The Tiger (1978) User Reviews

Rocky, Serbian style

[andrejvasiljevic · 8/10 · 19 December 2011]

You could say that "Tigar" or "The Tiger" is a Serbian version of Rocky. However, unlike Stalone, Sorga Tigar (played by Ljubisa Samardzic) will not reach stardom and become a top athlete. His fading boxing career is about to diminish, and all life turn upside down in a cataclysmic spin once he meets and teams up with a trouble making teenager, played by Slavko Stimac.

"The Tiger" is a good example of a comedy placed in real life. Although Sorga is a decent and straight in his heart, life of failure has brought his spirits down, whereas his young companion wants everything by a quick and easy way, no matter what the consequences are. Unfulfilled ambitions, bad influences, sport mismanagement and wishes for easy money will take the protagonists to all sorts of trouble, eventually even behind prison bars. A good humorous story was completed with a solid performance by the entire cast, including Bata Zivojinovic, Vera Cukic, Rahela Ferari, Pavle Vujisic and other brilliant actors of the era. All this combined with a professional technical background, proper editing and a very solid visual impression, earns "The Tiger" respect it deserves.

Unfortunately, like many good Yugoslavian films of the 70s, this title is long forgotten and overlooked.

This is not a drama, unless you have no sense of humour.

[fedor8 · 26 January 2015]

This is an easy-going, enjoyable comedy, not a drama as is mistakenly labeled on this site. Samardzic and Stimac make a great pair; there is chemistry between them, solid and amusing dialogue, and also interesting situations. One of Mihic's better scripts, partly because a lot of his typically sentimental writing isn't in this. Besides, he seems to have made an effort this time around, whereas some of his movies are rushed jobs done without much interest.

Samardzic plays an honest, cheerful, likable ex-boxer whose integrity gets in the way of his success outside the ring. It is a typical role for Ljubisa, and the sort he plays with great ease and brilliance. From the start, we find out that he plays a character who is very law-abiding which makes him almost fictitious in the Balkans. Through a chance meeting (an amusing one) he gets to know a young, adventurous thief (Stimac) whom he soon decided to take under his wing, i.e. assumes the role of his mentor, trying to put him on the straight and narrow. However, things don't quite work out as he'd planned.