{ "id": "eptqq3xbt8", "slug": "the-meeting-place-cannot-be-changed", "title": "The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "label": "Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.1970s-films", "label": "1970s films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.1970s-films" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Eastern Europe · 1946 to 2000: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.eeu", "label": "Eastern Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946", "label": "Eastern Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (Место встречи изменить нельзя) is a 1979 five-episode Soviet TV detective film by Stanislav Govorukhin, based on the Vainer brothers' novel Era of Mercy, starring Vladimir Vysotsky as Zheglov hunting the Black Cat gang in postwar Moscow.", "snippet": "The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (Место встречи изменить нельзя) is a 1979 five-episode Soviet TV detective film by Stanislav Govorukhin, based on the Vainer brothers' novel Era of Mercy, starring Vladimir Vysotsky as Zheglov hunting the Black Cat gang in postwar Moscow.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.1970s-films", "markdown": "# The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed\n\n**The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed** (Место встречи изменить нельзя) is a five-episode Soviet television detective film released in November 1979, directed by Stanislav Govorukhin and starring [Vladimir Vysotsky](https://www.edgepedia.org/vladimir-vysotsky) as police captain Gleb Zheglov and Vladimir Konkin as the demobilized intelligence officer Volodya Sharapov.[1](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/series/77202/) Set in postwar Moscow, it follows officers of the MUR, the Moscow criminal investigation department, as they hunt the gang known as the Black Cat.[2](https://www.russkoekino.ru/books/ruskino/ruskino-0130.shtml) The screenplay by Arkady and Georgy Vainer adapts their novel *Era of Mercy* (Эра милосердия), which was itself based on real events.[2](https://www.russkoekino.ru/books/ruskino/ruskino-0130.shtml)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Premiere | November 1979 on Soviet television; produced by Odessa Film Studio[1](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/series/77202/) • [3](https://mperspektiva.ru/upload/iblock/1ba/1ba3f67d8c3a68d35ff237f3bf5fc169.pdf) |\n| Format | Five episodes, 350 minutes total, about 70 minutes per episode[4](https://ruskino.ru/mov/654) • [5](https://n-e-n.ru/kino/serial/mesto-vstrechi-izmenit-nelzya/) |\n| Source | Novel *Era of Mercy* by Arkady and Georgy Vainer, based on real events[2](https://www.russkoekino.ru/books/ruskino/ruskino-0130.shtml) |\n| Lead roles | Vladimir Vysotsky as Gleb Zheglov; Vladimir Konkin as Volodya Sharapov[6](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/77202/cast/) |\n| Key crew | Director Stanislav Govorukhin; cinematographer Leonid Burlaka; composer Yevgeny Gevorgyan[1](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/series/77202/) |\n| Reception | Kinopoisk rating 8.9 from over 507,000 votes, 14th place in its top 250[1](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/series/77202/) |\n| Restoration | Full 4K digital restoration at Mosfilm, first broadcast 28–29 March 2026 on the Rossiya channel[7](https://www.gazetametro.ru/articles/mesto-vstrechi-izmenit-nelzja-polnostju-otrestavrirovali-k-90-letiju-so-dnja-rozhdenija-stanislava-govoruhina-27-03-2026) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and setting\n\nThe action takes place in Moscow in 1945, just after the end of the [Great Patriotic War](https://www.edgepedia.org/great-patriotic-war), as the country returns to peacetime life while the Black Cat gang terrorizes the city.[4](https://ruskino.ru/mov/654) • [7](https://www.gazetametro.ru/articles/mesto-vstrechi-izmenit-nelzja-polnostju-otrestavrirovali-k-90-letiju-so-dnja-rozhdenija-stanislava-govoruhina-27-03-2026) The young officer Volodya Sharapov, demobilized from military intelligence, joins the MUR's anti-banditism department and becomes the partner of Captain Gleb Zheglov.[8](https://www.rbc.ru/life/news/64903beb9a79475011bc5143) One of the first cases Sharapov takes part in is the murder of Larisa Gruzdeva; the evidence points to her husband, the doctor Gruzdev, but Sharapov suspects the matter is not so simple.[5](https://n-e-n.ru/kino/serial/mesto-vstrechi-izmenit-nelzya/)\n\nThe dramatic center of the film is the argument between the two leads over whether the law may be broken in the name of justice. Zheglov, harsh and charismatic, is prepared to plant a wallet on the pickpocket Kirpich to secure an arrest; Sharapov insists this cannot be done.