Gorky Park
Reviews
CinemaSerf
When "Insp. Renko" (William Hurt) is called to investigate a rather gruesome find in Moscow's Gorky park, he is soon embroiled in a conspiracy that leaves him unsure whom he can trust. The KGB are involved as are the Americans - and soon it all points to the enigmatic furrier "Osborne" (Lee Marvin) who has a nifty line in sable hats. What now ensues is a rather dry and procedural mix of thriller and romance with the very presence of Marvin as much of a dead giveaway as you are ever going to get. Marvin brings a certain screen presence, but that just serves to illustrate just how much Hurt is going through the motions - he usually underwhelmed I found. Here the supporting cast led by Brian Dennehy and the occasional contribution from Ian Bannen as the slightly duplicitous prosecutor "Iamskoy" don't really add up to very much either. It all just lacks any sense of intrigue and the plot takes far too long to build up steam. It's very wordy, too - far too much dialogue that actually drags the story down to a almost glacially slow pace. A tighter edit and less verbiage might have made it more attractive, but as it is - well, it's all just bit dull. Chilly, but dull.
Wuchak
**_Of Sables and Men… in snowy Moscow and Stockholm_** A militsiya inspector (William Hurt) examines the murder of three people in their 20s in the woods near the skating rink of Gorky Park, all with their faces and finger tips removed. Linked to the investigation are: a KGB major (Rikki Fulton), a movie set worker (Joanna Pacuła), the Chief Prosecutor (Ian Bannen), a smug American sable importer (Lee Marvin) and a New York detective (Brian Dennehy), amongst others. Based on Martin Cruz Smith’s novel from two years earlier, “Gorky Park” (1983) is a police procedural with the distinction of taking place behind the Iron Curtain during the cold winter of northeastern Europe. It features an honest detective under pressure in a system that seems to operate only through corruption while underlining the conflict between Russia’s socialism and homegrown capitalism. I guess this explains why the Soviet Communist Party denounced the movie as anti-Communist and anti-Russian, denying the crew access to shoot in Moscow. So, it was filmed in Helsinki, with the Kaisaniemi Park substituting for the titular one, as well as Stockholm. The score by James Horner is great and one of the highlights, mixing the 80s with a Russian feel for a hauntingly bleak mood. Some people don’t think it fits, though. Marvin, Hurt and Dennehy are superb in their roles, especially Marvin as the cocky American importer. He was 59 during shooting and would appear in only three more movies before his death in 1987 at the too-young age of 63. It’s comparable in some ways to the dialogue-driven “The Russia House” with Sean Connery, which debuted seven years later, but this is all-around more interesting and artistic IMHO. It subtly distinguishes between the noble souls and corrupt ones; and then impressively refuses to deviate from that first impression with a moronic ‘twist,’ such as in the eye-rolling “Along Came a Spider.” There’s a lot of talk about escaping the shackles of Communistic rule and fleeing to the perceived paradise of America, which is ironic for several reasons, including the fact that the Iron Curtain would be down in a relatively short time. Regardless, the symbolism of the climax is potent. It runs 2 hours, 8 minutes. GRADE: B+
Movie Recommendation
Mansfield Park1999-11-12Fanny, born into a poor family, is sent away to live with wealthy uncle Sir Thomas, his wife and their four children, where she'll be brought up for a proper introduction to society. She is treated unfavorably by her relatives, except for her cousin Edmund, whom she grows fond of. However, Fanny's life is thrown into disarray with the arrival of worldly Mary Crawford and her brother Henry.More...
Norma Rae1979-03-02Norma Rae is a southern textile worker employed in a factory with intolerable working conditions. This concern about the situation gives her the gumption to be the key associate to a visiting labor union organizer. Together, they undertake the difficult, and possibly dangerous, struggle to unionize her factory.More...
Champion1949-04-09An unscrupulous boxer fights his way to the top, but eventually alienates all of the people who helped him on the way up.More...
Grand Jete2022-09-20Dance teacher and mother Nadja left her son Mario with her own mother when he was little. Now she has reappeared on his doorstep, seeking a closeness that knows fewer and fewer boundaries. An uncompromising film about family relationships.More...
