Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

The Diamond Arm

 The Diamond Arm
type
TVTItem
 The Diamond Arm
label
The Diamond Arm
 The Diamond Arm
page
TheDiamondArm
 The Diamond Arm
comment
The Diamond Arm (Бриллиантовая рука, Brilliantovaya ruka) is a 1968 Soviet comedy film by Leonid Gaidai, starring several famous Soviet actors. Like many movies of the time, several of the characters end up performing impromptu songs. Both the film and the songs have attained cult status in the former Soviet republics.The Everyman named Semyon Gorbunkov goes on a cruise to Istanbul. On the way, he meets a younger gentleman named Gennadiy. Unbeknownst to Semyon, Gennadiy ("Gesha") is actually working for The Mafiya, being sent by the Chief (the only name given to the mob boss) to Turkey to smuggle jewelry into the USSR. The Turkish contacts don't know what the courier looks like, only the secret phrase he is supposed to use (they don't even speak Russian). Semyon ends up accidentally speaking the phrase and receives an orthopedic cast full of jewelry on his arm. After returning home, Semyon immediately goes to the cops (or, more precisely, reports it to the ship captain and later attacks an undercover police agent, thinking he was a criminal), and they decide to use him as bait for the smugglers. Hilarity Ensues as the two inept henchmen (Gennadiy and Lyolik) hatch various schemes to retrieve the contraband without killing Semyon or attracting unwanted attention.Unfortunately, the "undercover" operation ends up taking a toll on Semyon's personal life. After catching him with a woman who appears to be his mistress (she is actually working for the Chief as well), his wife leaves with their children. Trying to get to her, Semyon ends up being taken by Lyolik (who is disguised as a cop) to an abandoned car wash to retrieve the jewelry no matter what. Semyon gets away from them and happens upon a man who is driving through the woods, for some reason. Both get captured and tied to a tree. Gennadiy and Lyolik cut open the cast and take it. Semyon realizes that the man he has just met is the Chief and explains that the cops have had the contraband all this time. The criminals stuff Semyon into the trunk and drive off, intending to kill him later. However, a police helicopter finds them and picks up the car. Not realizing it, Semyon manages to open the trunk and falls out. The criminals are caught, and Semyon is reunited with his family, who now know the truth. Unfortunately, Semyon's leg is now broken for real.You can watch this legally with English subtitles on Mosfilm's Youtube channel.
 The Diamond Arm
fetched
2023-06-30T05:13:29Z
 The Diamond Arm
parsed
2023-06-30T05:13:29Z
 The Diamond Arm
processingComment
Dropped link to BananaPeel: Not a Feature - ITEM
 The Diamond Arm
processingComment
Dropped link to TheMafiya: Not a Feature - ITEM
 The Diamond Arm
isPartOf
DBTropes
 The Diamond Arm / int_127fc252
type
Creator Cameo
 The Diamond Arm / int_127fc252
comment
Creator Cameo: Gaidai himself shows up as an alcoholic (uncredited).
 The Diamond Arm / int_127fc252
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_127fc252
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_127fc252
 The Diamond Arm / int_1616e13
type
Ripped from the Headlines
 The Diamond Arm / int_1616e13
comment
Ripped from the Headlines: Yakov Kostyukovsky read in a newspaper that a few Swiss people tried to smuggle jewels in an orthopedic cast. He took that idea, and the result was this film.
 The Diamond Arm / int_1616e13
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_1616e13
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_1616e13
 The Diamond Arm / int_1ab65185
type
That Reminds Me of a Song
 The Diamond Arm / int_1ab65185
comment
That Reminds Me of a Song: Like many other Soviet films of that period, this one features several characters randomly bursting into song. It only really makes sense once, when the (very drunk) Semyon gets on the stage at a restaurant and starts singing about rabbits, with the music making sense, since there's a live band playing. However, when Gennadiy is singing on the cruise ship, the music is coming from nowhere. For reference, Andrei Mironov, the actor playing him, was an accomplished singer.
 The Diamond Arm / int_1ab65185
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_1ab65185
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_1ab65185
 The Diamond Arm / int_1b4e322c
type
Mr. Fanservice
 The Diamond Arm / int_1b4e322c
comment
Mr. Fanservice: Gennadiy. Justified, since his day job is modeling. We even see him on the runway, trying to show off a pair of "convertible" pants. Unfortunately, he suffers a Wardrobe Malfunction, and he is stuck standing there, looking uncomfortable, as he's trying to unjam the zipper. Meanwhile, the announcer is sounding like a broken record ("The pants turn... The pants turn... The pants turn... into elegant shorts"). Not to mention that Gennadiy is played by Andrei Mironov, the Mr. Fanservice of Soviet cinema.
