''Legend No. 17'' () is a 2013 Russian

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

sports film A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport or a sports-related topic is prominently featured or is a focus of the plot. D ...

directed by Nikolai Lebedev and produced by Trite Studio. The film is based on real events and tells of the rise to fame of the Soviet hockey player

Valeri Kharlamov Valeri Borisovich Kharlamov (, ; 14 January 1948 – 27 August 1981) was a Russian ice hockey forward who played for CSKA Moscow in the Soviet League from 1967 until his death in 1981. Kharlamov was a speedy, intelligent, skilled and domina ...

and about the first match of the Summit Series USSR — Canada 1972. The film was awarded with six

Golden Eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of pr ...

awards, including the best Russian film of the year. The filmmakers received the

State Prize of the Russian Federation The State Prize of the Russian Federation, officially translated in Russia as Russian Federation National Award, is a state honorary prize established in 1992 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. In 2004 the rules for selection of laureates ...

for the year 2013.

Plot

The picture begins set in 1956 with children's experiences during the

Running of the Bulls A running of the bulls (, from the verb ''encerrar'', 'to corral, to enclose'; , literally 'haste, momentum'; 'bulls in the street', or 'bull-runner') is an event that involves running in front of a small group of bulls, typically six Fiske ...

in Spain where Kharlamov's mother originally was from. Then the action is transferred to Moscow in 1967, where the young hockey player gets acquainted with the famous trainer Anatoly Tarasov, who sends Valeri along with his friend Alexander Gusev to the city of Chebarkul,

Chelyabinsk Oblast Chelyabinsk Oblast; , is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia in the Ural Mountains region, on the border of Europe and Asia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chel ...

, where they will play for the local "Zvezda" team. Having overcome the difficulties of adaptation in the lower league team, Valeri displays effective hockey skills and returns to Moscow at the end of the season where Tarasov invites him to join

HC CSKA Moscow HC CSKA Moscow (, ''Central Sports Club of the Army, Moscow'') is a professional ice hockey club based in Moscow, Russia. It is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). It is referred to in the West as "Central R ...

, but at first Anatoli tests Kharlamov's character and his ability to dedicate his life to hockey. Kharlamov passes all of Tarasov's trials and gradually becomes one of the leading attackers of CSKA, and then the USSR national team. The trainer constructs an attack trio of Mikhailov-Petrov-Kharlamov. At the same time intrigues are waged around Tarasov by the curator of hockey from the

Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the Central committee, highest organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) between Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Congresses. Elected by the ...

, Eduard Balashov, whose son the coach once expelled from the team. Balashov tries to drag Kharlamov to his side, stressing Tarasov's excessive rigidity, but the hockey player refuses to sign any papers against his coach (Kharlamov later tells Tarasov everything but Anatoli responds that he already knew everything). Against the background of the development of Kharlamov's hockey career, the story of his acquaintance and love with Irina Smirnova is shown, who tries to support the hockey player in difficult moments. After the scandalous match between the USSR national team and

HC Spartak Moscow HC Spartak Moscow (, ) is a professional ice hockey club based in Moscow, Russia. It is a member of the Bobrov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The club played in the Tarasov Division of the KHL during the 2013–14 season. Howe ...

, when Tarasov led the team away from the ice in a protest against refereeing, the upset Kharlamov gets into a car accident and seriously injures his leg (in the film this biographical episode of the hockey player was shifted to be four years earlier). After the operation Valeri begins to exercise his leg in order to return to the ice as soon as possible since the first

Summit Series The Summit Series, Super Series 72, Canada–USSR Series (), or Series of the Century (), was an eight-game ice hockey series between the Soviet Union and Canada, held in September 1972. It was the first competition between the Soviet nation ...

in history between the USSR national team and the Canadian professionals is scheduled for 1972. Overcoming his injuries Kharlamov begins to train, and the new coach of the national team Vsevolod Bobrov, appointed instead of Tarasov, includes Valeri in the team that flies to play in Canada. Tarasov comes to escort the team to the airport and says parting words to Kharlamov. The Soviet hockey players arrive in Montreal. The Canadians are confident in the victory of their team and are trying in every possible way to prove this to the USSR: at a press conference a Canadian journalist says that he will eat the evening edition of his newspaper if the Soviet team wins, and on a television show two leaders of the Canadian national team,

Phil Esposito Philip Anthony Esposito ( , ; born February 20, 1942) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, coach and executive, and current broadcaster for the Tampa Bay Lightning. A member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, he played 18 seasons in ...

and

Bobby Clarke Robert Earle Clarke (born August 13, 1949) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played his entire 15-year National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Philadelphia Flyers and is currently an executive with the team. Popular ...

, hint that the Soviet team has no chance of victory. In conclusion, before the match a newspaper is slid under the door of Bobrov's room with a caricature depicting the Soviet hockey players as "snotty" pupils who learn to play hockey with the Canadian "teacher". The match begins. The Canadians win the first face-off and in half a minute open the score. At the sixth minute the score is 2:0. But soon the USSR team makes the score even, and in the second period, Kharlamov leads the team ahead 2:3. Valeri stickhandles through several opponents and scores his second goal. After this goal all spectators give a standing ovation to Kharlamov. During the intermission, the Canadian coach tells his players that this is not a match, but a war, and instructed Bobby Clarke to deal with the "Number Seventeen". During the game Bobby Clarke slashes Kharlamov's previously injured knee with a stick. However, Valeri refuses to leave the game despite danger of aggravating his injury and ending his hockey career, and returns to the ice. At the end of the match, Valeri rushes with the puck towards the Canadians' goal, aggravates his injury and falls down, but while sliding in prone position, passes the puck to one of this teammates who scores the seventh goal for the Soviet team. After the match Phil Esposito tells Kharlamov that he is impressed by his game, speed, and the two goals. The USSR squad scores several more goals with Kharlamov's active participation and wins with a crushing score 7:3.

