Customer Reviews

Taras Bulba

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Taras Bulba could have been a very good film - possibly even a great one. But Hollywood values killed any chance of that. Instead, we have a reasonably enjoyable mess of a movie with two outstanding ingredients that rise above the rest - Franz Waxman's rousingly inventive music and a suitably over the top performance by Yul Brynner. As the title character, Brynner looks every inch a Cossack - swaggering and posing like a macho peacock, delivering his lines with that growling accent, and wearing his costumes as though he had lived in them all his life. Brynner was a hugely undervalued actor - a larger than life performer whose presence saved many a film. But the odds were really against him here.

Instead of focusing on Brynner, the film makes Tony Curtis, as his son, the central character. Curtis makes absolutely no effort to look like a Cossack so it is not surprising that he doesn't act like one either. While the rest of the Cossacks are swarthy, burly, scalplocked he-men, the sons of Taras Bulba look more like a couple of surfers who have wandered in from the film next door. Worse still is Curtis's love interest - the enemy girl he falls in love and betrays the Cossack Brotherhood for. She is played with wan listlessness by Christine Kaufmann in a performance so wooden it's a wonder Curtis didn't get splinters in their love scenes. Still, in real life, he must have fancied her because he left Janet Leigh to marry her.

Even with its insipid love story, Taras Bulba could still have achieved greatness through sheer spectacle. The costume department certainly did their bit - although some of the Polish uniforms are needlessly naff. The music thunders and roars - except for the obligatory love song sung by an oversweetened choir over the equally obligatory sixties montage sequence. Filming in Argentina may have been a good fiscal decision, but it doesn't help the look of the film - pampas are not steppes. Still, there are some exciting and effective sequences, notably the Ride To Dubno during which Brynner's followers grow from a handful to an army. The battles scenes are as lively as the Polish university scenes are dull. Sometimes the scale of the enterprise impresses. But you end up wanting to like the film more than you do.

Perhaps the film's uncertain tone is best illustrated by a post-production anecdote. At a pre-release screening, director J. Lee Thompson supposedly turned to Yul Brynner and said: "I still don't see why you had to shoot Tony."

Finally, the much-loved version of Gogol's Taras Bulba has come to DVD. This grand, large-scale production manages to entertain with great action sequences while moving the viewer by telling the story of founded in love.

Taras Bulba, played by Brynner, is a great Cossack leader who fights with the Polish who continue to take more and more Cossack territory. His young son, Andrei, played by Curtis, is the only thing he loves as much as he does his people and his country. But when Curtis falls in love with a Polish girl, and sides with the Polish, he sets the stage for conflict and tragedy.

Bulba loves his son, his people, his way of life, and his country. Andrei loves his father, but also loves the Polish girl. In the midst of a great adventure story, Taras Bulba manages to be a story about love, and the great sacrifices and challenges love causes us to make.

This is a great movie, and very much deserving of a high-quality DVD release.

One of my all time favorite movies. Functions on three important levels. A powerful love story between Yul Brynner and his two sons, a desperate love story between one of his sons, Tony Curtis, and a polish noblewoman, all against a backdrop of steppes warfare. When all three elements collide, it becomes a haunting movie whose ending will have you in tears. Huge cavalry battle scenes-the best ever portrayed on film. Cossack brotherhood sworn to avenge the betrayal of Imperial Polish invaders, this is an adventure addicts delight. Waited a long time for this one, along with Solomon and Sheba and the great El Cid...Now where's Fall of the Roman Empire and 55 Days at Peking??

This was one of my favorite movies when I was eight years old. The theme of a son rebelling against his father was compelling to me even at that tender age. I thought Tony Curtis was very cool, and Christine Kaufmann was gorgeous.

As an adult, this film is more than a bit silly in places (particularly the strangely inappropriate musical interludes) and Tony Curtis is hardly convincing as a Cossack, but while the dialogue is often corny and the acting largely sub-par, it succeeds as spectacle, especially in the Ride to Dubno. The theme of Nikolai Gogol's story is still a strong one, although this is hardly a straightforward adaptation of the book. (Gogol's story begins with Andrei's return from Kiev, about 45 minutes into the movie. Also in the book, Andrei and Natalia never meet in person. He falls in love with her when he sees her on the battlements.)

The DVD is a superb anamorphic widescreen transfer with bold, vivid colors and a crisp, sharp picture. Fans of this film will be very pleased that a quality transfer has been made available at last.

