Taras Bulba is a 1962 film loosely based on Nikolai Gogol's short novel, Taras Bulba, starring Yul Brynner in the title role, and Tony Curtis as his son, Andrei, leaders of a Cossack clan on the Ukrainian steppes. The film was directed by J. Lee Thompson. The story line of the film is considerably different from that of Gogol's novel, but is closer to the Russian 1842 edition than the original Ukrainian version (1832).
Its most famous line has Taras Bulba saying "Put your faith in your sword, and your sword in a Pole."
Storyline
The movie opens with a battle raging between the Turks and the Poles. The Poles are losing until the Cossacks arrive to save the day. However, it turns out that the Poles were merely holding back so that they could treacherously attack the Cossacks after they won the battle for them. In this way, the Poles become masters of Ukraine and the Cossacks are subjugated. Taras Bulba, one of the Cossack Hetmen, returns home to raise his family under Polish dominion.
Several years later, Taras sends his two sons off to the academy at Kiev, ostensibly to learn to be Polish. There, the eldest son, Andrei, falls in love with a Polish princess Christine Kaufmann, to the ire of the locals, who treat the Cossack brothers like scum of the earth. Ultimately, the brothers are forced to flee Kiev, back to their father’s house on the Ukrainian steppes.
There, word comes that the Poles want the Cossacks to raise an army to help them in a new war with the Turks. When Andrei objects, he is accused of being a coward. This is a serious offense that can only be resolved by a test of courage. Andrei and his accuser ride and jump their horses over a chasm until God chooses which one is right by having the accuser fall to his death. Taras embraces Andrei’s lead and plans to betray the Poles and take back Ukraine.
Assuming command of the Cossacks, he leads them to Dubno, where the Poles are expecting him to join them. Instead, the Cossacks attack the Polish army and drive it back into the city. The Cossacks then surround the city. Hunger and disease set in and Andrei, fearing for the life of his Polish lover, sneaks into the city in an attempt to rescue her. He is captured and she is condemned to be burned at the stake for the crime of loving a Cossack. To save her, Andrei agrees to lead a raiding party to bring cattle into the starving city.
Meanwhile, the Cossacks have grown bored with the inactivity of the siege and a large number of them have departed for home. When the Polish commander realizes the weakness of the Cossacks against the raiding force, he orders his whole army to attack. Taras Bulba encounters his son on the field of battle and kills him for his betrayal before joining the general retreat to the edge of a cliff. There, the Cossacks who left the siege to go home, rejoin the battle and large numbers of men and horses, both Cossack and Polish, are pushed over the edge to their deaths in the river below.
The movie ends with the Cossacks victorious and entering Dubno. Andrei is to be buried there, as “it is now a Cossack city” and presumably, the Cossacks will not treat the Poles as badly as they were treated by them.
Release Details
On 25 March 2008 this film was released on DVD in Regions 1 and 2. This is the first release on DVD.
Filming locations
Although the story is set in the Eastern European steppes, the film was entirely shot in California USA, Salta, Argentina and Yugoslavia.
External links
