A young academy soldier, Maciek Chelmicki, is ordered to shoot the secretary of the KW PPR. A coincidence causes him to kill someone else. Meeting face to face with his victim, he gets a shock. He faces the necessity of repeating the assassination. He meets Krystyna, a girl working as a barmaid in the restaurant of the "Monopol" hotel. His affection for her makes him even more aware of the senselessness of killing at the end of the war. Loyalty to the oath he took, and thus the obligation to obey the order, tips the scales.
Cast
Zbigniew Cybulski
Maciek Chełmicki
Ewa Krzyżewska
Krystyna Rozbicka
Wacław Zastrzeżynski
Szczuka
Adam Pawlikowski
Andrzej Kossecki
Bogumił Kobiela
Drewnowski
Jan Ciecierski
Porter
Stanisław Milski
Pieniążek
Artur Młodnicki
Kotowicz
Halina Kwiatkowska
Staniewiczowa
Ignacy Machowski
Waga
Zbigniew Skowroński
Slomka
Barbara Krafftówna
Stefka
Aleksander Sewruk
Święcki
Zofia Czerwińska
Lili
Irena Orzecka
Jurgieluszka
Halina Siekierko
Puciatycka
Grażyna Staniszewska
Hanka Lewicka
Jerzy Adamczak
Maj. Wrona
Adolf Chronicki
Podgórski
Wiktor Grotowicz
Franek Pawlicki
Mieczysław Łoza
Smolarski
Tadeusz Kalinowski
Wejchert
Ferdynand Matysik
Staszek Gawlik
Józef Pieracki
Puciatycki
Juliusz Grabowski
Musician (uncredited)
Jerzy Jogałła
Marek Szczuka (uncredited)
Roman Mikuła
Man sitting next to Drewnowski (uncredited)
Ryszard Pietruski
Worker in a Cement Plant (uncredited)
Cyryl Przybył
(uncredited)
Marian Skorupa
Militiaman (uncredited)
Marian Wiśniowski
Militiaman (uncredited)
Crew
Andrzej Wajda
Director, Screenplay
Jerzy Andrzejewski
Screenplay, Novel
Halina Nawrocka
Editor
Irena Choryńska
Assistant Editor
Jerzy Wójcik
Director of Photography
Janusz Morgenstern
First Assistant Director
Jan Włodarczyk
Assistant Director
Andrzej Wróbel
Assistant Director
Anita Janeczkowa
Assistant Director
Roman Mann
Production Design
Krzysztof Winiewicz
Camera Operator
Jerzy Szurowski
Assistant Camera
Bogdan Myśliński
Assistant Camera
Zygmunt Krusznicki
Assistant Camera
Wiesław Zdort
Assistant Camera
Katarzyna Chodorowicz
Costume Design
Halina Ber
Assistant Makeup Artist
Halina Zajac
Assistant Makeup Artist
Halina Sieńska
Makeup Artist
Bohdan Bieńkowski
Sound
Filip Nowak
Music Arranger, Conductor
Jarosław Świtoniak
Assistant Production Design
Marian Kowaliński
Assistant Production Design
Leszek Wajda
Assistant Production Design
Stanisław Adler
Production Manager
Ludwik Hager
Assistant Production Manager
Michał Sosiński
Unit Manager
Zygmunt Wójcik
Unit Manager
