View source for Moscow on the Hudson

{{Short description|1984 American film by Paul Mazursky}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{more citations needed|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Moscow on the Hudson
| image          = Moscow on the Hudson (1984) (Original Poster).PNG
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Paul Mazursky]]
| producer       = Paul Mazursky
| writer         = {{ubl|Paul Mazursky|Leon Capetanos}}
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Robin Williams]]
* [[María Conchita Alonso]]
* [[Cleavant Derricks (actor)|Cleavant Derricks]]
}}
| music          = David McHugh
| cinematography = [[Donald McAlpine|Donald M. McAlpine]]
| editing        = [[Richard Halsey]]
| studio         = Delphi Premier
| distributor    = [[Columbia Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1984|04|06|US}}
| runtime        = 115 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $13 million
| gross          = $25,068,724
}}
'''''Moscow on the Hudson''''' is a 1984 American [[romantic comedy|romantic]] [[comedy-drama]] film, written and directed by [[Paul Mazursky]], starring [[Robin Williams]] as a Soviet [[circus]] musician who [[defection|defects]] while on a visit to the United States. It co-stars [[María Conchita Alonso]] (in her American film debut), [[Elya Baskin]] as the circus clown, [[Savely Kramarov]] as one of two [[KGB]] [[apparatchik]]s, [[Alejandro Rey]] as the musician's immigration attorney, and [[Cleavant Derricks (actor)|Cleavant Derricks]] as his first American host and friend.

The film was released on April 6, 1984.

==Plot==
Vladimir Ivanov, a saxophonist with the [[Moscow]] circus, lives in a crowded apartment with his extended family. In the grim living conditions and lack of personal freedom in the [[Soviet Union]], he stands in lines for hours to buy toilet paper and shoes. When Boris, the [[apparatchik]] assigned to the circus, criticizes Vladimir for being late to rehearsal, and warns him that he may miss the approaching trip to [[New York City]], Vladimir gives Boris a pair of shoes from the queue that made Vladimir late. While Ivanov is riding in his friend Anatoly's [[Lada]], Anatoly stops to buy fuel for his car from a mobile black-market gasoline dealer. While the friends wait for the gasoline seller to fill Anatoly's [[jerrycan]]s, the two practice their English.

The circus troupe is sent to perform in New York City. Anatoly, who has talked of little else but [[defecting]], cannot bring himself to go through with it; Vladimir, who had opposed the scheme as reckless and foolhardy, suddenly decides to do it. He runs from his Soviet controllers and hides behind a perfume counter at [[Bloomingdale's]] under the skirt of the clerk, Lucia Lombardo. When the [[NYPD]] and the [[FBI]] arrive, Vladimir stands up to his controllers and defects with news cameras rolling. Vladimir is left with nothing but the clothes on his back, the money in his pocket, and a pair of blue jeans that he had planned to buy for his girlfriend in Moscow.

Lionel Witherspoon, a security guard who protected Vladimir from his Soviet handlers during the defection, takes him home to [[Harlem]] to live with Lionel's mother, unemployed father, sister, and grandfather—a living arrangement noticeably similar to Vladimir's family back in Moscow.

With the help of a sympathetic immigration attorney and Cuban emigrant, Orlando Ramirez, Vladimir soon adapts to life in the United States. Vladimir attempts to find work despite speaking little English and fearing the threat of his former [[KGB]] handlers. He initially works as a [[busboy]], [[McDonald's]] cashier, sidewalk merchant and limousine driver. Although these jobs enable Vladimir to eventually move into his own apartment, he begins to doubt that he will ever play [[saxophone]] professionally again.

Vladimir starts a relationship with Lucia, the Bloomingdale's clerk. At a party celebrating Lucia's [[United States nationality law|becoming an American citizen]], Vladimir proposes to her; but she refuses and, after an argument, breaks up with him. Lionel decides to return to Alabama to be closer to his young son. More bad news comes in a letter from Vladimir's family that his grandfather has died.

Grieving, Vladimir goes to a Russian nightclub to ease his mind. When he returns to his apartment building drunk, he is mugged by two youths. He reports the incident to the police with his attorney Orlando present; the two go to a diner, where Vladimir rants about his misfortunes. During a confrontation with a burly man who makes it known that he is also a Soviet defector, Vladimir comes to appreciate his good fortune of living in the United States. Soon after, Lucia reunites with Vladimir, telling him that she is not ready for marriage, but would love to live with a fellow immigrant. Lionel moves back from Alabama, and he takes over Vladimir's job driving a limousine.

Vladimir encounters his former KGB handler, who is now a [[Street food|street vendor]] selling hotdogs. He admits that he had to flee the [[Soviet Union]] due to his failure to prevent Vladimir's defection, but has also come to appreciate New York City. Vladimir soon gets a job in a nightclub, where he again plays the saxophone.

