The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming is a 1966 American comedy film directed and produced by Norman Jewison for United Artists. The satirical story depicts the chaos following the grounding of the Soviet submarine СпруT ("SpruT", pronounced "sproot" and meaning "octopus") off a small New England island. The film stars Alan Arkin in his first major film role, Carl Reiner, Eva Marie Saint, Brian Keith, Theodore Bikel, Jonathan Winters, John Phillip Law, Tessie O'Shea, and Paul Ford.
The screenplay is based on the 1961 Nathaniel Benchley novel The Off-Islanders, and was adapted for the screen by William Rose. The title alludes to Paul Revere's midnight ride, as does the subplot in which the town drunk (Ben Blue) rides his horse to warn people of the "invasion".
The film premiered on May 25, 1966, and was a widespread critical and commercial success. At the 39th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor for Alan Arkin. It also won two Golden Globes, for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Arkin.
Plot
One September morning, the Soviet Navy submarine Sprut draws too close to the New England coast when its captain wants to see North America and runs aground on a sandbar near Gloucester Island off the New England coast, with a population of about 200 people. Rather than radio for help and risk an embarrassing international incident, the captain sends a nine-man landing party, headed by his zampolit Lieutenant Yuri Rozanov, to find a motor launch to help free the submarine. The men arrive at the house of Walt Whittaker, a vacationing playwright from New York City. Whittaker is eager to get his wife Elspeth and children, Pete and Annie, off the island now that summer is over.
Pete tells his disbelieving dad that armed Russians are near the house. Walt is soon met by Rozanov and one of his men, Alexei Kolchin, who identify themselves as strangers on the island and ask if there are any boats available. Walt eventually asks if they are armed Russians. Startled, Rozanov admits that they are and pulls a gun on Walt. Rozanov promises no harm to the Whittakers if they surrender their station wagon. Elspeth provides the car keys, but before the Russians depart, Rozanov orders Alexei to prevent the Whittakers from fleeing.
The station wagon quickly runs out of gasoline, forcing the Russians to walk. They steal an old sedan from Muriel Everett, the postmistress; she calls Alice Foss, the gossipy telephone switchboard operator, and soon, rumors about Russian parachutists and an air assault on the airport throw the island into confusion. Police Chief Link Mattocks and his deputy Norman Jonas try to squelch a "citizens' militia" led by Fendall Hawkins, head of the local VFW.
Meanwhile, Walt, Elspeth and Pete overpower Alexei when Alison Palmer, an 18-year-old neighbor and Annie's babysitter, arrives for work, giving them an opening. Alexei flees, but when Walt, Elspeth, and Pete leave to find help, he returns to retrieve his weapon from the house, where only Alison and Annie remain. Despite wanting no fighting, Alexei must obey his superiors in guarding the residence. He promises not to harm anyone and offers to surrender his gun as proof. Alison trusts him and does not want his firearm.
Walt is recaptured by the Russians in the telephone exchange. After subduing Mrs. Foss, tying her and Walt together and disabling the island's telephone switchboard, seven Russians appropriate civilian clothes from a dry cleaner's, steal a cabin cruiser, and head back to the submarine. Back at the Whittaker house, Alexei and Alison talk, and eventually kiss. At the telephone exchange, Walt and Mrs. Foss, bound together and gagged, escape from the office. They are eventually discovered by Elspeth and Pete, who untie them. They return to their house where Walt shoots at and almost kills Rozanov, who reached there ahead of them. With the misunderstandings cleared up, the Whittakers, Rozanov, and Alexei decide to head into town together to explain to everyone what has been going on.
As the tide rises, the sub floats off the sandbar. The Sprut proceeds on the surface to the island's main harbor to recover the landing party. Chief Mattocks, having investigated and debunked the rumor of an airborne assault, returns to town with the unorganized militia. With Rozanov acting as interpreter, the Russian captain threatens to open fire on the town unless the seven missing sailors are returned to him; his crew faces upwards of a hundred townspeople armed with everything from .22 caliber rifles and 12 gauge shotguns to military surplus battle rifles. Two small boys climb up to the church steeple to see better. One slips and falls but his belt catches on a gutter, leaving him hanging 40 feet up in the air. The American islanders and the Russian submariners join forces to rescue him by forming a human pyramid.
Peace is established between the two groups. In the meantime, however, Hawkins has contacted the Air Force by radio. In a joint decision, the submarine leaves the harbor with villagers in small craft protecting it. Alexei says goodbye to Alison. The stolen cabin cruiser with the missing Russians meets the sub, which they board before two Air Force jets arrive. The jets break off after seeing the escorting flotilla of civilian boats. The Sprut is free to proceed to deep water and safety.
Cast
<!-- Cast and order per tombstone opening credits, roles per closing credits scroll -->
The Islanders
The Russians
Production
thumb|267px|Aerial view of [[Noyo Harbor in California where part of the film was shot]]
thumb|267px|[[84th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-101B Voodoo]]
Although set on the fictional "Gloucester Island" off the coast of Massachusetts, the movie was filmed on the coast of Northern California, mainly in Mendocino. The harbor scenes were filmed in Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg, California, about 7 miles (11 km) north of Mendocino. Because of the filming location on the West Coast, the dawn scene at the beginning of the film was actually filmed at dusk through a pink filter.
The submarine used was a fabrication. The United States Navy refused to lend one for the production, so the producers asked the Russian Embassy for a Soviet submarine, which was similarly refused. The Mirisch Company rented a mockup of a submarine that had been used in the 1965 film Morituri.
The planes used were actual F-101 Voodoo jets from the 84th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, located at the nearby Hamilton Air Force Base. They were the only Air Force planes that were based near the location of the supposed island.
The title alludes to Paul Revere's midnight ride, as does the subplot in which the town drunk (Ben Blue) rides his horse to warn people of the "invasion".
Pablo Ferro created the main title sequence, using the American flag's red, white, and blue colors and the Soviet hammer and sickle as transitional elements, zooming into each to create a montage, which ultimately worked to establish the tone of the film. The music in the sequence alternates between the American "Yankee Doodle" march and a combination of the Russian songs "Polyushko Pole" (Полюшко Поле, usually "Meadowlands" in English) and the "Song of the Volga Boatmen".
Much of the dialog was spoken by the Russian characters, played by American actors at a time when few American actors were adept at Russian accents. Musician and character actor Leon Belasco — who was born in Russia, spoke fluent Russian and specialized in foreign accents during his 60-year career — was the dialog director. Alan Arkin extensively studied Russian in preparation for his role as Lt. Rozanov. As of 2017, he could still remember his Russian lines from the film. Theodore Bikel was able to pronounce Russian so well (he had taken a few classes, but was not at all fluent in the language) that he won the role of the submarine captain. Alex Hassilev, of The Limeliters, also spoke fluent Russian and played the sailor Hrushevsky. John Phillip Law's incorrect pronunciation of difficult English phonemes, most notably in Alison Palmer's name ("ah-LYEE-sown PAHL-myerr"), was unusually authentic by the standards of the day. Brian Keith, who also spoke fluent Russian, did not do so in the film.