Beware of the Car! (1966)

Beautiful, moving film.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This has been called a "black comedy," but for all the cynicism that may or may not be read into it, it comes off with an enormous amount of charm. I love the premise -- a man goes around stealing cars so that he can sell them and give the profits to orphanages. A previous reviewer compares it in this regard to Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time," but the concept puts me in mind theatrically much more of another classic nineteenth- century Russian novel -- Dostoevsky's "The Idiot." Like Prince Myshkin, Detochkin is a completely honest man (and Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy plays him wonderfully, with an in-the-moment innocence that makes it possible to buy the whole thing). And, following completely honest principles, he ends up a car-their on the run from the police. The possibly-somewhat-bitter subtext being that to exist as a truly honest man is incompatible with modern lawful society -- a conclusion only bolstered when we learn at the end from Detochkin's shaved head -- even though it is accompanied by happy music in celebration of his reunion with Luba -- that he has done time for his right- though-illegal actions. The court scene is adorned by a speech from the villain Dima, pointing out how Detochkin's unacceptably kindly actions were against the rights to property and money guaranteed by the Soviet constitution, and there lies satire for those who choose to see it. The narration rarely breaks in, and when it does it seems to perform the rather postmodern function of explicitly contextualizing the film with relation to audience expectations of detective movies, so that it will be clear how those expectations will be deliberately turned on their heads. It's my second Eldar Ryazanov film and I look forward to more; this was delight, and one that I felt could be enjoyed on a few different levels.

"Beware of the Car" is one of the icons of the old Soviet cinema.(Note: there will be spoilers because it seems that the viewers not familiar with the Soviet culture struggle to understand what the movie is about.)The film is both a comedy and an over-the-top thriller parody. It follows a modest insurance agent Detochkin who uses the insider knowledge about his clients to hijack their cars. Incidentally, Detochkin befriends the police detective who is leading the investigation of his cases.The twist is that Detochkin does not steal to profit, but donates all the proceeds to the orphanages, and his victims are only crooks and corrupt officials. So Detochkin is essentially a vigilante.The idea of an honest vigilante thief was unusual and original enough to carry the plot for most Soviet viewers. Otherwise, it is a light comedy, in the sweetly naive spirit of the times as expressed by a supporting character, Detochkin's fiancée: "You're thinking like a five-years-old child!" Much of the film is carried by mostly untranslatable jokes and comedic performances of the stars of the golden age of the Soviet cinema: Papanov, Mironov, Efremov, Aroseva. Smoktunovsky was undoubtedly one of the greatest actors who ever lived but seems to be miscast here: I will always remember him as Hamlet; he always carries this drama with him.A classic comedy, but sadly, I think most of it will be lost to the uninitiated. Hollywood could make a dumbed-down remake though, that might work.

"Beregis avtomobilya" in Russian means "look out for the car". It seems that the title actually implies that cars become sort of a metaphor for our lives. The protagonist Detochkin (his surname implies "child" in Russian) is an insurance agent who steals cars from thieves and gives the money to charity. But then there's a surprise.What I mean about the title as a metaphor for our lives. Some people put all their money into their cars; they're complete losers, but at least they have cool cars. Moreover, it's often said that a person is his/her own worst enemy. In this sense, the danger to Detochkin posed by the average vehicle is nothing compared to what his own actions can do.Anyway, this is a pretty funny movie, a look at the Soviet Union in the mid-'60s. We even get to hear an American song in one scene! I suspect that they had fun making the movie. Worth seeing.

By current standards it is really ridiculous to call it a "black comedy". "Death Becomes Her" and "Pulp Fiction" are black comedies. And among the Russian ones "Deja vu" is a good candidate. So, here goes problem number one. Being rather light-hearted it lacks colour badly (suppose they could make it in colour back in 1966). And sometimes it lacks style (the background voice making wise comments in a "TV news" manner is a downer). This is very subjective fault-finding but quite decisive to me. There are no complaints regarding the actors' performance and the story is fine with its "Robin Hood" touch. There are many memorable scenes ("Hamlet" performance, the Soviet shopping, a funny monologue about "our" Shakespeare, etc.) and tons of enjoyable sayings. Most these things are, unfortunately (or fortunately), can be easily understood by older Russian people (especially of older generations) only. As to people from other countries (and even younger Russian audience) – there will be some problems in catching its tune. Just to expand on this matter: for Russians, the movie is one good piece of entertainment, nostalgia, and a historical lesson (clothes, relations between people during the Soviet era, first businessmen a la "spekulianti", Soviet "drama clubs", etc.). For the rest of the world... - hardly. If you live in some sort of USA, was born there, have been living there your whole life, have just watched this movie and ready to give it a 10 right away with a frank heart, post me a few lines please.It is a good movie but not great. Upon the DVD box it is written: "popular videos". It really belongs to that class of movies - "Russian popular videos" that is.If it were in colour and without that bumbling voice behind the camera, the mark from my side would have been better.Quite objectively, it is 6 out of 10 (but there should be a place for this film in the national top 1000 of course). Thanks for attention.