A Man from the Boulevard des Capucines

A Man from the Boulevard des Capuchines
Original film poster
Directed by	Alla Surikova
Written by	Eduard Akopov
Starring	Andrei Mironov Aleksandra Yakovleva-Aasmyae
Music by	Gennadi Gladkov
Cinematography	Grigori Belenky
Editing by	Inessa Brozhovskaya
Studio	Mosfilm
Distributed by	Sovexportfilm
Release date(s)	June 23, 1987
Running time	99 min.
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

A Man from the Boulevard des Capuchines (Russian: Человек с бульвара Капуцинов, translit. Chelovek s bulvara Kaputsinov) is a Red Western comedy film of 1987 (Mosfilm production), with nods to silent film and the transforming power of celluloid.

It is particularly unusual in Soviet cinema for two reasons: first, it was directed by one of the few female Soviet directors of any stature, Alla Surikova, and second it was a rare post-modernist outing.

The film was the leader of Soviet distribution in 1987 and had 60 million viewers.

Plot

The plot involves the arrival of Mr Johnny First in a sleepy "Wild West" town. After Mr First starts showing the residents Chaplinesque silent films on his cinematograph, the town's wild inhabitants are tamed by the images on the silver screen, trading saloons and brawls for glasses of milk and moving pictures.

Beautiful dancer Diane falls for First, and so he ends up making a few enemies, including Diane's many other admirers and the barman who is threatened by the new competition for "entertainment".

The film is a comedy critique of the wild west myth. Just as Buffalo Bill mythologized his exploits and later Hollywood elaborated the image, a Soviet film (i.e. the other side of the Cold War) deconstructs and satirizes it, both through the film and the "film within film" that Johnny First shows. It is a self-reflexive fable documenting its own evolution.

Cast

• Andrei Mironov as Johnny First
• Alexandra Yakovleva-Aasmäe as Ms. Diana Little
• Nikolai Karachentsov as Billy King
• Oleg Tabakov as Harry
• Mikhail Boyarsky as "Black" Jack
• Igor Kvasha as Pastor
• Lev Durov as Undertaker
• Galina Polskikh as Mrs. Thompson
• Natalya Krachkovskaya as Conchita
• Natalya Fateyeva as Chief's wife
• Spartak Mishulin as Chief of the Comanches
• Albert Filozov as Mr. Second
• Mikhail Svetin as Pharmacist
• Leonid Yarmolnik as One-eyed cowboy Martin
• Borislav Brondukov as Stray cowboy

External links

• A Man from the Boulevard des Capucines at AllRovi
• A Man from the Boulevard des Capucines at the Internet Movie Database