Ingaræð wrote:... I understand that it's the kind of film that everyone in Russia knows and references (and even in 'Мухтар. Новый след', I'm guessing, as the slightly geeky police student is called Шурик!).
Good guess, but...
...If my memory serves me right the Shurik from Ivan Vasilievich is not a university student, he's an academic/scholar, isn't he?
Still, you're absolutely right because he really is a slightly grown-up Shurik from two previous Gaidai's comedy films.
And he was (still is?) a household name indeed. Just mind the wording of my google search: "Shurik actor". And - here is he!
https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJ ... e&ie=UTF-8
- and the three first films in the search response (1965, 1967, 1973).
Just to be clear: the three films are not a series in the strict sense of the word: the only character they share is Shurik, who (apparently) has no memories of what happened to his hero before and of the nice girls he met in the previous films. He's a nerdish type, a bit clumsy with both women and "macho men" but quite lucky at the end of the day.
BTW, #1 (1965) is a collection of three short stories. Can't say if it is easier language-wise or not, but each part is a shorter story in itself.
Quotation: "Не подскажете, как пройти в библиотеку?" (in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere).