Gorky Park (1983)

Plot of Gorky Park: Arkady Renko a police lieutenant is called to investigate the murders of three people, two males and a female found dead under the snow in the surroundings of Gorky Park in Moscow. Soon also on the scene is Major Pribluda of the KGB, who on clearing the snow from the heads, finds that the faces have been cut off. Despite Renko’s suggestions, the KGB do not take over the investigation, so Renko and his team are stuck with it, starting with Irina Asanova, a film assistant, whose name is on the skates worn by the dead woman.  There are directions for the investigation. Renko has a specialist rebuild the faces of the three dead, and becomes involved with an American detective who has come to Moscow looking for his brother. Also on the scene is Jack Osborne a dealer in sable fur who is acquainted with Irina. The case seems to involve religious chests but when Renko’s assistant Pavlovich goes with a chest builder Golodkin to an apartment they are both killed. Later Irina’s life is threatened by being injected with an overdose by the KGB but Renko saves her and they become close. But all the players in this drama are still out there, particularly the KGB and Osborne so how will it end?

Content: Just one event of sex and nudity as Renko and Irina get together. Some drinking and smoking. People are seen skating in Gorky Park, who we find will later become the bodies. A lot of acerbic exchanges between Renko and the KGB. His father was a general and he had made a case against Pribluda for a previous murder, but it had been shelved. Renko visits the dacha of the chief prosecutor where he meets Jack Osborne, the villainous American and initially fights with William Kirwill, the American detective, before they realise they are on the same side. Irina is floating about on both sides apparently taken in by Osborne. In a health bath Renko shoots the chief prosecutor who is also involved with Osborne and admits it.

A View: I was a Dennis Potter fan back in the day, so it was good to see his stamp on this outing. Arkady Renko suited him because the character is a man up against authority and often beaten down by it. I have read the books. I’m not quite sure whether William Hurt nailed the character, but he had a go, in this film the Russians having English accents. This requirement made the casting a lot of fun as well, allowing us to see what at the time were well known TV personalities on screen. But all of that did not result in it making any money, and now it is a classic. Worth a view if you can find it.

Fun Fact: Initially the Russians had given permission for the film to be made in Moscow, but since they said that there was no crime in Russia, the permission was withdrawn and Moscow was played by Helsinki.