"Taras Bulba" is an epic movie about Ukrainian Cossacks and their longing for freedom while under Polish rule. Yul Brynner plays the title character, but he is clearly not the star of the movie....Tony Curtis (who plays his son, Adrei) is.
The film begins with the combined Cossack and Polish forces beating the Turks in battle. However, the Poles are duplicitous and after the battle, they attack and enslave their former allies, the Cossacks. The leader of the Cossack forces, Taras Bulba, swears to eventually regain his homeland....even if it takes many years.
Years pass. Bulba has two sons and his vision is that they become super manly-men...and with them they can take on the Poles once again. But in the meantime, he sends his two sons (now young men) to study at the university in Kiev....which is run by the Poles. All Andrei learns there is that the Cossacks are second-class and he takes a lot of beatings because of this. He also inexplicably falls in love with a Polish woman who he barely knows...and this is a major weakness in the film. This Romeo & Juliet sort of pairing made no sense...especially late in the movie when Andrei sacrifices everything for this woman he barely knows.
The movie was filmed primarily in Argentina...with Gauchos filling in for Cossacks. It's huge in scope--with armies and adventure. But at the same time, it is filled with macho posturing and tepid scenes which left me feeling a bit bored. Some of this is because you never really felt that vested in the characters. Overall, grand to look at and with a fabulous musical score, but also filled with forgettable characters and some plot elements that really never made much sense....especially at the inexplicable ending.
By the way, in a really creepy bit of casting, Curtis' love interest was played by a 16 year-old, Christine Kaufmann. As for Curtis, he was in his mid-30s and married. Two years later, Curtis married this woman after obtaining a divorce from his wife, Janet Leigh.
The film begins with the combined Cossack and Polish forces beating the Turks in battle. However, the Poles are duplicitous and after the battle, they attack and enslave their former allies, the Cossacks. The leader of the Cossack forces, Taras Bulba, swears to eventually regain his homeland....even if it takes many years.
Years pass. Bulba has two sons and his vision is that they become super manly-men...and with them they can take on the Poles once again. But in the meantime, he sends his two sons (now young men) to study at the university in Kiev....which is run by the Poles. All Andrei learns there is that the Cossacks are second-class and he takes a lot of beatings because of this. He also inexplicably falls in love with a Polish woman who he barely knows...and this is a major weakness in the film. This Romeo & Juliet sort of pairing made no sense...especially late in the movie when Andrei sacrifices everything for this woman he barely knows.
The movie was filmed primarily in Argentina...with Gauchos filling in for Cossacks. It's huge in scope--with armies and adventure. But at the same time, it is filled with macho posturing and tepid scenes which left me feeling a bit bored. Some of this is because you never really felt that vested in the characters. Overall, grand to look at and with a fabulous musical score, but also filled with forgettable characters and some plot elements that really never made much sense....especially at the inexplicable ending.
By the way, in a really creepy bit of casting, Curtis' love interest was played by a 16 year-old, Christine Kaufmann. As for Curtis, he was in his mid-30s and married. Two years later, Curtis married this woman after obtaining a divorce from his wife, Janet Leigh.