Strictly Business

Strictly Business

1963 · 84 min · RU · 7.3 (51 votes)
Dir. Leonid Gaidai · Starring Vladlen Paulus, Aleksandr Shvorin, Viktor Gromov, Vladimir Pitsek, Viktor Uralsky, Lev Lobov · Music Georgiy Firtich
Comedy

Three stories based on O. Henry novels. (1) Bob Tidball recovers $30,000 in pristine credit cards from a bandit’s sack and races across the plains until his horse breaks its leg. Forced to mount Dodson’s stallion, he’s ambushed and killed by “Shark” Dodson, who seizes the entire loot. (2) A thief slips through a third-floor window to steal a stack of bills from a sleeping gentleman’s dressing table. When the homeowner awakens and raises only one hand against the revolver—his other immobilized by a sudden rheumatic attack—the would-be robber reconsiders his plan. (3) Sam and Bill, two small-time grifters short $2,000 for their swindle, decide to kidnap Ebeneger Dorset’s young son. They demand exactly that sum as ransom, setting in motion a desperate bargain.

VIBE

A series of wry, often silly vignettes that poke fun at human nature. Expect broad comedy and a lighthearted, if slightly cynical, look at ambition and its consequences.

slapstickabsurdistwittysteadyperiod pieceepisodicsatiricalgreedironyhuman folly
wild west19th centuryshort film