Benya Krik
{{Short description|Fictional character}}
Benya Krik ({{langx|ru|Беня Крик}}) is a fictional character from The Odessa Tales, a collection of short stories by Isaac Babel, the derived works and "fan fiction".
These stories primarily deal with the Jewish underworld of Moldavanka, a ghetto of Odessa, and the mob leader, Benya Krik, known as the King, a romanticized "gallant thug". His character was loosely based on the real gangster, Mishka Yaponchik.{{cite book|last=Tanny|first=Jarrod|title=City of Rogues and Schnorrers: Russia's Jews and the Myth of Old Odessa|year=2011|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington|isbn=978-0-253-22328-9|pages=ch. 3|url=http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=650630}}
These stories were the base of the 1927 silent film Benya Krik.[https://jewishfilm.org/Catalogue/films/benyakrik.htm "Benya Krik"], National Center for Jewish Film The screenplay was published in 1926 in a book form titled Беня Крик (кино-повесть) ("Benya Krik (Cinema-Novel)").[http://lib.ru/PROZA/BABEL/benya_krik.txt "Исаак Бабель. Беня Крик (кино-повесть)"]
In 1926–1928 Babel wrote a play Sunset loosely based on the story with the same name from The Odessa Tales.[https://ru.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%82_(%D0%91%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C) Закат (Бабель)] and Russian Wikiquote In 1990 a film {{ill|Sunset (1990 film)|lt=Sunset|ru|Закат (фильм, 1990)}} was shot based on the same story.[https://web.archive.org/web/20150608062436/http://2011.russiancinema.ru/index.php?e_dept_id=2&e_movie_id=2239 Закат], Encyclopedia of National Cinema The focus of the three works is not Benya himself, but his family.
A film {{ill|The Art of Living in Odessa|ru|Искусство жить в Одессе}} was released in 1989, directed by Georgi Yungvald-Khilkevich and based on The Odessa Tales.
A musical film titled The Drayman and the King was directed by {{ill|Vladimir Alenikov|ru|Алеников, Владимир Михайлович}}, based on The Odessa Tales and the play Sunset. It was shot in 1989 and premiered in 1990. ('Drayman' refers to Mendel Krik, the father of Benya Krik).