 The Diamond Arm / int_1b4e322c
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_1b4e322c
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_1b4e322c
 The Diamond Arm / int_2c9e262
type
Catapult Nightmare
 The Diamond Arm / int_2c9e262
comment
Catapult Nightmare: Gennadiy wakes up roughly from a nightmare in which he goes to retrieve the cast, but the arm detaches from Semyon, and starts to attack Gennadiy.
 The Diamond Arm / int_2c9e262
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_2c9e262
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_2c9e262
 The Diamond Arm / int_2d7ef923
type
Mistaken for Cheating
 The Diamond Arm / int_2d7ef923
comment
Mistaken for Cheating: Semyon's wife catches him in a compromising position with Anna, not being privy to the details of Semyon's "mission".
 The Diamond Arm / int_2d7ef923
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_2d7ef923
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_2d7ef923
 The Diamond Arm / int_327b5216
type
Black Market
 The Diamond Arm / int_327b5216
comment
The screenwriters later revealed a lot of details that didn't end in the film mostly for the pacing reason (Gaidai hated the things that slowed the action and ruined "the beat", exposition first and foremost). The Chief is a speculator and profiteer who got rich from the Black Market during the WWII, and is sort of a Retired Monster now, running a low-key smugling ring mainly to finance his expensive habits, Gennadiy is an ex-Stilyaga and a small-time underground fence who "grew up" to a proper smuggler, and Lyolik is a former low-rank artillery officer demobbed by Nikita Khrushchev's downsizing of the Soviet Army, who turned to crime — being a car mechanic in The '60s USSR this automatically implied the Black Market connections.
 The Diamond Arm / int_327b5216
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_327b5216
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_327b5216
 The Diamond Arm / int_3f267047
type
Voiceover Letter
 The Diamond Arm / int_3f267047
comment
Voiceover Letter: Semyon's wife leaves him one after the Mistaken for Cheating event above, letting him know that she is taking their kids and moving in with her mother.
 The Diamond Arm / int_3f267047
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_3f267047
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_3f267047
 The Diamond Arm / int_43a46119
type
Surrounded by Idiots
 The Diamond Arm / int_43a46119
comment
Surrounded by Idiots: The Chief can't seem to get Gennadiy and Lyolik to do anything right, even when he sends The Vamp Anna as help. Semyon is only captured when the Chief himself intervenes.
 The Diamond Arm / int_43a46119
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_43a46119
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_43a46119
 The Diamond Arm / int_48b9731f
type
Paper-Thin Disguise
 The Diamond Arm / int_48b9731f
comment
Paper-Thin Disguise: Lyolik's impersonation of a cop, complete with a fake mustache that later peels away.
 The Diamond Arm / int_48b9731f
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_48b9731f
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_48b9731f
 The Diamond Arm / int_4ae690ca
type
Laughing Mad
 The Diamond Arm / int_4ae690ca
comment
Laughing Mad: Gennadiy laughs for a bit during his breakdown below.
 The Diamond Arm / int_4ae690ca
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_4ae690ca
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_4ae690ca
 The Diamond Arm / int_5e1ecc50
type
Mistaken for Badass
 The Diamond Arm / int_5e1ecc50
comment
Mistaken for Badass: The story of The Ditz (played by the famous Soviet clown turned comic actor Yuri Nikulin) who, due to a series of coincidences, was mistaken by a smugglers' gang for a fellow smuggler, and had diamonds hidden inside a fake injury cast on his arm by them. Hilarity Ensues. However in a small aside Semyon notes that he never handled weapons "since the war". The man is in his forties, so he obviously was a frontline fighter during the WWII (just like Nikulin himself). So that could be also a case of a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass.
 The Diamond Arm / int_5e1ecc50
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_5e1ecc50
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_5e1ecc50
 The Diamond Arm / int_68068108
type
Evil Laugh
 The Diamond Arm / int_68068108
comment
Evil Laugh: Lyolik often ends his speeches with an exaggerated laugh.
 The Diamond Arm / int_68068108
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_68068108
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_68068108
 The Diamond Arm / int_6cb1745e
type
Streetwalker
 The Diamond Arm / int_6cb1745e
comment
Streetwalker: One tries to bodily yank Semyon into her apartment.
 The Diamond Arm / int_6cb1745e
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_6cb1745e
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_6cb1745e
 The Diamond Arm / int_7abba202
type
The Faceless
 The Diamond Arm / int_7abba202
comment
The Faceless: The only thing we see of the Chief for most of the film is his hand opening the peephole on his door and then the door itself to let his henchmen in. He never speaks in those shots. His hand is shown to have expensive-looking rings with large gems. Obviously, the smuggling business is going well. The Chief's official persona is a simple pensioner, as we learn in the finale. He uses "finding" a treasure to legalize his wealth.note Keeping only 25% of it as a finder's reward, but still...