[5](https://n-e-n.ru/kino/serial/mesto-vstrechi-izmenit-nelzya/) Critics have read the film as more than a procedural: it depicts a traumatized postwar society in which human life is devalued, and the conflict between Zheglov and Sharapov as a clash between two men each broken in his own way by the war years.[9](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/77202/reviews/)\n\n## Production\n\nGovorukhin shot the film in 1978 and 1979 at the Odessa Film Studio and in Moscow, with Leonid Burlaka as cinematographer.[10](https://megacritic.ru/filmy/13509) The working title went through changes: Govorukhin first wanted to call the picture **Black Cat**, after the gang, but the name was refused, and decades later he acknowledged that the eventual title had proved the stronger one.[11](https://megacritic.ru/filmy/11608)\n\nLocation work required substitutions. By the late 1970s the Maryina Roshcha district had been rebuilt and no longer looked as it had in the late 1940s, so its scenes were filmed in Sokolniki. The mansion used for the police station, a 1908 art-nouveau building by the architect Appolos Pravdin, actually housed a music school at the time of filming.[3](https://mperspektiva.ru/upload/iblock/1ba/1ba3f67d8c3a68d35ff237f3bf5fc169.pdf)\n\n## Vysotsky as Zheglov\n\nVladimir Vysotsky, already one of the Soviet Union's most popular singer-songwriters, played Gleb Zheglov, and his delivery gave the character much of the film's humor and energy.[1](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/series/77202/) Govorukhin recalled that Vysotsky wanted to sing several of his own songs in the film, but the director refused, judging that this would break the character: the result would be not Captain Zheglov but Vysotsky playing Captain Zheglov.[3](https://mperspektiva.ru/upload/iblock/1ba/1ba3f67d8c3a68d35ff237f3bf5fc169.pdf) Govorukhin also said the character described in the Vainer brothers' novel did not suit the actor, and the image had to be reworked for him.[1](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/series/77202/)\n\nThe supporting cast drew on leading Soviet actors: Sergei Yursky as Ivan Sergeevich Gruzdev, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan as Gorbaty, Yevgeny Yevstigneyev as Pyotr Ruchnikov, Leonid Kuravlyov as Kopcheny, Alexander Belyavsky as Yevgeny Fox, Zinovy Gerdt as Bomze, and Svetlana Svetlichnaya, Larisa Udovichenko, Valery Zolotukhin's contemporaries Valeria Zaklunnaya and Stanislav Sadalsky among others.[6](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/77202/cast/) Ivan Bortnik, playing the gang member Promokashka, improvised lines that were not in the script, such as \"Ne-ne, fraerok! Polny!\", and critics later called his performance one of the best actor's solos in the film.[8](https://www.rbc.ru/life/news/64903beb9a79475011bc5143)\n\n## Censorship and the novel\n\nThe film differs from *Era of Mercy* in several respects, and the Vainer brothers were unhappy with how the director handled their source: before the premiere they asked to have their names removed from the credits. The director and cinematographer Vadim Kostromenko quoted their complaint that they had written a novel not about Zheglov, the head of the MUR, but about Sharapov, a front-line officer who entered the police and fought against its abuses.[8](https://www.rbc.ru/life/news/64903beb9a79475011bc5143)\n\nCensorship also shaped the ending. A tragic finale was filmed, but Gosteleradio, the state broadcasting body, insisted on a positive ending, and part of the completed material was cut from the five-episode version.[8](https://www.rbc.ru/life/news/64903beb9a79475011bc5143) In the released finale, Zheglov prepares to shoot the captured gang member Levchenko and Sharapov shields him, a scene that has kept the argument between the two heroes unresolved for viewers.[10](https://megacritic.ru/filmy/13509)\n\nThe film received no traditional cinema awards, but it was honored several times by the [Ministry of Internal Affairs](https://www.edgepedia.org/ministry-of-internal-affairs): the creators received certificates from the ministry in 1981, and Vysotsky, posthumously, and Konkin became laureates of the MVD of Russia's prize in culture, literature, and art.[8](https://www.rbc.ru/life/news/64903beb9a79475011bc5143)\n\n## Cultural legacy\n\nThe series became one of the most quoted works in Russian popular culture. Lines such as \"A thief must sit in prison\", \"Well, what a mug you have, Sharapov\", and \"A wallet, a wallet... what wallet?\" entered everyday speech.