Faster, higher, stronger: the best films about Soviet sport

One of the most famous pre-war football films from the Lenfilm studio. It was shot by Semyon Timoshenko, and contrary to expectations, it is not a real football player who is filmed, but a theater and film actor Grigory Pluzhnik. The story revolves around a simple guy, Anton Kandidov. He transports watermelons along the Volga. His dexterity is noticed by acquaintances and it is said that he could become an excellent goalkeeper and play football. Anton decides to take this difficult path and builds a sports career.

Andrey Frolov’s comedy is one of the leading post-war casts. In 1947, it was watched by over 18.5 million viewers. The plot is about a guy named Nikita Krutikov. He is from Siberia, a retired military man with good physical condition. He is invited to the boxing section by the trainer of the Meteor company, Ivan Vasilyevich Privalov. Krutikov has a sports career ahead of him and, possibly, a championship title. But feelings interfere in sports – Nikita falls in love and gets married. Privalov makes a lot of effort to bring the talented athlete back into the ring.

Another Soviet rental box office record holder. Yevgeny Karelov’s 1963 sports drama was seen by 32 million Soviet citizens. The basis of the story is the infamous “death match”, which took place in August 1942 in kyiv occupied by Nazi troops. A team of Germans opposed a team of Soviet prisoners of war, former players of the Dynamo Kyiv club. The Nazis made one condition: if they defeated the Dynamo players, they would release the prisoners, and if the Dynamo won, they would shoot the players.

Another book by Evgueni Karelov also analyzes the phenomenon of Soviet sports. The main character is a graduate of the Lena Institute of Physical Education (the last role of actress Svetlana Savyolova), who is instructed by the management to lead the so-called health group. The young athlete wants to set new records at the stadium. Instead, she tries to force members of her group—alcoholics, party workers, and dystrophies—to exercise. It is impossible to resign from the position of head of the health group – sanctions will follow. Lena begins charging her wards with exorbitant charges.

A children’s sports comedy by Valentin Kozachkov and Albert Osipov tells the story of a brother and a sister who are in the same high school class. Zina goes to the figure skating section and engages in a theater circle, while Ignat, in order to improve his physical form, enrolls in the Tigers court hockey team. The guy turns out to be persistent, he is not afraid of bruises, bruises or minor injuries that he receives in training. Soon Ignat becomes one of the best players in the team, which is invited to compete.

Nikolai Lebedev’s tape is dedicated to the birth of the hockey star of the Soviet Union – Valery Kharlamov, who plays under the permanent number 17. Throughout the film, the viewer watches how the young athlete rises, falls and rises again on fragile ice under the strict guidance of the great coach Anatoly Tarasov. As a result, this is a historic game in Montreal between the USSR national team and the Canadian NHL professionals in September 1972, which ended in victory for the Soviet Union.

Anton Megerdichev’s film refers to the historic victory of the USSR national basketball team at the Olympics in Munich in 1972. Then our team beat the team for the first time in 36 years ” invincible” of America. No one could have thought of such a thing, because basketball was considered a quintessentially American sport in which there is and cannot be anyone stronger. The triumphant episode of the match was the legendary last three seconds of this confrontation.

A dynamic and gripping documentary by Joshua Riehl about the rise, formation and collapse of the great “Russian Five” – ​​Soviet hockey players who ended up on the Red Wings NHL team in the 90s and earned him a number of major victories, including the Stanley Cup. The documentary tells about the appearance of each of the members of the “five” – ​​​​Kozlov, Fetisov, Larionov, Fedorov and Konstantinov – in the team. It was the Russian Five who changed the way hockey was played and learned in North America.

Vasily Chiginsky’s sports biopic is about the rise and rise to cult status of famed Lev Yashin, the only goalkeeper in world history to win the Ballon d’Or and, according to FIFA, the best goalkeeper of the 20th century. He was called “Black Spider” and even “Black Panther” – so they wanted to emphasize his incredible reaction and flexibility during the match.

Alexei Efimov’s documentary series is divided into several episodes. Each of them will be dedicated to a separate decade of the 20th century: the story will begin in the 20s of the last century and end in the 90s. The host of the series is Dmitry Guberniev, a famous Russian TV presenter and Sportscaster. Spectators expect a full picture of the development of Soviet sport in the 20th century – from the birth of great stars and historical figures to the ups and downs of statistics.