Of Sables and Men… in snowy Moscow and Stockholm
A militsiya inspector (William Hurt) examines the murder of three people in their 20s in the woods near the skating rink of Gorky Park, all with their faces and finger tips removed. Linked to the investigation are: a KGB major (Rikki Fulton), a movie set worker (Joanna Pacuła), the Chief Prosecutor (Ian Bannen), a smug American sable importer (Lee Marvin) and a New York detective (Brian Dennehy), amongst others.
Based on Martin Cruz Smith’s novel from two years earlier, “Gorky Park” (1983) is a police procedural with the distinction of taking place behind the Iron Curtain during the cold winter of northeastern Europe. It features an honest detective under pressure in a system that seems to operate only through corruption while underlining the conflict between Russia’s socialism and homegrown capitalism.
I guess this explains why the Soviet Communist Party denounced the movie as anti-Communist and anti-Russian, denying the crew access to shoot in Moscow. So, it was filmed in Helsinki, with the Kaisaniemi Park substituting for the titular one, as well as Stockholm.
The score by James Horner is great and one of the highlights, mixing the 80s with a Russian feel for a hauntingly bleak mood. Some people don’t think it fits, though.
Marvin, Hurt and Dennehy are superb in their roles, especially Marvin as the cocky American importer. He was 59 during shooting and would appear in only three more movies before his death in 1987 at the too-young age of 63.
It’s comparable in some ways to the dialogue-driven “The Russia House” with Sean Connery, which debuted seven years later, but this is all-around more interesting and artistic IMHO. It subtly distinguishes between the noble souls and corrupt ones; and then impressively refuses to deviate from that first impression with a moronic ‘twist,’ such as in the eye-rolling “Along Came a Spider.”
There’s a lot of talk about escaping the shackles of Communistic rule and fleeing to the perceived paradise of America, which is ironic for several reasons, including the fact that the Iron Curtain would be down in a relatively short time. Regardless, the symbolism of the climax is potent.
It runs 2 hours, 8 minutes.
GRADE: B+
