About the film
Semyon Semyonovich Gorbunkov is a mild economist on his first trip abroad. In an Istanbul street he slips at exactly the spot where smugglers expect their courier, and wakes up with a cast on his arm full of diamonds and gold.
Back home, he goes straight to the police, who ask him to stay calm and act as bait. Now two hopeless crooks, the elegant Gesha and the clumsy Lyolik, must get the arm back without anyone noticing.
Gaidai's comedy is packed with slapstick, songs and lines that every Russian speaker knows by heart. Yuri Nikulin, a famous circus clown, is wonderful as the honest man caught in the middle.
Did you know?
- About 77 million tickets were sold, making it one of the most successful Soviet films.
- Andrei Mironov's 'Island of Bad Luck' song became a hit.
- Gaidai reportedly put a nuclear explosion at the end of his first cut on purpose, so censors would demand that instead of cutting the scenes he cared about.
