Taras Bulba

Known for an ability to play both comedic roles, like Some Like it Hot, and dramatic roles, think The Defiant Ones, Tony Curtis can handle a wide variety of roles. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Curtis had key parts in three movies from a different genre, the studio epic, in The Vikings, Spartacus, and Taras Bulba. If you're a movie fan like me, you recognize the first two movies and ask 'huh?' at the third one. An epic story set in 16th Century Poland and Ukraine, Taras Bulba is an underappreciated spectacle movie.

After helping their Polish neighbors defeat a common enemy, a large force of Cossacks is betrayed by their Polish allies. What is left of the force spreads to the four corners of their territory with plans of biding their time until they are once again a power to be dealt with. Flash forward 20 years later when Cossack warrior Taras Bulba (Yul Brynner) somewhat unwillingly sends his sons, Andrei (Curtis) and Ostap (Perry Lopez), to Kiev to learn the Polish culture and way of life. Met with resistance right away by the natives, Andre and Ostap settle in, Andrei especially who falls in love with a Polish princess Natalia (Christine Kaufmann). But their love sends ripples through Kiev and Natalia's brother is killed by the brothers.

Forced to run, Andre and Ostap return home with all they've learned of their treacherous enemies, the Poles. It's not long before the Polish aristocracy calls for a Cossack army to help in an invasion of the Baltic Sea, but Andrei convinces Taras that the Poles are the enemy to be dealt with. So starts a conflict between warring nations as Andrei just hopes to be reunited with his lost love.

Based on a novel by Nikolai Gogol, Taras Bulba deals with a time in history that is rarely dealt with in movies, but with the huge successes of epic movies it was only a matter of time before a movie came along. What I know about Polish/Ukrainian history in the 1500s would take as long for me to explain as a good, long blink so I'm not sure of the accuracy of the movie in relation to that history. But with a movie like this, accuracy shouldn't be your main concern, especially with Taras Bulba, because it's so damn entertaining right from the get-go.

As the father-son relationship, Brynner and Curtis (only 5 years younger than Brynner in real life) carry the movie. Brynner's Taras is fiercely patriotic and proud of his Cossack heritage. He wants what is best for his people and his family, sometimes in that order. Brynner's sheer physical presence makes this role stand out. It's easy to see why thousands of warriors would want to follow him. Curtis is not pushed to the background though, staying at the forefront of the story. His Romeo and Juliet-like love story with Natalia comes across as real and not nearly so forced as so many other epic movie love stories. The script also doesn't go for the easy ending, but it works more because it feels more real, more authentic to the characters and their makeup.

The fun of Taras Bulba though is the spectacle of it all, the sheer monstrosity of certain scenes. Director J. Lee Thompson clearly did not skimp on money here when it came to sets, costuming, and extras. Scenes of Cossack riders joining up on the road are a sight to see with literally hundreds, and maybe thousands in certain shots, of stuntmen/riders onscreen at the same time. I've made no bones hiding my distaste for overusing CGI because of scenes like that. Nothing fake about it, just hundreds of riders moving in formation.

The same goes for the battle scenes that are mostly saved for the last hour or so of the movie. Here's the first assault as the Cossack army attacks a walled Polish city. With the cannons going off in the background, extras on foot hauling ass for the safety of the castle and the large masses of riders wearing out horses behind them, it's just a fun, adrenaline-pumping scene to watch. Aided by Franz Waxman's score, these are the scenes epic movies were made for, like the chariot race in Ben-Hur or the climactic battle in Spartacus.

Just a fun movie overall that blends strong casting, especially Tony Curtis and Yul Brynner, with all that's positive about a big screen epic story including a worthwhile love story. Buy it cheap at Amazon, or look for it again on TCM in the coming months. Fans of historical period pieces won't be disappointed.

Taras Bulba (1962): ***/****