Moscow on the Hudson

When Vladimir Ivanoff defects in a department store he raises the curtain on a new and wondrous way of life. ROBIN WILLIAMS will make you laugh and cry as a freedom - loving Soviet defector in this brilliant, thought-provoking melodrama. Circus saxophonist Vladimir Ivanoff (Williams) suddenly decides to defect from his touring troupe in that temple of 'Western decadence', Bloomingdale's department store, New York. Fleeing the KGB, Vladimir wins asylum and moves into the crowded Harlem flat of security guard Lionel Witherspoon (CLEAVANT DERRICKS). Soon he has found both a voluptuous Italian mistress (MARIA CONCHITA ALONSO), and a shrewd Cuban lawyer (ALEJANDRO REY). Though Vladimir learns that life in America can be cold and even painful, he grows to love his strange and wondrous adopted land. Director Paul Mazursky has transformed Valdimir's declaration of independence into a memorable film. © Columbia Pictures