Czterej pancerni i pies (1966– ) User Reviews

Funny, entertaining and still quite realistic.

[sorcerernick · 9/10 · 3 July 2010]

Only just encountered this series, but let me tell how much I enjoy it. The characters are all funny and likable, and the whole show is tremendously entertaining, even now in 2010. Is it Communist propaganda? No. It's a series about Polish soldiers during the WW2. I've heard comments about "it not being cool anymore to cheer the Russians and their allies in the WW2," but pray, who am I supposed to root for? Hitler? It does depict Germans as tactical zeros, though. In this aspect, this show doesn't differ from American shows made during the Cold War, which always depict the officials of the Soviet Union (and especially Russians) as a bunch of morons, easily double-crossed by the clever American protagonists. Oh wait, I think it does. It seems to me there are an awful lot of German soldiers in it speaking Polish, but you rarely see a Polish soldier that speaks German. There you go, now both sides have their negative aspects, happy-happy.

OK, what I actually mean is, this show is not about politics. It's about how these soldiers experience the war. If you watch it devoid of any sort of political bias, it's ultimately a very much entertaining series, showing war from a human perspective.

Cult series not only for Polish

[blahnik · 12 October 2005]

This TV series was also very popular in the former Czechoslovakia. I think that most of children then saw it many times. Every boy was in love with Lidka and Marusja and desired to be like Janek. We can label it cult TV series. Now some scenes could seem to be a bit slow-going, but still episodes affect us deeply with their strength and veracity. In fact there was less communist propaganda it that series than in most of other TV programs. Morover, we all were able to read between the lines (and still we are)... I would recommend to current movie makers to acquire skills from that series how to make great war movie without torrents of blood. There was everything - action scenes, heroism, friendship, love, humor, tragedy and sadness - but all very decent, all experiences of ordinary people. Little unskilfulness of actors made scenes more believable.

Better Than Bonanza!

[gardenspell · 10/10 · 17 October 2006]

Very valuable as a historical portrayal of Polish and Soviet allies during WWII. Very limited scope of all the issues of that period. I love the battle action, romance and warmth displayed by the characters. Of course, all the characters become so lovable after one or two episodes, especially Janek and Marusia.

Be prepared for a one-sided portrayal of the Polish/Russian heroes and heroines and German underdogs, but that was the politics of the 1960's when the series was shown on Polish TV. The story line is written to hold your interest and there is seldom a dull moment. The characters seem to be as real-to-life as is possible in film. The dialogue is beauty in itself, although the subtitles on my DVD only cover about 15 to 20% of the total. That's OK because you get the gist of what's being said. With some basic Polish or Russian you will be enjoying the actors speaking in their native tongue.

Another quality Polish film. Try to find it with English subtitles if possible, but great for practicing your Russian/Polish listening skills. I was watching Gunsmoke and Bonanza on American TV at the time, which was pablum compared to Four Tankmen and A Dog.

Amazing all time favorite!

[voron-5 · 10/10 · 28 August 2006]

Damn...so many opinions....this serious was made according to the "general line of communist party", "german soldiers shown as a stupid and weak bastards there" etc...OK - I can agree but damn - THE MOVIE ITSELF IS AMAZING! Because of this movie I started learning Polish when I was 10 yeas old guy! Damn...and they say this movie humiliates Polish nation - shut up! Total respect and low bow to all who participated in creation of this masterpiece!

Miron / Tvangeste www.tvangeste.com ========================================================= Love and Respect Your Friends - and Let Our Enemies Die!

Detractors go home !

[galaxia6 · 10/10 · 23 November 2008]

This movie or more actually these series are well made ! (Im not sure how Americans and canadians were able to view it thought) however This series should be awarded an Oscar !. Actually the directors in a smart way fooled the Comunist propaganda the Russians helping the title characters aren't comunist but people force to serve in the red army ! Which is interesting the movie also shows some truth about these time although the information is hidden ! There is also some Naive comunist propaganda which was made so glorious it was unbelievable ! Which was an intention of the director I doubt the movie was suppose to be serious it was meant to be funny and entertaining while simply helping maintaining our own identity in these hard times ! That was the main purpose of the Movie To show a different style of live even in these hard times ! the Main Characters including the Russian aren't Comunists. And what is more important The Russians which help our hero's do not try to suppress our characters and turn them to the Comunist official doctrine !but rather they're doing everything that they can to help them ! and keep them out of harms way !! (Szarik the groups dog gets a soldier certificat so he can recive his meals !!)

