Product Details

• Actors: Robin Williams, Maria Conchita Alonso, Cleavant Derricks, Alejandro Rey, Saveli Kramarov
• Directors: Paul Mazursky
• Writers: Paul Mazursky, Leon Capetanos
• Producers: Paul Mazursky, Geoffrey Taylor, Pato Guzman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Russian
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: June 23, 1994
• Run Time: 115 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302538106
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #296,693 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Robin Williams in his fuzzy, sensitive mode with bittersweet touches plays a musician in a Russian circus who gets talked into defecting by a pal and does so (though the pal bails on him at the last minute)--in the middle of Bloomingdale's. A great concept, to be sure, but writer-director Paul Mazursky doesn't seem to know where to go from there. Williams winds up living in the same kind of poverty that he did in Russia, casting about for a way to make a living while both wallowing and drowning in the sudden tidal wave of freedom. Mazursky wants to make a point about how little we appreciate what we have, but he fails to entertain in the process--or at least to engage in a consistent way. --Marshall Fine

Product Description

There was a sort of sad comedy to the Cold War. This movie is a sort of sad comedy about the Cold War.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Ups and Downs of Freedom, June 12, 2005

By 

Richard Stoehr "Idle Rich" (Bremerton, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moscow on the Hudson (DVD)

"Moscow on the Hudson" is not a perfect movie, but it's definitely a more thoughtful, intelligent movie than you might otherwise expect. Robin Williams' performance as a Russian jazz musician defecting to America is sensitive and full-bodied, full of the talent and charm that make him so good to watch. The story is a rollercoaster of moments which reflect the American experience seen through the eyes of someone thrust suddenly in the middle of it all, in the place where it is at its most insane and most wonderful: New York City.

There's a line near the end of the film which struck me as particuarly adroit: "In Moscow, we fight for a crumb of freedom! Here, you s*** on it!" It really can't be said any better than that, and the movie is filled with moments which illustrate what makes America such a great, rich, and sometimes frightening experience, and what makes freedom such an important, and sometimes dangerous, concept.

Freedom is playing "Take the A-Train" on your sax, on a fire escape in New York City in the middle of the day for all the world to hear. Freedom is getting mugged on a city street at 2 AM. Freedom is getting into a stupid fight with your girlfriend, and making up with her later. Freedom is too many brands of coffee at the store, and not knowing which one to choose. Freedom is getting drunk and laughing your head off. Freedom is choosing not to work, even when you could. Freedom is not knowing what comes next.

"Moscow on the Hudson" is sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and almost always smartly-observed. Mostly, it's a movie about freedom -- not in the meaningless context that we hear politicians and pundits talk about it, but it the real, everyday sense, the things that showcase the idea of freedom in all its liberating, chaotic, messy glory.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is the film that put Robin Williams on the map as a "se, May 11, 2001

By 

E. Scoles (rochester ny usa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moscow on the Hudson [VHS] (VHS Tape)

...and it would be worth checking out for that reason alone -- except that it's also a _really good_ movie, too. Aside from one brief nude scene (he and Maria Conchita Alonso are lounging in the bath to cool off), it's also about as wholesome as you're going to get in a film for adults. Maltin pretty much hits the nail on the head: It's a bittersweet story about finding out that the land of your dreams is great, but still not all it's cracked up to be. It could be hard for viewers born after about 1970 to really grasp the finality of the Williams character's decisionm, as he finds himself with no real prospect of ever seeing his home and old friends again.

IMHO, this film is severely under-rated. Most people have never heard of it; yet as far as I'm concerned, it's one of Williams' best roles. This is one of those movies that's about the characters, and they're developed beautifully. Mazursky and his casting people wisely selected veteran character performers to complement Williams and Venezualan soap-opera pro Alonzo. No one, not even Williams, steals their scenes, and that's as it should be in a movie like this.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Freedom isn't free and other things to think about .........., September 6, 2005

By 

Kim A Miller (Windsor, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moscow on the Hudson (DVD)

For many years, I counted Moscow on the Hudson as my favorite film and if you like to be mildy entertained while considering what it means to be free in the USA, you may also love this thoughtful comedy. This was the first film that broke whatever box folks might have been trying to put Robin Williams in (after Mork and Mindy) and added Actor with a capital A to the public perception of him (at least for those who had the chance to see Moscow).

Among my favorite lines in the film is the disenchanted emigree played by Robin in a blue moment saying "When I was in Russia, I loved my misery, because it was mine." I think of this when I meet people whose eyes are closed to how precious our freedom is and the cost we must pay to learn to respect and treasure it.

There are many great scenes worth the wait, such as the final statement scene in the diner where other Russians who have learned how to deal with freedom, set the little Russian straight.

This is not an action filled or laugh filled romp. It is a film that requires a little patience and reflection, but an illumination to those with an open mind. Bravo Mazursky and Williams!