That Sharapov played the piano. Murka: who was the heroine of the criminal song in real life

" The meeting place cannot be changed" - a Soviet five-part television film directed by Stanislav Govorukhin based on the story by the Vainer brothers "Era of Mercy" (the title of the film is the same as the title of the novel in the first publication in the magazine "Change", No. 15-23 for 1975).

The film tells about the work of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department in the post-war years. Shot by the Odessa Film Studio, filming began on May 10, 1978 and took place in Odessa and Moscow.

Plot

The film takes place in post-war Moscow in August-November 1945.

Employees of the NKVD department for combating banditry, the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department (MUR) - an experienced operative Gleb Zheglov (Vladimir Vysotsky) and a hero intelligence officer, a front-line soldier, but a novice in detective work, a little naive and idealistic Vladimir Sharapov (Vladimir Konkin) - confront a gang of robbers A "black cat" that robs shops and ruthlessly kills those who get in their way. On the first day of Sharapov's service at the MUR, Vasily Vekshin, an operative from Yaroslavl, summoned to Moscow to infiltrate the gang, goes to a pre-arranged meeting with the bandit. Zheglov, Sharapov and other comrades are watching this meeting. But the bandit who came, having chosen a good moment, "says goodbye" to Vasily, and then jumps on the bandwagon of a passing tram. When the comrades approach Vekshin, who is sitting on the bench, it turns out that he was killed: the bandit deftly stuck a sharpening into him when saying goodbye.

Employees of the department go on a call to a warehouse that is being robbed by a gang. Sharapov runs into one of the bandits, but he, pretending to be a front-line soldier, deceives Sharapov and leaves.

In parallel, Sharapov is investigating the murder of a certain Larisa Gruzdeva. The main suspect is her ex-husband, a respectable middle-aged doctor, since a murder weapon was found in his apartment. However, Sharapov, seeing inconsistencies in the testimony and realizing that such an intelligent person could hardly kill his own wife, is not sure of Gruzdev's guilt and seeks to unbiasedly understand the circumstances of the case.

During a city-wide operation, operatives in one institution check documents. A young lady suddenly runs out of the establishment. Sharapov, discovering this, orders his colleague Nikolai Taraskin to take his place, Sharapov, and he rushes in pursuit, detains the very lady and returns with her. In the lady, Zheglov recognizes the prostitute Maria Afanasyevna Kolyvanova, nicknamed Manka-Bond, in whom the bracelet of Larisa Gruzdeva was found. From Manka, the heroes learn that the bracelet was given to her by the recidivist thief Valentin Bisyaev, nicknamed Smoked. Smoked, after being detained in the billiard room, reports that he won him at cards from the pickpocket Saprykin, nicknamed Kirpich. Brick is caught red-handed in a tram while trying to pull a purse out of a woman’s bag, and although he throws the purse on the floor, Zheglov quietly puts this important evidence to him at the entrance to the police station, and as a result, Brick is exposed. Under interrogation, he reports, in turn, that he won the bracelet from a certain Fox. Brick gives information about Fox, in particular, that he lives in Maryina Grove with Verka, a milliner who alters stolen clothes. There, policemen also find other things missing from Larisa Gruzdeva's house. Operatives ambush Verka's apartment. But due to the cowardice shown by Solovyov (one of the operatives), Fox manages to interrupt the ambush and leave. The second operative, Toporkov, is severely wounded in the process. Zheglov expels Solovyov from the authorities for cowardice.

Verka reports that Fox was introduced to her by Irina Sobolevskaya, who works at the Fashion House. She gives Sharapov Fox's signs, and Sharapov recognizes the description of the bandit, whom he had previously missed when trying to apprehend a gang that was robbing a warehouse. Meanwhile, the detectives find out that Sobolevskaya and Gruzdeva were friends, and that Fox was Sobolevskaya's lover, from whom he left for Gruzdeva. Sharapov rechecks the evidence against Gruzdev and proves his innocence. Sobolevskaya reports that Fox is spending the night with Pyotr Ruchnikov, nicknamed "Ruchechnik". Zheglov and Sharapov in the theater catch Ruchechnik and his henchman Volokushina after Ruchechnik deftly pulls out the number from the Englishman, and Volokushina receives the mink coat of the Englishman's wife for this number. Volokushina is then used to lure Fox into a meeting at the Astoria Restaurant. Zheglov sets up an ambush in the restaurant. Fox feels something is wrong and tries to leave, but after a car chase through the streets of Moscow at night, police officers detain him. While chasing, Zheglov kills the driver of the truck on which Fox escapes. After fingerprinting, it turns out that this driver is the same bandit who stabbed Vasily Vekshin with a sharpener.

At a subbotnik in MUR, Sharapov again meets with sergeant Varvara Sinichkina, a police officer, with whom they together took a foundling to an orphanage. Sympathy arises between young people, and they begin to meet.

