Taras Bulba

Taras Bulba was conceived as a big screen epic, the type of movie that got people away from their TV's, which simply couldn't compete in scope with the big screen. Unusually, it was not set in Ancient Rome or the American West but in the Ukraine, depicting a historical event that Americans knew little to nothing about. Since the 1300's a dynastically united Poland and Lithuania ruled a huge area from the Baltic almost to the Black Sea. The enemy was generally Turkey, and so the Ukraine, inhabited by the Cossacks among others, became an area of contention. Taras Bulba takes place in the 1500's as Poland incorporates the area as a formal province of the kingdom despite the Cossacks' opposition.Originally the film was to be directed by Robert Aldrich, who had specified that Yul Brynner not be hired; but he was forced to sell the rights to a group of buyers who included Yul Bryner, so guess who got the role. That was one of the film's lucky breaks, because this was a role Brynner was born to play; who was Aldrich thinking of anyway? Because the United Artist film was planned as a major release, it had to have a major star in the role of Bulba's son, Andrei. This was 1961, so there was no question of anyone but a Hollywood star playing the role. Originally it was going to be Burt Lancaster, but he decided not to do it and Tony Curtis ended up in the role against the wishes of Yul Brynner. This is one of the problems in the film. Though he plays it with full commitment, Tony Curtis just doesn't give off even a hint of being a 16th century Cossack. They might as well have hired Cary Grant. With new director J. Lee Thompson fresh off the success of The Guns of Navarone, they trucked off to the Andes foothills of Argentina near Salta to shoot the film.What resulted is a mixed affair. The movie almost splits itself into two distinct parts, one thrilling and one boring. All the outdoor scenes are exciting and excellent, with vast panoramas of horses and men gathering and in battle, including the justifiably famous "Ride to Dubno" in which Yul Brynner and a few horsemen eventually add others until thousands of horses and riders fill the screen. There are also fun-filled scenes of Cossacks drunkenly celebrating, which echo the spirit of the painting behind the opening credits (a version of a famous Cossack painting by Ilya Repin). These are the high points of the film. But the rest of the film mostly takes place on a cleanly swept sound stage version of Kiev and concerns the forbidden love between Cossack peasant Andrei and a beautiful Polish Princess, Natalia (Christine Kaufman).That's where the problems of the film lie. The script is dull and everything in it is a cliche from the Polish students' hazing of Andrei and his brother to the love affair itself. Christine Kaufman is given so little to say or do that all she is left with is standing around looking sweet. The romance should be full of incendiary passion, since it forces Andrei into a terrible dilemma, but instead we're left wondering at his motivation after a single pleasant day in the country. The Poles are painted as the blackest of villains, which is typical of films but unfair to them. Oddly, the film reverses the usual conflict formula of film, where the audience generally is given to root for the forces of civilization over barbarism. Here we are given the relatively barbaric Cossacks as the heroes, despite the fact that when not fighting, they seem to only indulge in drunken carousing, and the relatively civilized Poles as the bad guys. the film is careful to show that the wild-looking Cossacks are Christians.So what you end up with is an unsatisfying film with sequences that are really exciting. Fortunately there are enough of the good parts to make the film watchable. The film is buoyantly supported by one of the most famous scores in film history. Franz Waxman's score received a deserved Academy Award nomination (but lost to Lawrence of Arabia. But who could have beaten that?). The score is almost a character in its own right and really keeps things moving.

