Only Old Men Are Going to Battle

Only Old Men Are Going to Battle (Russian: В бой идут одни «старики», one of the meanings of the Russian idiom "old man" is "most experienced person") is an iconic 1973 Soviet war drama black-and-white film produced in the Ukrainian SSR about World War II fighter pilots, written and directed by Leonid Bykov, who also played the lead role as the squadron commander.

Screenplay by Leonid Bykov, Yevgeni Onopriyenko and Aleksandr Satsky.

Original music by Viktor Shevchenko, cinematography by Vladimir Voytenko. Runtime 92 min. Production by Dovzhenko Film Studios.

Plot
The film combines two storylines: the main war drama plot is runs in parallel with vivid artistic performance - the fighter squadron doubles as an amateur musical group during rest time, led by its enthusiastic commander turned conductor.

The title comes from two scenes in the film, where the squadron is facing very hard dogfights with German fighter planes, so only "old men" are sent up, while those fresh from flying school have to wait on the ground together with the mechanics. Soon, of course, the newcomers have replaced most of those veterans and have become old men themselves, taking to the skies while a new group of newcomers wait on the ground with the mechanics.

Cast

 * Leonid Bykov as "Maestro" Titarenko, commander of the 2nd Singing squadron
 * Sergey Podgorny as "Darkie" Shchedronov, fighter pilot
 * Sergei Ivanov as "Grasshopper" Aleksandrov, fighter pilot
 * Rustam Sagdullayev as "Romeo" Sagdullayev, fighter pilot
 * Yevgeniya Simonova as Masha, female bomber navigator
 * Olga Mateshko as Zoya, female bomber pilot
 * Vladimir Talashko as Skvortzov, fighter pilot, Maestro's wingman and best friend
 * Aleksei Smirnov as Makarych, Maestro's technician
 * Viktor Miroshnichenko as Pop, the fighter regiment commander
 * Alim Fedorinsky as Alyabyev, fighter pilot
 * Vano Yantbelidze as Vano, fighter pilot
 * Aleksandr Nemchenko as Ivan Fedorovich, fighter pilot
 * Vilori Pashchenko as Vorobyev, fighter pilot
 * Gregory Hlady as Grasshopper's technician
 * Vladimir Volkov as political officer
 * Dmitri Mirgorodskiy as infantry captain
 * Yuri Sarantsev as Air Division commander
 * Valentin Grudinin as chief of Air Army intelligence department
 * Alexandr Milutin as fighter pilot