Dog Barbos and Unusual Cross
Directed by	Leonid Gaidai
Written by	Leonid Gaidai
Produced by	Leonid Gaidai
Starring	Yuri Nikulin Georgy Vitsin Yevgeny Morgunov
Cinematography	Konstantin Brovin
Music by	Nikita Bogoslovsky
Production company	Mosfilm
Release date	1961
Running time	10 min.
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

Dog Barbos and Unusual Cross or (Russian: Пёс Барбос и необычный кросс, romanized: Pyos Barbos i neobychnij kross) is a 1961 Soviet short crime comedy film directed by Leonid Gaidai.

Plot

A trio of petty criminals – The Coward, The Fool and The Pro go "fishing". They do not only want to eat and drink well, but they also wish to catch a fish. But the conmen do not want to sit on the beach with a fishing rod and wait patiently for a fish to bite, instead they decide to go poaching; their plan is to stun fish using dynamite! Dropping a stick with a dynamite block tied to it into the river, the crooks rub their hands in anticipation of a magnificent "catch", but ... the unruly dog Barbos interferes. The dog manages to fish out the stick of dynamite which is about to explode from the river and rushes towards the poachers! In a panic, the scoundrels run away, but Barbos chases after them, and the three men climb a tall tree. But the cunning dog throws dynamite with a burning safety fuse under a tree, runs away ... and after that there is a loud blast! Poachers who were going to blow away the fish have instead knocked themselves senseless and their clothes get tattered to shreds.

Cast

• Yuri Nikulin – The Fool
• Georgy Vitsin – The Coward
• Yevgeny Morgunov – The Pro
• Georgy Millyar – Water-bailiff (uncredited)
• Leonid Gaidai – Bear in a tent (deleted scene)
• Dog Bryokh – Dog Barbos

Filming

• Filming took place in the vicinity of the village of Snegiri in the Istrinsky District of Moscow region, on the banks of the Istra River, and the scene with the explosion of dynamite were shot near the summer residence of Ivan Kozlovsky.
• Filmed material in total was enough for a half-hour, but the director Leonid Gaidai reduced it to a ten minutes running time and removed a lot of stunt scenes that were later used in Bootleggers.
• During the filming, Yuri Nikulin had huge false eyelashes applied, and the actor diligently blinked. Thus, according to the director, The Fool's face was supposed to look even more silly.

Awards

Nominated for Short Film Palme d'Or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival.^[1]