The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming

 

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING (1966)

Directed by Norman Jewison

United Artists, 126 minutes, Not-rated

★★★

 

 

 

Comedy is frequently timebound, especially when it wrings laughs from concerns of the moment. The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming came out in 1966, during the Cold War. It was viewed as hysterical at the time–it won two Golden Globes and was nominated for four Oscars–though today it seems awfully broad. It does, however, pack a serious message: the dangers of hair-trigger nationalism.

 

A Russian submarine, the Cnpyt (Octopus) runs aground when its overzealous captain (Theo Bikel) wanted to get a close look at America. If he can’t free the sub, we’re talking major international incident and maybe a gulag for the captain. Luckily, the sub is stuck on a sandbar off the coast of New England near the tiny island of Gloucester, population 200. (It’s a fictional place and was actually filmed near Mendocino, CA.) The captain needs a tow, but would prefer to get in and out surreptitiously. (Like that will happen!) He sends a nine-man party to shore under the leadership of Lt. Yuri Rozanov (Alan Arkin in his first movie). First contact is with the Whittaker family, Walt (Carl Reiner), Elspeth (Eva Marie Saint), their kids Pete and Annie, and nanny Alison Palmer (Andrea Dromm). They deny that they are Russian, but it’s pretty obvious that they are. But try convincing anyone else on the island that there are Russians on Gloucester Island.

 

Incredulity leads to a comedy of errors, a postmistress tied up by Russians whose husband is too deaf to hear her, a police chief (Brian Keith) who thinks everyone on the island has gone nuts, the alarmist Norman Jonus (Jonathan Winters) who could exaggerate the Apocalypse, Walt trying not to be crushed by the rotund telephone operator (Alice Foss) to whom he is bound, and an improbable romance between Alison and Russian sailor Alexi Kolchin (John Phillip Law, who was a stud for a season). If the Russians are actually on the island, where are they? Like ships passing in the night, of course; Rozanov and Kolchin are doing recon ashore and the other seven are scouting for a powerful boat to pull the sub off the sandbar. Wild goose chases ensue and the Russians, except for their impetuous captain, don’t want to harm anyone.

 

The crisis point comes when the captain threatens to level the island if his seven missing crewmen are not handed over. He assumes they are prisoners, though they are not. At the last minute, an incident draws the Russians and Americans together in a cooperative venture. Now the problem is how to get the Russians on their way before the U.S. military intervenes.

 

Some might recognize the subtle political message/moral embedded in all of the silliness. During the 1950s/60s there were several Cold War satires with similar themes, including The Mouse That Roared, The Best of Enemies, and Dr. Strangelove. The Russians Are Coming isn’t on par with those three, but it was another reminder that most people are people, not nationalist pawns. That didn’t always play well when US/USSR tensions rose, but directors and script writers were careful to emphasize human angles and leave politics in a twisted heap of goofiness. In fact, “goofy” is the descriptor I think most fits The Russians Are Coming.

 

Some of the movie is shopworn. (Was Jonathan Winters ever funny?) It would be intriguing to see what the Coen Brothers would do with a refashioned sequel. You can rest assured it would be sharper, darker, and funnier. But, again, The Russians Are Coming is a quintessential Cold War comedy and a no-pain way to absorb a small history lesson. Plus, you sure can see why Alan Arkin’s career took off; few have ever done droll as well as he.

 

Rob Weir