Gorky Park

This is a fairly common story, that of an honest man fighting alone against a corrupt system. The setting is unusual, and the plot has some entertaining twists.

William Hurt plays Senior Investigator Renko, of the Moscow Militia (i.e. police). He is assigned to a high-profile murder case, and finds himself alternately prodded on, hindered or even threatened by his own superiors, by the KGB and by his obvious suspect. All these people are acting so self-confidently compared to Renko's plodding, that the sense of loneliness, or even of paranoia is very apparent.

Much of the action is contrived and unconvincing, both in its development and denouement, although the film does build to a good climax. On the other hand, all the characterisations of ordinary russians, who must have been strange creatures to film directors and audiences alike at the time, is very good.

The directors discarded one of the original novel's best tricks, that of sending Renko to New York (to recover valuable state property), and confronting him with the law enforcement system which gave rise to "Kojak" and the "Hill Street Blues".

Overall this is quite a good film, and fairly close to the novel. There are some sequels written which deserve to appear on the screen.

This film has stood the test of time and repeat viewings for me. Have watched about 10 times over the past 20 years and each time I am totally engrossed. Excellent crime-mystery drama. The dialog in this movie is as good as any I know. Scenery and the settings make you feel like you are in Russia during winter: bleak and frigid. Performances by Hurt, Marvin, Dennehey, and Bannen are all solid if not outstanding. Some may be put off by English and Americans performers posing as Russians, but don't let the lack of dialect authenticity get in your way of enjoying this gem. For comparison I would rank it with LA Confidential within its genre.

I didn't have high expectations, but was pleasantly surprised. It's hard to write anything about this type of film without spoiling, but what I can say without telling too much about the plot is, that the film is a non-cliché film, which still is full of clichés (love scene being the biggest). Filming locations are good, though "Moscow" (Helsinki) is a bit too similar to Stockholm.

The movie may be a bit too long for the American taste, but for more European film taste the length was just perfect. The end was so complicated, that even Agatha Christie would have been proud. The final solution between the main characters was completely different from what I expected, and definitely was that cherry for the cake.

****/5

A very unique, fast moving and entertaining story about political and criminal intrigue in Cold War (real cold, just watch the movie!) Russia. The grisly murder of three young people sends our protagonist, Inspector Arkady Renko (W. Hurt), on a complex, intertwining mission to find out who and/or what was behind this dastardly crime. As the crime facts unfold, potential suspects begin to surface in the mind of the inspector, suspects that may include American collusion with KGB officials. Maybe not entirely novel on the surface, but the sequences of events and the characterizations set forth are anything but pedestrian.

Perhaps the sequences of the facial reconstruction of the 3 victims "de-skinned" facial bones and the subsequent deductions provide the impetus for an unusual plot setting. The involvement of the American cop (B. Dennehy), the Siberian beauty and romantic interest (J. Pacula) who wants out of her homeland, the rich American (L. Marvin), the inspector's police buddies, to name a few, provide more than mere tangential plot fodder: the sum of their actions coalesces in the inspector's mind and takes him closer yet to what could be a very inconvenient truth. All this is done cinematically with good pace and little wasted motion.

It is noteworthy that most of the so-called Russians are British Isles actors who maintain their native brogue while donning the usual Kossack-like apparel! Yet their histrionic adeptness suffers not and their characterizations come off well. After all, we've seen this type of casting done before, but I don't think we could pull this off in modern Russia. Instead of filming in Finland with British actors, we would be filming in Moscow or St. Pete with Russian actors.

Any additional reviewing will get me into the "spoiler" category, so I'll just sign off by saying see the movie. To me, it is William Hurt's best!

This is a very good movie with excellent performances by William Hurt and Lee Marvin.If I have a list of favorite movies of all the time, this will qualify as such. A very good adaptation of the book by Martin Cruz Smith. The portrayal of life in Moscow was fascinating,although the movie did not remain faithful to the book one hundred percent.Of course for resons of time script had to be changed a little.But none of the suspense was missing. The action was fast paced , it's one of those movies you don't want it to end.The music score complimented this intense detective story set in a frosty Moscow.I recommend this movie to all those who like original stories set in exotic places like this one in Russia.Arkady Renko is really the epitome of the non-conformistic citizen who cynically sneers at the rotten aparatus of the communist state while trying to solve this triple homicide.