| Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures | |
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Film poster |
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| Directed by | Leonid Gaidai |
| Written by | Moris Slobodskoy Yakov Kostyukovsky Leonid Gaidai |
| Starring | Aleksandr Demyanenko Natalya Seleznyova Yuri Nikulin Georgy Vitsin Yevgeny Morgunov |
| Music by | Aleksandr Zatsepin |
| Cinematography | Konstantin Brovin |
| Editing by | Valentina Yankovskaya |
| Distributed by | Mosfilm |
| Release date(s) | 16 August 1965 |
| Running time | 90 min. |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Russian |
Operation Y and Other Shurik's Adventures (Russian: Операция „Ы“ и другие приключения Шурика) is a 1965 Soviet slapstick comedy film directed by Leonid Gaidai, starring Aleksandr Demyanenko, Natalya Seleznyova, Yuri Nikulin, Georgy Vitsin and Yevgeny Morgunov. The film consists of three independent parts: "Workmate" (Напарник, Naparnik), "Déjà vu" (Наваждение, Navazhdeniye) and "Operation Y"[1] (Операция „Ы“).[2][3] The plot follows the adventures of Shurik (alternative spelling — Shourick), the naive and nerdy Soviet student who often gets into ludicrous situations but always finds a way out very neatly.
Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures was a hit movie and became the leader of Soviet film distribution in 1965.[2]
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On a bus a boor and drunkard named Fedya takes a special seat for children and disabled persons and then refuses to let a young pregnant woman sit claiming that "she is neither child nor handicapped". Shurik, who is riding on the same bus, puts on sunglasses, pretends to be visually impaired, and when Fedya is urged to let him sit on his place, Shurik offers the seat to the woman. Fedya is enraged by being deceived and gets into a fight with Shurik. As a result, Fedya is arrested and sentenced for 15 days of Community service, Russian administrative arrest or simply '15 sutok' (15 days). Ironically, he is sent to serve his term to the same construction site where Shurik works part time. Moreover, the manager puts them into the same crew. Fedya does not do his work properly, bullies Shurik and plans to revenge. When Shurik finally hits back, the two get involved in a Tom and Jerry-style chase throughout the construction site using building equipment and various materials as weapons. In the end Fedya is subdued and reeducated by Shurik.
It's time for summer examinations at the University, and everyone is cramming for the exams. Shurik is looking desperately for lecture notes and finally sees them in the hands of a girl on a streetcar, Lida, who is a student of the same University. As Shurik follows her reading the notebook over her shoulder, they seem so deeply absorbed in reading that Lida is instinctively assumes Shurik is one of her female coeds, and he in turn is automatically playing up to that assumption.
They come into the girl's apartment and spend time there reading simultaneously with having a snack and resting, with the girl taking her clothes off, still completely unaware of each other's identity, then automatically prepare to go back to the University. There Shurik is distracted from Lida's notebook by a fellow student and loses her from his view. After passing the exam successfully, he is introduced to Lida by his coed. Shurik does not recognize Lida but is enchanted by her. He walks her back home and, following an amusing incident involving the dog of Lida's neighbors, finds himself in her apartment again, where he starts to feel as if he has been there before since he can guess where all the things are placed and all the "objects, scents and sounds" seem familiar to him. Lida assumes that he might be a telepathist and has an ability of precognition. She tells him to guess her wish that she has written on a piece of paper, "Find the teddy bear". Shurik then kisses her. Although he failed to guess the wish, the kiss evokes romantic feelings in both of them, and they decide to meet again after the next exam.
A warehouse manager, trying to cover up his theft, hires three petty criminals nicknamed Fool (Балбес), Coward (Трус) and Experienced (Бывалый) to stage a break-in. Their elaborate plan goes wrong when Shurik is asked by his landlady, the elderly woman nicknamed Baboushka who usually guarded the warehouse, to work that night instead of her. Surprised, Coward fails to neutralize the guard using chloroform as planned, putting himself to sleep instead. The culmination of the story is the "Warehouse Battle", involving Shurik and the criminals using various impromptu weapons such as musical instruments and rapiers. The segment ends as agitated Baboushka arrives at the warehouse and finds Shurik and the trio lying on a floor asleep — Coward having fainted earlier on, Fool and Experienced being "rendered harmless" by Shurik, and Shurik himself fallen asleep after accidentally wiping his face with a handkerchief soaked in chloroform (which was meant to put him down initially by Coward).
The film was enormously popular; it became the leader of Soviet film distribution in 1965 having 69.6 million viewers. The novel Déjà vu, based on a story from a Polish magazine,[4] won the Grand Prix Wawel Silver Dragon at the Kraków Film Festival in Poland in 1965.[2] The film became a fount of quotes for Soviet/Russian people.
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