# The best Soviet films of the 1970s

From Only Old Men Are Going to Battle and The Irony of Fate to Solaris, Stalker and Sherlock Holmes: the Soviet films in Kinowar's list of the 100 best films of the 1970s.

- 57 votes · 16 items
- Dec 19, 2025 · Zhanna Ivanova
- https://even.best/en/l/4607/the-best-soviet-films-of-the-1970s

## Top 16

1. **Only Old Men Are Going to Battle (1973)** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — Leonid Bykov. A singing squadron of fighter pilots.
2. **Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future (1973)** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — Leonid Gaidai. A time machine swaps Ivan the Terrible with a building manager.
3. **The Irony of Fate (1975)** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — Eldar Ryazanov. A New Year's Eve mix-up lands a man in a stranger's flat in Leningrad.
4. **At Home Among Strangers (1974)** (4 · ▲5 ▼1) — Nikita Mikhalkov. A Soviet western about stolen gold.
5. **The Twelve Chairs (1971)** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Leonid Gaidai. Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov hunt for diamonds.
6. **Solaris (1972)** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Andrei Tarkovsky. A space station above an ocean that brings memories to life.
7. **Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (1979)** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Igor Maslennikov. Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin in the first of the series.
8. **Afonya (1975)** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — Georgiy Daneliya. A plumber who is too fond of a drink.
9. **Twenty Days Without War (1976)** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Aleksei German. A war correspondent on leave in Tashkent, with Yuri Nikulin.
10. **Office Romance (1977)** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Eldar Ryazanov. A timid statistician and his strict boss.
11. **An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano (1977)** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Nikita Mikhalkov. A summer day on a country estate, after Chekhov.
12. **Trial on the Road (1971)** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Aleksei German. A former prisoner in a partisan unit; not released until 1986.
13. **Mirror (1974)** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Andrei Tarkovsky. Memories of childhood, a mother and the war.
14. **Dersu Uzala (1975)** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Akira Kurosawa. A taiga hunter and Vladimir Arsenyev; a Soviet-Japanese production, Oscar winner.
15. **Stalker (1979)** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Andrei Tarkovsky. A guide takes two men into the Zone, to a room that grants wishes.
16. **Mimino (1977)** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Georgiy Daneliya. A Georgian helicopter pilot dreams of big planes.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.