Literary “Put a good word for a poor hussar”) is a 1981 Soviet film directed by Eldar Ryazanov, shot in the style of a historical tragicomedy.

The hussars live a frivolous outside the barracks and away from the metropolitan authorities, enjoying evening shows in the theater, billiards, card games and flirting with the local women.

However, Merzlyaev's plan to test the officers' loyalty by an "execution by shooting" is a ruse: the cartridges are blank, and the role of "the condemned conspirator" will be played by a stranger.

Merzlyaev's ruse goes perfectly, but all of a sudden Cornet Alexei Pletnev, one of the officers who should carry out an execution, lets the "rebel" Bubentsov go free.

Merzlyaev is ready to take any action to save his plan and his reputation, to create any abomination, but is unable to defeat love and generosity of honest people...

Initially, according to the creators, Merzlyaev was a Gendarme officer, but then, at the insistence of the TV authorities, any mention of that Russian "law enforcement agency" should be excluded from the screenplay.

For example, in one of the humorous episodes, actor Bubentsov (played by Yevgeny Leonov) was supposed to quote the famous poem by Lermontov: "Farewell, unwashed Russia!".

Enraged Ryazanov, in vain, shouted in the face of the censors, that this Lermontov's poem is not an illegal literature and is learned by heart in every Soviet school.

Every scene that was planned to be shot tomorrow, as a rule, was remodel, refined, and appended the day before, which also increased the chaos and confusion on the film set.