Moscow on the Hudson (1984)

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

Director:

Paul Mazursky

Writers:

Paul Mazursky, Leon Capetanos

Stars:

Robin Williams, Maria Conchita Alonso, Cleavant Derricks

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robin Williams	...	Vladimir Ivanoff
Maria Conchita Alonso	...	Lucia Lombardo
Cleavant Derricks	...	Lionel Witherspoon
Alejandro Rey	...	Orlando Ramirez
Saveliy Kramarov	...	Boris (as Savely Kramarov)
Elya Baskin	...	Anatoly
Oleg Rudnik	...	Yury
Aleksandr Benyaminov	...	Vladimir's Grandfather (as Alexander Beniaminov)
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

Storyline

A Russian circus visits the US. A clown wants to defect, but doesn't have the nerve. His saxophone playing friend however comes to the decision to defect in the middle of Bloomingdales. He is befriended by the black security guard and falls in love with the Italian immigrant from behind the perfume counter. We follow his life as he works his way through the American dream and tries to find work as a musician.

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Plot Keywords:

city name in title | musician | circus | saxophone | russian immigrant | 

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Taglines:

America is sometimes a strange place even for Americans. Let alone for Vladimir Ivanoff, a Russian defector with a black roommate, a Cuban lawyer, and an Italian girlfriend. Who's learning to live with Big Macs, cable TV, hard rock, softcore, unemployment and a whole new wonderful word for him. Freedom.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

6 April 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Moscú en Nueva York

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$25,100,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bavaria Film,Columbia Pictures Corporation,Delphi Premier Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In one scene, a cinema is showing An Unmarried Woman (1978), directed by Paul Mazursky, the director of Moscow on the Hudson.

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Goofs

All license plates on Moscow cars are obviously fakes, especially the ones on the KGB's Volga.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

References E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

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Soundtracks

BLUE TOWNS
Composed by Andrey Petrov

User Reviews

I love New York

Manhattan looks so much more varied and gritty and real and less mall-ified than it does today in this, Paul Mazursky's 1984 love letter to the American way, and one of the last unambiguously patriotic mainstream American movies. (It's very much a product of its Reagan time, right down to the casual homophobia.) Robin Williams, for once not twinkling too hard or overworking his virtuosity or adorableness, is an Everyman Russian who unexpectedly defects in Bloomingdale's and goes on to live the immigrant experience, suffering urban indignities and romantic angst along the way. His worklife is a little easier, his economic situation a little less treacherous, and the people he meets a little nicer than they would be in real life. For all that, in its celebration of the melting pot and its warm embrace of the American urban landscape, the movie moved me to tears.