Sharapov tricks Fox into writing a note to his mistress Anya - through her, the police plan to pass on to the gang the "plan to free Fox" and Fox's threat to give everyone away if he is not released. Sharapov meets with a fake Anya, and she makes an appointment with Volodya in Sokolniki. The real Anya, who came, finds out about Fox, but the bandits kidnap Sharapov, pushing him into the Khleb van and break away from Zheglov's surveillance, slipping through the railway crossing right in front of the train. Sharapov succeeds (in this he was helped by Levchenko, a former front-line comrade who ended up in a gang) to convince the leader - a hunchback named Karp - of his honesty to him, and the bandits decide to go rescue Fox.

At a meeting in MUR, Zheglov decides that although communication with Sharapov is lost, he, as a military man, will understand that the agreed place and time of the operation cannot be changed, and sets up an ambush in the store, bringing Fox there "for an investigative experiment." But how to save Sharapov? MUR operatives decide that a photograph of Sharapov's lover taped to the closet door will be able to tell him what to do. When the bandits enter the basement, the lights go out. Sharapov, who, even in the light, found a portrait of Vari on the closet door, takes refuge in that very closet. The bandits who have lost Sharapov start calling him. Levchenko, already sensing something was wrong, offers to leave, but the leader of the gang, Karp "Humpbacked", objects: "Let's finish with HIM (Volodya), then we'll leave." And suddenly, through the ventilation hatch, a loud voice of Zheglov is heard: “Citizens bandits! Attention! Your gang is completely blocked! ... ”Further, Zheglov offers the bandits to surrender in a good way, warning that otherwise he has instructions from the authorities not to take them alive. The bandits, realizing that they cannot escape, decide to surrender to the police. And here they are, defused. Levchenko, not wanting to end up in prison again, makes an attempt to escape, and Zheglov is forced to kill him. Distressed and depressed, Sharapov asks Kopytin to take him to the orphanage. Volodya decides to adopt the baby, but in the orphanage he is informed that the child has already been adopted. Sharapov comes to Varya's apartment, a guard sergeant, with whom he arranged a foundling in an orphanage. Here he sees her and the baby she adopted. This is the key difference between the storyline of the film and the book, which ends rather pessimistically - Varya dies there.

Cast

Captain Gleb Zheglov, head of the anti-banditry department of the MUR
Vladimir Konkin - Senior Lieutenant Vladimir Sharapov
Law enforcement officials:
Vsevolod Abdulov - Petyunya, security officer Pyotr Solovyov
Andrey Gradov - Nikolay Taraskin
Natalya Danilova as Varya, junior sergeant Varvara Sinichkina, Sharapov's girlfriend (voiced by Natalya Rychagova)
Evgeny Leonov-Gladyshev - Vasily Vekshin (in the credits - Evgeny Leonov)
Pavel Makhotin - Pavel Vladimirovich, investigator of the prosecutor's office
Alexander Milyutin - Ivan Pasyuk
Alexey Mironov - Alexander Ivanovich Kopytin (according to the book - Ivan Alekseevich Kopyrin)
Genrikh Ostashevsky - general, giving a report at the club of the Police Department
Vladlen Paulus - Rodionov, MUR expert
Lev Perfilov - photographer Grigory Ushivin, nicknamed "Six-to-nine"
Evgeny Shutov - Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Ipatievich Pankov
Evgeny Stezhko - Lieutenant Toporkov
Sharapov's neighbors:
Zinovy ​​Gerdt - Mikhail Mikhailovich Bomze
Nina Kornienko - Shurka, Alexandra Baranova
Igor Starkov - disabled Semyon, Shurka's husband
Witnesses involved in the case of Larisa Gruzdeva:
Yunona Kareva - Galina Zheltovskaya
Svetlana Svetlichnaya as Nadya Kolesova, sister of Larisa Gruzdeva
Nikolai Slesarev as Fyodor Petrovich Lipatnikov, Gruzdev's neighbor
Natalya Fateeva - Ingrid Karlovna (Ira) Sobolevskaya
Sergei Yursky - Ivan Sergeevich Gruzdev (according to the book - Ilya)
Gang "Black Cat":
Alexander Abdulov - bread van driver, Loshak
Alexander Belyavsky - Evgeny Petrovich Fox
Ivan Bortnik - "Blotter"
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan - Karp ("Hunchbacked"), the leader of the gang
Vladimir Zharikov - a bandit with a knife (according to the book - "Cast-iron mug")
Valeria Zaklunnaya as Claudia, Karp's girlfriend
Victor Pavlov - Sergey Levchenko
Oleg Savosin - Alexey Diomidovich Tyagunov
Tatyana Tkach as Anna Petrovna Dyachkova, Fox's girlfriend
Oleg Fedulov - Chauffeur Esin, Vekshin's killer
Natalya Chenchik - fake "Anya"
Rudolf Mukhin - the driver of the Black Cat gang
Other criminals and near-criminal elements:
Ekaterina Gradova - Svetlana Petrovna Volokushina, Ruchnikov's assistant
Lyudmila Davydova - “Verka the modiste”, Vera Stepanovna Markelova (according to the book - Motorina)
Evgeny Evstigneev - Pyotr Ruchnikov, nicknamed "Ruchechnik"
Leonid Kuravlev - Valentin Bisyaev, nicknamed "Smoked"
Stanislav Sadalsky - Konstantin Saprykin, nicknamed "Brick"
Larisa Udovichenko - Maria Afanasievna Kolyvanova, nicknamed "Manka-Bond"
Other:
Zoya Vasilkova - the victim, whom "Kirpich" cut her bag on the tram
Misha Epifantsev - the grandson of the store keeper
Natalya Krachkovskaya - singer in the cinema
Valentin Kulik - singer in the cinema
Nina Ozornina - restaurant worker
Valery Yanklovich - administrator of the Bolshoi Theater
Ella Yaroshevskaya - restaurant worker
Natalya Petrova as Marianna, a restaurant worker
Sergey Mazaev - saxophonist in a restaurant and in a cinema
Larisa Guzeeva - a girl dancing with Taraskin
Larisa Golubkina - railwaywoman at the crossing, where the bandits left the "tail"

