A Game without Rules

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1967

Production year

1966

Premiere

14 April 1967

Runtime

88 min

Category

film

Genre

crime

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Hra bez pravidel

Czech title

Hra bez pravidel

English title

A Game without Rules

Summary

Director Jindřich Polák did not only make his mark in 1960s Czechoslovak cinema with his wartime drama Nebeští jezdci (Riders of the Sky, 1968). Also pre-eminent is this detective story informed by the French style. Hra bez pravidel (A Game without Rules, 1967) once again confirmed that the crime genre was always a welcome challenge for the director of Smrt v sedle (Death in the Saddle, 1958) and Páté oddělení (The Fifth Division, AKA Agent for Panic, 1960). The narrative’s protagonist is Málek, a retired plainclothes policeman from Prague. Now a taxi driver who gets up to some amateur sleuthing, he revisits the cold case of a jewellery heist. Málek eventually succeeds in handing the criminals over to his former colleagues, complete with their loot… Svatopluk Matyáš in the lead role faced tough adversaries, seasoned criminals played by Jan Tříska, Vladimír Menšík and Jiří Adamíra. The film cast also included Grand Prix motorcycle road racer František Šťastný – starring as himself.

Synopsis

A robbery in a Prague jeweller's shop results in the shop manager Kubát and his deputy Litera being shot and wounded. The culprits take the jewellery away in a stolen car and that very night hide the loot tens of kilometres outside Prague in a forest. Then the three robbers part with each other. One of them, Burian, leaves in the same car, the other two, Duda and Hovorka, take to flight in another car, which soon ends up in a car crash. Hovorka dies in the accident, but Duda survives and hides in an abandoned cottage. Burian is arrested, Duda is traced out by a police dog. Duda confesses to the robbery to the criminologist Málek, but refuses to say where is the jewellery. The robber then begins to shoot and Málek kills him in self-defence. The court fails to prove Litera's involvement in the robbery and the only one convicted is Burian. The disappointed Málek leaves the police and begins to work as a cab driver. Litera, too, has changed his profession. After four years, Burian is out on probation. Málek accidentally meets Litera and his nervousness makes Málek launch a private investigation. Litera's former lover Alena reveals to him that long time ago, she drove her shot lover secretly from a hospital to a forest where he picked up a bag. Litera murders Alena and arranges the accident to appear as suicide. Burian requires from Litera a share on the loot in exchange for silence and later kills him in a quarrel. He himself is knocked out by Litera's acquaintance, Pepi, who steals the jewellery. During a chase in a railway station, Pepi is run over by a train in front of Málek's eyes. Burian is arrested and Málek hands over the discovered loot to his former colleagues.

Cast

Svatopluk Matyáš

poručík VB Jan Málek, později taxi

Jiří Adamíra

klenotník Rudolf Litera, později vedoucí garáží

Zdeněk Kryzánek

lupič Alois Burian, zaměstnanec zimního stadionu

Karla Chadimová

Alena Růtová, Literova snoubenka

Vladimír Menšík

vedoucí bufetu Pepi

Josef Bláha

kapitán VB Kment, později major VB

Jan Tříska

lupič Karel Duda

František Šťastný

on sám, motocyklový závodník

Stanislava Bartošová

dispečerka taxislužby Klára

Vojta Plachý-Tůma

vedoucí klenotnictví Václav Kubát

Jan Cmíral

praporčík VB

Vladimír Chlouba

lupič Evžen Hovorka

Karel Hovorka

řidič nákladního auta

Jiří Valenta

zástupce firmy v nemocnici

Ludmila Roubíková

uklízečka ve starožitnictví

Václav Šašek

divák na motocyklových závodech

Vladimír Hrabánek

Burianův kolega

Karel Hábl

kriminalista

Eva Jandáčková

zdravotní sestra

Crew and creators

Project author

Rudolf Milič ml.

Second Unit Director

Tomáš Kulík

Shooting Script

Jindřich Polák

Director of Photography

Rudolf Milič

Production Designer

Karel Černý

Set Designer

Vladimír Mácha

Costume Designer

Karel Postřehovský

Make-Up Artist

Rudolf Hammer

Sound Designer

Emanuel Formánek

Special Effects

Trikový ateliér FSB

Production Manager

Rudolf Hájek

Unit Production Manager

Antonín Kubový

Consultant

pplk. Josef Menoušek

Cooperation

Jaromír Komárek (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Wiliam Bukový

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by Štěpán Koníček)

Production info

Original Title

Hra bez pravidel

Czech Title

Hra bez pravidel

English Title

A Game without Rules

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

crime

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1967

Production Year

1966

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 27 April 1966
technical Screenplay approved 19 July 1966
start of filming 23 July 1966
end of filming 25 November 1966
projection approval 1 February 1967

Premiere

premiere 14 April 1967 /unsuitable for youths/ (celostátní)
premiere 21 April 1967 /unsuitable for youths/ (kina Metro /3 týdny/, Dukla /1 týden/ a Oko /1 týden od 5. 5./, Praha)

Creative Group

Tvůrčí skupina Šebor – Bor, Vladimír Bor (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Jiří Šebor (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

88 min

Original length in metres

2 504 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

black & white

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech