director Feliks Falk
screenplay Feliks Falk
director of photography Edward Kłosiński
music Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz
with Jerzy Stuhr, Sława Kwaśniewska, Wiktor Sadecki, Michał Tarkowski
awards
Golden Badge for Jerzy Stuhr at the Chicago International Film Festival, 1979
Grand Prix, Golden Grape for Feliks Falk and three prizes awarded by the Polish Association of Film Critics Club, the Don Quixote, for Feliks Falk, Edward Kłosiński and Jerzy Stuhr at the Lubuskie Summer Film in Łagów, 1978
FELIKS FALK, IN ‘FILMOWY SERWIS PRASOWY’, 1978, NO. 8
In my second film I focused on the tricks of the trade of career- making. The texture was determined by an idea which can be put in one sentence: A master of ceremonies eliminates his rivals and reaches his goal which is to run an important ball. The topic presupposed (…) fast pacing and a multidimensional plot.
ALEKSANDER JACKIEWICZ, MY FILM ARCHIVE. POLISH CINEMA [MOJA FILMOTEKA. KINO POLSKIE], WARSZAWA 1983
Among films about social pathology which point to its seedbeds (…) ‘Top Dog’ made a remarkable success. The film was dominated by a type infrequent in Polish art: a careerist without scruple. Danielak, played with bravado by Jerzy Stuhr, operates in show business (…)– a land of easy careers. He is well acquainted with and adjusted to that world. He destroys his friends by slandering and informing on them. There is no denying that Stuhr adds complexity to the character. Danielak is a master of prudence and ingenuity. A good organizer, too, he could land on his feet in any environment without social control, which adds a broader and important aspect to the topic. Under such control, Danielak might be judged a positive person. He is enterprising, go-getting, with much initiative. He is a real swine, true, but that is not only his own fault.
history periods