film crew

Screenwriters: Georgy Vainer, Arkady Vainer
Stage director: Stanislav Govorukhin
Chief Cinematographer: Leonid Burlaka
Chief artist: Valentin Gidulyanov
Composer: Evgeny Gevorgyan
Chief Consultants: K. Nikitin, V. Samokhvalov
Director: N. Popova
Operator: V. Schukin
Costume designer: N. Akimova
Make-up artist: Vyacheslav Laferov
Editing: Valentina Oleinik
Sound engineer: Anatoly Netrebenko (Ukrainian) Russian.
Artist assistants: Mikhail Bezchastnov, L. Tsygulskaya
Editor: I. Aleevskaya
Consultant: N. Kondrashov
Trick photography:
Operator: S. Melnichenko
Artist: K. Pulenko
Symphony Orchestra of the State Cinematography of the USSR, conductor - M. Nersesyan
Stuntmen: Vladimir Zharikov, Oleg Fedulov
Lighting Master: Valery Logvinov
Film director: Dzhemilya Panibrat

Vladimir Vysotsky in movie

After the Weiners presented Vladimir Vysotsky with one of the first copies of the newly published novel Era of Mercy, he came to them and said:

I came to stake out Zheglov...
Weiners were surprised: - What is the meaning of stake out?
- It will be a movie. Probably big. And this is my role. No one will play Zheglov like me ...

From the memoirs of Stanislav Govorukhin, it follows that Vladimir Vysotsky read the Weiners' book "The Era of Mercy" only during the filming of the film. Prior to this, Vysotsky artistically lied to the authors about how impressed he was with the book.
About a month before the start of filming, Vladimir Vysotsky and Marina Vladi came to Govorukhin. At this meeting, Vysotsky refused the role of Zheglov: “I can’t waste a year of my life on the cinema! I feel that I have little left, I want and must write ... "

But the director convinced the actor that the film would not work without him. Vysotsky agreed.

Vysotsky made not only an acting, but also a directorial contribution to the film. It was thanks to him that episodes appeared in the film with the lisping pickpocket Brick Stanislav Sadalsky, whose image was created at the suggestion of Vysotsky, with a photograph of Varya on the door of the basement closet, which was supposed to save Sharapov. When Govorukhin was absent from the set, he left Vysotsky "for the elder." It is thanks to this that the scene of the interrogation of Gruzdev appeared in the film, fully staged by Vysotsky.
During filming, Vysotsky had a big fight with Govorukhin and left. So the Fox truck chase scene was filmed without him. Close-ups of Zheglov (“Pasyuk! Vanya, hold me! - How to hold it? - Gently!”) Were filmed later, when Vysotsky “departed” and arrived.
This is one of the few films where Vysotsky sings songs that are not his own. For the film, he wrote the song "About the End of the War", but Govorukhin refused to include it in the film, as well as the proposed "Ballad of Childhood". When Govorukhin invited him to sing an excerpt from Alexander Vertinsky’s romance “Purple Negro”, Vysotsky replied: “If you don’t want me to sing mine, I won’t sing Vertinsky either,” however, succumbing to persuasion, in one of the scenes, playing the piano , utters a few lines from "The Purple Negro", but, being true to his word not to sing, each time he interrupts them with remarks addressed to Sharapov. The piano playing scene is also the only one in the film where Vysotsky's hero is shown in the dress uniform of an NKVD captain.
In 1987, Vysotsky was posthumously awarded the USSR State Prize for creating the image of Zheglov.

Vladimir Konkin about the film

Telling the correspondent of the newspaper "Arguments and Facts" about the film, Vladimir Konkin said:

“Zheglovshchina has not gone away even today - if you look at the touching faces of the policemen. How they love people, our chiefs of police, how they burn at work!..”
“Our society needs ideals. Without them, we will be lost. The ideal is a beacon, towards the light of which millions are drawn. And Sharapov was such a beacon. Why is this picture outdated? Not only because the late Vysotsky was filming there. But also because Sharapov is there. Because Zheglovism is to humiliate the innocent and not apologize. The government does not apologize to us! How to teach the authorities to be polite? Sharapov is trying to teach them this.”

