Cold Summer of 1953

The Cold Summer of 1953
Original film poster
Directed by	Aleksandr Proshkin
Written by	Edgar Dubrovsky
Starring	Valeriy Priyomykhov Anatoli Papanov Viktor Stepanov Nina Usatova
Music by	Vladimir Martynov
Cinematography	Boris Brozhovsky
Production company	Mosfilm
Release date	June 1988
Running time	97 minutes
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

The Cold Summer of 1953 (Russian: Холодное лето пятьдесят третьего…, translit. Kholodnoe leto pyatdesyat tretego) is a 1988 Soviet crime film directed by Aleksandr Proshkin. It was the last film of the outstanding Russian actor Anatoly Papanov.

Summer 1953. After Stalin's death, one of his closest colleagues Lavrenty Beria announces amnesty. As a result of that, many dangerous criminals, murderers and robbers are freed from labor camps. They organise gangs and begin to rob, kill and rape.

In a small village in the north of Russia live two exiles: former military intelligence captain Sergei Basargin and former engineer Nikolai Pavlovich Starobogatov. Both are innocent, but unjustly repressed by Stalin's regime.

The village is attacked by a gang of criminals. The bandits kill the only policeman in the village and capture the entire local population hostage. To save the innocent people the former military officer and the former engineer take up arms.