This film was released in the early 1960's when film was first competing with television. Films with great visual interest and scope were created for the big screen with what were actually casts of thousands. Movies of this type were filmed on grand locations around the world, and scenes of a more intimate nature were produced on sound stages and then cut in to the narrative. Taras Bulba was adapted from a well-known 19th century Russian novel and takes place in the 12th or 13th century if I'm remembering correctly. The story concerns the Cossak people, a confederation of tribes who lived on the great northern Asia plains known as the Steppes and how they were cheated out of their land by the more civilized nations surrounding them. The Cossaks considered themselves a brotherhood and a free people. They had no nobility or monarchy. All were considered equal and they elected their leaders from among the people as a whole, a story premise which would definitely appeal to Americans. They were farmers, but also superb horsemen and skilled and fierce fighters. Other nations wanted their fertile land and wished to use the people as mercenaries. In this story, they are betrayed by the Polish military, after fighting for them in a campaign. They are forced to accept Polish rule, but one of the tribal leaders, Taras Bulba, vows he will return to avenge his people and regain their lands and freedom. The first half of the film displays the Cossaks' wild lifestyle and barbarism, but also their honor and dedication to their faith. One celebration shows a wild bear fight in a deep pit. There is a beam placed across and the men drink strong liquor and then walk across. To these people defying death is an entertaining passtime as well as an honor. This scene alone makes clear the fearlessness, as well as the joy, they display in battle. Taras has two sons and raises them to be true Cossaks and to hate the Poles. He sends his grown sons to the great university at Krakow to study their enemies, learning their culture to know better how to defeat them. The older son, Andre and a young Polish noblewoman fall in love, and add another layer to the story. The harshness of the times is revealed in how that relationship is dealt with among both peoples. The second half is the grand epic people have been expecting. Thousands of horsemen galloping across the plains in the gathering of the brotherhood is one of the most exciting scenes ever filmed. Then come the great battle scenes against the Poles and the siege of the Polish city of Dubnow. The great Yul Brynr has the role of Taras Bulba and he effortlessly lives the part. Brynr himself is half Russian and a fine horseman. Tony Curtis has the other leading role as the older son, Andre. Curtis is a very talented actor, but he is miscast in this part. He never achieves the raw masculinity and wild nature that should define the son of a Cossak chief. It's very hard to accept him as a native of the Cossak culture and it causes a glaring fault in an otherwise fine piece of cinema. If you are able to set that aside you will still enjoy this grand historical adventure.

I was just a kid when this film first came out and I remember loving it, despite knowing absolutely nothing about the Cossacks, the Poles, or medieval life on the grassy steppes of the Ukraine! Yul Brynner is perfectly cast in the title role, with Tony Curtis & Perry Lopez doing a great job portraying his sons, Andrei & Ostap, as they are packed off to a university in Kiev to be educated, with Curtis falling in love with the pretty daughter of the Polish governor, Natalia (played by the beautiful Christine Kaufmann!) I still don't know how historically accurate this film is, but I still enjoy watching it to this day, despite its probably being the ONLY film where Poland is shown to be the "bad guy!"

I love the old Epics and this is one of them. They used several thousand extras from the Argentine gauchos to make it look quite authentic.Yul Brenner and Tony Curtis were superb. However the very end with the Cossacks fight scene with the Poles was too quick with a hard to believe forced ending. Still loved the scene with the gathering of the Cossacks using the thousand or 2 extras on horseback. Quite a site you rarely saw in movies. Very moving if you are into action flicks.

This is the movie where Tony Curtis met Christine Kaufman and fell in love with her. (Not an Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton type scandal - but it raised some eyebrows in its time). I've probably seen it many years ago. There is nothing memorable about the picture other than its a good watch for the time. So grab a coke and some popcorn this will occupy you on a day when you don't want to do much.Pluses: Costume Picture Historical(?) drama Yul Brenner in a movie is always a plus to me.Minuses: Story line isn't the best written.

Something brought this movie to my mind recently and I haven't seen it since I was about 9 years old but I had enjoyed it then. I didn't even know it was in colour. I didn't even look at the sleeve, just put it straight into the device and was surprised when the menu came up - it was in Spanish. Fortunately I speak a little and was able to navigate through it and watch the movie. It's a movie very much of it's time, the early 60's, or even an earlier era. The special effects are woeful though the scenery is breathtaking. However if you are 9 years old it would still be exciting. They say you should never revisit the scene of a happy childhood holiday and I think the same applies to movies.

Well, I'm gutted! I suppose it weren't going to be long before I got stung eventually!Very inferior quality for the price! I have paid half the price for official releases before now.The appearance of this disc's laser burn is just what I would expect from a domestic DVD writer. The scene selector looks like something created in a domestic video editing program. The menu is surrounded by a cheap looking hammered gold bar, and to make things even worse, there is sound loss during the 'Cossack Drinking song'- scene 4, which was infuriating.Not a very happy chappy!

Picture and. Sound superbStars yul brynner as a colonel in a Cossack unit who is betrayed by his polishAllies . Raises two sons one is tony Curtis. Yul sends. His sons to a polish school to better themselves while the boys have to deal with bigotry and racismBare in mind this was about n4-500 years. Ago the boys rebel and return home the Cossacks rise up to teach the dastardly. Polish a lesson.... Good rompWith tragic endeng

saw it when i was 15, loved it then , love it now at 67!

It was in Polish and therefore of no use to me. It was binned