 The Diamond Arm / int_7abba202
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_7abba202
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_7abba202
 The Diamond Arm / int_957e5fc2
type
Villainous Breakdown
 The Diamond Arm / int_957e5fc2
comment
Villainous Breakdown: Gennadiy has one when he explains to the Chief that Semyon is leaving, still with his bandaged arm.
 The Diamond Arm / int_957e5fc2
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_957e5fc2
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_957e5fc2
 The Diamond Arm / int_9ae8eea9
type
Character Tics
 The Diamond Arm / int_9ae8eea9
comment
Character Tics: Gennadiy is known to occasionally jerk his head back slightly. This turns funny when he's standing with his back to a wall of a phone booth.
 The Diamond Arm / int_9ae8eea9
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_9ae8eea9
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_9ae8eea9
 The Diamond Arm / int_9c00c209
type
Hurricane of Aphorisms
 The Diamond Arm / int_9c00c209
comment
Hurricane of Aphorisms: Lyolik quotes the Chief at least once per conversation. In Chief's only scene with words the Chief repeats some of them and adds some more:
 The Diamond Arm / int_9c00c209
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_9c00c209
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_9c00c209
 The Diamond Arm / int_9e776765
type
Churchgoing Villain
 The Diamond Arm / int_9e776765
comment
Churchgoing Villain: Gennadiy keeps a crucifix and an icon of the Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus in his bedroom. While stranded on an islet in the middle of the sea, he assumes he's going through a religious experience when he sees a boy who seems to have a Holy Halo walk on water. He prostrates himself at the sight, respectfully tucked his cross pendant into his shirt, and followed the boy with a visibly ecstatic expression on his face while holding up a stick with his comrade Lyolik's swimming trunks (It Makes Sense in Context) like a holy banner... until it turns out he's walking on a sandbar and he slips. The screenplay contains a fuller explanation of their contraband op — they're smuggling icons and religious items out of the USSR, and the Turkish jewelry in. Most of the religious stuff in Gennadiy's apartment is actually their ware. Though he's apparently still the believer.
 The Diamond Arm / int_9e776765
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_9e776765
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_9e776765
 The Diamond Arm / int_a3509d95
type
The Password Is Always "Swordfish"
 The Diamond Arm / int_a3509d95
comment
The Password Is Always "Swordfish": The courier is supposed to identify himself to the Turkish contacts by slipping on a puddle outside their shop, falling, and speaking a particular curse (something like "Damn it to hell!"). Of course, they really should have chosen a better code word, since it's a commonly-used Russian curse, and Istanbul is a popular tourist destination for Russians. And anyone can slip on a puddle and fall. It's a wonder there aren't so many false positives. That actually was a watermelon rind.
 The Diamond Arm / int_a3509d95
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_a3509d95
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_a3509d95
 The Diamond Arm / int_a9de87d2
type
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
 The Diamond Arm / int_a9de87d2
comment
However in a small aside Semyon notes that he never handled weapons "since the war". The man is in his forties, so he obviously was a frontline fighter during the WWII (just like Nikulin himself). So that could be also a case of a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass.
 The Diamond Arm / int_a9de87d2
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_a9de87d2
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_a9de87d2
 The Diamond Arm / int_aea21604
type
Even the Subtitler Is Stumped
 The Diamond Arm / int_aea21604
comment
Even the Subtitler Is Stumped: Two foreign smugglers speak nonsensical gibberish with voiceover Russian translation. Eventually they get into a heated debate, obviously starting to call each other names (with rude gestures), and the translator says in a deadpan voice, "What follows is untranslatable wordplay using local idiomatic expressions."
 The Diamond Arm / int_aea21604
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_aea21604
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_aea21604
 The Diamond Arm / int_b58b4e3c
type
Too Dumb to Live
 The Diamond Arm / int_b58b4e3c
comment
Too Dumb to Live: After discovering the Chief's identity, Semyon lets the Chief know that he knows. The crooks who were willing to let him live now realize that He Knows Too Much and decide to kill him.
 The Diamond Arm / int_b58b4e3c
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_b58b4e3c
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_b58b4e3c
 The Diamond Arm / int_c40c8b74
type
And Starring
 The Diamond Arm / int_c40c8b74
comment
And Starring: Parodied, with "and finally starring Yuri Nikulin" (who plays the leading role and has the most screentime of all actors) in the very end of intro, after listing all other actors (including those who only appear in small episodes).
