''The Bodyguard'' (, ''Telokhranitel'') is a 1979

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

released by Tadjikfilm. It is one of the best known of the Osterns and directed by the veteran feature and documentary maker

Ali Khamraev Ali Hamroyev (sometimes spelled Ali Khamrayev in English) (; ) (born May 19, 1937) is an Uzbek actor, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He is best known in the former Soviet Union for his works in the 1960s and 1970s. To date, Ham ...

.Али Хамpaeв
КиноПоиск (in Russian)

Plot

The setting is Central Asia during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

. In the post-

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

twenties, when the power in European

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

was (officially) "fully in the hands of the workers and peasants", but the fight against the

Basmachi The Basmachi movement (, derived from ) was an uprising against Imperial Russian and Soviet rule in Central Asia by rebel groups inspired by Islamic beliefs. It has been called "probably the most important movement of opposition to Soviet rul ...

rebels was in full swing. When a

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

detachment captures

Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

Nazar ( Anatoly Solonitsyn), the brains behind the Basmachi contingent, a decision is made to escort urgently the prisoner to the

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

province. The difficult mission is entrusted to a grizzled mountain trapper and conscientious revolutionary Mirzo. His expertise is essential to traverse the precarious paths and steep mountain ridges along the way, impossible terrain for the inexperienced. A group consisting of Mirzo (

Alexander Kaidanovsky Alexander Leonidovich Kaidanovsky (; 23 July 1946 — 2 December 1995) was a Soviet and Russian actor and film director. His best known roles are in films such as ''Stalker'' (1979)'', At Home Among Strangers'' (1974), and '' The Bodyguard'' (1 ...

), his brother Kova, the Sultan, his daughter Zarangis (D. Alimova) and

slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

Saifulla set off on this journey, pursued doggedly along the way by Fottabek (Shavkat Abdusalyamov), the ruthless new head of the Basmachis. They are forced to fight on the mountain ridges as well as negotiate the natural dangers and harsh elements.

Cast

(dubbed by

Sergey Shakurov Sergey Kayumovich Shakurov (, ; born 1 January 1942) is a Soviet and Russian actor of theater. He has appeared in more than ninety films since 1967. Life and career Sergey Shakurov was born in Russian-Tatar family in Moscow. His father was Mis ...

) as Mirzo * Anatoly Solonitsyn as Sultan Nazar * Shavkat Abdusalyamov (dubbed by

Oleg Yankovsky Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky (; 23 February 1944 – 20 May 2009) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian actor who excelled in psychologically sophisticated roles of modern intellectuals. In 1991, he became, together with , the last person to be nam ...

) as Fottabek * Gulcha Tashbaeva as Aibash, wife of Fottabek * Nikolai Grinko as Nikolai Grigorievich, border guard commander * D. Alimova as Zaranghis, daughter of Nazar * G. Igamberdyev as Kula, younger brother of Mirzo * Saidmurad Ziyautdinov as Saifulo, servant of Nazar * Bolot Beishenaliev as Mashrab, sorcerer, shaman * Rajab Adashev as Utash Ahmad Dodho * Sh. Mavlyanov as Basmachi * Saidmurad Saidmuradov as Nazar-aka, old hermit * Anvar Alimov

References

External links

* Ostern films 1979 films 1979 in the Soviet Union Films scored by Eduard Artemyev 1970s Russian-language films Russian Civil War films 1979 Western (genre) films Soviet action films 1970s Soviet films {{1970s-Western-film-stub