Mikhail Dranovskiy

Alexander Pavlovich Reznikov is short of two hundred rubles (in the 1970s, about one and a half months’ salary for an office worker) to pay for the travel vouchers. His neighbor, a moonlighting contractor named Yura, offers Reznikov a way to earn the money in a single day. To do this, Alexander Palych must be present at the demolition of an old wooden house in the role of a foreman, while Yura will bring in students for the job. He will pay them ten rubles each, while they themselves will receive two hundred and fifty apiece. Reznikov agrees.

Praised for its fine photography and production design if not its narrative, Sergei Bondarchuk directed this adaptation of the tale by Alexander Pushkin. Boris Godunov came to the Czarist throne at the end of the 16th century, after the original heir to Ivan the Terrible had died. At first, things went well for Godunov (played by Bondarchuk), but when the Russian people began to believe he had killed Ivan the Terrible's son in order to gain the throne, an alliance sprang up against the new Czar. Events continued to spin out of control as a young monk was presented as the son Godunov had supposedly killed. Now he was openly accused of failing an assassination attempt, which seems to be even worse than succeeding. In addition to these woes, Boris Godunov began to suffer serious health problems. So much for the joys of kingship.