==Cast==
{{div col}}
* [[Robin Williams]] as Vladimir Ivanov
* [[María Conchita Alonso]] as Lucia Lombardo
* [[Cleavant Derricks (actor)|Cleavant Derricks]] as Lionel Witherspoon
* [[Alejandro Rey]] as Orlando Ramirez
* [[Elya Baskin]] as Anatoly Cherkasov
* [[Savely Kramarov]] as Boris
* Oleg Rudnik as Yuri
* [[Yakov Smirnoff]] as Lev
{{div col end}}

==Production==
According to director Mazursky, the idea for the film came from Mazursky's grandfather, who emigrated from [[Ukraine]], then part of the [[Russian Empire]], nearly 80 years before. When developing the script, the director contacted the Russian immigrant community in New York City and made his first trip to the Soviet Union. "Most Russians", noted the director at the time, "are just trying to survive. Yet, all Russians who leave their country leave behind something they treasure and love. It's a terrible conflict for them, so the act of bravery is overwhelming."

After considering many locations for the Moscow portion of the film, Mazursky settled on [[Munich]], based on the flexibility that [[Bavaria Studios]] offered him, with full control over an authentic "Eastern European street".<ref name="production-notes">{{cite web| url=http://www.sonymoviechannel.com/movies/moscow-on-hudson/details| title=Moscow on the Hudson Production Notes| access-date=February 25, 2013| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901140122/http://www.sonymoviechannel.com/movies/moscow-on-hudson/details| archive-date=September 1, 2012}}</ref>

Williams learned Russian for the film in a crash course, and he also learned to play the saxophone.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Speaks Russian Like Czech" - Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19840414&id=ZeYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=w2gEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6574,4734498 |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=news.google.com}}</ref>

===Lawsuit===
The poster, depicting a [[bird's eye view]] of New York, with Moscow and the Soviet Union beyond, prompted a lawsuit by artist [[Saul Steinberg]]. Steinberg alleged that the movie poster infringed his copyright in a magazine cover, ''[[View of the World from 9th Avenue]]'', he had created for a 1976 issue of ''[[The New Yorker]]''. The district court agreed, and awarded summary judgment to Steinberg in [[Steinberg v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.]], 663 F. Supp. 706 (S.D.N.Y. 1987).

==Reception==
The film was moderately successful at the box office, bringing in $25 million in ticket sales.

{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|73|6.8|77|With Robin Williams' affecting portrayal as a Russian immigrant at the center of its fish-out-of-water story, ''Moscow on the Hudson'' soars with an abundance of laughs and heart.}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/moscow_on_the_hudson|title=Moscow On The Hudson |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|access-date=22 August 2023}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], it has a score of 67%, based on 11 reviews.<ref>{{cite web | title=Moscow on the Hudson | url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/moscow-on-the-hudson |website=[[Metacritic]]|access-date=22 April 2018}}</ref>

[[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' said that the film "isn't ill conceived; rather, it seems unfinished, not yet thought through", with Canby opining that the scene of Vladimir's defection inside of Bloomingdale's to be the film's funniest; a "tumultuous sequence, in which prissy floorwalkers, members of the Soviet secret police, the store's public-relations personnel, New York City policemen and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents all are working at cross purposes".<ref>{{cite news |last=Canby |first=Vincent |author-link=Vincent Canby |date=April 6, 1984 |title=Paul Mazursky's Moscow On The Hudson |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/06/movies/film-paul-mazursky-s-moscow-on-the-hudson.html |access-date=June 19, 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

[[Pauline Kael]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' wrote that it was "a wonderful comedy about a tragedy", and that as "imaginative and mellow, this movie displays Mazursky's distinctive funky lyricism at its best", although "the film's comic rhythm (though not its mood) falters in the last third".<ref>{{cite book |first=Pauline |last=Kael |date=1991 |title=5001 Nights at the Movies |location=New York |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |page=499 |isbn=9780805013672}}</ref>

== References ==
<references/>

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0087747}}
* {{mojo title|moscowonthehudson}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|moscow_on_the_hudson}}

{{Paul Mazursky}}

[[Category:1984 films]]
[[Category:1980s romantic comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:American romantic comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Cold War films]]
[[Category:Circus films]]
[[Category:Defection in fiction]]
[[Category:Jazz films]]
[[Category:Films about immigration to the United States]]
[[Category:Films directed by Paul Mazursky]]
[[Category:Films set in New York City]]
[[Category:Films set in Moscow]]
[[Category:Films shot in Munich]]
[[Category:Films shot in New York City]]
[[Category:Columbia Pictures films]]
[[Category:1984 comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:1980s English-language films]]
[[Category:1980s American films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic comedy-drama films]]