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Gleefully thumbing its nose at Cold War paranoiacs, this daffy 1966 comedy lampooned the then-pervasive idea that a Soviet attempt to invade the United States was a genuine possibility. It concerns the accidental grounding on the Massachusetts coast of a Russian submarine commanded by curious sightseer Theodore Bikel, who sends junior officer Alan Arkin ashore for assistance. His arrival throws the small seaside community into a tizzy, and sheriff Brian Keith struggles to maintain order while locals Paul Ford and Jonathan Winters overreact to Arkin’s presence. Carl Reiner and Eva Marie Saint attempt to restore a little sanity to the situation. The Soviet Union’s demise and the subsequent thaw in relations between America and Russia have taken the sting out of this amiable farce, but the script, direction (by Moonstruck’s Norman Jewison) and performances continue to hold up. The culture-clash humor still tickles the funny bone, and the cast -- dominated by some of the entertainment world’s most formidable comedic talents -- is absolutely superb. The Russians Are Coming! might be a relic from another era, but it has a timeless appeal that makes it well worth owning. Jewison hosts a “making-of” featurette for the DVD edition. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

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

Product Details

• UPC: 027616880185
• Source: MGM (VIDEO & DVD)
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Cinemascope (2.35:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 2:06:00
• Sales Rank: 1,460

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