Doctor in Distress1963-07-30"Doctor in Distress" is the fifth of the seven films in the "Doctor" series, and focuses on Sir Lancelot Spratt, Simon Sparrow's old teacher and sometimes nemesis. When the eternal bachelor Sir Lancelot injures his back and falls in love with his physiotherapist Iris Marchant, he becomes very distressed and turns to Simon for help. Simon, who now is a senior doctor at fictional Hampden Cross Hospital and hopelessly in love with aspiring actress Delia, sends him to a nature cure clinic in a vain attempt to help him lose weight, but Sir Lancelot can't get Iris off his mind and has her followed, first by a private investigator and eventually by himself. When he finally proposes, she rejects him and marries an old army major, which distresses Sir Lancelot even more.More...
Eddie and the Cruisers1983-09-23A television newswoman picks up the story of a 1960s rock band whose long-lost leader — Eddie Wilson — may still be alive, while searching for the missing tapes of the band's never-released album.More...
To Be or Not to Be1983-12-16A bad Polish actor is just trying to make a living when Poland is invaded by the Germans in World War II. His wife has the habit of entertaining young Polish officers while he's on stage, which is also a source of depression to him. When one of her officers comes back on a Secret Mission, the actor takes charge and comes up with a plan for them to escape.More...
Death of a Salesman1985-08-16Willy Loman is an over-the-hill salesman who faces a personal turning point when he loses his job and attempts to make peace with his family: Willy's long-suffering wife Linda, and Biff and Happy, his troubled sons and his life.More...
No Mercy1986-12-19An unconventional undercover Chicago cop and his partner are recruited to commit the murder of a New Orleans criminal kingpin.More...
The Year of Living Dangerously1982-12-17Australian journalist Guy Hamilton travels to Indonesia to cover civil strife in 1965. There—on the eve of an attempted coup—he befriends a Chinese Australian photographer with a deep connection to and vast knowledge of the Indonesian people, and also falls in love with a British national.More...
The Valley of Gwangi1969-07-24A turn of the century wild west show struggling to make a living in Mexico comes into the possession of a tiny prehistoric horse. This leads to an expedition to the Forbidden Valley where they discover living dinosaurs. They capture one and take it back to be put on display, leading to inevitable mayhem.More...
Waking Ned1998-09-15When a lottery winner dies of shock, his fellow townsfolk attempt to claim the money.More...
Boy A2007-10-28Freed after a lengthy term in a juvenile detention center, convicted child killer Jack Burridge finds work as a deliveryman and begins dating co-worker Michelle. While out on the road one day, Jack notices a distressed child, and, after reuniting the girl with her family, becomes a local celebrity. But when a local newspaper unearths his past, Jack must cope with the anger of citizens who fear for the safety of their children.More...
I Am Love2010-03-19Emma has left Russia to live with her husband in Italy. Now a member of a powerful industrial family, she is the respected mother of three, but feels unfulfilled. One day, Antonio, a talented chef and her son's friend, makes her senses kindle.More...
Sweet Smell of Success1957-07-04New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but one thing that he can't control is his younger sister, Susan, who is in a relationship with aspiring jazz guitarist Steve Dallas. Hunsecker strongly disapproves of the romance and recruits publicist Sidney Falco to find a way to split the couple, no matter how ruthless the method.More...
A Woman Is a Woman1961-09-06Longing for a baby, a stripper pursues another man in order to make her boyfriend jealous.More...
Gaslight1944-05-04A newlywed fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.More...
Romancing the Stone1984-03-30Though she can spin wild tales of passionate romance, novelist Joan Wilder has no life of her own. Then one day adventure comes her way in the form of a mysterious package. It turns out that the parcel is the ransom she'll need to free her abducted sister, so Joan flies to South America to hand it over. But she gets on the wrong bus and winds up hopelessly stranded in the jungle.More...
Psycho II1983-06-03Norman Bates is declared sane and released from the facility in which he was being held, despite the complaints of Lila Loomis, sister of his most famous victim. Is he really cured, or will he kill again?More...
Salyut-72017-09-22USSR, June 1985. After contact with the Salyut 7 space station is lost, cosmonauts Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Viktor Savinykh dock with the empty, frozen craft, and bring her back to life. Based on actual events.More...