 The Diamond Arm / int_c40c8b74
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_c40c8b74
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_c40c8b74
 The Diamond Arm / int_c4b0faae
type
Can't Hold His Liquor
 The Diamond Arm / int_c4b0faae
comment
Can't Hold His Liquor: Semyon isn't much of a drinker. So, naturally, Gennadiy tries to get him drunk at the restaurant, so he goes outside to the bathroom (in a separate building), where Lyolik can grab him. Unfortunately to him Gennadiy is also a lightweight, and gets similarly blind drunk, blowing the whole operation.
 The Diamond Arm / int_c4b0faae
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_c4b0faae
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_c4b0faae
 The Diamond Arm / int_c6b8d37a
type
Cliffhanger
 The Diamond Arm / int_c6b8d37a
comment
Cliffhanger: Parodied. The film is split in two parts: 92 and 6 minutes long. Part one ends with Semyon in a narrow passage (in a car wash) with armed enemies approaching from both sides. Part two starts with Semyon at the end of the passage with enemies approaching from the other end, but this time he is near a control box and can make the approach very unpleasant.
 The Diamond Arm / int_c6b8d37a
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_c6b8d37a
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_c6b8d37a
 The Diamond Arm / int_dcbe8a6e
type
Chekhov's Gunman
 The Diamond Arm / int_dcbe8a6e
comment
Chekhov's Gunman: A man bearing no relation to the main plot keeps appearing in the background. First, he finds treasure while planting trees on the street, then he's reading a newspaper with the event on the front page, then he's celebrating finding the treasure and buying a car, then he's learning to drive when Semyon and criminals run into him. He is the Chief.
 The Diamond Arm / int_dcbe8a6e
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_dcbe8a6e
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_dcbe8a6e
 The Diamond Arm / int_eae41a
type
The Vamp
 The Diamond Arm / int_eae41a
comment
The Vamp: Crosses with Sensual Slavs in Anna's case. A young, attractive blonde who is hired by the Chief to seduce and sedate Semyon, while the two henchmen are waiting outside in the car. She invites Semyon claiming to have the gown he's looking to buy, puts on romantic music, sets out wine (both knowing that Semyon can't hold his liquor and planning on putting a sleeping pill in his glass), and then takes off the gown "to show it to him". She then starts dancing to the music until the clasp of her bra suddenly flies off... just as Semyon's wife bursts in.
 The Diamond Arm / int_eae41a
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_eae41a
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_eae41a
 The Diamond Arm / int_edeafb2e
type
Malicious Misnaming
 The Diamond Arm / int_edeafb2e
comment
Malicious Misnaming: In one scene Lyolik insistently calls Gennadiy "Koz_l_odoyev" instead of "Kozodoyev" despite being corrected. "Kozodoy" means goatsucker (nightjar), but "kozlodoy" probably refers to a proverb that milking a billy goat is no good.
 The Diamond Arm / int_edeafb2e
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_edeafb2e
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_edeafb2e
 The Diamond Arm / int_f3f1a9e2
type
Not My Driver
 The Diamond Arm / int_f3f1a9e2
comment
Not My Driver: This is how the smugglers try to trap Gorbunkov: they are aware that a taxi (driven in fact by a policeman) is going to pick him up, so one of them makes sure to arrive at the place earlier.
 The Diamond Arm / int_f3f1a9e2
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_f3f1a9e2
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_f3f1a9e2
 The Diamond Arm / int_f69d396a
type
Walk on Water
 The Diamond Arm / int_f69d396a
comment
Walk on Water: Gesha is stranded on an islet about a kilometer from the shore. Some boy asks him what's wrong and walks away after being told to get lost. Then the criminal notices the boy walks on water, becomes a born-again Christian and follows him to the shore. But his faith doesn't live long after he discovers it was just a strip of shallow water.
 The Diamond Arm / int_f69d396a
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_f69d396a
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_f69d396a
 The Diamond Arm / int_name
type
ItemName
 The Diamond Arm / int_name
comment
 The Diamond Arm / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Diamond Arm / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
The Diamond Arm / int_name
 The Diamond Arm / int_name
itemName
The Diamond Arm

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
Censor Decoy / int_c11d0e7f
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
Even the Subtitler Is Stumped / int_c11d0e7f
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
Foreign-Language Tirade / int_c11d0e7f
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
Mistaken for Badass / int_c11d0e7f
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
Mistaken for Cheating / int_c11d0e7f
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
Not My Driver / int_c11d0e7f
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
Nuclear Weapons Taboo / int_c11d0e7f
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
Previously on… / int_c11d0e7f
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
Road Trip Across the Street / int_c11d0e7f
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
Translation: "Yes" / int_c11d0e7f
 The Diamond Arm
hasFeature
Video Credits / int_c11d0e7f