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Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Adventures of a Bronx Cossack,
By Cowboy Buddha (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Yul Brynner (VHS Tape)
Taras Bulba could have been a very good film - possibly even a great one. But Hollywood values killed any chance of that. Instead, we have a reasonably enjoyable mess of a movie with two outstanding ingredients that rise above the rest - Franz Waxman's rousingly inventive music and a suitably over the top performance by Yul Brynner. As the title character, Brynner looks every inch a Cossack - swaggering and posing like a macho peacock, delivering his lines with that growling accent, and wearing his costumes as though he had lived in them all his life. Brynner was a hugely undervalued actor - a larger than life performer whose presence saved many a film. But the odds were really against him here.Instead of focusing on Brynner, the film makes Tony Curtis, as his son, the central character. Curtis makes absolutely no effort to look like a Cossack so it is not surprising that he doesn't act like one either. While the rest of the Cossacks are swarthy, burly, scalplocked he-men, the sons of Taras Bulba look more like a couple of surfers who have wandered in from the film next door. Worse still is Curtis's love interest - the enemy girl he falls in love and betrays the Cossack Brotherhood for. She is played with wan listlessness by Christine Kaufmann in a performance so wooden it's a wonder Curtis didn't get splinters in their love scenes. Still, in real life, he must have fancied her because he left Janet Leigh to marry her. Even with its insipid love story, Taras Bulba could still have achieved greatness through sheer spectacle. The costume department certainly did their bit - although some of the Polish uniforms are needlessly naff. The music thunders and roars - except for the obligatory love song sung by an oversweetened choir over the equally obligatory sixties montage sequence. Filming in Argentina may have been a good fiscal decision, but it doesn't help the look of the film - pampas are not steppes. Still, there are some exciting and effective sequences, notably the Ride To Dubno during which Brynner's followers grow from a handful to an army. The battles scenes are as lively as the Polish university scenes are dull. Sometimes the scale of the enterprise impresses. But you end up wanting to like the film more than you do. Perhaps the film's uncertain tone is best illustrated by a post-production anecdote. At a pre-release screening, director J. Lee Thompson supposedly turned to Yul Brynner and said: "I still don't see why you had to shoot Tony."
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Great Movie Actors,
By
This review is from: Taras Bulba (DVD)
And I'm not talking about Toni Curtis. Almost any movie Yul Brenner has been in he gives an amazing performance for that character. Probably not one of his most famous roles but good entertainment.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Breathtaking,
By
This review is from: Taras Bulba (DVD)
A colorful "whirl" thru Cossack life as shown by Taras Bulba. Love, Life, Honor and Faith are all portrayed beautifully in all it's Hollywood splendor. Riveting musical score and an ending like no other!
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