Editions

1997 Video CD: 5 Video CD, publisher: Krupny Plan, 1997
1999 VHS: 2 VHS Cassette, publisher: Master Tape, (professional quality Betacam sp VHS) Limited Edition series, 1999
2000 DVD: 2 DVDs, 5.1 sound, English and Russian subtitles, Twister publisher, 2000
2002 CD-Video: 5 MPEG-4 CD, IDDC publisher, Our Old Cinema series, 2002
2003 VHS: 3 VHS, Publisher: Krupny Plan, 2003

Film Facts

The prototype of Sharapov was Vladimir Arapov, who later became the head of the MUR department. In a 1945 photograph, he bears a striking resemblance to Konkin. However, by nature, he did not match the image of Sharapov, he was a merry fellow and a joker. Zheglov did not have a prototype, his image was based on many familiar Vainer brothers.
The film uses materials from real-life criminal cases. In the first episode, Zheglov tells Sharapov about one case from his practice: a murder and a staged gangster attack. Such a crime really took place in Moscow - the case of the former deputy chairman of the military tribunal of the NKVD troops, Krylov, who was investigated by one of Sharapov's prototypes, Vladimir Pavlovich Arapov. The case of Gruzdev has its own real basis (candidate of medical sciences Yevgeny Ilyich Mirkin in 1944 was accused of murdering his wife and sentenced to death, but the MUR employees managed to prove his innocence).
Members of a criminal group (by the name of the employees of the MUR "Gang of the Tall Blond"), which became the prototype of the Black Cat gang, lived in Krasnogorsk near Moscow. They worked at the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant, and in their free time they hunted by robbing savings banks. The legendary detective Igor Skorin, who served as the prototype for Colonel Danilov, the main character of a series of works by E. Khrutsky, took part in the liquidation of this gang, two of which were filmed: “According to the criminal investigation department” and “Proceed to liquidation”.
Initially, the film was planned to be called the same as the book - "The Era of Mercy", but since the cinematography officials categorically did not like the "non-Soviet" word "mercy", the title was changed.
The authors of the film were given a categorical condition: Levchenko and Varya, as in the novel, not to be killed. This immediately distorted the whole ideological meaning. After much debate, the choice was made: one person must be killed. I had to "sacrifice" Levchenko.
Contrary to the agreement between the USSR State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company and the Odessa Film Studio, the film was made not from seven episodes, but from five. Two "extra" episodes were reduced by re-editing at the request of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Among the deleted scenes were several fragments at the front, explaining the reasons for the friendly relations between Sharapov and Levchenko. In the original version, a large piece at the front was shown immediately after the silent scene when Sharapov recognized Levchenko, and as Sharapov's reminiscences during their conversation at night.
Larisa Udovichenko claims that the catchphrase “Bond or Bond?” escaped from her by accident, since at that moment she really did not know the correct spelling of this word. This episode is included in the final version of the film.
When in the fifth series Hunchback and Blotter require Sharapov to play the piano, Sharapov performs Chopin - etude f moll, Op. 25 no. 2.
In a restaurant where Fox is dancing with a waitress, the daughter of the writer Arkady Vainer Natalya Daryalova and the son of Vysotsky's friend Vadim Tumanov are sitting at the same table with Zheglov, Taraskin is dancing with Larisa Guzeeva, and Sergei Mazaev plays the saxophone in the background among the musicians. He also plays as part of the orchestra in the last episode, in the cinema before the film is shown (the song "Unsuccessful Date").
At one time there was an idea to shoot a sequel to the film. On the table of the Viners lay a folder with a draft script written by Vysotsky. However, Govorukhin put an end to the discussion of the topic: “Zheglov is dead, Sharapov is old, with whom and why continue?”.
In 1990, the Lyube group sang the song "Atas" about the main characters of the film.
The heroes of the film “The meeting place cannot be changed” are dedicated to the song “Black Cat” by Mikhail Sheleg: “Captain Zheglov tracked down Fox, Gruzdev asks for an interrogation to Sharapov
A monument to V. Vysotsky in the image of Gleb Zheglov was erected in Mariupol in the city center, next to the Mesto Vstrechi restaurant.
On April 14, 2009, a monument to Zheglov and Sharapov was opened in Kyiv near the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
The credits of the film indicate the son of Marina Vlady and Robert Hossein - Pierre Hossein, who was present on the set, although Pierre himself, watching the film, could not find himself. In fact, he participates in the episode where Varya Sinichkina leads him by the hand.
The first wife of S. Govorukhin, Yunona Kareva, starred in the role of Galina Zheltovskaya.
In the role of Sharapov, V. Vysotsky wanted to see another artist - A. Molchanov, but he refused the role.
Scenes in the film: the identification of Fox and the release of Gruzdev were filmed under the direction of Vladimir Vysotsky.
Matches of the USSR Football Championship in 1946 "Zenith" - "Spartak" and CDKA - "Dynamo" (the film does not specify which one - Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk or Tbilisi) actually took place at different times. On August 19, the match "CDKA" - "Dynamo" (Moscow) (1: 0) really took place, but it was not Zenit that played with Spartak, but another club from Leningrad - Dynamo (Leningrad). The murder of Larisa Gruzdeva in the film took place on August 21, when there were no scheduled matches.

