Gentlemen of Fortune

Plot summary

The movie follows the story of an amiable kindergarten director named Troshkin who looks exactly like a cruel criminal nicknamed Docent (Доцент, literally associate professor) that has stolen Alexander the Great's helmet at an archaeological excavation. Docent and his gang are caught by police, but Docent is imprisoned in a different jail than his mates. Since Troshkin looks identical to Docent, the police send him undercover to prison with the real criminals to get information about the stolen helmet. He must pretend to be the real felon Docent, so in order to be convincing, Troshkin, a well-educated and good-natured man, has to learn slang and manners of criminals.

Cast

Production

The film was directed by Aleksandr Seryj who had just come out of prison. Georgi Daneliya assisted him and wrote the script. Seryj used his prison experience to design many situations in the movie, and he also introduced numerous expressions from Russian criminal slang (known as Fenya).