The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming.

Review #2544: The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming.

Cast: 

Carl Reiner (Walt Whittaker), Eva Marie Saint (Elspeth Whittaker), Alan Arkin (Lieutenant Rozanov), Brian Keith (Link Mattocks), Jonathan Winters (Norman Jonas), Paul Ford (Fendall Hawkins), Theodore Bikel (Captain), Tessie O'Shea (Alice Foss), John Phillip Law (Alexei Kolchin), Ben Blue (Luther Grilk), Andrea Dromm (Alison Palmer), and Sheldon Collins (Pete Whittaker) Produced and Directed by Norman Jewison (#127 - Rollerball, #273 - The Cincinnati Kid, #544 - In the Heat of the Night, #691 - The Thomas Crown Affair, #1484 - Moonstruck)

Review: 

"I realized then that the film, although made primarily for an American audience, [it] expressed the hopes and fears felt by people in both countries at that period in the Cold War. What the Russians of course couldn't believe, and were blown away by, was the fact that I had been allowed to make the film at all."

Vaguely, I remember this movie being on the consideration list years ago. In the old days of Blockbuster (before people decided Netflix was somehow better*), I remember my dad buying the movie for a rental, but I sure don't remember if he saw it all the way through. Anyway, in the dog days of spring, it feels prudent to cover some of the directors that I haven't really given as much attention as I wish I did. After graduating from middle-ground comedies with The Cincinnati Kid (1965), here comes The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), the sixth feature film by Norman Jewison, who also produced the film. In 1963, Jewison was given a book by a friend of his with The Off-Islanders by Nathaniel Benchley. The plot involved a Russian sub accidentally running aground on a New England coast island. Jewison was intrigued about the idea of making a political satire. The Mirisch Corporation and United Artists were interested in financing the film, at least with a good writer behind it. After taking out an option for the novel, Jewison was told by his agent Charlie Baker that the one person who could do the screenplay best was William Rose (writer of such films as The Ladykillers [1955] and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World [1963]). Aside from having to find a proper conclusion point to the film (namely in the catalyst for both sides to see their similarities), the final draft came around with relatively few bumps in the road, at least when compared to having to make a submarine (the U.S. Navy was not giving one away for filming, with Jewison claiming they made one out of Stryofoam and plywood,, although other sources say they borrowed the one that had been used in Morituri [1965]) and turning the Northern California coast into looking like New England. Released in May 1966 with a budget of nearly $4 million, the movie was a solid hit with audiences, and the film was nominated for four Academy Awards, one for Best Picture.* Jewison followed up the film with In the Heat of the Night (1967) with even further audience attention.

So, you've got a comedy about a few good buffoons all alike on an international level that works best for those who love a silly farce. Sure, the Cold War may be dead and buried now, but you can see the appeal that the film had for people who saw something entertaining in its view of human nature that has a few chuckles within mob mentality, misunderstandings, a unifying moment from an unlikely source and so on. You can mostly understand what goes on with the Russian characters (as played mostly by a group of Americans, although the dialogue director was a Russian with Leon Belasco) without really needing subtitles before it crashes along with the island folk and their own offbeat dreams and delusions (order, being a writer, you name it), with Saint and Keith mostly being the normal ones of the bunch (with kids such as Collins, geez...). Not to knock down Reiner much, but you know Arkin is the highlight pretty early, mainly because he has the confidence and charm to carry the film in all of its odd leanings (namely tomfoolery), and he does so it without straining to go along with the dialogue. You get straight-laced neatness from Keith and a good deal of bubbling annoyance from Winters. Sure, the budding romance between Dromm and Law can only go so far beyond "two cats awkwardly looking at each other", but so it goes. I do like that the climax manages to give the folks a way to come together without straining for a corny message or playing to some cheap cop-out, instead making a pyramid of understanding that beyond the odds and ends of paranoia and maneuvering, there are a few things we'll do with others when things get tough. The 126-minute runtime can be one to trudge along with if you don't go along with all of its frantic misadventures, and I get that, in the same way that I can see someone finding their eyes starting to grow tired in madcap mish-mashes such as say, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World. But your milage may vary. As a whole, The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming is a solid enough comedy for its time that will probably work just enough for you to have some enjoyment within the time old (and multi-cultural) comedy of understandings.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day!

