Gorky Park

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.

This film begins with three young adults skating on a frozen lake in Moscow. Not long afterward, their bodies are found, and to the horror of the investigating military agent, "Arkady Renko" (William Hurt), their faces and fingerprints have been surgically removed. In addition to that, two of them were shot in the mouth, rendering dental recognition almost impossible as well. Even more perplexing to him is the fact that the KGB insists on not taking over the investigation even when it appears that one of the victims is an American. To underscore his concerns, his immediate supervisor, "Chief Prosecutor Iamskoy" (Ian Bannen), also voices his suspicions of the KGB's involvement in these murders and advises him to be extremely cautious. What he doesn't realize, however, is just how far up the corruption extends to not only his department--but within the KGB as well. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a pretty interesting film due in large part to the way the director (Michael Apted) captured the cold Russian winter environment of Moscow so well. I also liked the performances of both William Hurt and Joanna Pacula (as "Irina Asanova"). That being said, I found this movie to be quite entertaining, and I recommend it to viewers interested in a film of this sort.

It has been a long time since I last viewed this film, but it was a welcome revisit, and a chance to see a great performance by William Hurt (Kiss of the Spider Woman, A History of Violence, The Proposition). After about a dozen of his films, I never tire of watching him act.

The cast also included Lee Marvin in a very good performance, and the ever-lovable Brian Dennehy. This was also the American debut of Joanna Pacula, who got a Golden Globe nomination for her outstanding performance. And, we also got to see her golden globes in a skintastic moment, right before she gets Hurt! This was her finest film in a career spanning 30 years.

Do not miss this fine police procedural with a surprise ending. The motive is brilliant.

Gorky Park is one of my favorite political thriller and a film I watch regularly. I have never understood why it is not better known and better rated.

As is often with Cold War Spy films, the system is corrupt on both sides, and it's the every day people who pay the price of the greed and dishonesty of those playing the games behind the scene. The only way to survive is to be invisible and never get mixed up in a case that has political ties. William Hurt plays Arkady Renko, a Moscow police man who gets one of those cases. Three bodies are found in Gorky Park. Faces and fingertips have been removed and KGB seams to know something about this but they do not want the case. KGB does not like Arkady Renko very much since he has tried to prove their guilt once before and he is sure that they are now out for a revenge. The case is somehow connected to Jack Osborne, an American business man played by Lee Marvin.

The film does not shy away from criticizing both sides. Not only do the politics come off as hypocritical, the whole world of espionage is shown as an inhuman and cruel game of greedy and power hungry opportunists.

Some have criticized the film for not capturing the book well enough. It is rather unfair to expect a 2 hour long film to include everything from a 600 page book. A feature film of such a long book is always going to be a shortened version. I think Dennis Potter (yes the one and only) does a great job of capturing the moral bankruptcy of both systems, communism and capitalism. How they are in fact the same. Just a way to keep the little man busy and blind so those in power can get rich by corrupting the system.

Not perfect but not far from it.

It's winter and three corpses are found in Moscow's Gorky Park. They've had their faces and finger tips carved off. Arkady Renko, an honest, slightly obsessive Russian cop, is assigned to the case. He sets out to identify the bodies by reconstructing their faces, and as he gets closer he finds obstructions in his path. He finds a girl (Joanna Pacula) who was friends of the trio, a wealthy and ruthless American (Lee Marvin), an American cop (Brian Dennehy) out for blood, and more than he probably wants to know about sable coats and the animals they're made from. It becomes clear that corrupt higher-ups are involved in something with greater stakes than solving a triple murder. Hurt and Marvin do great jobs and are well matched.

This is a tight, very well constructed police procedural that is a little exotic, with the cops and functionaries being Russians. It's also a bit gloomy with a bitter sweet ending, but it still works as a very watchable film. A lot of the outdoor shots were filmed in Helsinki, and the movie takes place in the winter. The atmosphere looks cold and oppressive. The contrast is striking with the scenes set in a pre-revolutionary bath and an expensive restaurant, both reserved for the use of privileged Soviet officials.

The book, by Martin Cruz Smith, is even better. Apted also directed Enigma, and I like both movies a lot.