matter how long it takes. Years later, he sends his sons, Andrei (Tony Curtis) and Ostap, to study in Kiev under the Poles so that they could finally beat them in battle. Andrei falls for governor's daughter Natalia Dubrov. I like Yul Brynner in this. He's good at this type of character. On the other hand, Tony Curtis may be doing his role correctly but I don't like it. It feels overwrought and not in a good way like Brynner. I like the movie more whenever Brynner is involved. Also, it has lots of horses and some good action. It's an adaptation of a celebrated fictional novel and a so-so movie.

... even as a Coassack! Seriously though Mr. Brynner can play everything, as far as I'm concerned, and that in a very convincing manner, too! But although the film is called "Taras Bulba", it's actually son Bulba, who's playing the main character here (portrayed by Tony Curtis). I had the opportunity to watch the movie in a (blow-up) 70mm copy. Unfortunately the colors had faded away, but it still looked great. The battle scenes are especially good. But it's the nature of the movie that I liked, the depiction of a small group of "rebels" that tried to go a different way (if you see the movie, you'll know what I mean). There's a great quote from "Bulba Sr." (Brynner) about having faith in poles, just awesome!

Borrowing from Gogol the title ,the proper nouns and the son's killing,Jack Lee Thompson's movie is quite entertaining,ideal for a rainy day or after a hard day's work. The first part is the most interesting: the scenes at the university with its sadistic monks -while one of them is flogging the rebel students,the other kneels down and pray- and its "racism" : a lot of Pole Students cannot accept the fact that those primitive savage cossacks study in their school.Curtis was almost emasculated "to prevent him from sullying Pole girls." It sometimes recalls"Romeo and Juliette",which Christine Kaufman's resemblance with Olivia Hussey who would play the part of Juliette six years later reinforces.Yul Brynner is ideally cast as Taras. The 1936 French version ("Tarass Boulba" French spelling)mainly deals with the second part -the siege- and the stories are similar with the same love interest.

That this classic novel by Gogol about the legendary Ukrainian cossack hero could have been made into a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster, and that this was done at the very height of the cold war seems unbelievable today. While the film is dated a bit by the kitschy love story involving Tony Curtis' character, Yul Brynner is perfect in his role which seems one of those he was born to play. A colourful and spectacular historical epic in the best of the then-dying old Hollywood tradition, this is probably the only exposure that the American public at large has to Ukrainian history, and in this alone it is a valuable work. But the film manages to succeed on the entertainment level as well, and I recommend it to all fans of the good ol' Hollywood studio historical drama.