Watch Moscow on the Hudson For Free

One of my all time favorites.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Written, Produced & Directed by The Late/Great Paul Mazursky, 'Moscow on the Hudson' is a strange & wonderful, where our beloved Robin Williams soars in the title role. This performance only makes his loss all the more worse. What an actor & what a performance! 'Moscow on the Hudson' Synopsis: When a Russian musician defects in Bloomingdale's department store in New York, he finds adjusting to American life more difficult than he imagined.'Moscow on the Hudson' is about a man seeking freedom. We see the protagonist Vladimir Ivanov (Williams, of course) struggle initially in Moscow & later take the leap of faith in the US, to only realize that freedom is the best thing that can happen to anyone. His journey is real, as its sad & happy, real & affecting, as it progresses. And Williams owns the part. He speaks Russian as if it was his first language since birth & portrays a man torn between family & freedom. Williams is extraordinary & this is a performance, that definitely deserves to be watched again. A special mention for the delightful María Conchita Alonso, who enacts Williams' lady-love to perfection.Mazursky's Writing is excellent & his Direction, even better. 'Moscow on the Hudson' is a winner in almost every way. Strongly Recommended!

An actor as iconic as Robin Williams playing a Russian? Could it work? You wouldn't think so but the splendid little flick Moscow on the Hudson makes it work. Robin Williams stars as a Russian saxophone player named Vladimir Ivanoff. Vladimir and the circus troupe he performs with take a trip to the United States in to perform. While there, Vladimir makes the spontaneous decision to defect while in Bloomingdale's. He manages to get away with it and is left in the states. There he makes friends, looks for work, and learns why America is the greatest country in the world. The film doesn't come without its cheese, but there's something so charming and lovable about the film that I thoroughly enjoyed it.First thing's first, Robin Williams is as good as ever in this flick. He sports an impressive Russian accent throughout the film and about a quarter of his dialogue is actually in Russian, a language you would think he was already fluent in with how well he spoke it. Plus, the character of Vladimir Ivanoff is wonderfully lovable and it's a joy to watch his character progress and mature. Moscow on the Hudson at first starts out with the goofy and confused foreigner who doesn't know what he's doing, but it slowly moves away from that cliché as it makes Vladimir into a real character, rather than a gimmick. He is perfectly believable and goes through a progression that I can buy into. The film deals with the overwhelming nature of America for a foreigner, and it hits on some great points that go along with these ideas. Watching as Vladimir copes with the bustling New York City life is entertaining as well as touching and charming. We feel all of his excitement, anxiety, and even pain as he struggles with such a drastic change in lifestyles.Now, as interesting as the character development of this film might be, it is served with a heaping side of fresh cheese. There are some undeniably silly moments of the film where it begins to take itself a little too seriously and goes too much of a clichéd route to get a point across. I understand that one of the central themes of this film is America as the greatest country in the world, despite all of the problems, but this point is driven a little too exaggerated at points. There is one particularly eye-roll worthy scene on the fourth of July when Vladimir and other immigrants are quoting the Declaration of Independence and other parts of the Constitution inside a café, showing how we can all come together and put aside our differences. I found this to be a little too obvious and melodramatic and wished the film would have toned down some of the cliché in spots. However, it didn't keep me from really enjoying the majority of this film.I didn't have a clue what to expect going into Moscow on the Hudson, but I'm very glad I watched it. I probably wouldn't sit through it again, as I got everything I needed out of one viewing. This is a fun film with great characters and fantastic performances. It delivers a sincere, albeit clichéd, message that makes the film a little more than just another silly foreigner in America film. Plus, putting this film in context makes it all the more important. This is a Cold War era film that really pushes a message of peace and love, and I give it undying respect for that. It shows that we can get along if we just try, while also exemplifying that America stands to be the nation of peace and acceptance. Whether that is true today is up in the air, but that's a whole different topic. The fact of the matter is, Moscow on the Hudson is a pleasant little film that is well worth a one time watch.