Cast

* Danila Kozlovsky as

Svetlana Ivanova Svetlana Andreyevna Ivanova (; born 26 September 1985) is a Russian theater and film actress. Her feature film debut was in ''The 9th Company'' (2005). Subsequently, she starred in such films as ''Franz + Polina'' (2006), ''August Eighth'' (20 ...

as Irina Sergeyevna Smirnova * Oleg Menshikov as Anatoly Tarasov * Boris Shcherbakov as Boris Sergeyevich Kharlamov *

Nina Usatova Nina Nikolayevna Usatova (; born October 1, 1951, in Altai Krai) is a Soviet and Russian film and stage actress. People's Artist of Russia (1994).

as doctor * Roman Madyanov as Vladimir Alfer * Darya Ekamasova as Tatiana Kharlamova * Götz Otto as

* Vladimir Menshov as Eduard Mikhailovich Balashov * Alexander Kharlamov as Vlad * Aleksandr Lobanov as Alexander Gusev * Aleksandr Yakovlev as Vsevolod Bobrov *

Daniel Olbrychski Daniel Marcel Olbrychski (; born 27 February 1945) is a Polish people, Polish film actor, film and theatre actor who is widely considered one of the greatest Polish actors of his generation. He appeared in 180 films and TV productions and is bes ...

as Janusz Petelicki * Nina Grebeshkova as granny Sasha *Boris Makarov as

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...

Production

*When the script of "Legend No. 17" was being developed, the feature film by Yuri Korolev "Valeri Kharlamov. Additional Time" aired on television which was sharply criticized by Valeri's son, Alexander Kharlamov, who collaborated with the authors of "No. 17". *The filming period of the picture was 74 days. All the scenes in Spain were shot in 4 days. *A number of locations shown in the film which truly existed at one time or at present were filmed elsewhere. The CSKA Ice Palace is Kristall Ice Sports Palace in Elektrostal near Moscow. In the "role" of the famous

Montreal Forum Montreal Forum () is a historic building located facing Cabot Square, Montreal, Cabot Square in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Called "the most storied building in hockey history" by ''Sporting News'', it was an indoor arena which served as the home o ...

was the Minsk-Arena, during the construction of which some architectural solutions were used of the Canadian arena, according to the producer of the film. The stadium of the Chebarkul "Zvezda" was built especially for shooting right on the territory of the tennis center in Moscow's

Luzhniki Stadium The Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex, commonly known as Luzhniki Stadium, is the national stadium of Russia, located in its capital city, Moscow. Its total seating capacity of 78,011 makes it the List of football stadiums in R ...

. Shooting also took place in the Moscow Sports Palace Soviet Wings in Setuni. *For the airport building in the film the Moscow City Palace of Children's Creativity on Vorobyovy Gory was used. *Shooting of the matches of the 1972 Olympic Games hockey tournament in

Sapporo is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...

took place in

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, on the ice arena of the city of

Babruysk Babruysk (, ) or Bobruysk (, ; , ) is a city in Mogilev Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Babruysk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. It is situated on the Berezina, Berezina River. Bab ...

. *The initial scenes of the film with training in Moscow, where Tarasov first noticed Kharlamov, were shot in the ice palace of the city of

Novopolotsk Novopolotsk or Navapolatsk (, ; , ) is a city in Vitebsk Oblast, Belarus. Founded in 1958, it is located close to the city of Polotsk and the name literally means "New Polotsk". In 2008, its population was 107,458. As of 2025, it has a populatio ...

Reception

The film received approval and high ratings from the overwhelming majority of Russian critics and publications about cinema: from 55 reviews on it 47 were positive and only 6 negative. "Legend № 17" was praised by the magazines

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

, Afisha, the newspaper Trud, sites ru.IGN, Colta, Gazeta.ru. Among the few reviewers who sharply condemned the film, was Andrei Bodrov in the newspaper

Sovetsky Sport ''Sovetsky Sport'' (; English: Soviet Sports) is a Russian national daily sports newspaper. Until 19 March 1946 the newspaper was called ''Red Sports'' (Russian: Красный спорт), it was not printed between 1928 and 1932. History Fo ...

. Valeri Kharlamov's best friend, Alexander Maltsev disapproved of the film and said that he does not intend on seeing it. Film critic Elena Stishova wrote that "Adrenaline is the key word for Nikolai Lebedev's picture" and notes that "The success of 'Legend' ... "strongly tests the spiritual deficiencies of the "silent majority". There is a need for a hero who is "one of us", for the "life affirming" story, for the happy end not in a glossy Hollywood style - but in the society's sense: when everything is fair". The picture took 97th place in the list of 100 major Russian films according to the magazine "Afisha". In 2017 the film portal

KinoPoisk Kinopoisk (, a portmanteau of "cinema" and "search") is a Russian online database of information related to films, TV shows including cast, production team, biographies, plot summaries, ratings, and reviews. Since 2018 (as КиноПоиск HD) a ...

named the movie as the most popular one in Russia in the last 15 years.

References

External links