Famous Russian actor Petr Zaichenko died at the age of 75. The land he rest in peace.
I remember the actor first of all in the movie “Taxi-Blues”, filmed by Pavel Lungin in 1990.
He was still very young, seeing this movie for the first time. Actors Peter Mamonov (the future star of the “Island”, the deceased Zaichenko and Vladimir Kashpura. They do not like “perestroika cinema”, and never loved it, but this film clearly got out of the chernushny series.

Magnificent Kashpur played the old Ukrainian, Stalinist and "anti-Semitic", who became such under the influence of the then yellow press. He was certainly very famous and recognizable.

Zaichenko was still not very famous, except that he was remembered a bit in the film “Parade of Planets”.

Mamonov only did the first steps in the cinema, and was familiar to me more from his strange solo musical creativity in the “Mu Group”.

I looked then the movie "Taxi Blues", and I really liked this sad story about the strange, unexpected friendship of a Moscow taxi driver, a real, still Soviet quenching Russian Ivan and a disorderly, weak-willed alcoholic saxophone player, a Jew Lehi, a man of fine mental organization.

-Jew? I thought you were not drinking?

-As you see, brought ... "

This whole film was released some surprisingly "Soviet" and "folk". Starting from the scene of joint drinking of alcohol by a big motley company together with a policeman in uniform, and such a tragic, but logical end. The meeting of two different worlds, taxis and Bohemians, and could not end otherwise. And then, the complex life of dilapidated Moscow communal apartments, admiration of foreigners and the contrast with them of the Soviet people of that time were perfectly shown.
The main characters from taxis and communal services showed rude and shameless customs, being generally decent and kind people.

Against their background, the treachery and mocking meanness of Bohemian Lehi, following his sudden inadvertent “star” success and elevation, were perceived as especially vile.

And of course, he shook the completely tragic and ridiculous end of this difficult story, with "the punishment of the innocent and the execution of the uncomplicated."

But somehow I was then encouraged by the story of the distant fate of the heroes, transmitted right before the closing credits of this wonderful film. Probably, it was an attempt to "happy ending" in Russian.