¡Que vienen los rusos!

How well I remember seeing The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming way back in theater and enjoying this wonderful satire on Cold War paranoia. Norman Jewison put together a great cast of scene stealing players and it's great to see these guys try to top each other.

A Russian submarine keeping an eye on our naval movements off the American shore runs aground on the shore of eastern Long Island which is quite like it was in 1966, sparsely populated with small towns. Non speaking English Captain Theodore Bikel sends Lieutenant Alan Arkin ashore with some men including young seaman John Philip Law without any real instructions.

People spot these Russian speaking sailors and the panic starts. Arkin arrives at the house of Carl Reiner who is a composer with wife Eva Marie Saint and son Sheldon Collins and niece Andrea Dromm. Law makes his own separate peace with Dromm. Nice piece it is too.

Arkin and Reiner are great together, Arkin with his fractured English and Reiner trying to both be civilized and live up to his son's expectations of killing the dirty Reds who've invaded.

When word gets out Brian Keith as sheriff and deputy Jonathan Winters have to compete with Paul Ford at his blusteriest who is ready to form a militia on the spot. What an advertisement for Second Amendment absolutists.

Lots of funny stuff involving these Russians stuck in a place they've been taught to fear as enemies and the Americans who've been cut off in this remote part of Long Island who are paranoid over an invasion. Let's say a humanitarian situation brings this part of the Cold War to a complete thaw.

But I will say that I doubt in those days there was a Soviet equivalent. Is there a film out there called The Yankees Are Coming The Yankees Are Coming.

This is still a very funny film.

As someone who remembered how and where to crouch when the air raid siren went, and wondering how we were supposed to know when it was safe to come out, I have always cherished this film as a reminder that we're all human. It has every stereotype going, but it's okay - the characters are so lovingly drawn you don't care. I live in New England now, and while you don't see this version of xenophobic hysteria anymore(thank God!), you still hear the accents and see the regional quirks. Alan Arkin is dead on in his role, and as a student of Russian, I've gotten so I actually understand most of the dialogue. My daughter doesn't get the point of the movie, but then she didn't have duck and cover drills. I wish I knew when or if it were coming out on DVD.

"Hilarious" doesn't begin to describe it! I saw this in the theater in 1966 when it first came out, and I enjoyed it immensely! Arkin was great and Bikel excels in just about everything he does! This gets ***** out of ***** with me!

So it's an excellent comedy, but like all truly great comedy, it has a dark and serious side: that people will become hysterical with xenophobia when they live in a culture that expects it of them. During the Cold War, it was a given among us kids that ALL the Russians were evil beings, godless Communist robots out to destroy us. We were taught to so regard ALL of them.

This movie serves as a poignant reminder that not everyone who lives in an officially "hostile" nation hates us.

This is a funny movie! Arkin, in his first starring role, was particularly good. I enjoyed the accent and the mangled English. Also, the photography was first-rate.

I sat through this film twice when it was in the theaters the first time around, and have seen it on TV every ten years or so.

Some of the critics say it's overrated. Fine. Maybe it's just me, but I *still* think it's funny.

If you're looking for a pleasant movie the kids can watch, this is a good one.

A situation comedy of errors with lots of sight gags, a who's who of character actors, and a heartwarming ending.

However, I don't understand the "goof" listed above: "Errors in geography: Both the US and Russian maps show Gloucester as an isolated island, which is clearly not the case. There is also the implication (in the film) that Gloucester is not connected to the mainland, also not the case."

How can this be an error when Gloucester is a fictional island? The map looked like Nantucket stood on its end.

Better quotes for this movie are:

"Emergency. Everybody to get from street." -- Russian landing party "We've got to get organized!" --Jonathan Winters "Muriel, whatcha doin' up there?"