The Bodyguard (1979 film)

The Bodyguard
Directed by	Ali Khamraev
Written by	Ali Khamraev
Produced by	Marat Khasanov
Starring	Alexander Kaidanovsky Anatoly Solonitsyn Gulcha Tashbaeva Shavkat Abdusalyamov
Cinematography	Leonid Kalashnikov Yuri Klimenko Vyacheslav Semin
Edited by	R. Vardanyan
Music by	Eduard Artemyev
Production company	Tajikfilm
Release date	1979 (1979)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

The Bodyguard (Russian: Телохранитель, Telokhranitel) is a 1979 Soviet action film released by Tadjikfilm. It is one of the best known of the Red Westerns and directed by the veteran feature and documentary maker, Ali Khamraev.^[1]

Plot

The setting is Central Asia during the Russian Civil War. In the post-revolutionary twenties, when the power in European Russia was (officially) "fully in the hands of the workers and peasants", but the fight against the Basmachi rebels was in full swing. When a Red Army detachment captures Sultan Nazar (Anatoly Solonitsyn), the brains behind the Basmachi contingent, a decision is made to escort urgently the prisoner to the Bukhara province. The difficult mission is entrusted to a grizzled mountain trapper and conscientious revolutionary Mirzo. His expertise is essential to traverse the precarious paths and steep mountain ridges along the way, impossible terrain for the inexperienced. A group consisting of Mirzo (Alexander Kaidanovsky), his brother Kova, the Sultan, his daughter Zarangis (D. Alimova) and slave Saifulla set off on this journey, pursued doggedly along the way by Fottabek (Shavkat Abdusalyamov), the ruthless new head of the Basmachis. They are forced to fight on the mountain ridges as well as negotiate the natural dangers and harsh elements.

Cast

• Alexander Kaidanovsky (dubbed by Sergey Shakurov)^[2] as Mirzo
• Anatoly Solonitsyn as Sultan Nazar
• Shavkat Abdusalyamov (dubbed by Oleg Yankovsky)^[2] as Fottabek
• Gulcha Tashbaeva as Aibash, wife of Fottabek
• Nikolai Grinko as Nikolai Grigorievich, border guard commander
• D. Alimova as Zaranghis, daughter of Nazar
• G. Igamberdyev as Kula, younger brother of Mirzo
• Saidmurad Ziyautdinov as Saifulo, servant of Nazar
• Bolot Beishenaliev as Mashrab, sorcerer, shaman
• Rajab Adashev as Utash Ahmad Dodho
• Sh. Mavlyanov as Basmachi
• Saidmurad Saidmuradov as Nazar-aka, old hermit
• Anvar Alimov

References

1. Али Хамpaeв. КиноПоиск (in Russian)
2. "Статья Шавката Абдусаламова в журнале «Киноведческие записки»". Archived from the original on 2017-04-30. Retrieved 2017-01-16.

External links

• The Bodyguard at IMDb