The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming

A wonderful, wacky show filled with stars. A great family movie night selection.

Your service was excellant. The movie we ordered for a relative who could not find it. Why ; I have no idea as I did not care for the movie when it was new. We will be ordering other items from you in the future and are very satisfied with your availabilty of movies etc.

I originally saw this as a lad growing up in 1966 when I went with family to the theater. It was very funny than and it is just as refreshing today.

This is the story about a Russian sub-Captain who decides to breach the 25 mile coastal barrier of the United States at a time when we were deeply in the cold war and the Russians were all citizens of the glorious Soviet Union or so they called it often. They were at the time, enemies bent on the destruction of the United States of America, in place of their brand of communism (something that works on paper, but not in practice). Anyhow they get so close to the United States shores of a New England Island community that their submarine became stuck on a sand bar. That was the first act of war against the United States. The Captain than sends a group of crew members (lead by Russian speaking Alan Arkin) ashore. They are in uniform, that is the second act of war on the United States. But they are not only in uniform. They have machine guns, a third act of war against the United States of America.

They soon find a family with a father who is a nervous wreck, Carl Reiner, In his own respect a longtime great actor (the real life father of meathead-Rob Reiner) and a boy who spots the Russians and wants to do the right thing and shoot them. So throughout the movie, the kid when we see him is being held back, but in a funny sort of way.

The family is soon overcome and the group takes their car, lead by a hilarious and persistent Alan Arkin, but they leave a blonde (machine gun toting) guy behind to guard the family. In a distraction and struggle the father (of meathead) gains the upper hand and chases blondie off, or so they figure. With the car gone, he soon takes a bicycle towards town while the family waits.

The Sheriff of the town played by Brian Keith A great actor we all miss dearly these days, and the Deputy, played by an always funny Jonathon Winters fall into their own chaos amongst panicked (understandably) townsfolk. The idea of the group of Russian's going into town is to steal a large motor boat to tow the sub off the sand bar. Will they succeed in all the madness that pursues, amongst other subplots like a love story? I can tell you this has a great ending, and its well worth watching. Its almost a timeless movie you can watch over and over again.

A light-hearted comedy of errors, featuring sympathetic Cold War Russian submarine sailors, with Theo Bikel as the captain who runs aground trying to view America through the periscope. In trying to borrow a motorboat to tow the sub off the rocks before the Russian navy finds out about their error, they manage to throw the small village on Long Island into an uproar. Stock characters of irate veterans, deaf villager, and others make for good slapstick, while other parts are more tenderly treated. There are amusing moments for those who speak Russian. The moral of the story: We are all the same and should work together. Still one of my favorite movies.

It is very interestign that, in a comedy, you can find the most hidden corners of humanity. Why do we go to war? For some stupid incident like the one that is the core of this film? What happens when other human beings are threatened, like the little boy who was about to fall down from the church tower? It is an appeal to revise our priorities, our dislikes, our discomforts with the rest of the humanity. And yes, all actors are wonderful. Not to mention the sexy bomb of John Philip Law. See it and you will reconsider many facts of life, love and tolerance
Eugenia Lizalde