[7](https://www.gazetametro.ru/articles/mesto-vstrechi-izmenit-nelzja-polnostju-otrestavrirovali-k-90-letiju-so-dnja-rozhdenija-stanislava-govoruhina-27-03-2026) Sociologists at the Levada Center noted that neither society nor the audience revised its attachment to the series across the Soviet-to-post-Soviet transition; it remained a leader of viewer attention and a standard element of socialization, and in late 2008, during the petition campaign over Svetlana Bakhmina's release, both supporters and opponents cited the series as an authority, one side quoting Gerdt's line about the coming \"era of mercy\" and the other Zheglov's \"A thief must sit in prison\".[12](https://www.levada.ru/sites/default/files/vom_2010.1_103.pdf) The rock group Lyube dedicated the song \"Atas\" to the film, naming Gleb Zheglov and Volodya Sharapov in its lyrics.[13](https://uz.kursiv.media/2026-03-28/mesto-vstrechi-izmenit-nelzya-otrestavrirovali-k-yubileyu-govoruhina/)\n\nOn Kinopoisk the film holds a user rating of 8.9 from more than 507,000 votes and ranks 14th on the site's top 250 list.[1](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/series/77202/)\n\n## Restoration\n\nMosfilm carried out a full digital restoration of the film over several years, cleaning each frame by hand with specialized software and producing a 4K master; the project was initiated by Mosfilm's general director Karen Shakhnazarov as part of a program of restoring Russian film classics.[7](https://www.gazetametro.ru/articles/mesto-vstrechi-izmenit-nelzja-polnostju-otrestavrirovali-k-90-letiju-so-dnja-rozhdenija-stanislava-govoruhina-27-03-2026) The restored version was shown for the first time on 28 and 29 March 2026 on the Rossiya channel, timed to the 90th anniversary of Govorukhin's birth on 29 March, accompanied by memorial programming and a special project on the Smotrim platform.[13](https://uz.kursiv.media/2026-03-28/mesto-vstrechi-izmenit-nelzya-otrestavrirovali-k-yubileyu-govoruhina/) • [7](https://www.gazetametro.ru/articles/mesto-vstrechi-izmenit-nelzja-polnostju-otrestavrirovali-k-90-letiju-so-dnja-rozhdenija-stanislava-govoruhina-27-03-2026)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Место встречи изменить нельзя (сериал, 1979) — Кинопоиск](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/series/77202/)\n2. [Телевизионный художественный фильм \"Место встречи изменить нельзя\", Русское кино](https://www.russkoekino.ru/books/ruskino/ruskino-0130.shtml)\n3. [Место встречи изменить нельзя, режиссер Станислав Говорухин, 1979, Ruskino; feature layout, mperspektiva.ru](https://mperspektiva.ru/upload/iblock/1ba/1ba3f67d8c3a68d35ff237f3bf5fc169.pdf)\n4. [Место встречи изменить нельзя, 1979, 350 мин., Ruskino](https://ruskino.ru/mov/654)\n5. [Место встречи изменить нельзя (1979) — НЭН](https://n-e-n.ru/kino/serial/mesto-vstrechi-izmenit-nelzya/)\n6. [Место встречи изменить нельзя (1979) — актеры и съемочная группа, Кинопоиск](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/77202/cast/)\n7. [\"Место встречи изменить нельзя\" впервые покажут после полной реставрации, Газета Metro](https://www.gazetametro.ru/articles/mesto-vstrechi-izmenit-nelzja-polnostju-otrestavrirovali-k-90-letiju-so-dnja-rozhdenija-stanislava-govoruhina-27-03-2026)\n8. [Эту сцену из «Место встречи изменить нельзя» вырезали. Настояла цензура, РБК Life](https://www.rbc.ru/life/news/64903beb9a79475011bc5143)\n9. [Место встречи изменить нельзя (1979) — отзывы и рецензии, Кинопоиск](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/77202/reviews/)\n10. [Жеглов уже приготовился стрелять, но Шарапов заслонил Левченко, Мегакритик](https://megacritic.ru/filmy/13509)\n11. [«Место встречи изменить нельзя» могло остаться «Чёрной кошкой», Мегакритик](https://megacritic.ru/filmy/11608)\n12. [Вестник общественного мнения № 1 (103), Левада-Центр, 2010](https://www.levada.ru/sites/default/files/vom_2010.1_103.pdf)\n13. [«Место встречи изменить нельзя» покажут после реставрации к 90-летию Говорухина, Kursiv](https://uz.kursiv.media/2026-03-28/mesto-vstrechi-izmenit-nelzya-otrestavrirovali-k-yubileyu-govoruhina/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 1970s films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-meeting-place-cannot-be-changed", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-meeting-place-cannot-be-changed.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-meeting-place-cannot-be-changed. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-meeting-place-cannot-be-changed)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-meeting-place-cannot-be-changed](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-meeting-place-cannot-be-changed). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-meeting-place-cannot-be-changed. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed is a 1979 five-episode Soviet TV detective film by Stanislav Govorukhin, based on the Vainer brothers' novel Era of Mercy, starring Vladimir Vysotsky as Zheglov hunting the Black Cat gang in postwar Moscow." }