The Seventh Bullet

The Seventh Bullet (Russian: Седьмая пуля, translit. Sedmaya pulya) is a Soviet Ostern film of 1972 directed by Ali Khamraev.^[1]

In the same tradition as The White Sun of the Desert and The Bodyguard, The Seventh Bullet is set in the 1920s in Soviet Central Asia, after the end of the Russian Civil War and in the context of a waning Basmachi rebellion. Compared to other Red Westerns it can be considered closer to a typical war film.

A commander dressed in the white uniform of a Red Army officer arrives at a devastated village, where he encounters a bearded man hurling a grenade, yelling, "I won’t surrender alive!" Recognizing the man as Hashimov, the commander learns that a mutiny occurred while he was away. The uprising was sparked when Commissar Pyotr Ivanovich forbade Umar, a soldier, from performing his prayers. Many mutineers joined the band of Khairulla, swelling its numbers to 200 sabers. Hashimov captures a prisoner who shows no fear of death, but the commander surprises everyone by handing the man a loaded pistol and releasing him. Later, a veiled woman visits the commander, asking him to kill Khairulla, deliver his head to Tashkent, and marry her. The commander doubts her intentions but suspects she can lead him to Khairulla.

Determined to reclaim his "Muslim Red Squad," the commander arms himself with six bullets in his revolver and a seventh hidden under his cap, reserved for Khairulla. Disguising himself as Maksumov, he infiltrates a group of Khairulla's horsemen. Recognized but doubted for allegedly defeating Khairulla with a machine gun, Maksumov is captured and taken to the bandit leader. Along the way, they meet a neutral shepherd, Ismail, who mistakenly believes Maksumov killed his brother and attempts vengeance, only to be beaten by Khairulla's men. Ismail’s clan later ambushes Khairulla’s forces, nearly annihilating them. After multiple captures and escapes, Maksumov earns Ismail’s trust, and they unite against Khairulla. In a final battle, Ismail’s men, using throwing knives, seize a machine gun, demoralizing Khairulla's band. As Khairulla tries to flee, Maksumov kills him with the reserved seventh bullet by a border river. In the closing scene, Maksumov leads his reunited Red squad, riding under a crimson flag.

• The Seventh Bullet at IMDb
• The Seventh Bullet at AllMovie

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