It may interest you to know that the San Antonio Spurs are in the NBA Finals. What a nice time :)

*A physical place to rent or buy movies will always be better than a streaming platform. Duh?

*That year, the nominees were: Alfie, The Sand Pebbles, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and the winner...A Man for All Seasons. All four nominations (Jewison for Best Picture, Arkin for Best Actor, Rose for Adapted Screenplay, Hal Ashby & J. Terry Williams for Editing) lost but each ended up being nominated for future efforts, with Ashby, Arkin, and Rose all eventually winning an Academy Award.

For Me and My Gal.

Review #1361: For Me and My Gal.

Cast: 
Judy Garland (Jo Hayden), Gene Kelly (Harry Palmer), George Murphy (Jimmy K. Metcalf), Martha Eggerth (Eve Minard), Ben Blue (Sid Simms), Stephen McNally (Mr. Waring), Robert Homans (New York Palace Doorman), and Lucille Norman (Lily Duncan) Directed by Busby Berkeley.

Review: 
"I don't believe in conformity to any school of dancing. I create what the drama and the music demand. While I am a hundred percent for ballet technique, I use only what I can adapt to my own use. I never let technique get in the way of mood or continuity."

A star can come from anywhere, from vaudeville, stage, or elsewhere. Gene Kelly had gone from a career ambition in teaching dance and full-time entertainer to choreographer and dancer in musical revues and Broadway in 1938, having been discovered by noted dancer and choreographer Robert Alton. By 1940, he had received his first breakthrough and lead role with stage work such as The Time of Your Life and Pal Joey. He was eventually signed by David O. Selznick for a chance to do film in Hollywood. It was the urging of numerous people, most notably Judy Garland, that led to Metro Goldwyn Mayer bringing Kelly in to star with Garland in this film, with this serving as her first adult role. The film was written by Richard Sherman, Fred F. Finklehoffe, and Sid Silvers with a story by Howard Emmett Rogers, which was inspired by the real life pursuits of Harry Palmer, a vaudeville actor of the 1910s, who indeed formed an act with Jo Hayden in 1916 and performed for a few years. The details of Palmer and his WWI service differ a bit from the film, where it was his friend who had been in medical school before serving and later dying in the War, not Hayden's brother, along with the fact that he had joined the Red Cross ambulance corps and not the YMCA. The ending to the film is different from actual events, but that was also a product of editing. The film was edited to play up sympathy for Kelly's character because test audiences had felt Murphy deserved to get the girl. As such, scenes were re-done to focus more on Kelly (including a rescue of an ambulance convoy). You may remember Berkeley from his choreography in 42nd Street (1933). He had co-directed (alongside George Amy) She Had to Say Yes that same year, with a gradual shift from choreography to directing occurring in the decade, and Gold Diggers of 1935 was his first solo directorial effort. He directed numerous films (with a few musical number sprinkled between it) until 1949 with Take Me Out to the Ball Game (after being fired from Annie Get Your Gun the following year), with the next eight films in the remaining 12 years of his career being spent in choreography.

With that in mind, one will be fairly interested in this ode to vaudeville alongside a drive to involvement in war that makes for a relatively decent 104 minute experience. Garland gets a chance to shine with songs and in charm, inspiring as ever for her prime. Kelly glides onto the screen with instant presence and no trouble at all, inspiring plenty of enthusiasm and curiosity whenever singing or doing some dancing along with having some chemistry with Garland that makes things zip through without too much tedium. Whether one knows about the cribbing of real-life events or not, the film certainly does seem a bit easy to figure for its eventual end-game, although I really do doubt that the film needed to be edited anyway because simply put, this is Gene Kelly we are talking about. I barely even remember Murphy to begin with, since he comes and goes by the time the film is halfway through. Maybe he had an earlier presence in the original, but here he just seems okay, where one might forget him in the shuffle. Eggerth (known more for her operetta work) does make a presence in her one number to shine, but she really is only there for the first half and that's it. The film is a decent one, with some of the conviction needed to make something that lasts. It has the musical and dance edge with two strong presences in Garland and Kelly to make things work out better than with lesser leads. It isn't really anything great of its era, but the fact that it was the first success for Kelly and also one for Garland makes it memorable enough to endure nonetheless.

One small update. If one is wondering about the effects of coronavirus among writing, I will state that there are only two ways I will stop posting: severe illness or death. 

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.