Pirates of the 20th Century

August. 08,1980      
Rating:
6.7
Trailer Synopsis Cast

A Soviet cargo ship carrying medical opium gets attacked by pirates of an unknown nationality. The crew is left to die on a sinking ship but they manage to escape and now must fight the pirates for survival.

Nikolay Eryomenko as  senior mechanic Sergey Sergeevich "Grandfather"
Pyotr Velyaminov as  the captain of the cargo ship "Nezhin" Ivan Ilyich
Talgat Nigmatulin as  the pirate Saleh, "Baby", aka Lee Guang, Nguyen Cho
Georgi Martirosyan as  George Klyuev
Vladimir Episkoposyan as  bearded pirate ("give a hand, Noah")
Rein Aren as  pirate captain "Master"
Dilorom Kambarova as  Maa Islander
Natalya Khorokhorina as  ship barmaid Masha
Tadeusz Kasyanov as  boatswain Matveich
Pavel Remezov as  ship's doctor

Reviews

Hellen
1980/08/08

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

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Alicia
1980/08/09

I love this movie so much

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Stometer
1980/08/10

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

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Nicole
1980/08/11

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

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Armand
1980/08/12

not good. only touching. unrealistic. and good seed for memories for its viewers. because it is a drawing. an exercise. crumb of future perestroika.a ball from action, patriotism, fight scenes and remarkable brave Soviet man. and sure, with ordinaries bad guys and their defeat. so, it is not exactly an artistic work but a testimony about a time. for its period, it was almost great, part of a special chain of surrogates with taste of free world movies. that is explanation for a gentle verdict. because , like many films, it is part of a kind of public youth, a form of entertainment.not very interesting today, not coherent or really smart but not bad in a cold Brezhnev regime.in fact, it was and remains a pretty occasion to live impressive scenes.

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SMalamud
1980/08/13

The Pirates of the XX Century is a romantic action-adventure thriller, which explores eternal themes of naval folklore: kung-fu and male bonding. According to many film critics of the time, it was the first but sadly not the last attempt of Soviet movie makers to convincingly portray complex philosophical dilemmas associated with kicking other human beings into the facial and reproductive areas. It does however manage to rate far above similarly themed American masterpieces, such as Rambo, Delta Force and Home Alone. The plot of the film focuses on a Soviet merchant marine vessel, which is attempting for the purposes of world peace to transport a cargo of narcotics into the Motherland. It is implied that the drugs are to be used by the Soviet government for noble and humane causes, such as perhaps to keep dissident scientists in prison "clinics" on their best behavior. However complications soon arise. This happens to the great surprise of Soviet viewers, who were fully expecting the vessel to complete its journey safely and uneventfully and end the film with a rousing speech at the local Party committee in the port of their destination. It is not to be so. The vessel is attacked by capitalist bandits who appear to have skills in forbidden and inhumane "karate" fighting and have facial features similar to those of the natives of Tajikistan. The Soviet audience is left to guess about what these "pirates" goals might be. They may or may not have something to do with the narcotics. This, however, becomes completely secondary when the vessel's radioman is dispatched by means of an axe, providing for a full-year's worth of arguments among Soviet schoolchildren on whether the actor was actually killed in that scene. (Red liquid was clearly visible in the shot, covering the unfortunate radio specialist's face.) The conflict of two completely different social systems and schools of judo follows. For some, completely unexplained, reason this happens near an island whose entire population consists solely of photogenic women of vaguely Uzbek appearance. As the suspiciously Tajik-looking "pirates" seize the vessel, a series of talks between them and the crew commences, though the purposes of this lengthy exchange are never quite clear. Apparently, the Soviet captain is trying to either appeal to the "pirates" better nature or to blackmail them with something. The Uzbek women, meanwhile, tell the crew the sad story of their occupation and enslavement by the "pirates". The crew listens in between short and purposeless skirmishes with the enemy, as more high kicks and grunts are displayed to the overwhelmed viewers. Eventually, perhaps growing tired of the strange script, the Soviet captain tries to escape, leaving the vessel and its precious cargo in the capitalist hands. This does not end successfully however as the "pirates" chase the crew's lifeboat down. Seeing that all the possible options have been exhausted, the captain decides on the last desperate measure: he orders a curly-haired engineer named Seryozha to take off his shirt and beat everyone up. Which Seryozha, right after chastely kissing a bespectacled female accountant on the cheek, duly does, utilizing the best of the Soviet SAMBO combat technique. Unsurprisingly, it also involves a fair amount of kicking. As all the "pirates" are lying around dying of shame, the film concludes with a happy ending. Except for the Uzbek women, whose fate remains a mystery. The moral however is quite clear: do not trust the evil Tajiks.

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jfirst
1980/08/14

_Pirates of the XX Century_ was (and is) the highest grossing film in Soviet Russian history. It was released in 1980 and reflected growing interest not only in American and Hong Kong film genres like action and martial arts, but also a desire to see other, more exotic, locations than were physically possible for average Soviet citizens. From the perspective of someone living in the year 2003 and continually bombarded with action-adventure blockbusters that contain nothing apart from advanced special effects, this movie is not incredibly successful. The historical context of the film is absolutely necessary to understand why this film was so radical and so popular in its time and place. Soviet cinema in the 1960s and 1970s was a high art cinema by and large, and was only marginally geared toward so-called popular tastes. _Pirates_ dispensed with narrative development almost entirely, and was more interested in action sequences, the iconography of which attempted to touch upon adolescent fantasy. On another level, the Soviet government's allowance of this film to be made represents greater attention to the profit-making potential of cinematic products. Thus, the appearance of _Pirates_ indicates a certain transformation of notions of the enlightened Soviet film spectator toward a conception of the film-goer as consumer, much as is consistent with views in capitalist countries. In any case, this film is certainly worth your time if you have any interest in the cultural politics of the former Soviet Union

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grendel-28
1980/08/15

Officially the first martial arts movie in USSR cinematography featuring actual martial artists like Tadeush Kas'yanov and Russian Bruce Lee - Talgat Nigmatullin. Bad people highjack a ship in the high seas but fortunately just about everybody on board is a trained martial artist. A collectible for martial arts aficionado.

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