The Swankers

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1987

Production year

1986—1987

Premiere

1 February 1988

Runtime

87 min

Category

film

Genre

social, psychological

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Hauři

Czech title

Hauři

English title

The Swankers

Summary

For his 1987 drama adaptation of a novel by Stanislav Vácha, which takes place in an engineering office, film director Julius Matula managed to put together a strong cast. It included the likes of Marek Vašut, Ivana Chýlková, Karel Roden, František Němec and Boris Rösner. The main character is Jaroš (Vašut), a young engineer who accepts a job offer from the highly successful JZD Podhůra collective enterprise (modelled after the real Slušovice collective). While he is given the opportunity to implement his own innovation, this comes at the price of difficult working conditions – Jaroš even has to learn to work with the computer during the night time. His efforts notwithstanding, he finds himself dropping ever deeper in the company rankings. The collective's impersonal modern methods don’t suit him – and not just him… This intriguing period film foreshadows problems less adaptive individuals have to grapple with in the “freedom” of present-day capitalist society.

Synopsis

Mirek and Pavel, two young men - idle engineers, are getting bored in the designing office of the Technostroj company. The idle atmosphere is broken by a phone call from the collective farm in Podhůra village; Pavel is asked to implement his suggested innovation there. The self-confident young man leaves for Podhůra with enthusiasm. He likes the modern collective farm and thus he asks the chairman, Janovec, for a permanent job there. Janovec accepts, but warns him that the working conditions are hard. If Pavel does not prove himself within three months, he will drop one step in his career. Right away, Pavel is shocked. All designers in the cooperative are able to work on computers that control the work in the cooperative farm. At nights, Pavel catches up his lack of knowledge and in his spare time he visits his girl-friend in Prague. Being tired, on one occasion he falls asleep at work. His quarterly evaluation is negative. He has to leave this position and becomes an assistant to a site manager, with whom he will work on construction of a new bridge. At first he does well, but in the end he cannot manage the workers. His girl-friend also disappoints him, as she plans to get married to a Danish man Hans. Pavel is transferred to old Korba, who founded the cooperative and now can hardly put up with the impersonal management and modernisation. Pavel gets close to his daughter, Alena, although he knows she is seriously involved with another man. He works on the design of a new mixing room, but the cocky Cyril is faster. Pavel criticized the chairman for being insensitive. According to Pavel and the rumours he heard, everybody in the cooperative feels like a winner, but they would not have that success if somebody among the communist leaders failed to support them. Pavel resigns from the job and comes back to the company where he worked before. He admits to Mirek that he failed in the cooperative. But now, Mirek intends to join the cooperative.

Cast

Marek Vašut

inženýr Pavel Jaroš

Ivana Chýlková

Alena Korbová

Karel Roden

inženýr Cyril Urban

František Němec

Janovec, předseda JZD Podhůra

Boris Rösner

Pepa Rajšl, Pavlův švagr

Karel Vochoč

vedoucí míchárny Vojtěch Korba, Alenin otec

Eva Jeníčková

Hanka, Pavlova milenka

Helga Matulová

Hančina matka

Luděk Kopřiva

Bedřich, Hančin otec

Martin Stropnický

Mirek, Pavlův kolega

Lubomír Kostelka

Jaroš, Pavlův otec

Vlasta Žehrová

Jana Rajšlová, Pepova žena

Jiří Císler

náměstek Tichota

Marie Málková

Ing. Evženie Zeglerová

Ladislav Křiváček

stavbyvedoucí Outrata

Ivo Helikar

Ing. Rostislav Luhový

Hana Packertová

úřednice osobního oddělení JZD

Jan Toušek

kontrolor

Miriam Kantorková

sekretářka u Tichoty

Marcel Vašinka

mladý lékař

Roman Hemala

starší lékař

Tomáš Valach

Zdeněk

Petra Cibulková

Magda

Igor Matula

Pepův syn

Eva Chlumská

Pepova dcera

Josef Velda

muž v kavárně

Jan Hraběta

předák dělníků

Martin Kolár

úplatkář

Jana Tomečková

dispečerka

Peter Gál

Slovák

Rudolf Kamínek

diskžokej

I. Renta

mladý tesař

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Věra Pištěková

Assistant Director

Stanislav Rovný

Based on

Stanislav Vácha (Hauři – kniha)

Director of Photography

Jiří Macháně

Second Unit Photography

Petr Hojda

Camera Operator

Roman Pavlíček, Emil Hora

Production Designer

Karel Lier

Assistent Production Designer

Libuše Jahodová

Set Designer

Zdeněk Jeřábek, Rudolf Kinský, Dana Smržová

Costume Designer

Marta Kaplerová

Film Editor

Dalibor Lipský

Sound Designer

Adolf Böhm

Production Manager

Jan Syrový

Unit Production Manager

Lev Veltrubský, Jana Hauserová, Helena Landovská

Unit Production Manager

Karel Vávra, Václav Šeda

Cooperation

Ivana Vlčková (klapka), Karel Ješátko (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

archivní

Selected Music

Bedřich Smetana (Má vlast /Vltava/), Bedřich Smetana (Prodaná nevěsta /Proč bychom se netěšili/), Bedřich Smetana (Prodaná nevěsta /Znám jednu dívku/)

Music Performed by

Pavel Dobeš

Music Selected by

Julius Matula, Dalibor Lipský

Songs

Zum-zum

Song Composer Pavel Dobeš
Writer of Lyrics Pavel Dobeš
Singer Pavel Dobeš

Tanečnice z Lúčnice

Song Composer Jozef Ráž
Writer of Lyrics Boris Filan
Singer Elán

Jako tele na vrata

Song Composer Petr Janda
Writer of Lyrics Miroslav Černý
Singer Olympic

Dnes v noci

Song Composer Daniel Fikejz
Writer of Lyrics Daniel Fikejz
Singer skupina Combo FH

Sluchátka

Song Composer Daniel Fikejz
Writer of Lyrics Daniel Fikejz
Singer skupina Combo FH

To nemá chybu

Song Composer Martin Karvaš
Writer of Lyrics Boris Filan
Singer Elán

Bigbít

Song Composer Petr Janda
Writer of Lyrics Miroslav Černý
Singer Olympic

Také sa mi dievča páčí

Song Composer lidová slovenská píseň
Singer Karel Vochoč

Voda se vrací

Song Composer Dežo Ursiny
Writer of Lyrics Vladimír Merta
Singer Marie RottrováDežo Ursiny

Klasika

Song Composer Jozef Ráž
Writer of Lyrics Boris Filan
Singer Elán

Production info

Original Title

Hauři

Czech Title

Hauři

English Title

The Swankers

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

social, psychological

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1987

Production Year

1986—1987

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 5 March 1986
technical Screenplay approved 29 July 1986
start of filming 25 August 1986
end of filming 27 January 1987
projection approval 5 June 1987
the first film copy approved 11 June 1987
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1991

Premiere

premiere 1 February 1988 /unsuitable for youths/

Creative Group

1. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupina, Jiří Blažek (vedoucí 1. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

87 min

Original length in metres

2 554 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Festival: 26. festival českých a slovenských filmů Brno

1988
Brno / Czechoslovakia
Jiří Macháně