Foolish Years

Foolish Years (Serbian: Lude godine / Луде године) is a popular Yugoslav series of films spawned from a 1977 movie of the same name. The original film as well as its nine sequels were all directed by Zoran Čalić between 1977 and 1992. By its latter part, the series became widely known informally as Žikina dinastija (Žika's Dynasty), which is actually the title of the seventh movie.

The series began with a 1977 film Lude godine. Centered on a young couple, Boba and Marija, it was supposed to be a serious drama addressing important issues such as unprotected sex and teen pregnancy. However, some of the supporting characters — most notably the inlaws Živorad "Žika" Pavlović (played by Dragomir Bojanić Gidra) and Milan Todorović (played by Marko Todorović) — pretty much stole the show by displaying great comedic potential. This was later exploited in nine subsequent sequels as all of them revolved around the pair of in-laws — wacky Žika and straight-laced Milan — rather than the young couple.

Nearly every single film in the series was lambasted by film critics. Most disliked it for what they saw to be poor directorial choices and crude folksy humour loaded with rural and urban stereotypes that are displayed through the characters of Žika and Milan, respectively. However, the films were enormously popular with general audiences, not only in Yugoslavia, but also in the Eastern Bloc countries. An example of the films' prominence throughout Eastern Europe was actress Rialda Kadrić receiving an invitation to Moscow Film Festival, an honour usually reserved for the most renowned artists (usually intra-bloc ones) or international film stars. Despite its low-brow reputation, the series proved to be a valuable training ground and career springboard for many acting talents and future stars of Yugoslav/Serb cinema like Sonja Savić, Zoran Cvijanović, Nikola Kojo, Gala Videnović, Branko Đurić, etc.

The informal name of the series parodied American TV soap opera Dynasty, which was enormously popular throughout Yugoslavia in the mid-1980s.

Films

The films in the series are:

• Lude godine (Wacky Years), 1977)
• Došlo doba da se ljubav proba (The Time has Come to Taste the Love) a.k.a. Lude godine II (Wacky Years II, 1980)
• Ljubi, ljubi, al' glavu ne gubi (Kiss, Kiss, but Don't Lose Your Head, 1981)
• Kakav deda takav unuk (Like Grandpa, Like Grandson, 1983)
• Idi mi, dođi mi (Come to me and Go from me, 1983)
• Šta se zgodi kad se ljubav rodi (What Happens When Love Comes to Town, 1984)
• Žikina dinastija (Žika's Dynasty, 1985)
• Druga Žikina dinastija (Second Žika's Dynasty, 1986)
• Sulude godine (Weird Years, 1988)
• Žikina ženidba (Žika's Wedding, 1992), also known as Ženidba Žike Pavlovića (The Wedding of Žika Pavlović) in Croatia