One of four Russian films ever to win Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The other are Guerra e pace: Natascia - L'incendio di Mosca (1965), Dersu Uzala - Il piccolo uomo delle grandi pianure (1975) and Sole ingannatore (1994).
Ronald Reagan watched the movie at least 8 times before meeting Mikhail Gorbachev for the first time in order to "get to know the Russian soul better".
The film director Vladimir Menshov played a small cameo role. His character is one of Gosha's friends on the picnic.
The episode where hockey player Gurin, who quit alcohol, again appeared drunk asking for money, was cut from the film. "Let's leave hope for spectators, that Gurin will improve"- said film director.
Soviet Union's second highest-grossing film of all time. It was surpassed only by Piraty XX veka (1980)