Beware of the Car!

Beware of the Car (Beregis avtomobilya, 1966) is Eldar Ryazanov's bittersweet Soviet comedy, and you can watch it online on iFILM. A mild insurance clerk named Yuri Detochkin steals cars — but only from cheats and bribe-takers.

Detochkin is a man ruled by his conscience. He lifts a car from someone who bought it with dirty money, sells it, and sends every ruble to children's homes. That makes him an amateur Robin Hood nobody can catch. The investigator on his trail, Podberezovikov, happens to be his friend — they act together in the same amateur theater troupe, rehearsing Hamlet shoulder to shoulder, neither quite realizing the hunter and the thief share a stage. Innokenty Smoktunovsky and Oleg Yefremov play the pair right on the line between laughter and tears, with a young Andrei Mironov and Anatoly Papanov alongside them.

Ryazanov and writer Emil Braginsky pulled off something rare: a comedy that genuinely aches for its silly, decent hero. Its car chase and its tender closing line have been quoted in Russia for generations. The film sits among the classics of Soviet cinema and still gets rewatched decades on. Perfect if you prefer warmth and wit over loud jokes. Stream Beware of the Car (1966) online on iFILM.