Stars: Robin Williams, Cleavant Derricks, Maria Conchita Alonso, Alejandro Rey, Elya Baskin

Director: Paul Mazursky

Summary: An amusing tale of a Russian circus saxophonist who impulsively defects whilst touring America to fulfill his dream of being free to play real jazz.

Vladimir Ivanoff (Robin Williams) is a Russian saxophone player for the Moscow circus. Life in Russia is difficult and unrewarding, but he silently accepts the corruption of the Communist party and the constant threat of KGB spies because he enjoys his job, has a steady girlfriend, and loves his family. However, his friend Anatoly (Elya Baskin) dreams of freedom in America and makes plans to defect when the circus announces an American tour to New York. Their trip to the Big Apple is thrilling, full of exciting revelations, and on their last day in New York they are allowed 30 minutes to shop in Bloomingdale's, surrounded by tempting American merchandise. While Anatoly loses his nerve, Vladimir is awakened with the desire to defect and manages to outrun the KGB. Suddenly Vladimir is a free man with no family or friends and no chance of ever returning to his homeland. With the help of a Bloomingdale's security guard (Cleavant Derricks) and a pretty Italian makeup counter saleswoman (Maria Conchita Alonso), Vladimir finds a place to stay and a wide variety of odd jobs to start out his new life in the United States. As Vladimir struggles to make it in America, he longs for his family and his homeland, wrestling with the magnitude of his choice. Williams gives an honest and heartfelt performance in this touching and witty comedy by Paul Mazursky.

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Robin Williams is in his fuzzy, sensitive-with-bittersweet-touches mode in Moscow on the Hudson. Playing a musician in a Russian circus who gets talked into defecting by a pal and does so 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, Amazon.com

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Trailers, Commentary
Subtitles:	Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Year:	1984
Release Date:	June 14, 2004
Runtime:	112 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C 822 605 8
Keywords:	Comedy, General, Wide, Screen, Moscow, Hudson
Genre:	Comedy