About the film
Troshkin runs a Moscow kindergarten and could not hurt a fly. He also looks exactly like the Docent, a criminal who has stolen Alexander the Great's helmet from an archaeological dig. The police have a plan: put Troshkin in prison in the Docent's place and let him lead the gang to the helmet.
What follows is a road comedy with a big heart. Troshkin tries to play a hard man while quietly teaching three hopeless crooks to behave, using exactly the methods he uses on toddlers. Yevgeny Leonov plays both roles, and the scenes where the gentle man copies the villain are a masterclass in comic acting.
The script was co-written by Georgiy Danelia and Viktoria Tokareva, and the film's lines entered everyday Russian speech almost immediately.
Did you know?
- It topped the Soviet box office in 1972 with about 65 million viewers.
- Georgiy Danelia co-wrote the script but did not direct it.
- The 'rules of polite behaviour' Troshkin teaches the convicts became household catchphrases.