Also there's a little bit irony or reflection of the Polish way of to Socialist ! (In one of the eps the group is stopped by a Soviet soldier girl controlling the traffic ,and she dozen't want to let them go because she's ordered to to let out only red army tanks an Rudy had an eagle which mean that it was a Polish tank and the girl decided to release Rudy as the last tank. The group figured how to turn away her attention from them and Janek Main character begun to entertain the soviets with his dog Szarik while the rest moved their tank while soviets were standing watching the Show !) putting it blanty if Poles couldn't achieve something by the official COMUNIST DOCTRINE they always done that the other way !

And the series message is to not give up your free will even if you are serving in an army of an regime (in this case the Soviet empire)

Rather outdated and naive

[denis888 · 5/10 · 22 August 2006]

Many years ago, when I was very young, this Polish serial was a huge success in the Soviet Union. Now, the Union is no more, and the serial? Well, if you try and watch all 21 series again, you will not believe your own eyes - how can I watch this stuff? Well, let's be fair to the filmmakers - the serial was and is very funny. Even then, in times of terrible censorship and pro-Communist propaganda, this film managed to hold a healthy portion of a good hearty humor. Which is a big plus. There are so many naive traits here - the Nazis are often shown too caricature like, the brave Polish soldiers alone win the war (which is not true, as this was the huge combined effort of all the nations involved), the dialogs are too schematic and naive. And the general tone is often too lightweight. The last episode is a bit hasty and the final scene is a bit of a riddle - what, er, is that all? However, this film is like good hearty French or British comedies about the WWII - light, sweet and funny. This serial was certainly intended to be a serious work, but now it is much better watch it with a grain of salt and a heart laugh.

Childhood memories revisited

[gwailo247 · 26 March 2006]

I used to watch this as a little kid, and this was by far the coolest thing on TV. But all I had were my memories of 20 years past and a book with a few photographs. Getting the DVD set as a present was a wonderful surprise, and it allowed me to revisit the series again.

The show, made in the late 60s, covers the adventures of a tank crew, and its dog, part of the Soviet-backed Polish army, in their march from the borders to Poland all the way to Berlin.

The 21 episodes are divided into two main parts. The first part of the series, 8 episodes, shows us how the crew is assembled, its baptism of fire, and its fight to liberate Poland. Although there are a few situations in which they fight on their own, overall they fight as part of the army. The second part of the series, 13 more episodes, show the crew as they enter Germany, and are usually shown to fight on their own due to various twists of fate. The two parts are differentiated by some crew changes brought about by the fortunes of war.

For a series made at the height of the Cold War it does have moments of heavy handed socialist preaching, but overall shows a fairly realistic portrait of war. The cross-section of the crew is rather interesting. Its various members consist of a Russian of Polish descent, a Silesian who escaped from the German army, a native Pole who somehow ended up in Siberia, a Georgian (with an amazing grasp of Polish) and a somewhat naive Polish country bumpkin. The varied ethnicity of the crew is often a source of much of the humor, but never in a mean spirited way, rather to show how people from different backgrounds can unite together to accomplish a common goal.

The show is filmed in black and white. The locations are excellent as are the props, although this being only 20 years after the war, its a good possibility that a lot of the props were genuine equipment. You get to see T-34s, Tigers, Panthers, and a lot of Soviet and German artillery and small arms. The series faithfully sticks to the languages spoken, so the Poles speak Polish, the Russians speak Russian and the Germans speak German.

The plots of the episode are rather creative, but our heroes always pull through with a mix of cleverness and luck. Their dog, a German Shepherd named Szarik, often bails them out of a tough situation. A few of the plots are rather far fetched, but they make an interesting diversion from standard war movie plots of taking or defending a town.