Phrases that have become winged

A number of phrases and expressions from the film have firmly entered the phraseology of the modern Russian language, becoming winged. Among them:

"A thief should sit in jail!" (Zheglov)
“Well, you have a face, Volodya! Well, you have a vidocq, Sharapov! (Zheglov) (this phrase is usually used in a form that is not in the film: "Well, you have a face, Sharapov!")
“And treat the lady with a match, citizen boss!” (Manka Bond)
“We have a doubt that you, dear man, are a snitch” (Hunchback)
“Mercy is a priestly word” (Zheglov)
“You are not consciousness - you have lost your conscience” (Zheglov)
"And now - Hunchbacked!" (Zheglov)
“Don't be afraid, we won't hurt you. Chik - and you are already in heaven ”(Hunchback)
"Do not teach a scientist, Citizen Smoked!" (Zheglov)
"Bond or Bond?" (Manka Bond)

"Wallet, purse, which purse?" (Konstantin Saprykin (Brick)

Zheglov and Sharapov

Immediately after the premiere, there was a rare unanimity among the reviewers regarding the controversial figure of Captain Zheglov. And it was not a definite plus. Everyone recognized the image as a bright individuality and extraordinary charisma, coming directly from the actor Vysotsky, but in the personality of Gleb Zheglov, reviewers saw, first of all, a reflection of the nature of the post-war period, difficult and difficult. Zheglov's fury was too conspicuous, it was impossible to ignore, miss, write off as a difficult character, because it led to official excesses and reminded the older generation of the heavy hand of the punitive organs in the Stalin years. And yet, in the opinion of film critics, this property of Gleb Zheglov was justified by the fact that the character did not fit into simple schemes. He was alive, real, the viewer believed in him as a true hero, built not from literary formulas, but from nerves, torn veins, a hoarse voice, from insolence (sometimes in the face of superiors), from ingenuity and life experience. Thanks to these qualities, Zheglov Vysotsky looked head and shoulders above his colleagues, an almost outstanding person, and at the same time he surprisingly fit into the era, he was the very “cog” in the justice machine. It is impossible to remove at least one of the traits from the image of Zheglov, as Vysotsky played him. Gleb Zheglov is both dangerous and attractive with his pressure, sweeping away everything superficial and small. The phrase "a thief should be in jail!" in the mouth of the actor, it became a crown - almost a popular slogan that can be written on a red banner for the Day of the Police. But its continuation - "... and no matter how I hide it there" - is not acceptable for everyone.

Such is Captain Zheglov, head of the anti-banditry department of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department of the 1945 model. It is difficult to imagine a police detective more organic to his time, despite the fact that Zheglov was born not on the pages of post-war prose, but decades later in the novel "The Era of Mercy". In theory, such a bright detective should seem like a black sheep - employees of the criminal investigation department appeared on the Stalinist screen in a tightly buttoned tunic. He looks like from a gangster film noir - he flaunts in a leather coat, a wide-brimmed hat, wears a striped jacket and civilian trousers tucked into chrome boots. And his casually dropped phrase about the ceremonial uniform: “I have it like home pajamas, I never wore it, and, probably, I won’t have to,” can be mistaken for frondery. Gleb Yegorych Zheglov is too informal, he is not for the podium, he is all in menial work - he cleans Moscow from gangs of robbers and murderers, and he has no time to show off with golden shoulder straps.

The trick is that the image of Zheglov is half woven from a retrospective look at the post-war era of the seventies. The other side of things suddenly opened up to Soviet cinema of the so-called era of “stagnation”: it turned out that the Stalinist era (like any other) has its own “background”, not only one-colored - romantic, tragic or comic, but also purely everyday, that the heroes are people who also live in modest apartments and communal apartments, overcoming daily difficulties.

We do not see any varnishing in the image of Zheglov, although drawing, posturing, and a kind of artistry are very characteristic of him. In this he is close to the English detective Sherlock Holmes, who preferred to play a performance out of capturing a criminal. Captain Zheglov is also not averse to playing on the nerves of the antisocial element, “morally crushing” (as the critic V. Mikhalkovich put it) - let them know what the principles of Gleb Zheglov are. Therefore, not only operational ingenuity will explain the performance staged by Zheglov in the office of the administrator of the Bolshoi Theater. Here, take it higher, social pedagogy!

Zheglov is a convinced person, in his daily and often dangerous work he sees his social mission. It seems that he is a man of the team - the task force works so smoothly for him, but by his nature - he is a typical lone wolf. Of all the employees of the criminal investigation department, whom we are shown in the film, he is the most “charged” person for the case. The most purposeful and emotionally involved. Sometimes it seems that Zheglov revels in single combat with bandits. He, so to speak, maintains a personal account with the underworld - here's another parallel with Sherlock Holmes.
It is not surprising that fate presented such an extraordinary personality with his “Dr. Watson”, who is not inferior to his boss either in emotional charge or in personal motivation, although in a completely different way. I don’t know if the Weiner brothers consciously came to such a decision - to repeat the Conan Doyle formula, to create a duet of detectives, choosing a demobilized officer as a friend of a detective.

