Good concept, poorly executed.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Frankly not impressed, the acting if I could call it that is really bad and wooden. Yul Brynner over acts as always, hands on hips, forcing a laugh when nothing is funny. Tony Curtis seems almost lost as he joins in with what I would call a complete ridicule of the Cossack's. The story while it should have been quite serious, is a silly love story , Curtis falls for a Polish girl, and this acting is just over the top, he can't speak as he sees her , he's starry eyed and bushy tailed almost in a ridiculous swoon just thinking of her, just very bad acting , nothing to get excited about. As war finally breaks out the Cossack's are oh so colourful , there overly bright outfits of bright reds & yellows are all over the map and they just laugh and dance during the breaks , drinking vodka and preforming acrobatics while they wait. To the end it's a total Hollywood bore of that era where a popular but bad cast is used for could have been an epic classic.

a film who respect the rules of historical dramas from the "60's. same mixture of romanticism and heroism, same seductive fight scenes and sweet love scenes. and the only problem is to remember the Nikolai Gogol's novel. because it remains a Hollywood 's mega production. not for the white teethes and blue eyes of Tony Curtis, not for Yull Brynner who does the best but for the stereotypes as ornaments for the cake. the film is only a sketch of a real interesting novel. a decent adaptation for a public looking nice stories. it is not easy to criticize it but it could be more than a sketch exposing the old rules.but after a half of century it remains a nice film. and that virtue, expression of naivety and reflection of a public 's desire could be enough. and, maybe, useful.

"Taras Bulba" is a film by the prolific J. Lee-Thompson, and comes directly after two of his most fondly remembered films – "The Guns Of Navarone" and "Cape Fear". Sadly, Thompson is not able to record his third critical hit in a row with "Taras Bulba". While the film has plenty of lively set pieces, stirring music by Franz Waxman, an enjoyable performance by Yul Brynner, and epic widescreen cinematography by Joe MacDonald, it falls short in a handful of other departments. There's a romantic subplot, written in a manner that makes it seem over-ripe and soppy. There's a lack of historical and geographical authenticity which is hard to overlook. And, apart from Brynner as the titular character, too many of the actors are guilty of over-exaggerated performances.The Ukrainian Cossacks, led by the talismanic Taras Bulba (Yul Brynner), fight a battle against Turk invaders. They are assisted in their fight by an army of Poles, led by Prince Grigory (Guy Rolfe). Grigory makes a deal with the Cossacks that if their joint forces win the battle, he will reward them by granting them control of the Steppes of Eastern Europe. But once the battle concludes with victory, the Poles go back on their word and betray their Cossack allies. The Cossacks retreat into the hills, where Taras Bulba contemplates how he will one day have his revenge upon the treacherous Poles. He eventually decides to send his two sons – Andrei (Tony Curtis) and Ostap (Perry Lopez) – to a Polish university, where it is intended that they learn all there is to know about the ways and customs of their enemy. The plan begins to fall apart when Andrei falls in love with Polish noblewoman Natalia Dubrov (Christine Kaufmann). Andrei is torn between his love for Natalia and his devotion to his own people's cause. Later, when his son's split loyalties become clear, Taras Bulba also finds himself torn between his love for his son and his need to lead the Cossacks against the Poles."Taras Bulba" is a film that sounds great when described, but the actual article doesn't quite live up to its potential. I've already made clear my feelings about the romantic subplot involving Andrei and Natalia, but the over-ripeness and soppiness that plague these scenes are only half of the problem. For the film to reach the devastating tragic climax it seems to be aiming for, Andrei and Natalia's relationship needs to be convincing. We need to feel for them; we need to be fully absorbed in their dilemma of loyalties; we need to be moved by the terrible ironies that bring the film to its supposedly sad conclusion. But we aren't. "Taras Bulba" is ten times more effective when concentrating on spectacular action and epic-scale battles. For these scenes alone it remains a film well worth watching. But it's those attempts to turn it into a tear-jerker – an epic for the soft-at-heart, if you like – that simply don't work, and pull the film significantly downwards.

I've seen the reviews here and a couple of comments set "Taras Bulba"'s location in the Argentine pampas. As a native Argentine I must say that's not correct; the pampas run all through the middle part of our Country but this film was shot in the Province of Salta way up in the northern part of Argentina (some 1400 miles from Buenos Aires); the pampas are a huge flat ground very fertile, but Salta is uneven with not too high hills ("cerros") very different from the pampas. Another reviewer says Tony Curtis declared once that when he and co-star Kristine Kaufmann got mixed up during the filming he was already divorced of Janet Leigh; I don't know about that but I can assure you that Leigh came to Salta with him (a friend of mine has a photo with her on the "cerros"). As to the picture, I really enjoyed it -also because I lived in Salta a couple of years and the landscape is very familiar to me- but I think a real classical epic could have come out of Nicolai Gogol's famous novel with a more elaborated script (as a reviewer correctly stated here).J. Lee Thompson's product seems sort of "cheap" and lacks spectacle (except for some real good battle scenes) although I admit if has some very good moments. A somehow impressive one is when the big doors of the sieged city open slowly and André (Curtis) appears in a frontal close shot wearing a Polish armor and helmet for he will make a run for food too feed the starving citizens inside in a clear treason to his country and father for the love of a woman. Also the final dark atmosphere Thompson achieves when Taras (Yul Brynner) confronts his favourite son after a treason he can't possibly understand and even less when André just explains "I did what I had to do". Brynner's performance though a little overacted is good enough and he fills the role of Taras easily. Tony Curtis makes a great effort and gets some good moments as André though he clearly lacks the appropriate "physic du rol". The rest of the cast gives a good support, among them Sam Wanamaker, Brad Dexter, Guy Rolfe and George MacReady. German actress Kristine Kauffman shows her beauty.All in all "Taras Bulba" comes out as an entertaining and amusing film in its genre and a decent intent on Gogol's book, but no much more than that.