
I watched the movie that astronauts must view before launch - Tomte
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/i-was-bored-so-i-watched-the-movie-that-astronauts-must-view-before-launch/
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Bodell
So I have not watched this yet (as I have never heard of it before today) but
will do so soon. However based on the description of the movie, it's hard not
to view it as a major source of inspiration for the character Tchitcherine
from the Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow. Tchitcherine is part of the
red army stationed in Central Asia, who saves and befriends an ethnic minority
from Kazakhstan. Pynchon's scenes are both reminiscent of westerns and
slapstick, through out the book but also in full force during the Tchitcherine
sections. Considering GR's major themes are film and rockets (ones that
destroy us and well as ones that take us to the stars) it's really hard to
imagine that Pynchon himself had not watched this before publishing his novel
3 years after The White Son of the Desert's release.

All that said I have found no mention of anyone putting these two things
together.

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iron0013
White Sun of the Desert is a very good movie, too! Somewhere in the vicinity
of Indiana Jones or the Man With No Name westerns, but with more heart and
tenderness.

