The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming | | Cast : | Carl Reiner, Eva Marie Saint, Alan Arkin, Brian Keith, Jonathan Winters | | Director : | Norman Jewison | | Studio : | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | May 25, 1966 | | DVD Released Date : | October 15, 2002 | | Language : | Spanish (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | Unrated | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 19, 2005 | | Summary | The Shape Of Things To Come | Content
 | The sea elements--whether in submarine, yacht, or leaky old tugboat--are all well done and you can credit the painstaking location shooting for that. Some of the scenes look like Northern California harbors to me, but some have the tangy salt air of Nantucket filtering through them. There's no handheld shooting here, but Jewison's cameras peer into quite intimate spaces, and the life of the professional sailor really comes through--the hapless amateur as well. Mostly the movie is about what happens when a tourist class descends on a town of professionals; it's sort of like THE PERFECT STORM except without a disaster. But Carl Reiner, as the vacationing writer, is neither fish nor fowl and the scenes where he has to collaborate with the village's Tessie O'Shea are hilarious sketches of class conflict that Preston Sturges might have been proud of.
While the love interest centers on the All-American teen (Andrea Dromm, whose film credits are woefully few) hooking up with the All-Russian boy played by John Philip Law, the main story of the movie lies elsewhere, in watching the two superpowers collide on a human scale. The romance is given maybe a third of the time it would occupy in an ordinary movie. Law was only a year or so away from playing with Jane Fonda in Barbarella and Hurry Sundown, and DANGER DIABOLIK was still in his future. In RUSSIANS he was nearly thirty but could pass for a very young man. I'm sure he did more than most people to defuse Cold War tensions.
Most of the time the filmmakers seem to be saying, "Though in America we generally think the Russians are crazy and inbred, actually it's the people of Nantucket who are the dangerous gun crazy nuts." In 1965 this was a surprising attitude for a Hollywood studio movie to take and was a true harbinger of things to come. The director, Norman Jewison, hailed from Canada and was sometimes credited with bringing a pair of fresh eyes to the production. It wasn't only a newly liberal attitude, it was a philosophy of casting, so that the most attractive cast members no longer had the highest billing. Before this era in American film a man like Alan Arkin would never have been billed above John Philip Law. That would have been un-American LOL! But soon it would be the Barbra Streisands and the Gene Hackmans and the Dustin Hoffmans who would be ruling the roost in Hollywood, and you can feel the pendulum swinging that way here. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 28, 2005 | | Summary | Cold War Comedy Classic | Content
| Great comedy with a wonderful messege!! Perhaps those who do not know much about the Cold War might require a bit of information to better appreciate the context of the humor and story, but it is not necessary. Besides, the "extra" on the DVD with Director Norman Jewison discussing the film will help alot BUT -- see it afterwoods (then watch the movie again, if you like) because it has many clips from the movie and some "secrets" are revealed -- it presumes you already watched the movie, so wait till after you see it to check this interesting piece out. No matter what, the movie is still a hoot, and fun for all. BTW, I recently watched the movie with a Russian (who enjoyed it immensely) and he confirmed that the Russian characters all truly spoke the language, although Alan Arkin was clealy not a native speaker. On the other hand, he believed Theodore Bikel had a great accent, so he wasn't sure about him, while most of the others appeared to be "real" Russians. Have fun with this one!! |
| Rating | | | Date | April 24, 2005 | | Summary | I Think They're Creeping Up on This House! | Content
| A great Cold War spoof of a classic when a Soviet naval submarine winds up running aground on Gloucester Island, Massachusetts, all because its captain (Theodore Bikel) never saw America and strayed too close. The hilarious events occur on a peaceful Sunday morning when nine of the sailors led by Lt. Rosanov (Alan Arkin) were looking for a powerful motorboat to pull the sub free. This was filmed in 1965 during the height of the Cold War and was actually shown in Moscow not long after its release. Interesting about the movie was that there were no English subtitles when the sub crew were speaking Russian. It would keep the audience guessing what they were saying. One part was when Lt. Rosanov would tell Alexei Kolchin (John Phillip Law), the only two Russians who could speak English, in Russian while at the Whittaker summer home; "...we are just strangers and we won't tell them we're Russians."
To make the film appealing for the two superpowers was that Kolchin was the all-Russian boy, and finding that all-American girl to play the role of Alison Palmer where the two fall in love took a little time. Andrea Dromm - this was her only feature film appearance - fit that role since she was, in real life, a spokesgirl for American Airlines. Veteran actors such as Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters, Ben Blue and Paul Ford were well represented in the all star comedy film "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (1963) and had reunited in this film, bringing with them their style of humor as one silly thing happens after another.
Alan Arkin and some of the other actors who played the Russians had to learn to speak Russian prior to filming which was shot at various locations, mainly in Mendocino County on California's north coast and on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. Weather conditions hampered filming the movie entirely on Nantucket Island, but California's north coast was perfect, not only for its milder climate, but for its New England-style coastal towns.
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| Rating | | | Date | January 12, 2005 | | Summary | Good dramedy but only good | Content
| To me this is less a pure comedy and more a dramedy. Hey there is issues of childkidnapping by the Russians in this film. Although the film might have been even more genius a comedy-drama had Stanley Kramer directed it and personally I think Brian Keith should have had Carl Reiner's role; Keith was brilliant with young children. But nonetheless the film is satisfying. Again personally I don't go for movies that tried to make atheistic communists out to be equally good as God loving Christians. I am glad the film uses sexy Andrea Dromm as the babysitter wisely enough since the also sexy Eva Marie Saint is wasted. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 14, 2004 | | Summary | Also agree witih the last review | Content
| I too was 11 when this came out (saw it at the drive-in with my family) and thought Alan Arkin was unbelievably sexy!! When I read the last review, saying the same thing, I just had to write. I'm ordering a DVD copy of The In-Laws right now...with Arkin and Peter Falk. IF you haven't seen it, buy it. You'll love it; it's a "can't catch your breath because you're laughing too hard" movie. Anyway, Alan Arkin made some great movies. |
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