Unlike Zheglov, the image of Lieutenant Sharapov provoked controversy among reviewers.

The dispute about Sharapov went beyond the discussion of one character, and even more so of an actor-performer. The image of Lieutenant Sharapov, performed by Vladimir Konkin, turned out to be something like a cornerstone for the film, or, if you like, a stumbling block.

One can argue whether Konkin played well, whether he had enough skill, especially in the scenes in the thieves' raspberries - the audience is still breaking spears on this topic. In my opinion, he played well. Dissatisfied critics, putting the actor "unsatisfactory", mix two different concepts, two different games, two different ideas, when they say that Konkin played unconvincingly, that with such a performance he would inevitably fail in front of seasoned recidivists. But after all, the artist Vladimir Konkin actually played not for them, but for us, fulfilling the task set by the director - to reveal all the precariousness of the inner position of his hero. The task was to broadcast Sharapov's game to us on the verge of a foul: the hero is pierced by the thought that he is on the verge of death, and the operation is one step away from failure - and life forces him to improvise, to play an unprepared role. It is at such moments that the most unexpected reserves of personality are activated.

We know the whole truth about Sharapov, but the bandits are only guessing about this "big-eared fraer". Unlike Zheglov, a man of mystery, Sharapov is extremely clear to us from the first second of the film. It is, so to speak, transparent to us. As a behavioral model - in what his character really is, his attitude to the world, what is his potential. And this circumstance is both laid down by the plot and justified by the choice of the actor Konkin for this role, who previously played one of the most iconic roles in Soviet dramaturgy, the role of Pavka Korchagin. Sharapov is straightforward, sometimes tearful, but this is due to the fact that his character was formed suddenly, overtaken and burned by the war, to which he went almost from school. It is very possible that Volodya Sharapov will honestly answer the question about his favorite literary work: “How the steel was tempered” by N. Ostrovsky. Therefore, when Zheglov tells him, fearing to send him on a mission: “Volodya, yes, ten classes are written on your forehead,” this is not a figure of speech.

How many times has it happened that people who went through the front, who showed in the war both unparalleled courage and extraordinary ingenuity, found themselves out of their lot in civilian life. They showed their inability to live in a civil life, acted naively and absurdly. Life after the war is also a test. But Volodya Sharapov is back at the front, mobilized for the war against crime. He did not have time to get lost in a peaceful life. "Eyes are burning" - this is about him, he is also characterized by the excitement of the struggle. Having survived and won, having returned from the human meat grinder young and healthy, ready to build a new life, Lieutenant Sharapov personifies the generation of winners. It is as if the bright side of being, the hope of a generation, looks into his face, while Zheglov's face is clouded by a close acquaintance with the dark sides of human nature. Together, both characters are like two sides of the same coin.

When critic V. Revich writes that Sharapov, as Konkin played him, is timeless, equally suitable for the 50s and 70s, this, oddly enough, may testify in favor of the accused. It is clear that the critic wanted to brand the hero played by Konkin, accusing the image of stiltedness and schematism. A clear allusion to the type of "fiery Komsomol member" replicated in Soviet literature and cinema. But here, I think it's different. Sharapov's principles may be naive, but sincere. His social optimism beats in unison with his youth and the historical moment in the life of the country. Both, as time shows, are transient, but this does not mean that they are not present.

The writers, the Vainer brothers, and the director Govorukhin laid a kind of Ariadnov's thread of idealism in the image of Sharapov, stretching it from the victorious 1945 to the late 1970s. In the late Brezhnev USSR, there was a shortage not only for fashionable wardrobe items, but also for this type of hero. This to a large extent explains the inner affinity of the film's viewers, and initially the readers of the story, with Volodya Sharapov. The hero performed by Vladimir Konkin - with his idealism and doubts, with sincere impulses and disappointments - seemed like a man in his place. And at the same time it was read as "one's own", as a "transparently understandable" hero, impressing with his not always appropriate directness, similar to very, very many, and by no means unique.

"Murka" - the most popular of all songs in the chanson genre - had a very specific author. It was created by the Odessa satirist and songwriter Yakov Petrovich Yadov. He also wrote other popular "folk" songs: "Bublicki", "Fried Chicken", etc.

The heroine of "Murki"
The plot of the song "Murka" is perceived by the listeners as a conditional, as it were, a collective story from the life of criminals. At the same time, Murka, or, as specified in the song itself, Marusya Klimova, actually existed. Yadov wrote this song about the realities of the 20s, when the country was going through the era of the New Economic Policy and the criminal element literally bred in all cities.

Maria Prokofievna Klimova was a real woman. She was born in 1897 in Veliky Ustyug. A copy of the document has been preserved, in which these data are accurately indicated. The most interesting thing is that Klimova's occupation is also listed in the same document. Many listeners familiar with the song "Murka" may mistakenly decide that this lady was the lover of some kind of recidivist and therefore revolved in a criminal environment.

The prototype of the famous thief
Historical truth testifies that Marusya Klimova was actually a captain in the NKVD (originally the Cheka). The legendary Murka was a secret agent, a kind of "mishandled Cossack" in the criminal world. The woman worked in a special secret unit that fought organized crime in the new, young Soviet state.