Similar Movies
Valley of Bones
2017-09-01A paleontologist gets a tip from an oil worker in the Badlands that may set her career back on track.Grand Canary
1934-07-20Based on an AJ Cronin novel, a disgraced doctor exiled to the Canary Islands, meets and falls in love with a married woman.Dr. No
1962-10-07Agent 007 battles mysterious Dr. No, a scientific genius bent on destroying the U.S. space program. As the countdown to disaster begins, Bond must go to Jamaica, where he encounters beautiful Honey Ryder, to confront a megalomaniacal villain in his massive island headquarters.On the Waterfront
1954-06-22Terry Malloy is a kindhearted dockworker, and former boxer, who is tricked by his corrupt bosses into leading his friend to death. After falling in love, he tries to leave the waterfront and expose his employers.From Russia with Love...
1963-10-10Agent 007 is back in the second installment of the James Bond series, this time battling a secret crime organization known as SPECTRE. Russians Rosa Klebb and Kronsteen are out to snatch a decoding device known as the Lektor, using the ravishing Tatiana to lure Bond into helping them. Bond willingly travels to meet Tatiana in Istanbul, where he must rely on his wits to escape with his life in a series of deadly encounters with the enemy.Goldfinger
1964-09-20Special agent 007 comes face to face with one of the most notorious villains of all time, and now he must outwit and outgun the powerful tycoon to prevent him from cashing in on a devious scheme to raid Fort Knox -- and obliterate the world's economy.The Tin Drum
1979-05-02Oskar Matzerath is a very unusual boy. Refusing to leave the womb until promised a tin drum by his mother, Agnes, Oskar is reluctant to enter a world he sees as filled with hypocrisy and injustice, and vows on his third birthday to never grow up. Miraculously, he gets his wish. As the Nazis rise to power in Danzig, Oskar wills himself to remain a child, beating his tin drum incessantly and screaming in protest at the chaos surrounding him.Ben-Hur
1959-11-18In 25 AD, Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew in ancient Judea, opposes the occupying Roman empire. Falsely accused by a Roman childhood friend-turned-overlord of trying to kill the Roman governor, he is put into slavery and his mother and sister are taken away as prisoners.You Only Live Twice
1967-06-13A mysterious spacecraft captures Russian and American space capsules and brings the two superpowers to the brink of war. James Bond investigates the case in Japan and comes face to face with his archenemy Blofeld.On Her Majesty's Secr...
1969-12-18James Bond tracks his archnemesis, Ernst Blofeld, to a mountaintop retreat in the Swiss alps where he is training an army of beautiful, lethal women. Along the way, Bond falls for Italian contessa Tracy Draco, and marries her in order to get closer to Blofeld.Contact
1997-07-11A radio astronomer receives the first extraterrestrial radio signal ever picked up on Earth. As the world powers scramble to decipher the message and decide upon a course of action, she must make some difficult decisions between her beliefs, the truth, and reality.The Bridges of Madiso...
1995-06-02Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson for four days in the 1960s.The Spy Who Loved Me
1977-07-07Russian and British submarines with nuclear missiles on board both vanish from sight without a trace. England and Russia both blame each other as James Bond tries to solve the riddle of the disappearing ships. But the KGB also has an agent on the case.The Shining
1980-05-23Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.Manhattan
1979-04-25Manhattan explores how the life of a middle-aged television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.Moonraker
1979-06-26After Drax Industries' Moonraker space shuttle is hijacked, secret agent James Bond is assigned to investigate, traveling to California to meet the company's owner, the mysterious Hugo Drax. With the help of scientist Dr. Holly Goodhead, Bond soon uncovers Drax's nefarious plans for humanity, all the while fending off an old nemesis, Jaws, and venturing to Venice, Rio, the Amazon...and even outer space.For Your Eyes Only
1981-06-24A British spy ship has sunk and on board was a hi-tech encryption device. James Bond is sent to find the device that holds British launching instructions before the enemy Soviets get to it first.Octopussy
1983-06-05James Bond is sent to investigate after a fellow “00” agent is found dead with a priceless Indian Fabergé egg. Bond follows the mystery and uncovers a smuggling scandal and a Russian General who wants to provoke a new World War.The Living Daylights
1987-06-29After a defecting Russian general reveals a plot to assassinate foreign spies, James Bond is assigned a secret mission to dispatch the new head of the KGB to prevent an escalation of tensions between the Soviet Union and the West.GoldenEye
1995-11-16When a powerful satellite system falls into the hands of Alec Trevelyan, AKA Agent 006, a former ally-turned-enemy, only James Bond can save the world from a dangerous space weapon that -- in one short pulse -- could destroy the earth! As Bond squares off against his former compatriot, he also battles Xenia Onatopp, an assassin who uses pleasure as her ultimate weapon.