namashi_1 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!

TxMike This is one of Robin Williams's very early movies just a couple of years after the TV series 'Mork and Mindy' and right before such successes as 'Good Morning Vietnam' and what followed. Of course now we know what a big star he became, and also his unfortunate death last year.Robin Williams is Russian musician Vladimir Ivanoff and most of the first part of the movie depicts how hard it was in Moscow in the early 1980s. When a performance troupe is in New York he takes the bold step of running off at a department store, chased by Russian officials, but he manages to secure refuge.The rest of the movie has him working hard to make his new home there, thus 'Moscow on the Hudson.' He first takes a job busing tables in a restaurant, just carrying dirty dishes back to the dishwasher. Eventually he takes jobs like clerk at a fast food counter, running a street hot dog cart, a limo driver ... until he is able to get a new saxophone and play good music gigs.The other running story is his attraction to pretty (actually Hispanic) Maria Conchita Alonso as Italian Lucia Lombardo, also making her way into this new land. It is on again, off again because she is not sure she wants to commit to a marriage relationship but in the end it seems they will.Good movie and Williams' Russian seems fairly authentic. I saw it on the 'Movies!' channel, some of the scene with the two of them in the bathtub is blurred and some words are bleeped out.

brchthethird Directed by Paul Mazursky and starring Robin Williams, MOSCOW ON THE HUDSON is a brilliant and honest look at the immigrant/minority experience in the United States. In what is probably his finest performance, Robin Williams plays Vladimir Ivanoff, a Russian saxophone player for the circus who defects while on tour in New York City (at a Bloomingdale's, no less). Even though there is some necessary character establishment in Russia, the movie is largely concerned with his experience as an immigrant and how he adjusts to life here in the United States. During the course of the movie, he meets a black man named Lionel, who is the first person to take him in, and an Italian immigrant named Lucy (Maria Conchita Alonso).What struck me the most about the film, other than the outstanding message, was the degree to which Robin Williams immersed himself in this role. When he was on screen, it was like I was watching an actual Russian saxophone player instead of him playing a character. As a side note, he actually did learn how to speak Russian and play the saxophone for this film. Beyond that, the movie just felt real in the sense that you could believe that an immigrant would conceivably go through many of the situations portrayed in the film. To many of them, there must be this whimsy and fantastical aura when viewed from afar, but things turn out to be quite different once thrust into it headfirst as Vladimir is. Among the things I really took out of the film is the sense of community that immigrants and minorities have, something which they bring from their own life experiences.There is also the central issue of not taking freedom for granted, as I'm sure many Americans born here would understand. Seeing as this film was made during, and in the context of, the Cold War, life was understandably difficult in countries with dictatorial regimes and the lure of America, a free country, was certainly a strong one and still is to this day. That, I feel, is what should be taken away after watching this film most of all. The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we should all treat each other with respect and appreciate the freedoms we enjoy.Looking at the film from other perspectives, the technical aspects of the film are all excellent, though not flashy. Paul Mazursky allows the drama to take center stage, and it benefits the film considerably. There was also a great score with a jazz tinge, which gave off a whimsical tone at first, but also conveyed a sense of longing. Acting-wise, of course Robin Williams gives an incredibly moving portrayal of a Russian immigrant, but Maria Conchita Alonso also does a great job as his fellow immigrant girlfriend. There are also a couple of small roles played by familiar faces (to me, at least). Overall, this is a remarkably tender and uplifting drama (with some laughs as well) that has a great message and Robin Williams' best performance. This is a film that deserves to be seen, so that we can all be reminded not to take our freedoms for granted.

blanche-2 Robin Williams is a Russian musician who defects in Bloomingdale's in "Moscow on the Hudson," a film directed and co-written by Paul Mazursky. This is a warm, funny yet melancholy film about the experiences of immigrants trying to adjust to American life, focusing mainly on Robin Williams as Vladimir. Williams is excellent in depicting the wonder, the loneliness, the sadness, and the paranoia he experiences in his new country. He meets many other immigrants who have been in the U.S. for a longer time, including Maria Conchita Alonso, who plays an Italian salesgirl with ambitions of becoming a newscaster, and his immigration attorney, Alejandro Rey, in a marvelous performance. Once the honeymoon is over, Vladimir has to come to terms with never seeing his family again, the frustration of not yet being able to find work as a musician, the mean streets - and Russia starts to look good to him.This is a wonderful movie that depicts what newcomers to our country go through as they adjust to life here and gives one a new respect for our ancestors and for those immigrants we meet today.