"Moscow On The Hudson" is a 1980s version of "The Wizard Of Oz." If you are an American watching it, there is no place like home.Vladimir Ivanoff (Robin Williams) is a saxophonist with a Russian circus in the days of the bad old Soviet Union. Tired of waiting in line for toilet paper and bribing a snooping KGB agent (Saveli Kramarov) with shoes that won't fit him anyway, Vlad has a catharsis somewhere between Estee Lauder and Pierre Cardin in a Manhattan Bloomie's and decides to defect. America means freedom, but will it mean happiness, too?"Have you ever felt like just not talking?" asks Vlad's new girlfriend Lucia (Maria Conchita Alonso)."In Russia that's permanent way of life," answers Vlad."Moscow On The Hudson" is another of those superlative Paul Mazursky films that was a hit in its day and has been ignored since. Mazursky's films play off the contrast between the fantastic and everyday reality. The early scenes, of Vlad in Moscow, feature a chilly, brittle environment of little humor, with Williams scoring points not for being a cut-up but for being so muted and beaten-down. It's so gray it feels at times like a Bergman film, with welcome clownish notes struck not by Williams but Elya Baskin as his friend whose dream becomes Vlad's reality.Then we get the trip to New York, a wondrous place where "you can do anything in this country if you want" but "everybody I meet is from somewhere else." A suddenly vibrant color scheme is married to a sometimes goofy sense of humor, yet a sense of menace and despair hangs over all. There are goofy scenes, moments of humor that don't quite work, yet Williams' performance remains balanced and straightforwardly character-driven throughout. No shtick here.Most of the time, the film is too busy celebrating the idea of America as the land of immigrants. Mazursky isn't making "Yankee Doodle Dandy" here. He may be celebrating the United States, but not blindly. Our first shot of New York is of Abraham Lincoln, on a billboard wearing over-sized earphones with the legend: "Not all stereophones are created equal." Not all people, either. The black family who adopts Vlad early on makes do with a breakfast of Cocoa Puffs and no work in sight.But Mazursky keeps things merry, with an eye toward opportunity and strength through diversity. Even when he leans too far in search of a shot, it still brings a chill, like when group of immigrants recite their oath of American allegiance or an old Asian guy lifts a sparkler up to the Empire State Building in celebration of the Fourth of July.It was easy to love America in films of the 1940s and 1950s, but by 1984 you needed to work a little harder at it. "Moscow On The Hudson" doesn't soft-soap Vladimir's struggle, or sell it as a political act ("I'm not political" are the first words out of his mouth after his defection is made clear). But it celebrates the idea of America with a vibrancy and courage few films have shown since, and more interestingly, does so from what Roger Ebert noted was a liberal point of view. Liberal, but with a strong capitalist touch, back in the day when the two ideas were still compatible.Maybe they still are. You can still watch this on Amazon.com, can't you?

Robin Williams became famous, I think, for his stand-up comedy, like his idol Jonathan Winters, but do you realize how many movies this guy has made over the years? He's really become quite a film star and is especially good playing against-type as a criminal or simply as a wacko (see "One Hour Photo?")Anway, this was an early Robin Williams film in which he plays a Russian musician defecting to the United States. He ("Vladamir Ivanoff") first hides out in a big store in New York City before being taken in as an immigrant by a black guy (can you say PC?) Williams does an outstanding job speaking Russian, by the way, as opposed to most English-speaking actors.There really isn't much of a plot here, just slices of life, if you will, some of it with the usual Liberal promiscuous (i.e. "I'm a liberated woman and if I stay the night, don't misinterpret that I want to get involved with you," the Italian tells the Russian. I can think of a few more accurate descriptions that the word "liberated.")All in all, despite the premise and talents of Williams, this was only so-so. It kind of runs out of steam halfway through and it's hard to maintain interest in the final 40 percent of it. Actually, I like Williams better when he plays more serious roles like this although I'm not sure if he himself was ready to play it straight this early in his career. He's just too tempted in this film to produce comedy. He's a talented and very strange guy; this film reflects that.