Maksim Perepelitsa

Maksim Perepelitsa is a quick-tongued young man from a Ukrainian village who is never not playing a prank. He tricks everyone, dodges work, and drives the father of the girl he likes to distraction. Then he is called up. He tries the same routines in the army, only now there is discipline in front of him. Slowly, and without meaning to, he grows up. Anatoliy Granik directs this Soviet comedy, with Leonid Bykov as Maksim; the part made him a well-known actor overnight. Ninety-four minutes. There is an openly improving streak in it, but Bykov's warmth carries the film. The way the Soviet army is shown is the official view of the period, and that shows too when you watch it now.