The series has moments of exciting action, but is also a very funny show. Granted there is a lot of wordplay and puns that makes a knowledge of Polish a necessity to fully appreciate, but the chemistry between the crew members is genuine, the nonstop ribbing never overshadows that they really care for each other. There is some sentimentality when an unexpected family reunion occurs, and the protagonist is never bereft of female attention, especially of his love, the Russian medic with whom I fell in love a long time ago.

Polish people are all familiar with this series, but I would highly recommend this for others, especially WW 2 buffs, as a counterpoint to what was happening on the other end of Germany while the 101st was storming across Germany and France. A good TV series with an excellent cast, great action and a lot of comedy.

glorification of Soviet armored forces

[mizb · 4/10 · 27 September 2006]

This film was made in the late 1960's, when the Soviet land troops (a so called "Warsaw Pact") was threatening a big part of the world. The main tune was to emphasize a Polish-Russian friendship during the 2nd world war. It was not true as Russians invaded Poland in 1939 together with Hitler and committed even worse war crimes than Germans.

The purpose of the film was to attract young boys from Polish villages to join the army, especially armored units. It was very funny, but in each episode the food and common meals play a significant role (mainly canned food made in USA and supplied for the Red Army). As under communist yoke the food supply in Poland was very poor, scenes of eating full cans of meat might have attracted young boys to join the army.

This was my favorite show growing up!

[edithklein · 6 November 2001]

I think I watched the whole Series (about 15 episodes) maybe 20-30 times! I would watch whenever it was on. It contains old propaganda for the Communists during the time of the filming, but it has a great cast, great humor, love and war, and a dog!

This is a great show, and I recommend it to all, young and old.

Bad communist propaganda

[MuffinMan747 · 3/10 · 13 June 2006]

Face it, you may have a sentiment towards this series, but ... A Polish tank team being friends with Russians, four years after Russians invaded Poland, that's weird... Something isn't right, and it's only one example. Another one: Janek trying to overcome the age limit to join the army, that's supposed to be a good example for young viewers? The crew seems to be little dependent on their commander, they seem to go wherever they want, how realistic is that?

On top of that, the series is filled with shameful pro-soviet propaganda, which always made me feel like I was watching just another "wonderful" Mosfilm production.

As for me, the sentiment won't help - this film is simply BAD.

a cult Polish TV series

[piotr-3 · 28 April 2005]

This classic TV series has become an instant cult phenomenon in Poland from the moment it first hit the screens in 1966. Entire generations of young Polish boys have been raised on it (including myself), often playing under the tables pretending that it's the ''Rudy'' tank. The Communist propaganda didn't matter and was actually quite weak. In fact, the series felt more pro-Russian (and pro-Georgian) than pro-Communist. And it even contained a few thinly-veiled hints of Stalinist crimes: after all, when we first meet Janek, he lives in the middle of the Siberian taiga forest. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how he got there - he was certainly deported along with 1 or 2 millions other Poles in 1939-1941. There are also various characters in the series who refer to various nasty gossips about the Soviet Red Army - an oblique way of acknowledging that the Soviet ''liberation'' of Poland wasn't perceived as such by many (if not most) Poles.

The series is divided into 21 episodes of 1 hour each. In the first 8 episodes, we follow Janek, Gustlik, Grigorij and their boss Olgierd from Oka (in 1943) to Gdansk (in March 1945). The war is almost over, Olgierd dies, but then the series is resurrected for 13 more episodes that last barely a month (from March to May 1945). Tomek Czeresniak joins the crew that fights German saboteurs on the Pomeranian seacoast and then joins the big offensive across the Odra river all the way to Berlin. Generally speaking, the later episodes are slightly better than the earlier ones - the action scenes are more exciting, and Wieslaw Golas (playing Tomek) is way more fun than Roman Wilhelmi (who plays Olgierd). Particularly exciting is the episode when the tank crew is taken prisoner by the Germans near the Odra river, and the ''Rudy'' tank is used as target practice on an artillery range. The episode when the tank enters the flooded subway tunnels in Berlin is also very impressive.