Eldar Ryazanov directed so many classic Soviet films (almost all of them still iconic Christmas/New Year's repeats in Russia), but "Beware the Car" (1966), starring Innokenty Smoktunovsky ('king of Soviet actors') and Oleg Efremov (director of the Moscow Arts Theatre and owner of one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard) is a favourite. It's a layered Robin Hood story, a melancholic semi-mystery comedy that explores, without definitive answers, the nuanced complexities of morality and wealth in the Soviet Union (it may remind viewers of the themes in contemporary British films like "I'm Alright Jack," "Live Now, Pay Later").
Our hero, Yuri Detochkin, is stooping and child-like (reflected in his surname), a shy insurance agent who steals cars that belong to 'swindlers' or crooks, keeping this tiring second life a secret from his mother, his long-suffering fiancée, his boss, and his new best friend, police detective Maxim Podberezovikov, who he meets at their local amateur theatre. Yuri, who lives with his mother in an old communal apartment with his mother and is engaged to a hardworking tram driver, is presented in contrast to his latest victim/target, Dima Semitsvetov (Andrei Mironov), owner of a beautiful new Volga who smuggles foreign goods on the side, living the good life with his fashionable wife in a flat of their own. Maxim works hard to solve these serial crimes, as he and Yuri happily rehearse for their upcoming play, until a failed attempt to hijack Dima's car brings Maxim new clues. And as Yuri persists in successfully hijacking Dima's car, the noble Maxim finally stumbles on the truth. The ending is heartbreaking (if fitting for a law-abiding film), and the viewer sympathises with Maxim's struggle to punish his friend, but there's so much to enjoy, from the memorable music to the script to a memorable long scene with a policeman (Georgiy Zhzhenov), as un-innocent, innocent Yuri tries to make sense of the world around him Xo
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