BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Martin Bradley A look at the behind-the-camera credits of "Taras Bulba" and you might think you are watching, if not a masterpiece, then at least one of Hollywood's greatest and most intelligent spectaculars. So what went wrong? The director was J. Lee Thompson, fresh from a trilogy of terrific action pics, ("Ice Cold in Alex", "Northwest Frontier" and "The Guns of Navarone"), and one great thriller, ("Cape Fear"). Waldo Salt was one of the two scriptwriters, Joe MacDonald photographed it in Panavision and four of Hollywood's top editors had been merrily snipping away. In front of the camera we had Tony Curtis and Yul Brynner; okay, neither of them was Olivier but Brynner had an Oscar under his belt and Curtis had done "Sweet Smell of Success" and "Some Like it Hot" so we knew they could act and yet this rubbish is, if not quite a total disaster, neither memorable nor of interest. In fact, the best you can say of it is that it's no better, and probably a lot worse, than many a large-scale and totally anonymous western with its large cast putting on funny accents and pretending to be Cossacks, (except, of course, for the Brooklynese Curtis). It just about gets by as entertainment and is certainly no-one's finest hour.

Jeff (actionrating.com) See it – The ending ruined this one for me, which is a shame because it is a unique film. It's a sword and sandals movie about the Cossacks in the Baltic War, and stars Yul Brynner in the role that he was quite literally "born to play" (being Russian-born). There are sweeping battle scenes with hundreds of extras, and even a few swashbuckling sword fights. Unfortunately, Tony Curtis (as Brynner's son) hogs most of the scenes, and the battles are too brief. Every time a battle looks like it's about to get good, it will abruptly end. Honestly, the main reason I'd even see this movie is to watch the scene that undoubtedly was stolen by Monty Python's Holy Grail when the guy's pushing a cart yelling "Bring out your dead!" 3 action rating.

kosmasp ... even as a Coassack! Seriously though Mr. Brynner can play everything, as far as I'm concerned, and that in a very convincing manner, too! But although the film is called "Taras Bulba", it's actually son Bulba, who's playing the main character here (portrayed by Tony Curtis).I had the opportunity to watch the movie in a (blow-up) 70mm copy. Unfortunately the colors had faded away, but it still looked great. The battle scenes are especially good. But it's the nature of the movie that I liked, the depiction of a small group of "rebels" that tried to go a different way (if you see the movie, you'll know what I mean). There's a great quote from "Bulba Sr." (Brynner) about having faith in poles, just awesome!

Jonathon Dabell "Taras Bulba" is a film by the prolific J. Lee-Thompson, and comes directly after two of his most fondly remembered films – "The Guns Of Navarone" and "Cape Fear". Sadly, Thompson is not able to record his third critical hit in a row with "Taras Bulba". While the film has plenty of lively set pieces, stirring music by Franz Waxman, an enjoyable performance by Yul Brynner, and epic widescreen cinematography by Joe MacDonald, it falls short in a handful of other departments. There's a romantic subplot, written in a manner that makes it seem over-ripe and soppy. There's a lack of historical and geographical authenticity which is hard to overlook. And, apart from Brynner as the titular character, too many of the actors are guilty of over-exaggerated performances.The Ukrainian Cossacks, led by the talismanic Taras Bulba (Yul Brynner), fight a battle against Turk invaders. They are assisted in their fight by an army of Poles, led by Prince Grigory (Guy Rolfe). Grigory makes a deal with the Cossacks that if their joint forces win the battle, he will reward them by granting them control of the Steppes of Eastern Europe. But once the battle concludes with victory, the Poles go back on their word and betray their Cossack allies. The Cossacks retreat into the hills, where Taras Bulba contemplates how he will one day have his revenge upon the treacherous Poles. He eventually decides to send his two sons – Andrei (Tony Curtis) and Ostap (Perry Lopez) – to a Polish university, where it is intended that they learn all there is to know about the ways and customs of their enemy. The plan begins to fall apart when Andrei falls in love with Polish noblewoman Natalia Dubrov (Christine Kaufmann). Andrei is torn between his love for Natalia and his devotion to his own people's cause. Later, when his son's split loyalties become clear, Taras Bulba also finds himself torn between his love for his son and his need to lead the Cossacks against the Poles."Taras Bulba" is a film that sounds great when described, but the actual article doesn't quite live up to its potential. I've already made clear my feelings about the romantic subplot involving Andrei and Natalia, but the over-ripeness and soppiness that plague these scenes are only half of the problem. For the film to reach the devastating tragic climax it seems to be aiming for, Andrei and Natalia's relationship needs to be convincing. We need to feel for them; we need to be fully absorbed in their dilemma of loyalties; we need to be moved by the terrible ironies that bring the film to its supposedly sad conclusion. But we aren't. "Taras Bulba" is ten times more effective when concentrating on spectacular action and epic-scale battles. For these scenes alone it remains a film well worth watching. But it's those attempts to turn it into a tear-jerker – an epic for the soft-at-heart, if you like – that simply don't work, and pull the film significantly downwards.