Line #24 Film/MoscowOnTheHudson


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_008.jpeg]]
2	->''"I can do anything I want. Is America."''
3	-->-- '''Lucia Lombardo''' (Creator/MariaConchitaAlonso)
4
5	''Moscow on the Hudson'' is a 1984 comedy-drama film directed by Creator/PaulMazursky and starring Creator/RobinWilliams.
6
7	Vladimir Ivanov is a saxophone player for the Moscow circus. Poor and miserable, he endures the long lines and the police breathing down his neck. His friend, Anatoly, lends him his apartment so Vladimir can be alone with his girlfriend. They will be performing in [[BigApplesauce New York City]], and Anatoly wishes to defect. Vladimir is approached by the KGB, who wants him to rat out his friend.
8
9	During the visit to New York, however, it is Vladimir who ends up seeking asylum. In legal limbo, he can only find low-paying jobs and has to stay with a family living in the slums. Vladimir must learn to cope in this strange land, discover what it holds in store for him, and find out whether or not he can achieve UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream.
10	----
11	!! "Tropes on the Hudson":
12	* BangBangBANG: [[spoiler:Vladimir, shaken up after having being mugged, thinks he hears gunshots. It's Fourth Of July firecrackers.]]
13	* BewareTheQuietOnes: Vladimir, from the KGB's point of view. Boris and the other KGB handler never even suspected that Vladimir would defect because he was always so polite and deferential towards them. Their primary concern was Anatoly, who was an irreverent trouble-maker who often spoke of how much he wanted to leave the Soviet Union.
14	* BigApplesauce: And the poster art even parodies the famous Saul Steinberg cover for ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' seen on the trope page. Steinberg successfully sued Columbia for using his image.
15	* BilingualBonus: Many of the characters who speak Russian in this movie are played Russian actors, so much of the spoken Russian is accurately spoken.
16	** When Boris, the circus troupe's KGB handler for the trip to the US, is listing off places the circus people aren't allowed to visit in New York, he pronounces Greenwich Village as "Greenwich Ilyich". This is an inside joke for Russian speakers because the name "Ilyich" was used in the USSR to refer to Vladimir Lenin.
17	* BurgerFool: Vladimir's first American job is at [=McDonald's=]. ("Come back [=McSoon=].")
18	* CelebrityParadox: A Maria Conchita Alonso song plays on the stereo during Lucia's family's celebration after she has become an American citizen.
19	%%* UsefulNotes/ColdWar
20	%%* CrazyCulturalComparison
21	* CulturalPosturing: Lucia when she tells the TokenBlack guy that her people "hired Michelangelo while his people still lived in straw huts".
22	* DespairEventHorizon: Vlad becomes disillusioned with America, thinking the freedom is an illusion. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL-Up0ej8Vo His fellow immigrants from around the world]] remind him what true freedom is.
23	* {{Eagleland}}: A perfect example of the "mixed" flavor.
24	-->'''Vladimir''': It's a strange country.
25	-->'''Boris''': Yes. Strange and wonderful.
26	* EarnYourHappyEnding: Vlad not only deals with the consequences of defection -- his family back home is in major trouble -- but also the realities of a free society (crime, bigotry, and so on), but it's all WorthIt when you finally are a part of the Melting Pot.
27	* {{Fanservice}}: Did Creator/MariaConchitaAlonso have to have a nude scene in the bathtub? Well, she didn't ''have'' to.
28	* FauxFluency: Averted -- Robin Williams learned conversational Russian (and also to play the saxophone) to do this role. It's then {{lampshade\|Hanging}}d as Vladimir (Williams) and Anatoly (Elya Baskin) practice their English:
29	-->'''Vladimir''': Hello, Mister, may I buy lamb chop?\
30	'''Anatoly''': Sure thing, Mister.\
31	'''Vladimir''': Do you read Creator/ErnestHemingway?\
32	'''Anatoly''': Every [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] day.\
33	'''Vladimir''': Kiss me, beautiful.
34	* FishOutOfWater: Vladimir. Witherspoon jokes about it:
35	-->"I can understand how the brother feels. I'm a refugee myself from Alabama."
36	* FreedomFromChoice: Vladimir, coming from a Communist country where consumer choice is limited, has a [[HeroicBSOD nervous breakdown]] in an American grocery store when he's confronted by an innumerable amount of different kinds of coffee.
37	%%* FunnyForeigner
38	* HowWeGotHere: The movie starts with Vladimir meeting a newly arrived immigrant on a bus and having a chat.
39	%%* AnImmigrantsTale
40	* ImmigrantPatriotism: Several of the characters: Lucia upon becoming a US citizen, as well as the large Russian immigrant at the diner who takes issue with Vladimir bad-mouthing US society after being mugged. Eventually, Vladimir becomes a patriotic American as well.
41	* JurisdictionFriction: Played for laughs in the standoff between the KGB agent and the Bloomie's security guard:
42	-->'''Agent''': I want to keep my comrade from making a big mistake.\
43	'''Guard''': I told you to back off! You're in ''my'' jurisdiction, which runs from Style Boutique to Personal Fragrances. So keep your hands off the man!
44	* MistakenForGay: Vladimir on two occasions. Lionel finds Vlad hugging Anatoly in the men's dressing room, and mistook two friends comforting each other for something else. Later, Vladimir is propositioned by a gay man in front of a record store who mistakes his friendly demeanor for flirtation.
45	* MistakenForSpies: "KGB?"...."No. [Gets the picture] G-A-Y."
46	* MondegreenGag: Vlad tells Lionel, a security guard, "I defect". Lionel thinks he's saying "defecate", and directs him to the men's bathroom.
47	-->'''Lionel:''' Not here, you don't. There's a men's room down the hall.
48	* MoodWhiplash: The movie alternates between scenes of the humorous antics that follow from Vladimir's CultureClash in America with more serious episodes that deal with his separation from his family, his sense of isolation and (for a while) his general hopelessness.
49	* MundaneMadeAwesome: Thanks to the poor quality Soviet products, Vlad is entranced with how soft American toilet paper is.
50	* NewscasterCameo: Kaity Tong as an ABC-TV correspondent reports on Vladimir's defection at Bloomingdale's (Tong was an anchor and reporter with WABC-TV in New York at the time).
51	* NiceGuy: Lionel, who offers Vladimir (a complete stranger to him) a place to stay when he defects.
52	* NonIronicClown: Anatoly. Bittersweet, though.
53	* PunchClockVillain: Boris the KGB agent is very much this. Despite all of the petty torments he inflicted on Vladimir and others, once he defects to the US and is no longer part of the Soviet system, he's a genuinely friendly guy.
54	* RealMenWearPink: Being pursued by a possible CIA or KGB agent? Bad. Being pursued by a gay guy? No problem. Vladimir even tells the guy, "Good luck."
55	* SexIsGood: Vladimir says this word for word to try to get Lucia to come back to his apartment.
56	* SwitchToEnglish: During an early scene in Russia, two characters decide to practice their English by continuing their conversation in English.
57	%%* VodkaDrunkenski
58	%%* WalkingShirtlessScene
59	%%* WrongSideOfTheTracks

Context Film / MoscowOnTheHudson