JohnHowardReid Like many of its contemporary competitors, the problem with this movie is that it runs too long. In fact, in all it's a needlessly ponderous, heavy-handed and slow-moving mystery thriller. James Horner has supplied a ponderously boom-boom music score, whilst Michael Apted's wearisomely heavy-handed and over-emphatic direction relies heavily on TV-style close-ups. Fortunately, the film is at its best in the action spots. These are well-staged and like the street scenes actually photographed in Helsinki and the movie's one bright character – namely the used car salesman – help to relieve the monotony induced by William Hurt's slowly drawn performance. Lee Marvin is not that much better, nor indeed is Ian Bannen or even the moderately attractive Miss Pacula. At one stage, it looks like we're going to be in for another of these unlikely partnership movies, but this relationship is not developed to any great extent. And maybe I wasn't listening carefully enough, but I thought the motive for the murder unsatisfactorily explained despite all the 128 minutes of talk, talk, talk! Available on an excellent M-G-M DVD.

tomsview From the opening scenes when James Horner's electronic chimes and vibrant chords overlay Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" on the soundtrack, you feel this movie will be something different.A Russian policeman, Arkady Renko (William Hurt), investigates the murder of three young people in Moscow's Gorky Park. Their faces and fingerprints have been burnt off to avoid identification. Renko suspects that the murders involve the KGB, and later connects them to an influential American businessman, Jack Osborne (Lee Marvin). Renko eventually takes the heads of the murdered youths to a specialist, Professor Andreev (Ian McDiarmid) to have them reconstructed.I remember the impact of the graphic facial reconstruction scenes when the film came out in 1983, especially when the grub worms are used to clean off the rest of the flesh. This was a couple of decades before shows like "CSI" and "Silent Witness". Of course we have seen this kind of thing plenty of times since, but if this wasn't the first time it featured, it must have been close to it.The investigation reveals a woman linked to the victims, Irina (Joanna Pacula), and the brother of one of the victims, a New York detective, William Kirwell (Brian Denehey), also becomes involved. He is at first an adversary whom Renko describes as, "Somebody with fists made of stone", but later they become allies. Finally Renko uncovers a trade in stolen Russian sables worth millions, and exposes corruption in high places."Gorky Park" has a strong plot, but it's the Russian background that gives the film its edge. It all looks quite authentic despite the fact it wasn't filmed there. This was before the Iron Curtain came down and Finland substituted for Russia. But it seems to work well.Renko and his associates are cynical and overworked policemen not dissimilar to those in cop shows made in the West. They have to keep an eye out for the KGB, but they go about their job in a professional way, following the clues and slowly piecing together what happened.Hurt is excellent. He adopts a precise accent, which fits in with the predominantly British actors playing Russians. However, not all are British and there are a variety of accents, not that it detracts all that much. The beautiful, fragile looking Joanna Pacula has a Polish accent, but she is very effective in this, her first English language film.Although "Gorky Park" was near the end of Lee Marvin's career, this was the sort of role he had perfected by this stage; worldly, charming and ruthless. It's hard to believe this good-looking movie is over 20 years old. With a script by Dennis Potter, an innovative score by James Horner, and just about the perfect cast, it still has a lot going for it.

writers_reign I saw this film on a US army base in West Germany about a year after its release. I didn't have enough German to go to a commercial movie theatre and this was the only game in town. I knew nothing about it, hadn't even heard of the book let alone read it; I did know both William Hurt and Lee Marvin and, as I said, it was the only game in town. I thought it was dire. A few years later someone lent me the book which I enjoyed so much that I went on to read the subsequent Martin Cruz Smith novels featuring Arkady Renko. Now, some 26 years later the film has re-surfaced. I checked it out in case my first impression was wrong. It wasn't. This is STILL dire. It's a thriller without any thrills, a who-done-it entirely lacking suspense, set in a Moscow that's about as Russian as Upper Sandusky. The leading lady has no charisma, sensuality, or even bread-and-butter attractiveness that I was able to detect and there's more chemistry between a moth and an icicle than between her and leading man Hurt. For reasons best known to themselves the producers have seen fit to dispense with Renko's wife and the killer is known too us far too soon. All in all a joke.

david-james-623-231129 This film has stood the test of time and repeat viewings for me. Have watched about 10 times over the past 20 years and each time I am totally engrossed. Excellent crime-mystery drama. The dialog in this movie is as good as any I know. Scenery and the settings make you feel like you are in Russia during winter: bleak and frigid. Performances by Hurt, Marvin, Dennehey, and Bannen are all solid if not outstanding. Some may be put off by English and Americans performers posing as Russians, but don't let the lack of dialect authenticity get in your way of enjoying this gem. For comparison I would rank it with LA Confidential within its genre.