Mauser C96. To deal with Abdullah's gang, Sukhov fetches and fixes a machine gun. Petrukha has a rifle that jams and never fires when needed. Abdullah's gang members carry carbines and long knives characteristic of the time and region. Development and script The director, Vladimir Motyl, said such films as Stagecoach and High Noon influenced him and he has described the film as being a "cocktail" of both an adventurous Russian folktale and a western. Initially several directors, including Andrei Tarkovsky and Andrei Konchalovsky, were offered the film but they turned it down, Motyl claims, for two main reasons. Firstly, Konchalovsky thought only American actors could pull off the part of a lead role in a western, and secondly the screenplay was considered weak. Motyl also initially turned down the offer, but then found himself in a no-choice situation, as he would not be given any other film to direct. After the first version of the film was turned down by Mosfilm, Valentin Yezhov and Rustam Ibragimbekov were assigned to improve the script. Ibragimbekov was chosen by his nationality as an expert on the East, though in reality he was raised in Russia and never been in the region. A war veteran told Yezhov a story of a harem abandoned by a Basmachi leader on the run, which became the pivot of the new script. Further rewriting came from Motyl after he replaced Konchalovsky as director. Motyl completely reshaped and put forward the character of Vereschagin – all his dialogues, as well as about 60% of the entire script, were rewritten and improvised during the filming. Motyl also came up with the idea of revealing Sukhov's personality through his dreams, in which he writes letters to his beloved wife. Those letters were composed by Mark Zakharov, a friend of Motyl's. Years later, Konchalovsky praised the final script as a masterpiece. Filming Sukhov's dream scenes were filmed first, near Luga, Leningrad Oblast, while the bulk of the film was shot on the western shore of the Caspian Sea near Makhachkala, Dagestan. The sand dune scenes were shot in the Karakum Desert near Mary, Turkmenistan, with the museum scenes filmed in the nearby ancient city of Merv. The distinctive Kyz Kala (Gyz Gala) fortress, for example, figures prominently. The dune scenes were demanding for actors, who had to make large circles in the scorching heat to approach the shooting location without leaving