It's great to see that the 'Epic' has made a comeback with the release of GLADIATOR. I therefore urge those of of you who enjoyed it you to view and admire this sweeping, swashbuckling panorama of charging horsemen, ringing blades and booming cannons which explores a fascinating but little-reported (in the west) chapter of history. Set amid the Cossack struggle for independence from the Polish empire, this tale of warrior chief Yul Brynner and his relationship with his favourite son is full of dash and derring-do from beginning to end, and for me sits alongside 'El Cid' as the top epic of the 1960's which wasn't about ancient Rome. The highlight of the film is the stunningly-filmed sequence in which the Cossack cavalry regiments gather on the road to the city of Dubno, but the film contains several other fine moments: a gripping duel to the death as two cossack horsemen jump a yawning chasm until one tires and topples to their doom, and the scene in which Yul Brynner as Taras Bulba claims the leadership of the Cossack army and deposes the previous 'hetman'. The film's acting honours go unhestatingly to Brynner, who swaggers and struts superbly in the title role, while Tony Curtis is...well Tony Curtis. Franz Waxman's excellent score mixes gentle folk tunes and stirring evocations of galloping horseman. For film buffs: watch out for Brad Dexter, well-known as the Brynner co-star in 'The Magnificent Seven' who didn't make it to stardom, in the role of Taras Bulba's right-hand man. The last word goes to Brynner, who as he attempts to persuade the Cossacks to join his cause, delivers the classic line (to any Polish readers: no offence!)'There's only one way to keep faith with a Pole...put your faith in your sword, and your sword in the Pole!'

Yul Brynner with his gypsy background and larger than life screen presence is the quintessential TARAS BULBA. Brynner plays the title character with great bravado accentuating his charisma with his unique and appealing mannerisms. Set in the sixteenth century, TARAS BULBA is an enticing, emotional and enjoyable action historical epic focusing on battles between Polish cavalry and Russian Cossack's for the control of the Ukraine. Composer Franz Waxman's score is both rousing and romantically haunting and along with Brynner's performance is truly the centerpiece of this intriguing film. Waxman's score beautifully captures the magnificence of the Cossacks as they ride with gathering momentum across the screen and equally captures the obsessive nature of the love affair between Tony Curtis and Christine Kaufmann. Tony Curtis, no stranger to this genre, gives a very credible performance as Taras Bulba's son torn between love and duty. Director J. Lee Thompson's flair for impressionistic storytelling is quite evident. There are many indelible images that the viewer can take away from this film. Norma Koch's costumes, Edward Carrere's art designs, Joseph MacDonald's cinematography and Franz Waxman's brilliant score again all contribute to the enduring nature of this underrated film.

Set in the sixteenth century, TARAS BULBA is a very enticing and enjoyable action costume epic focusing on battles between Polish cavalry and Russian Cossack's for the control of the Ukraine. Yul Brynner plays the title character with great bravado and charisma with his unique and appealing mannerisms and screen presence. Composer Franz Waxman's score is one of his most rousing and haunting and is truly the centerpiece of this curious film. Waxman's score beautifully captures the magnificence of the Cossacks as they ride with gathering momentum across the screen and equally captures the obsessive nature of the love affair between Tony Curtis and Christine Kaufmann. Director J. Lee Thompson's flair for impressionistic storytelling is quite evident. There are many indelible images that the viewer can take away from this film. Norma Koch's costumes, Edward Carrere's art designs, Joseph MacDonald's cinematography and Franz Waxman's brilliant score again all contribute to the enduring nature of this underrated film.

As a young boy I loved this movie. Although I don't remember much of it I'd really like to see it come back as a DVD. I'd buy it in a second to add to my growing collection of what I term as classics. This was a wonderful movie. I just remember as I watched it I myself became a Cossack riding horseback as they did. Please someone put this on DVD!

As an English teacher in Japan, I often have to answer stock questions like "Where are you from?" "How old are you?" and "What's your favourite movie?" This is where it gets embarrassing.

When I answer Taras Bulba, nobody gets it. It seems that any movie older than 6 months, except Roman Holiday, is consigned to the realms of oblivion here in Japan. But at least this ignorance gives me the confidence to answer the question honestly. If fellow Westerners ask me the same question (which is thankfully unlikely as this is a rather unsophisticated conversational ploy), I am unable to answer so truthfully. "What! Your favourite movie is Tony Curtis playing a Cossack? " some of my acquaintances would undoubtedly sneer.

I admit that Taras Bulba is in many ways a preposterous movie. Tony Curtis as the main romantic lead is particularly bad. Christine Kaufmann as the heroine is bland and wishy washy. Historically , it is less than accurate. However weighted against all these defects, which make it so embarrassing to espouse, are the film's good points, and the all important fact that when I first saw it I was at a highly impressionable age, and saw in a cinema, not on video.

The action and the stunts, the manly virtues on display, the cameraderie, the contempt for the feminine side of life, the triumph of freedom, the incredible music by Franz Waxman made this movie particularly appealing to a 9 year-old boy seeking to get the better of his older brothers.

Whereas Curtis seems straight out of 1950s Brooklyn, Yul Brynner has all the arrogance and charisma of a timeless warrior patriarch - which is probably what he was in real life anyway. The Polish and Ukrainian settings have a fairytale atmosphere and there is that unbelievble gathering of the cossacks underscored by Waxman's rousing music, one of the greatest moments in cinematic history. It's nowhere the best movie ever made but for a variety of reasons, it will always hold a special place in a heart that feels itself to some degree Cossack.

I thought Yul Brynner gave an excellent performance as the Cossack leader Taras Bulba. The part was made for him. I wish he had been in the film more, and Tony Curtis less. Franz Waxman received his 12th Academy Award nomination for the score. It is great! Although the quality of the film is a bit uneven, it has 'The Ride to Dubno' in it, which is one of the most powerful and striking scenes I have ever seen in a movie. The movie is worth buying just to have that scene.