Main Cast: Carl Reiner, Eva Marie Saint, Alan Arkin, Brian Keith, Jonathan Winters
Release Year: 1966
Country: US
Run Time: 126 minutes
Plot
Just because The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming was vastly overrated by contemporary critics does not make it any less amusing. The story gets under way when a Soviet submarine accidently gets lodged in a sandbar on the coast of a New England town. In his feature film debut, Alan Arkin plays the sub's second-in-command, who is ordered by commander Theodore Bikel to free up the sub and skeedaddle before an international incident erupts. Hoping to secure a power boat to tug the sub out to sea, Arkin and his men call upon vacationing TV writer Carl Reiner, passing themselves off as Norwegians. When this ruse fails, Arkin is reluctantly compelled to force Reiner at gunpoint to fetch his motorboat, while gentle-natured Russian sailor John Philip Law is left behind to guard Reiner's wife Eva Marie Saint and pretty neighbor girl Andrea Dromm (yes, love blooms). The plot thickens when the locals, notably bullnecked sheriff Brian Keith and superpatriot Paul Ford, spread the word that the Russians have "invaded" their little community. Several slapstick complications later, the Russians and the locals face each other down in the center of the village, weapons at the ready. Fortunately, World War 3 is averted when the Russians and the villagers band together to rescue young Johnny Whittaker from falling to his doom. Enormously popular upon its first release, The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming still works on a slick sitcom level. The film was based on a novel by Nathaniel Benchley, the son of humorist Robert Benchley and the father of Jaws author Peter Benchley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Hailed as a masterpiece upon its release, The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming! has lost a lot of its punch over the decades, but is still a funny and entertaining film. Part of it is inevitable; Russians was very much a product of its time, and with the end of the Cold War, much of its humor has become dated. But the movie also suffers a bit from the same comedic elephantiasis that affected its screenwriter's earlier It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World: the cast is a bit too large, the film is a bit too long, and the plotting is a bit too needlessly complicated. In addition, the humor of the film is too often mild and gentle when it seems to be striving for bigger laughs. Russians' cast, however, could not be beat. Alan Arkin gives a sterling performance, one of the sweetest and most appealing comedic portraits of the decade. His timing is impeccable, and his humanity is crucial to the film's success. Carl Reiner's playwright, the other sane voice in the town, is also wonderfully realized, and he makes the sequence in which he is tied to Tessie O'Shea one of the film's highlights. Although Eva Marie Saint is rather wasted, Brian Keith, Theodore Bikel, and Jonathan Winters all shine. If Russians is not a masterpiece, it's still an excellent opportunity to experience some very fine comedic acting. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Robert F. Boyle - Art Director, Norman Jewison - Director, Hal Ashby - Editor, J. Terry Williams - Editor, Johnny Mandel - Composer (Music Score), Peggy Lee - Songwriter, Del Armstrong - Makeup, Joseph Biroc - Cinematographer, Norman Jewison - Producer, Walter Mirisch - Producer, Darrell Silvera - Set Designer, Daniel W. Hays - Special Effects, William Rose - Screenwriter, Nathaniel Benchley - Screenwriter, Nathaniel Benchley - Book Author
