The Russians Are Coming...Again!

Michelle Nelson hits the wayback machine to examine a classic American comedy for Facets Features.


The idea that all humans, regardless of race, creed or nationality are at their very core, decent and kind beings is not a new idea to Hollywood. The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming (1966), was certainly not the first feature to build a story around that theme and it hasn’t been the last, but it’s certainly one of the best.

Norman Jewison, who went on to direct In the Heat of the Night, takes a stab at a fairly straightforward, slapstick pile of ridiculousness pulled from the Nathaniel Benchley novel The Off-Islanders. Though straightforward, the film itself is a pile of miscommunication and misunderstanding that sinks so deep it’s hard to see the possibility of a resolution at the end. This is actually a delight, considering the above mentioned, often cliche theme of the film. Without being heavy handed or preachy, Jewison and company manage to deliver a movie that quietly exploits the fears of the time without pointing fingers and calling people stupid.

Carl Reiner, Eva Marie Saint and Alan Arkin lead a fantastic cast through joke after joke that still land laughs long after the threat of the Soviet Union has disappeared. Unlike science fiction movies of the time which used aliens as a cover for Communism in general and the Soviets in particular, The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming doesn’t hide the main issue. Just under half of the movie’s dialogue is in Russian without English subtitles. If you’re watching it on DVD, which I assume you are, don’t cheat and put the subtitles on. The words aren’t clear, but Jewison, Rose and Hal Ashby (one of the film’s editors) make their meanings clear. And it’s better to get thrown into the misunderstanding. Trust me.

Without giving anything away (although the movie’s been around long enough there probably isn’t much to give away), there was one scene which elevates the film from a slap-the-knee-remember-it-when-you’re-older comedy to a legitimately well-done, thought-out picture. The moment involves a shooting. Immediately after the gunshots, there’s silence. You sit, waiting for the moment to reveal itself. Is he dead? Is he alive? This is the moment upon which everything hangs.

If he is dead, Jewison and Rose are condemning the modern American. Frightened of everything, the modern man would, like his heroes of the old west, shoot first and ask later. But unlike the cowboy western wilderness, the modern world was not built on that system; in fact, we imprison those who act in such a manner. For such a ridiculous comedy, it is too harsh of a message.

If he is alive, though, what could they be trying to pull? What point of any worth would Jewison and Rose be making? To have us laugh off every dramatic turn then not deliver the deliberate switch in tone seemed like a failure of a story and a waste of two hours.

Those tense two minutes after the shooting have been burned on my mind. I remember every pan, every cut, every line, and it feels like I will forever. The balance struck in that scene sets the tone for the final act of the film. It makes every laugh easier, each pang of drama more dramatic, like I had been born a second time just to finish the film. Jewison, Rose Arkin and Reiner nailed (with a capital N, tripled underlined nailed) it.

Of course, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming is not perfect. A romance is thrown in so offhandedly and haphazardly that it seems as if some producer saw the film, said “Hey, they should fall in love,” and then it happened. It fits in the overall scheme of things and the filmmakers wring it for laughs, but it’s barely worth anything and the movie would benefit from the slight trim in time.

I know it’s only been 43 years since the movie was released but who said anniversaries and commemorations had to come in 5’s and 10’s? If you’re looking for something to spend the night in with, I absolutely recommend The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. Sure, it’s aged a bit, and some jokes will undoubtedly fall flat, but if you can’t laugh at Alan Arkin’s Russian there’s a serious possibility you can’t laugh at all.

Here’s the trailer, although it’s my opinion that the trailer is funnier after seeing the movie instead of the other way around.