O. K., Leave it to Me, Boss...!

Summary

Screenwriter and director Petr Schulhoff’s Já to tedy beru, šéfe…! (O. K., Leave it to Me, Boss...!) was one of a number of satirical comedies criticising the shortcomings of socialist society. The film, which premiered in 1977, sets its sights on the crooked practices of labour recruitment officers. It thus diverges from several of Schulhoff’s other pictures, which in the main offered a critical view of interpersonal relations (Hodíme se k sobě, miláčku…? [Darling, Are We a Good Match...?] /1974/, Zítra to roztočíme, drahoušku…! [We’ll Kick Up a Fuss Tomorrow, Darling...] /1976/, Co je doma, to se počítá, pánové…[ What I Have I Hold, Gentlemen...!] [1980]). The protagonists of this breezy story, whose plot captures a number of period practices, are two employees of the state enterprise Pragokov. At the Labour Recruitment Research Department, which they themselves have set up, Láďa Pitras and Oto Vacák begin employing methods that test the boundaries of legality and morality. In this manner they obtain workers for hard-to-fill professions (welder, crane operator, stoker in constant service), in the process abusing the adulterous Niederle’s fear of his jealous wife and the dramatic spats of the married Nyklíčkovýs. But then they almost fall victim to their own machinations: a new colleague, the wily Miriam, sparks the jealousy of Pitras’s wife Renáta, while the settled Vacák attracts the attentions of an energetic Slovak female crane operator. However, the greatest danger to the self-proclaimed manipulators becomes their colleagues/rivals… The director cast the comic actors Petr Nárožný (Vacák) and Luděk Sobota (Pitras) as the leads in the picture, which reflects period ideological production. Sobotka again created the role of a timid, outwardly clumsy man, contrasting with his appealing characters in films such as Jáchyme, hoď ho do stroje! (Joachim, Put Him into the Machine!) (1974) and Jen ho nechte, ať se bojí (Let Him Face the Music!) (1977). Iva Janžurová drew on her predatory acting skills in the role of the jealous Renáta, while the infallible Marie Rosůlková portrayed Pitras’s grandmother.

Synopsis