Yadov wrote the song "Murka" about the secret operation of the Cheka, in which Captain Klimova was involved. For obvious reasons, the author of the hit could not directly write about this, so he slightly romanticized the laws adopted in the criminal environment. As a result, it turned out that the song was not about the operation itself, but about the frivolous girlfriend of a criminal who “surrendered” the gang to MUR.

The song contains many allusions and references to that time. For example, it is mentioned that a large gang in Odessa was “monitored by the GubChK”. Documents preserved in the archives of the NKVD testify that the Odessa ports in the 20s of the XX century were a great temptation for the criminal element, which was actually being monitored.

In the finale, the thief meets his dear Murka in an elite restaurant in a "leather jacket". This is how the employees of the MUR and the Cheka dressed in those days. Maria Klimova herself appeared in the gang as Margarita Dmitrievskaya. She "confidentially" told the gang members that this was her real name.

Further fate
After the criminal gang was taken, the woman served in the Cheka for some time. Then her traces were lost. All documentation about the Odessa special operation and Murka who participated in it were classified. There were various rumors about the real Dmitrievskaya, whose name Klimova appropriated to herself.

They said that she was in the Makhno group and emigrated somewhere to Romania. According to another version, the girl lived for some time in Odessa, then she was raped and, unable to bear the shame, committed suicide. Many Odessans believed that Klimova and Dmitrievskaya were twins.

It is well known that when the film series were shown, trams and trolleybuses were almost empty, and crime in the country was declining. About how the film masterpiece was born, we were told by its creators.

Mustache "did not take root"

- “The Era of Mercy” was first supposed to be screened by Alexei Batalov, who, as they said, wanted to play the main role in the film, - recalls the former editor-in-chief of the scriptwriting and editorial board of the Odessa Film Studio Galina Lazareva. But he didn't show up at the studio. We invited a young director, Yuri Novak. He, along with the Weiners, began writing the script for the film. And in parallel, director Stanislav Govorukhin read the published novel in Moscow. He was friends with Vysotsky, called him and campaigned to go visit the Weiners. On the way, Govorukhin retold the content of the novel to Vysotsky. They dined at the Weiners, Vysotsky praised a novel that he had not read. They agreed, called us at the Odessa studio and asked to approve them in this composition. Director Novak did not object and left the picture.

The Weiners themselves recalled that Vysotsky cheekily told them: “I came to stake out Zheglov!”

The authors presented their Gleb as broad-shouldered, tall and with a mustache. But for the sake of Vysotsky, they agreed to change the appearance of the movie character. At the first samples, Vysotsky was filmed with a mustache. However, then they decided to give up the mustache.

A photo: Nail VALIULIN

Vladimir Konkin: “Glad for a happy ending”

Each episode of the film was cleaned not only by the director, but also by the management, - Vladimir Konkin, who played the role of Sharapov, told KP. - Every two weeks we flew with Govorukhin from Odessa to Moscow. The then television leadership treated me favorably (shortly before that, Konkin played Pavka Korchagin, received the Lenin Komsomol Prize and was loved by the nomenclature. - Ed.), So Stanislav Sergeevich took me with him in the hope that they would torment me less. But editor-in-chief Heisin ran out of the whole script. But it is he who owns the title of the film "The meeting place cannot be changed", which we handed over under the name "Era of Mercy". I know that on television they immediately said that there would be no death of Varya Sinichkina. They said, "We need these two heroes to stay." I then thought: Lord, what a cranberry! But over the years, especially now, when rampant violence is everywhere, I realized that this was the right decision. A marvelous fairy tale, a chimera - but one cannot live without this chimera. And the fact that Sharapov comes alive after the assignment, and the baby he wanted to take in is no longer in the orphanage. He comes to his house, and at the window, like Madonna, stands Sinichkina with a foundling. Such a good happy ending - two young people are happy! I love this episode. It's small but accurate. And then, in my youth, it seemed that it was too syrupy ...

A photo: Nail VALIULIN

Wife asked to save Vysotsky

Few people know that we filmed a prologue - an episode from Sharapov's military life, in which Marina Vladi's son Pierre Hossein played, - continues Vladimir Konkin. - We filmed how Viktor Pavlov's hero Sergey Levchenko (who later ends up in the Black Cat gang, but will not betray Sharapov) and I climb through the front line at night to get our tongues. Pierre played him. We tie him up, put a gag in his mouth, drag him. We are spotted by the Germans, shooting begins. We run to the lake, where we have a boat. Around - explosions. Our boat got really leaky, and we started sinking during the unscripted take. It wasn't deep, but Pierre was tied up and couldn't swim. Now Vitya, then I raise the guy so that he does not choke. For two nights we were filming all these "baboks", horrors in the mud and water ... When Vitya Pavlov took off his tunic, I saw red circles on his back. It turned out that two days ago he was given cans - he suffered pneumonia. But he came to this terrible shooting ...

Then Govorukhin cut out the entire military prologue. Vladi's son remained only in the credits. I did not immediately understand that the director was right - this kept the intrigue. Sharapov sees Levchenko's face in the Black Cat gang, tenses up. What "Why? Only later it turns out that this is his comrade...

