Boys Will Be Boys

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1981

Production year

1981

Premiere

21 May 1982

Runtime

91 min

Category

film

Genre

music, comedy

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Mezi námi kluky

Czech title

Mezi námi kluky

English title

Boys Will Be Boys

Summary

In 1981, experienced director of children’s films Radim Cvrček made a comedy about boys’ growing pains at a boarding school. Narratives about vocational students were a requirement of the film commissioners of the “normalisation” era and this is a light-hearted contribution from Cvrček. The focus falls on mischief-makers who share room 135 at the boardinghouse. The five pubescent schoolmates are always trying to throw their tutor –referred to as “Gunslinger” – off balance; he suffers a sense of humour failure in the process. It is down to new young tutoress Kamila to step forward and ensure there is no derailing of the adolescents’ emotional development, something she pursues by appealing to the boys’s own sense of proportion, hidden beneath their veil of provocative behaviour. And it is Kamila that helps Olin, the boy who goes by the nickname of “Doughnut”, to see through a bunch of drug addicts, whom Olin’s friend Tonda has foolhardily gravitated to. The unreservedly optimistic nature of this film is supported by the songs of Michal David and the band Bacily.

Synopsis

At a boarding home of a mechanical engineering factory's training institution the most notorious room is inhabited by louts who very often revel in pranking the warden called Gunman. The man, who totally lacks tolerance and a sense of humor, failed in bringing up his own son, and he is thus inadequately severe with his charges. Tonda, Roman, Pavel, Slávek and Olin - while the latter is nicknamed Doughnut due to his corpulent figure and love of food - especially joke with the warden's Trabant car. The riant Olin goes for weekends to his widowed father, an assembler living in a caravan. They fish together and sit by the fire. The heart-throb Roman boasts with photos of him with pretty girls, but the shots are in fact photomontages. The thin Pavel pampers his long hair which both the warden and the foreman in the workshop watch with displeasure. Slávek has rich parents who, however, have no time for him. Tonda, who joined an awkward gang, is asking for trouble. The apprentices like and respect their strict but fair-minded foreman in the factory. The most skilful is the fatty Olin while the ace Tonda is a loafer. When he is reproached by the foreman for his sloppy results, Tonda destroys the foreman's favourite lighter in anger, but the boys resent him for it. The boys put the Gunman's Trabant up on dustbins and are punished. The warden takes them to a gallery, but the boys enjoy the visit, sliding on the wooden floors and watching pretty women visitors. They also make up another prank. Pavel, disguised as a girl, rushes past the warden and hides in a toilet. The Gunman alerts the boarding home's director and ends up ashamed when they find the "astonished" boy in the cabin. When Tonda sneaks a girl into the boarding home, the warden does not fall into the trap again. A young female warden Kamila begins in the boarding home and gains the boy's admiration as well as respect. Pavel gives up his long hair when Kamila introduces him to a pretty haidresser for whom he starts working as a model at haidressing contests. Olin meets a strange woman at his father's and considers it a betrayal of his late mother. He runs away and is completely changed after his delayed return to the boarding home. His unusual sadness and reclusiveness make Kamila ring his father. Olin thus accepts Tonda's offer and leaves for a cottage party with him. The gang, including Tonda, drinks alcohol and takes pills. Olin refuses and is therefore the only one to notice one of the girls collapsing. In spite of the protests of the rest of the company, he runs for help and saves the girl's life. The warden suggests expelling Olin and Tonda from the boarding home. But the board of teachers pardons Olin after a general intercession. The boys buy their foreman a new lighter. They all set off to Olin's father and his girlfriend with whom the boy had reconciled. Only the Gunman's car, loaded on a heavy towing vehicle, is taken to an unknown place.

