Beware of the Car

The movie plot evolves around Yuri Detochkin (Smoktunovsky), a humble Soviet insurance agent suffering from a minor mental disorder.[1] Detochkin applies great resourcefulness and exceptional driving skill to stealing cars from corrupt Soviet officials in a Robin Hood way, disappointed by the Militsiya (Soviet police) being unable to fight them efficiently. One of the Detochkin's un-innocent victims is Dima Semitsvetov (Mironov), a retail embezzler mocked but tolerated by his colorful father-in-law Semyon Vasilyevich (Papanov), a retired Soviet Army officer.

Detochkin sells some stolen cars and anonymously transfers the money to the accounts of various orphanages. Detective Maxim Podberyozovikov (Yefremov) investigates his crimes and tries to prosecute him, but faces a serious moral problem in doing so, partly because the suspect appears to be his amateur theatre mate and friend.

• Innokenty Smoktunovsky as Yuri Detochkin, former taxi driver, now an insurance agent and a fighter for justice
• Oleg Yefremov as Maxim Podberyozovikov, detective, working on Detochkin's cause
• Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya as Detochkin's mother
• Olga Aroseva as Lyuba, a trolley-bus driver, Detochkin's bride
• Andrei Mironov as Dima Semitsvetov
• Anatoli Papanov as Semyon Vasilyevich, father-in-law of Dima Semitsvetov
• Tatyana Gavrilova as Inna, wife of Dima Semitsvetov
• Georgiy Zhzhonov as a patrol policeman
• Yevgeny Yevstigneyev as an acting coach
• Donatas Banionis as a priest, buyer of Detochkin's Volga car
• Lyubov Sokolova as a judge
• Vyacheslav Nevinny as a car mechanic
• Gotlib Roninson as Yakov Mihailovich, Senior Insurance Agent, Detochkin's boss
• Galina Volchek as a customer
• Sergey Kulagin as Philippe Cartuzov, a pub manager
• Yakov Lents as Tobacconist's shop salesman
• Nikolay Parfyonov as a prosecutor
• Victoria Radunskaya as Tanya, criminalist
• Boris Runge as a man with suitcases

Beware of the Car sign was common for Soviet cities

• In the film, Detochkin and Podberezovikov act together in an amateur theater which rehearses Hamlet. This is a play from Innokenty Smoktunovsky's real-life acting career: he was reputed as the "best Hamlet on the Soviet stage" and starred in a Hamlet film adaptation.
• The waltz[2] performed in the film is a distinguished melody composed by Andrey Petrov. Sergey Nikitin's repertoire includes a song named Glassy Gentleman (lyrics by Yevgeny Yevtushenko), which used a waltz from the film.
• All cars stolen by Detochkin are "Volga"s - the most prestigious Soviet car model of the time. The fact that "Volga" was the standard personal car for Soviet elite is the intentional satire element of the film which Eldar Ryazanov found very hard to get approved.
• American cars can be spotted in the petrol station scene: a 1955 Buick and a 1955 Oldsmobile. This would have been an extremely rare sighting since the United States had sanctions with the USSR and did not sell cars within the Eastern Bloc.

Many quotes from the film became catchphrases and are still used today: "Isn't it time to blow at William, at our Shakespeare?", "Here is Grundig tape recorder. Four tracks, stereophonic, elegant design...", "Free Yuri Detochkin!" and many other (see Wikiquote).

The film was the leader of Soviet film distribution for 1966 watched by 29 million people (11 place). Innokenty Smoktunovsky was recognized as the Best Actor of 1966.

Awards: Edinburgh-66, Sydney-66, Melbourne-67, Cartagena-69.

• GAZ-21

• Beware of the car on YouTube
• Beware of the Car at IMDb
• Beware of the Car at AllMovie