Many of the characters in the movie “Only Old Men Go to Battle” had real prototypes.
Photo: frame from the film.
In this film, actor and director Leonid Bykov realized his childhood dream of becoming a pilot. He tried twice to enter a flight school, where he was never accepted. Either the age was not suitable (14 years old) or the height was small (163 cm), then the school was disbanded. Becoming a pilot in life did not work out, so he became one in the cinema.
In collaboration with playwrights Evgeny Onoprienko and Alexander Satsky, he wrote a script about military aces based on real events of the Great Patriotic War. Evgeniy Onoprienko was a front-line soldier, took part in the liberation of Donbass, was seriously wounded and knew firsthand about the war, the exploits and heroism of soldiers.
While working on the script, Bykov consulted with veterans and fighter pilots. Therefore, many of the characters in the picture had real prototypes.
Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Laveykin – prototype of Titarenko
Photo: ru.wikipedia.org.
The prototype of the main character, Captain Titanarenko (played by Leonid Bykov), was probably more than one person. They could be star pilots, Heroes of the Soviet Union, Vitaly Popkov, Ivan Laveikin, Vasily Merkushev. Bykov “borrowed” the surname of his hero from the pilot Dmitry Titorenko, who was the partner of three-time Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Kozhedub.
Lieutenant Vano Kobakhidze appeared in the script in memory of Kozhedub’s front-line friend and first commander, the brave Georgian pilot Junior Lieutenant Vano Gabunia. He died heroically when he rammed a German fighter. The prototype of Captain Zoya Molchanova was the Hero of the Soviet Union Nadezhda Popova. She flew bombers in the women’s air regiment (the Germans called them “night witches”). Unlike the heroine of the film, Nadezhda Popova did not die in battle, but went through the entire war and lived to be 91 years old. It is believed that the prototype of “Darkie” was Viktor Shchevronok, a childhood friend of Leonid Bykov, with whom he entered flight school and who died in April 1945 during the liberation of Czechoslovakia.
The prototype of Captain Zoya Molchanova was the Hero of the Soviet Union Nadezhda Popova.
Photo: frame from the film.
The prototype of Lieutenant Alexandrov (“Grasshopper”) was the pilot, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Sergei Lugansky. After the war he became a writer. Lugansky’s memories were used in the script of the film, as were the memories of other heroic pilots who took part in the Great Patriotic War. Plot twists, episodes and details included in the script are taken from real life. For example, the tragic love story between an Uzbek pilot (Romeo was played by Uzbek actor Rustam Sagdullaev) and a Russian girl. True, unlike the heroine played by Evgenia Simonova, she was not a pilot – the girl died during the bombing of the airfield canteen. Sergei Lugansky spoke about the mechanic’s (played by Alexey Smirnov) habit of christening planes before takeoff. The episode where Titarenko returns to the regiment after a battle not by plane, but on horseback (“he saluted without looking!”) is taken from real life: near Stalingrad, pilot Alexander Alexandrov was shot down and returned at night on horseback. There were many stories about the Germans hiding their tanks under haystacks. And our pilots declassified them.
Vitaly Popkov – prototype of the grasshopper
Photo: frame from the film.
According to the memoirs of two-time Hero of the Soviet Union Vitaly Popkov, the slogan (which gave the film its title) “Only “old men” go into battle!” belonged to the commander of his division, Colonel-General Mikhail Gromov, who had an ironclad rule not to allow newly arrived reinforcements into aerial combat. And only those who had already had combat missions.
It is no wonder that the film turned out to be so truthful and sincere. Even the pilots admitted that it was “an honest story about the war and the people who achieved victory in it.”
The idea of the painted notes on the plane was borrowed from the attack aircraft – the “musical” Il-2. The “singing” squadron actually existed in the Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment under the command of Vasily Stalin, where Vitaly Popkov (the prototype of the hero Leonid Bykov) also served. It became “singing” because it had its own choir, and Leonid Utesov’s orchestra donated two planes to the front. One of them had the words “Jolly Guys” written on it.
Musical hobbies did not distract the pilots from the main task of defeating the Nazis. For their courage and heroism in battle, 11 of the 14 pilots of the squadron were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In the liberated territories, the choir gave concerts that were no less popular than the performances of professional artists traveling with front-line brigades. At one of these concerts, the curious and artistic teenager Lenya Bykov was among the audience. This is how he later explained the idea of his film, having become a director: “There is a well-known expression: “When the guns speak, the muses are silent.” We wanted to show that after years of trials, those who remain human in the most cruel conditions, who bring with them everything bright and humane into battle, win the battle for which they fight against the enemy. And what could be more beautiful than music?
Evgeny Bykovsky – prototype of Smuglyanka
Photo: frame from the film.
The song “Darkie” became the “calling card” of the film. Leonid Bykov said that he heard this song when, as a teenager, he was riding on the steps of trains in which soldiers from the front traveled. They sang “Darkie”: “At that moment I decided that if I made a film about pilots, this song would definitely be in it.”
But Bykov was accused of being too enthusiastic about the music in the film. Film directors did not like the fact that pilots sang songs; they, as if for fun, performed feats, even though not all of their comrades returned from combat missions. Many died in battle. And those who survived sang funny songs about a dark-skinned Moldavian woman.
When the film was sent to Goskino, Bykov invited front-line pilots to watch it. One of the first viewers was Alexander Pokryshkin. The heroes of the war decided the fate of the painting “Only the “old men” go into battle.” “Yes, that’s what happened,” they said after watching it. As a result, the film was released and was a great success with audiences.
The tragic love story was taken from real life.
Photo: frame from the film.
There were difficulties with the casting. Bykov barely managed to approve Alexei Smirnov’s candidacy for the role of mechanic Makarych. This Leningrad actor was known to a wide audience for his comedies, especially after the release of Leonid Gaidai’s film “Operation “Y” and Other Adventures of Shurik”, where he played the drunken parasite Fedya. They refused to approve him for the role. In response, Bykov stated that he would not make a film if Alexei Smirnov, with whom he was very close, was not in it. And he spoke about the combat biography of this actor, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, about how he heroically served in intelligence, that he was the holder of two Orders of Glory and the Red Star. It was all true.
They did not want to approve Alexey Smirnov for the role of the mechanic Makarych.
Photo: frame from the film.
There were other difficulties with the selection of actors. For example, Leonid Filatov was supposed to play Lieutenant Skvortsov, but in the end he was played by Ukrainian actor Vladimir Talashko. Vladimir Konkin was planned for the role of “Grasshopper”. But at that time Konkin was filming How the Steel Was Tempered. And I could not attend the filming of Bykov. “Grasshopper” was played by Sergei Ivanov. Leonid Bykov was the godfather of film actress Evgenia Simonova. Her film debut was the film “Only Old Men Go to Battle”. Simonova was then a second-year student at the Shchukin School. However, the role of the young pilot Masha remains one of her most striking roles.
A big problem for Bykov was the complete absence of World War II aircraft in the USSR. Neither our fighters nor the German ones survived. Leonid Bykov was helped by the legendary pilot, Air Marshal, three-time Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Pokryshkin. He read the script and ordered that four sporting Yak-18s and a Czechoslovak 2-326, similar in appearance to the Messerschmitt 109, be provided for filming.
The picture was very popular with viewers. Many quotes from the characters in the film have been quoted, although many of them were not invented by the scriptwriters, but taken from life: “He saluted without looking!” “Comrade Commander, I would have shot down more Germans, but you chased away all the Fritzes with your underwear.”
