With World War I, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Russian Civil War as backdrop, it's an old-fashioned, blood-and-guts narrative, filled with earthly humor and a wealth of colorful characters. The story concerns the fluctuating fortunes of Grigory Melekhov, a young Cossack who is both a hero and a victim of the uprising.

• F. Murray Abraham
• Rupert Everett
• Delphine Forest
• Ben Gazzara
• Sergei Bondarchuk
• Alena Bondarchuk
• Nikita Mikhalkov
• Yuriy Sokolov