Moscow on the Hudson (1984)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Paul Mazursky

Writers:

Paul Mazursky (writer) &
Leon Capetanos (writer)

Release Date:

6 April 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Vladimir Ivanoff walks into a department store to buy blue jeans, walks out with a girl friend, an immigration lawyer and a buddy. His life and theirs will never be the same again.

Plot:

When a Russian musician defects in Bloomingdale's department store in New York, he finds adjusting to American life more difficult than he imagined.

Plot Keywords:

Musician | Bloomingdales | New York | Friend | Saxophone

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe.

Cast

Robin Williams	...	Vladimir Ivanoff
Maria Conchita Alonso	...	Lucia Lombardo
Cleavant Derricks	...	Lionel Witherspoon, Bloomingdales Security Officer
Alejandro Rey	...	Orlando Ramirez, Vladimir's Cuban Lawyer
Saveli Kramarov	...	Boris, KGB man (as Savely Kramarov)
Elya Baskin	...	Anatoly Cherkasov
Oleg Rudnik	...	Yuri
Aleksandr Benyaminov	...	Vladimir's Grandfather
Lyudmila Kramarevskaya	...	Vladimir's Mother (as Ludmila Kramarevsky)
Ivo Vrzal-Wiegand	...	Vladimir's Father (as Ivo Vrzal)
Natalya Ivanova	...	Sasha (as Natalie Iwanow)
Tiger Haynes	...	Lionel's Grandfather
Eyde Byrde	...	Lionel's Mother (as Edye Byrde)
Robert MacBeth	...	Lionel's Stepfather
Donna Ingram-Young	...	Leanne Witherspoon

Runtime:

115 min | West Germany:117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Bartlett Place, Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

In one scene, a cinema is showing An Unmarried Woman, directed by Paul Mazursky, the director of Moscow on the Hudson.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the USSR of the 1980s even teenagers weren't acquainted with middle finger gesture, let alone an 80-year-old man doing it towards KGB officers.

Quotes:

french man on bus: [first lines]
french man on bus: Excuse me, sir. Does this bus go to the Lincoln Center?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Robin Williams/James Taylor (#13.9)" (1988)

Soundtrack:

FREEDOM

Robin Williams: Talented (And Strange)

Robin Williams became famous, I think, for his stand-up comedy, like his idol Jonathan Winters, but do you realize how many movies this guy has made over the years? He's really become quite a film star and is especially good playing against-type as a criminal or simply as a wacko (see "One Hour Photo?")

Anway, this was an early Robin Williams film in which he plays a Russian musician defecting to the United States. He ("Vladamir Ivanoff") first hides out in a big store in New York City before being taken in as an immigrant by a black guy (can you say PC?) Williams does an outstanding job speaking Russian, by the way, as opposed to most English-speaking actors.

There really isn't much of a plot here, just slices of life, if you will, some of it with the usual Liberal promiscuous (i.e. "I'm a liberated woman and if I stay the night, don't misinterpret that I want to get involved with you," the Italian tells the Russian. I can think of a few more accurate descriptions that the word "liberated.")

All in all, despite the premise and talents of Williams, this was only so-so. It kind of runs out of steam halfway through and it's hard to maintain interest in the final 40 percent of it. Actually, I like Williams better when he plays more serious roles like this although I'm not sure if he himself was ready to play it straight this early in his career. He's just too tempted in this film to produce comedy. He's a talented and very strange guy; this film reflects that.