A Russian saxophonist visiting New York City with a USSR circus troupe suddenly decides to defect in Bloomingdale's.A Russian saxophonist visiting New York City with a USSR circus troupe suddenly decides to defect in Bloomingdale's.A Russian saxophonist visiting New York City with a USSR circus troupe suddenly decides to defect in Bloomingdale's.
- Awards
- 2 nominations total
Saveliy Kramarov
- Boris
- (as Savely Kramarov)
Aleksandr Benyaminov
- Vladimir's Grandfather
- (as Alexander Beniaminov)
Lyudmila Kramarevskaya
- Vladimir's Mother
- (as Ludmila Kramarevsky)
Ivo Vrzal-Wiegand
- Vladimir's Father
- (as Ivo Vrzal)
Natalya Ivanova
- Sasha
- (as Natalie Iwanow)
Eyde Byrde
- Lionel's Mother
- (as Edye Byrde)
Aleksandr Narodetsky
- Leonid
- (as Alexander Narodetzky)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn preparation for his role, for about a year, lead actor Robin Williams studied Soviet customs and learned the Russian language. Reportedly, Williams spent five hours a day learning Russian and had learned to speak it well within a month. By the time of principal photography, Williams was at a proficiency level where he could carry out a conversation. Williams's teacher was a Russian actor called David.
- GoofsIn the USSR of the 1980s even teenagers weren't acquainted with middle finger gesture, let alone an 80-year-old man doing it towards KGB officers.
- Quotes
Vladimir Ivanoff: Yesterday I bought my first pair of American shoes. They were made in Italy.
- Alternate versionsCBS edited 19 minutes from this film for its 1986 network television premiere.
- SoundtracksFreedom
Written by David McHugh
Produced by Chaka Khan and David McHugh
Performed by Chaka Khan
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records
Featured review
Manhattan looks so much more varied and gritty and real and less mall-ified than it does today in this, Paul Mazursky's 1984 love letter to the American way, and one of the last unambiguously patriotic mainstream American movies. (It's very much a product of its Reagan time, right down to the casual homophobia.) Robin Williams, for once not twinkling too hard or overworking his virtuosity or adorableness, is an Everyman Russian who unexpectedly defects in Bloomingdale's and goes on to live the immigrant experience, suffering urban indignities and romantic angst along the way. His worklife is a little easier, his economic situation a little less treacherous, and the people he meets a little nicer than they would be in real life. For all that, in its celebration of the melting pot and its warm embrace of the American urban landscape, the movie moved me to tears.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Moskau in New York
- Filming locations
- Munich, Bavaria, Germany(city: Moscow)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $13,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $25,068,724
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,536,687
- Apr 8, 1984
- Gross worldwide
- $25,068,724
- Runtime1 hour 55 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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