THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING is set on the Nantucket like fictional Gloucester Island. Watching RUSSIANS reminded me of another madcap film that had a big cast, multiple storylines, and Jonathan Winters (and in a cameo Carl Reiner). That film is Stanley Kramer's IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963). The connection to both films is screenwriter William Rose who co-wrote MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD and wrote THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. Rose was a master at juggling lots of characters and comedic action. Rose wrote another fantastic comedy THE LADYKILLERS (1955) which had multiple characters in a funny heist film. Rose adapted THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING from a novel by Nathaniel Benchley called The Off Islanders. Benchley's son Peter would later write the shark thriller Jaws.
A Russian submarine accidentally beaches on a sand bar on Gloucester Island off the New England coast (with California's Bodega Bay standing in for the fictitious island). While the Captain (Theodore Bikel) and some of his crew remain on board, a small expedition led by Lieutenant Rozanov (Alan Arkin) come ashore to find a power boat to push their stuck vessel back into deeper water. Rozanov and his men stumble across a summer beach house rented by an American family. Walt Whittaker (Carl Reiner) is a comedy writer. Elspeth Whittaker (Eva Marie Saint) is his wife and they have two young children Pete and Annie. Their young son Pete (Sheldon Golomb) alerts his doubting parents that some men are in their garage but it's too late. Rozanov and his men intrude on the Whittaker's, steal their car and leave naïve, nervous crew member Alexei Kolchin (John Philip Law) to guard the family at gun point until they return.
But Whittaker's car runs out of gas (he had warned the Russians the tank was low). The Russians walk the rest of the way to the sleepy coastal town of West Village. They overpower the postmaster Muriel Everett (Doro Merande) and steal her car. They find boats in the marina but there are too many people around. Meanwhile, the Whittaker's young nanny Alison Palmer (Andrea Dromm) arrives at the beach house, distracting Alexei enough for Walt to overpower him. Alexei flees to a nearby hill. The trussed up Muriel is discovered. She tells her rescuers it was the Russians who tied her up. Police Chief Link Mattocks (Brian Keith) is awakened to the situation (literally and figuratively). He contacts his deputy Norman Jonas (Jonathan Winters) to mobilize the rest of the town. Rozanov and his men are trapped.
The town gathers at the local bar to plan but hysteria and anarchy begin to emerge. An exasperated Deputy Jonas mutters, "We've got to get organized, we've got to get organized." But no one has actually seen the Russians. Police Chief Mattocks has to contend with the blustery local war hero Fendall Hawkins (Paul Ford) who tries to wrestle command away from him. Whittaker arrives in town (on a girl's bike) to explain why the Russians have landed on their island. But no one listens to him. A false report that Russian paratroopers have landed at the airport sends a contingent to investigate but they only find a few empty planes and the airport mechanic Stanley (Michael J. Pollard).
With most of the men out at the airfield, the Russians cut the phone lines and Rozanov grabs Whittaker (again). A few of the crew disguised as locals steal a boat. The Russian sub manages to free itself on its own. The Captain takes the submarine into port to pick up his men. Rozanov races back to the beach house to pick up Alexei with Whittaker in pursuit. The town people return from the airport. It's a stand off between the patriotic, gun toting Americans of Gloucester Island and two dozen Russian Naval men. Whittaker, his family, and Rozanov return to town just in time to try to deescalate the tension. The Russian Captain believes the town has kidnapped some of his men. He threatens to blow up the town. Fendall Hawkins manages to call an air force base to send two fighter jets to investigate. But an unlikely incident will unite the Americans and Russians together better than any politicians or generals ever could.
Stanley Kubrick's DR. STRANGELOVE (1964) had been released two years prior to THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. I had read somewhere that RUSSIANS director Norman Jewison was an admirer of Kubrick. The similarities to DR. STRANGELOVE may have attracted Jewison to direct THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. Both films deal with the Cold War and the icy relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING is more wacky and good natured than DR. STRANGELOVE'S dark humor and nihilistic point of view. Each film has a military authority figure that unnecessarily makes a bad decision. In DR. STRANGELOVE, it's rogue General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) ordering a U.S. bomber to drop nuclear warheads on Russia. In THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING it's the Russian Submarine Captain (Theodore Bikel) trying to get a closer glance at the American shoreline and running aground by accident.
Hysteria runs amok in both THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING and DR. STRANGELOVE. Peter Sellers in multiple roles in DR. STRANGELOVE tries to stay calm as Group Captain Mandrake after Ripper starts the nuclear codes before killing himself. Later, as the U.S. President Merkin Muffley, Sellers attempts to soothe the anxiety of the Russian ambassador, the Russian premier (via telephone), and the generals of the War Room ("there's no fighting in the War Room"). Carl Reiner serves the same purpose in THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. As the town of West Village mobilizes for what they think is a Russian invasion, Reiner's Walt Whittaker tries to explain to a panicked, armed militia that it's only nine Russians trying to borrow a boat to dislodge their stuck submarine. Whittaker, like the Russians, is a foreigner to the island. Whittaker is from the big city, most likely New York. The islanders are suspicious of Russians and visitors from the mainland. They don't trust anyone.
