Nikita Mikhalkov's 1974 At Home among Strangers, a Stranger Among his Own was a truly enjoyable "Eastern," a Soviet parallel to the American "Western." It did a great job in glorifying the Socialist Revolution and its ideology, while at the same time preserving the advantageous, "badass," gun-slinging attitude that audiences loved in the Western. I feel like contemporary viewers of this film would have savored it—a dramatized, heroic account of Soviet values set in the "wild east" would seem like the perfect soothing remedy for a disillusioned Soviet citizen during Brezhnev's period of stagnation.
Our Soviet western hero is Shilov, who was tasked with defending a large Cheka shipment of gold for the starving citizens in Moscow following the Russian Civil War. Naturally, the plan is quickly ruined as assassins kill everyone on board the train carrying the gold to steal it, drug Shilov, and let him loose in the town street, hence framing him for being the inside man for giving up the gold. As Shilov sets out to recover the gold and clear his name, the plot further thickens as the assassins get killed and bandits take the gold! The leader of the assassins, Lemke, lived however, and joined up with the bandits to try and discover where their leader, Brylov, was taking the gold. Shilov ends up killing Brylov and recovering the gold, and denies all of Lemke's pleads and temptations to share it with him and escape. Shilov maintained adamant in his Socialist position of giving up the gold, claiming that "even God taught us to share."
All of this activity is surrounded by recurring themes of train robbery, horseback chasing, rafting and mountainside firefights. Even the soundtrack emphasizes moments of male camaraderie as Shilov's name is mentioned among his Civil War friends with majestic trumpet solos. As Shilov returns to his wartime friends with the gold, they rush to him, barely holding back tears as they greet their "western Soviet" hero. The film shed some positive, adventurous light upon the Soviet values of collectivization and honor over corruption and private enterprise.
Our Soviet western hero is Shilov, who was tasked with defending a large Cheka shipment of gold for the starving citizens in Moscow following the Russian Civil War. Naturally, the plan is quickly ruined as assassins kill everyone on board the train carrying the gold to steal it, drug Shilov, and let him loose in the town street, hence framing him for being the inside man for giving up the gold. As Shilov sets out to recover the gold and clear his name, the plot further thickens as the assassins get killed and bandits take the gold! The leader of the assassins, Lemke, lived however, and joined up with the bandits to try and discover where their leader, Brylov, was taking the gold. Shilov ends up killing Brylov and recovering the gold, and denies all of Lemke's pleads and temptations to share it with him and escape. Shilov maintained adamant in his Socialist position of giving up the gold, claiming that "even God taught us to share."
All of this activity is surrounded by recurring themes of train robbery, horseback chasing, rafting and mountainside firefights. Even the soundtrack emphasizes moments of male camaraderie as Shilov's name is mentioned among his Civil War friends with majestic trumpet solos. As Shilov returns to his wartime friends with the gold, they rush to him, barely holding back tears as they greet their "western Soviet" hero. The film shed some positive, adventurous light upon the Soviet values of collectivization and honor over corruption and private enterprise.