Cast

Mojmír Maděrič

učeň Olin Matějů zvaný Koblih

Kamil Spáčil

Voice by Miroslav Kudela
učeň Roman Král zvaný Hezoun

Jan Šťastný

učeň Slávek Rokyta

Radoslav Balaš

Voice by Jan Mazák
učeň Pavel Jakubík

Jana Nagyová

Voice by Sylvie Nitrová
vychovatelka Kamila Petránková

Jiří Kovács

Voice by Erik Pardus
učeň Tonda Helikar zvaný Tony

Jiří Tomek

vychovatel zvaný Pistolník

Josef Karlík

mistr odborného výcviku

Jiřina Petrovická

ředitelka internátu

Dagmar Endelová

kadeřnice

Hana Zaoralová

návštěvnice v modrém

Jaroslav Tuček

vychovatel

Jana Tomečková

Eva Pokorná

Václav Mariánus

Mazač

Zdeněk Julina

Gazda

Aleš Přeček

kluk

Milan Štejdíř

kluk

Pavla Vodáková

Jarmila

Ivana Charvátová

Jana

Marcela Mikošková

Dana

Helena Jurčíková

Matylda

Zdeňka Černá (3)

Marcela

Anna Vykydalová

Růžena

Martina Kapustová

Jarka

František Ringo Čech

průvodce v galerii

Ondřej Mikulášek

Pistolníkův syn

Svatopluk Matyáš

montér Matějů, Olinův otec

Jana Bělíčková

Monika

Irma Kukučková

Jitka

Hana Králíčková

Renata

Roman Mecnarowski

Slávkův otec

Helena Růžičková

vrátná na internátě

Miroslav Mikulička

učeň Péťa

Zdeněk Klinkovský

dubl za Mojmíra Maděriče – jízda na motocyklu

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Mojmír Ticháček

Assistant Director

Ivan Frič, František Hlaváček

Screenstory

Milan Šimek

Director of Photography

Karel Kopecký

Camera Operator

Arne Parduba

Production Designer

Zdeněk Rozkopal

Assistent Production Designer

Josef Havlíček

Set Designer

Jiří Cvrček, František Santarius, Josef Vojtášek

Costume Designer

Taťána Havlíčková

Assistant Film Editor

Marie Vrlová

Sound Designer

Radomír Koutek, Jitka Zvirocká (zvukové efekty)

Production Manager

Zdeněk Stibor

Unit Production Manager

Jiří Zemanec, Věra Kopecká, Dušan Schaffer

Consultant

PhDr. Petr Šrámek, Miloslav Němec, František Otrusina

Cooperation

Renata Gondová (klapka), Otto Kamenský (fotograf), Závody přesného strojírenství Gottwaldov

Music

Music Composed by

Zdeněk John

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by Štěpán KoníčekZdeněk John), Bacily

Choreographer

Jiří Hrabal

Songs

Znám spoustu písní

Song Composer Zdeněk John
Writer of Lyrics Michael Prostějovský
Singer Lenka Filipová

Zlaté ruce

Song Composer Zdeněk John
Writer of Lyrics Michael Prostějovský
Singer Josef KarlíkBacily

To vám byl kus

Song Composer Zdeněk John
Writer of Lyrics Michael Prostějovský
Singer Jan NeckářBacilyMojmír Maděrič [dab]

Růžové brýle

Song Composer Zdeněk John
Writer of Lyrics Michael Prostějovský
Singer Michal Davidsbor

Padla kosa na kámen

Song Composer Zdeněk John
Writer of Lyrics Michael Prostějovský
Singer Jan NeckářBacily

Víkend je náš

Song Composer Zdeněk John
Writer of Lyrics Michael Prostějovský
Singer sbor

Dvě koruny padesát

Song Composer Zdeněk John
Writer of Lyrics Michael Prostějovský
Singer František Ringo Čech

Správná dívka

Song Composer Zdeněk John
Writer of Lyrics Michael Prostějovský
Singer skupina Bezinky

Já ti budu psát

Song Composer Zdeněk John
Writer of Lyrics Michael Prostějovský
Singer Jan Neckář

Žízním láskou

Song Composer Zdeněk John
Writer of Lyrics Michael Prostějovský
Singer Jan NeckářBacily

Production info

Original Title

Mezi námi kluky

Czech Title

Mezi námi kluky

English Title

Boys Will Be Boys

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

music, comedy

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1981

Production Year

1981

Premiere

premiere 21 May 1982 /suitable for youths/

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

91 min

Original length in metres

2 589 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: 20. mezinárodní festival filmů pro děti a mládež Gijón

1982
Gijón / Spain

Vítěz

Festival: 20. festival českých a slovenských filmů Ústí nad Labem

1982
Ústí nad Labem / Czechoslovakia
Zdeněk John