No, the real reason why the prologue was cut out is different, - stuntman Vladimir Zharikov told KP. - I was on these shootings. In the frame, Konkin had to pull his tongue. And he is not able to - physically weak. We show him how to throw a person - on his back. And he puts it on his head! In general, we suffered with Konkin. To replace it with an understudy - the installation would be noticeable. So we decided to abandon the prologue. In general, Volodya Konkin had a hard time. He came to the shooting as a star, and Vysotsky, despite his fame, was not a well-deserved artist. In the group, Konkin was disliked. Behind the scenes, Vysotsky and Konkin did not speak at all. But on the set they worked well.

A photo: Nail VALIULIN

By the way, Marina Vladi discouraged Vysotsky from playing. She asked Govorukhin not to touch Volodya: they say he is sick, let him take care. Vysotsky himself said that he did not know how much he had left and whether it was necessary to spend a year on cinema when he could write ... And yet he could not let his friend down. Often the director turned to him for tips and advice. It was Volodya who was already at the dubbing, after the director complained that the frame with Sadalsky was somehow boring, he suggested that Kirpich lisp. Moreover, the artist began to lisp so zealously that the director even shook his head: no matter how the management found fault. “And you say that this is an actor who talks like that in life,” Sadalsky found.

Armen Dzhigarkhanyan: "Hunchback is my child"

- Are you satisfied with your role? - we asked the performer of the role of the bandit Hunchbacked Armen Dzhigarkhanyan.

I love my hero because I invented it myself! This hero is my life. And I'm already 80. Well, the "child" is growing up. For some reason, the director offered to make me a wig, with which I suffered. I had to reshoot the duplicates many times: the wig moved out, it turned out to be a marriage. The hump was attached to me from cotton wool, and it was quite comfortable for me.

- Rolan Bykov refused your role. I was afraid: they say, and so small, and then there is a hump.

I'm not afraid of anything! Most importantly, I did not intend to play evil. I hope my character is still charming.

- Larisa Udovichenko admitted that after the role of Manka, Bonds received letters from the zone: the criminals offered her marriage. Have crime bosses appreciated your game?

Don't know. But when my car was stolen, certain people contacted me and promised: if the car is not yet outside of Moscow, we will find it. Not found.

A photo: Nail VALIULIN

- Did you notice the confrontation between Vysotsky and Konkin on the set?

This is none of my business. Having got to know Konkin better, I noticed that he was a good guy, intelligent, vulnerable. And why now tell how many times Vysotsky bit him ?! You know, Vysotsky is a phenomenon, but from a professional point of view, he is a rather average actor. And in this film he acted, in my opinion, average. There are other artists out there who played better and thinner.

- Who?

I ( laughs).

STORIES ON THE SHOOTING

The blotter was mistaken for a real bully

It was originally planned that Sharapov in the Black Cat gang would play the Murka piano. Konkin promised to learn composition in a week. “We need to shoot today - then the scenery will be dismantled,” Govorukhin snapped and looked at the hands of the music editor of the picture. He ordered her to wear Sharapov's coat and play something. She played Chopin to demonstrate her skill. "Wonderful!" - the director was delighted. So in the frame, when Sharapov plays, it's not really his hands.

Ivan Bortnik, who played Blotter, during the filming of the scene when the criminals come out of the basement, came up with a way out with a thug song

"And on the black bench, on the dock ...". And then he took it and spat at Zheglov impromptu. Vysotsky was taken aback. The policemen in the extras immediately, not according to the plot, attacked Bortnik and twisted his hands, deciding that he was some kind of hooligan who had been lurking in the shooting.

A photo: Nail VALIULIN

PERSONAL VIEW

By the tail and to the ceiling

Denis GORELOV

And by the way. With his patsanichestvo, sheriff's tricks, Zheglov ruined the investigation, anger towards Gruzdev's intellectual arrogance almost broke the thread to the gang, and it was Sharapov who led the ghouls under the rifles of the convoy, and not he. And the glory was his, and the love of his nation, and the passion for the erotic black raglan. For they love a commander, not a commissar, courage, not rightness, Chapai, not Furmanov. So from the novel about Sharapov "The Era of Mercy" a film about Zheglov "The meeting place cannot be changed" was released. As he himself said: "The era of mercy - after all, when will it come again"

BLUGS

1. At the very beginning of the first series, after Sharapov's shoes were polished, a spotlight is reflected in the window of a passing car.

2. When Blotter draws a black cat on the wall during a store robbery, it is noticeable that the outlines of the cat are already on the wall. They were drawn by Govorukhin himself.

3. In the scene of the interrogation of the accused Gruzdev, Sharapov's hairstyle changes (from smoothly combed back to a parting hairstyle).

4. In the episode with the foundling, Sinichkin, first with the shoulder straps of a private, and swaddles the child already with the little sergeant's stripes.

5. When a car with Fox knocks down a traffic controller, one person falls under the wheels, and another rolls along the asphalt (black knee pads are visible on the legs, which were not on the girl).