Where Kubrick's DR. STRANGELOVE envisions the world ending in nuclear devastation at the hands of the two super powers, Jewison and Rose see hope between the two countries in THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. From composer Johnny Mandel's dueling patriotic anthems accompanying animated Stars and Stripes versus the Hammer and Sickle in the opening credits, we know RUSSIANS will be a comic tug of war. Instead of giving us a high level standoff between American and Russian generals and presidents, RUSSIANS looks at the two differing sides from a smaller microcosm: a small group of citizens on an American island versus two dozen weary seamen from a Russian submarine. In its sublime finale, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING shows that if Americans and Russians can stop their distrust of each other and cooperate to rescue a young boy, why can't it extend globally. In the end, we're all the same whether you're American or Russian, Jewish or Palestinian black or white. "I wish not to hate...anybody!" Alexei Kolchin tells the pretty young Alison Palmer. She concurs. "It doesn't make sense to hate people. It's such a waste of time."
The two funniest characters in THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING are the vacationing American film writer Walt Whittaker (Carl Reiner) and the stranded Russian Navy Lieutenant Rozanov (Alan Arkin). Reiner's Whittaker is neurotic, trying to meet a deadline for a new musical comedy while dealing with his young, rambunctious kids. Whittaker is hurt when his young son Pete calls him a traitor for answering the Russians questions initially. In one very funny scene, Whittaker is tied up to the heavyset switchboard operator Alice Foss (Tessie O'Shea). Their escape attempt is hilarious as Reiner's face keeps ending up in uncomfortable parts of Alice or with her on top of him. Besides acting, Reiner would direct several Steve Martin films including THE JERK (1979) and THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS (1983). Arkin has fun with Rozanov's lack of English. Rozanov begins to confuse the order of American words and names, calling his captive "Whittaker Walt." Rozanov has little patience. He's tired of dealing with clowns whether it's his commanding officer or an American father. He just wants to get home to Mother Russia. Arkin has had a lengthy film career, appearing in hit films from Arthur Hiller's comedy THE IN-LAWS (1979) to LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006).
Two of my favorite actors are underutilized in THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING: Eva Marie Saint and Jonathan Winters. Saint captivated me in Elia Kazan's ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) as Marlon Brando's girlfriend and in Alfred Hitchcock's NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) as the cool blonde helping Cary Grant. In THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, she has that unfortunate role of the wife. There are great wife roles but many wife roles are just window dressing. Saint and her on screen husband Carl Reiner have good chemistry but there's not much for Saint to do besides calm down her husband and resist a few mild flirtations from Rozanov. Saint's Elspeth Whittaker does come up with the idea in the finale on how to help the Russians get out of the harbor. I would have liked to see her involved more in the story.
Comedian Jonathan Winters is hard to miss with his big jowls and expressive eyes. Winters stood out amongst a huge cast in IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD. He seems perfect as the ruffled police deputy Norman Jonas, trying to help Brian Keith's Police Chief Mattocks locate the elusive Russians. But THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING never really gives Winters much to do except act flustered (which he's very good at) and mutter constantly, "We've got to get organized!" Winters funniest scene has little to do with dialogue. It's the first time we meet Jonas. He's about to have breakfast with his harried wife and their large brood of children (the funny part is imagining the heavy set Jonas fathering so many kids) when he's called to action. It might explain his constant agitation. Winters speech to his kids before he joins the local civilian force is priceless.
There are a few other familiar faces in THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. Brian Keith has a nice turn as the doubting local police chief Mattocks. Johnny Whittaker who plays the young red headed boy who inadvertently unites the two sides together at the end would work with Keith soon afterward on the hit TV series FAMILY AFFAIR (1966 to 1971). Fans may also remember Whittaker from the Saturday morning television show SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS (1973-75). Theodore Bikel as the Russian submarine captain would be familiar to audiences from his appearance in George Cukor's MY FAIR LADY (1964) and many other films and television appearances. Both Keith and Bikel have their moments in RUSSIANS moving finale.
If the plot of THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING depicting foreign countries invading the United States (accidentally or on purpose) looks familiar, Hollywood has tried the formula a few times since RUSSIANS. Dramatically, director John Milius made RED DAWN (1984) where the Russians really do invade America. Not surprisingly, Hollywood would remake RED DAWN in 2012, changing the invaders from Russians to North Koreans. Comedically, Steven Spielberg in 1979 would direct one of his few flops with the ambitious but overdone comedy 1941 about a coastal town in California that mistakenly thinks the Japanese are attacking the U.S. days after Pearl Harbor. Sounds a little bit like THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, doesn't it?
A few last tidbits about THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. Both actors Brian Keith and Alan Arkin could actually speak Russian although Keith doesn't need to use it as he play the American Police Chief Mattocks. Director Jewison films the opening sequence when the submarine becomes stuck entirely in Russian without any subtitles, lending to the film's authenticity and tension at the start of the film. A future film director would work on THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. Hal Ashby who would go on to direct the anti-war film COMING HOME (1978) as well as Peter Sellers last comedy BEING THERE (1979) would co-edit THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING with J. Terry Williams. Ashby would edit several Norman Jewison films and won an Academy Award for editing Jewison's IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967).
In light of today's climate, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING is a comedy with a simple but clever message that is as relevant today as it was back in 1966. For all our paranoia and hatred and suspicions about people not like us, we're all the same. We may not talk the same languages or have the same skin color but we're all alike. THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING will make you laugh out loud but it will also tug at your heart.
