"Beware of the Car" is one of the icons of the old Soviet cinema.
(Note: there will be spoilers because it seems that the viewers not familiar with the Soviet culture struggle to understand what the movie is about.)
The film is both a comedy and an over-the-top thriller parody. It follows a humble insurance agent Detochkin who uses the insider knowledge about his clients to steal their cars. Incidentally, Detochkin befriends the police detective who is in charge of the investigation of his cases.
The twist is that Detochkin does not steal to profit, but donates all the proceeds to the orphanages, and his victims are only crooks and corrupt officials. So Detochkin is essentially a vigilante thief.
The idea of an honest vigilante thief was unusual and original enough to carry the plot for most Soviet viewers. Otherwise, it is a light comedy, in the sweetly naive spirit of the times as expressed by a supporting character, Detochkin's fiancée: "You're thinking like a five-years-old child!" Much of the film is carried by mostly untranslatable jokes and comedic performances of the stars of the golden age of the Soviet cinema: Papanov, Mironov, Efremov, Aroseva. Smoktunovsky was undoubtedly one of the greatest actors who ever lived but seems to be miscast here.
(Note: there will be spoilers because it seems that the viewers not familiar with the Soviet culture struggle to understand what the movie is about.)
The film is both a comedy and an over-the-top thriller parody. It follows a humble insurance agent Detochkin who uses the insider knowledge about his clients to steal their cars. Incidentally, Detochkin befriends the police detective who is in charge of the investigation of his cases.
The twist is that Detochkin does not steal to profit, but donates all the proceeds to the orphanages, and his victims are only crooks and corrupt officials. So Detochkin is essentially a vigilante thief.
The idea of an honest vigilante thief was unusual and original enough to carry the plot for most Soviet viewers. Otherwise, it is a light comedy, in the sweetly naive spirit of the times as expressed by a supporting character, Detochkin's fiancée: "You're thinking like a five-years-old child!" Much of the film is carried by mostly untranslatable jokes and comedic performances of the stars of the golden age of the Soviet cinema: Papanov, Mironov, Efremov, Aroseva. Smoktunovsky was undoubtedly one of the greatest actors who ever lived but seems to be miscast here.