In his fourth film, Happy Go Lucky the director Šukšin also plays the main part of Ivan, supported by his wife, the actress Lidija Fedoseeva-Šukšin. The two of them are heading for a hotel by the Black Sea where they are going to spend their holidays. Their long journey is one of unexpected encounters with, among others, a friendly travelling companion who turns out to be a thief and a university professor who is impressed by Ivan’s rich vocabulary and invites him to give a lecture to his students. After a short break in Moscow, the couple catch the train again only to find out at the last minute that there is no room for the bride because her arrival had not been foreseen: an adequate tip will settle everything. […]
Vasilij Šukšin has long been making films which can be considered comedies in every respect. His affectionate notes on Russians always give rise to a smile, sometimes slight, sometimes sad, but often mocking. Many people have interpreted his first feature There is Such a Lad a comedy. He did not agree.
Ivan is a tractor driver from Altai. He plays by his own rules, acting stupidly on the train, in the shop in Moscow and in the director’s office at the care home. These rules are opennes, honour and trust. The petite bourgeoisie and anyone who is accustomed to urban ways is wrong. Šukšin mocks and confronts the conformists and cunning people.
And here he raises a difficult issue, not easily resolved, the director’s dichotomy between the city and the country. Šukšin loves the country and fears the city. Your Son and Brother was criticised for being a celebration of outsiders. He compares once again the countryside, with its free space, the simple ties between the people, the wise love of work and urban civilization. So should he be criticised again for the same reasons, without trying to understand his work?
Šukšin prefers the countryside because he knows it better. He has shown us so many conflict with complex personalities of the modern country world! His citizens have not become middle class, but they are more primitive.

Rostislav N. Jurenev, Pečki-lavočki, “Iskusstvo Kino”, n. 12, 1973