A Soviet submarine runs aground off a small island off the eastern seaboard of the United States.
A small team is sent ashore to secure a boat to help tow the submarine back to sea.
When rumours of their unwelcome visitors spread around the island, the small community is thrown into a panic.
Believing that they are being invaded, a mob assembles to repel the invaders.
As the island descends into chaos, the Soviet sailors struggle to maintain their cover and find a suitable boat.
Can they complete their mission before starting World War 3?
“It does not make sense to hate people - it is such a waste of time”
Sadly, sometimes it takes a performer’s death to get you to take a deeper look at their work.
Alan Arkin was one of those actors who made everything he was in just a little better.
The movie that got me interested in him was his role as Harry Roat Jr. in 1967’s Wait Until Dark.
When he passed away, I wanted to dig into his filmography.
Directed by Norman Jewison, 1966’s The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming is a rather humanist take on the Cold War.
The whole movie is based on misunderstanding and human error, starting with the catalyst for the movie - the submarine captain’s arrogant desire to get a closer look at the enemy coast.
The film is premised on making sure we as an audience can track these different groups without difficulty.
While the Russian characters speak their language without subtitles, it is easy to track what they are saying.
At no point are they cast as a threat to the island.
The Russians just want to get home, and the film portrays them as more hapless than competent.
There is a slapstick quality to the group - piling in and out of cars; the stilted rapport between Rozanov (Alan Arkin) and Alexei (John Phillip Law) as they try to divert suspicions of local family the Whittakers (Carl Reiner and Eva Marie Saint); Law hiding in a field after he loses his gun to Reiner’s Walt.
Meanwhile, the locals are portrayed as easily swayed into violent groupthink. The film turns into an elaborate game of telephone, as the locals build their visitors into an existential threat.
Despite the broad brush of the group scenes, the film remains sharpest in its portrayal of individual characters.
There is a satirical edge to the Whittakers’ domestic scenes, as the Americans try to deal with their personal issues (Walt is a writer struggling with writer’s block), while dealing with a crisis they cannot comprehend.
The movie is funny because of how it undermines the hysteria of its title. Instead it treats the town’s increasing panic with a comic - though empathetic - distance.
It pokes fun at the ways in which fear can lead to violence (such as the way a mob quickly forms around a fascistic leader, played by Paul Ford). In 2023, this aspect of the movie feels evergreen, as Fendall (Ford) riles the town’s people to fulfil his own delusions of combat.
As the beleaguered leader of the Russian expedition, Alan Arkin is a model of comic exasperation. A veteran of Second City, he brings a razor-sharp comic timing, without going into buffoonish caricature.
John Phillip Law is also great as the earnest sailor Alexei, who forms a bond with local girl Alison (Andrea Dromm).
Reiner brings a weary groundedness to Walt, while the great Brian Keith is comically unimpressed as the island’s sheriff.
Despite the dark underpinnings, the film is ultimately rather hopeful about humanity, particularly in the gentle romance between Law’s seaman and Dromm’s local.
The third act is rather tense as an enraged Walt tries to gun down Rozanov, while US authorities scramble to attack the sub. Instead of an accidental nuclear war, the film ends with a show of basic humanity, and the two communities leaving on good terms.
A gem.
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