The setting is the east shore of the Caspian Sea (today's Turkmenistan) where the Red Army soldier Fyodor Sukhov has been fighting the Civil War in Russian Asia for a number of years. After being hospitalised and then demobbed, he sets off home to join his wife, only to be caught up in a desert fight between a Red Army cavalry unit and Basmachi guerrillas. The cavalry unit commander, Rahimov, "convinces" Sukhov to help, temporarily, with the protection of abandoned women of the Basmachi guerrilla leader Abdullah's harem. Leaving a young Red Army soldier, Petrukha, to assist Sukhov with the task, Rahimov and his cavalry unit set out to pursue fleeing Abdullah.Sukhov and women from Abdullah's harem return to a nearby shore town. Soon, looking for a seaway across the border, Abdullah and his gang come to the same town...
Anatoliy Kuznetsov
as Фёдор Иванович Сухов, красноармеец
Pavel Luspekayev
as Павел Артемьевич Верещагин, таможенник
Spartak Mishulin
as Саид
Kakhi Kavsadze
as Абдулла (озв. Михаил Волков)
Raisa Kurkina
as Настасья, жена Верещагина
Nikolai Godovikov
as Петруха
Tatyana Fedotova
as Гюльчатай (озв. Надежда Румянцева)
Musa Dudayev
as Рахимов, красный командир (озв. Игорь Ефимов)
Nikolai Badyev
as Лебедев, хранитель музея (озв. Алексей Кожевников)
Vladimir Kadochnikov
as Семён, подпоручик
CinemaSerf
There's something quietly comedic about the scenario in which returning soldier "Sukhov" (Anatoliy Kuznetsov) finds himself. He's determined just to get home to some peace and quiet with his wife - whom we see in the opening few scenes - and settle down. Sadly for him, fate has other plans as he res...