Moscow on the Hudson was a 1984 comedy starring Robin Williams, and directed by Paul Mazursky. Williams plays a Russian circus musician who defects from the Soviet Union while on a visit to the United States.

Williams' co-stars in this film were Maria Conchita Alonso, Elya Baskin, Savely Kramarov, Alejandro Rey and Cleavant Derricks.

Plot

It's a bittersweet story set against the backdrop of the waning days of the Cold War. Vladimir Ivanoff (Williams) a saxophonist with a Moscow circus, ekes out a living but is miserably unhappy. He lives in a crowded apartment with his entire extended family, with no privacy to express his love for his girlfriend. He sucks up to his superior, standing in line for hours to buy shoes to obtain his favor. He cruises the streets, scrounging for black market petrol for his tiny car. He buffers between his crazy grandfather and the KGB, who want to arrest him for shouting anti-Soviet slogans out the window.

As a rare treat, the circus troupe is sent to perform in New York City. Ivanoff's clown friend, who has talked of little else but defecting, changes his mind at the last minute, and Ivanoff, who had opposed the scheme as reckless and foolhardy suddenly decides to do it. He hides behind a perfume counter at Macy's, his head inadvertently nudging the pretty clerk's backside under her skirt. In a scene of comic drama and nobility, Williams stands up to his Soviet boss and demands asylum in the United States.

From here, the movie takes an unexpected turn, as life in the Big Apple is not what Ivanoff had expected. He must find a job, his English isn't very good, he's lonely and disoriented and afraid of being forcibly repatriated. But in the end, he finds the American dream.

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