Gorky Park (1983)
MGM DVD (region 1)
d. Michael Apted; pr. Howard W. Koch, Gene Kirkwood; scr. Dennis Potter; novel. Martin Cruz Smith; ph. Ralph D. Bode; m. James Horner; ed. Dennis Virkler; cast. William Hurt, Lee Marvin, Brian Dennehy, Joanna Pacula, Ian Bannen, Michael Elphick, Richard Griffiths, Alexei Sayle (128 mins)
There is now a tendency to look back on a number of films from the 1980s that deal with the then Soviet Union for some evidence of the ideological collapse and compromise of the communist power. This is an inherently retrospective issue since once the Berlin Wall came down previous films set in communist Russia effectively became dated period pieces. History simply overwhelmed these movies; but, nevertheless, there are intriguing glimpses back to the impending demise of the Cold War mentality in a number of these dated works, amongst them director John Frankenheimer’s under-rated thriller The Fourth War and Michael Apted’s box-office hit Gorky Park. It is this latter film that perhaps summarizes the last vestiges of pre-collapse Communist Russia. It is a British-American adaptation of a popular novel by Martin Cruz Smith who, in a series of novels, would address life in Moscow towards the end of the Cold War as moderated through the eyes of a Russian detective, Arkady Renko. Gorky Park was the first of these novels and its British perspective perhaps meant that the American characters within it were seen through rather condemnatory and cynical eyes. Indeed, it is the irony and extensive ideological cynicism in the film that remains potent, particularly in retrospect. However mixed the reception was to this intriguing film, it was still a notable populist success of the 1980s.
Gorky Park is a thriller set in Moscow. One night, three bodies are found buried in Gorky Park near the center of the city, their faces and fingerprints apparently hacked off to prevent identification. William Hurt is the detective on the case, although he is annoyed and so is cautioned when the KGB have an unusual interest in his territory. An arrogant man, he resents such intrusions. His superior officer (Ian Bannen) urges him to continue seemingly no matter where it leads. Hurt pursues the clues and finds that skates on one of the bodies belonged to a young lady (Joanna Pacula) who now seems connected to an American businessman (Lee Marvin). Indeed, he takes the corpses’ heads to a forensic sculptor for reconstruction and believes one of the dead to be an American. Following further clues, he discovers an American policeman (Brian Dennehy) now in Moscow in search of his missing relative. Hurt wants the two of them to combine their efforts but Dennehy is doubtful. Soon the KGB seems unusually pressured although Hurt continues undaunted, soon uncovering a smuggler with a tangential relationship to the case and pressuring him for information. Hurt seems intent to establish an American connection to the murders and believes that Pacula is hiding information from him. He tries to break her silence by confronting her with a shattering revelation, fully intending to destroy her remaining hope. read more