Norman Jewison didn't want to make just another slapstick comedy. He wanted to make people look at the Cold War and laugh at the absurdity of it all. It was 1966. The world was basically one bad mood away from nuclear annihilation. Then along comes this movie with a ridiculously long title and a crew of Soviet sailors stuck on a sandbar off a fictional New England island. It sounds like the setup for a bad joke, but honestly, the cast of movie The Russians Are Coming is what turned a potential flop into an Oscar-nominated classic.
You've got a mix of Broadway legends, comedy giants, and a newcomer who would eventually become an icon. It’s a weird, lightning-in-a-bottle assembly of talent.
The Man Who Stole the Show: Alan Arkin
Most people don't realize this was Alan Arkin's first big film role. He wasn't some seasoned Hollywood veteran yet; he was a stage guy coming out of Second City. As Lieutenant Rozanov, he had to carry the movie's heart and its humor. He spent weeks obsessively studying Russian because he wanted the accent to be more than just a cartoonish "moose and squirrel" bit.
It worked.
✨ Don't miss: Why ASAP Rocky F kin Problems Still Runs the Club Over a Decade Later
Arkin plays Rozanov with this frantic, high-blood-pressure energy. He’s a guy just trying to do his job without starting World War III, and you can see the sheer exhaustion in his eyes every time a local islander does something stupid. He actually won a Golden Globe and got an Oscar nod for this, which almost never happens for a comedic debut.
The American Counterpart: Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner plays Walt Whittaker, a high-strung New York playwright just trying to have a quiet vacation. Reiner was already a comedy god by this point, thanks to The Dick Van Dyke Show, but here he plays the "straight man" who keeps losing his cool.
The chemistry between Reiner and Arkin is the engine of the movie. There's this one scene where Reiner is tied up back-to-back with a gossipy telephone operator (played by the legendary Tessie O’Shea), and they have to roll down a flight of stairs. It’s pure physical comedy. Reiner later said he hated leaving the location in Mendocino, California—which stood in for the fictional "Gloucester Island"—because the cast got along so well.
🔗 Read more: Ashley My 600 Pound Life Now: What Really Happened to the Show’s Most Memorable Ashleys
The Ensemble That Made the Island Feel Real
If the movie was just Arkin and Reiner, it might have been a bit thin. But Jewison filled the background with character actors who knew exactly how to play "small-town panic."
- Eva Marie Saint: She plays Elspeth Whittaker. Coming off movies like On the Waterfront and North by Northwest, she was the "prestige" casting. She brings a grounded, sensible energy to the chaos, acting as the bridge between her neurotic husband and the "invading" Russians.
- Brian Keith: He plays Police Chief Link Mattocks. He's the only guy on the island with a functioning brain cell. While everyone else is grabbing shotguns and screaming about paratroopers, he’s just trying to find out where his deputy went.
- Jonathan Winters: Speaking of the deputy, Winters plays Norman Jonas. If you know anything about 60s comedy, you know Winters was a loose cannon in the best way. He improvised a lot of his bits, and his "we've got to get organized!" mantra became one of the film's most quoted lines.
- Theodore Bikel: He plays the Russian Captain. Interestingly, Bikel wasn't Russian—he was Austrian-born and a massive folk singer—but his grasp of languages was so good that he sounded more authentic than almost anyone else.
The Romance No One Expected
You can't have a 1960s movie without a little bit of a "Romeo and Juliet" subplot. John Phillip Law plays Alexei Kolchin, the young, handsome Soviet sailor left behind to guard the Whittaker family. He ends up falling for the babysitter, Alison Palmer (played by Andrea Dromm).
It sounds cheesy on paper. In reality, it’s the most "human" part of the story. Law’s struggle with the English language—specifically his pronunciation of "Alison Palmer" as "Ah-lyee-sown Pahl-myerr"—became a weirdly sweet highlight. It showed the audience that these "enemies" were just kids who liked pretty girls and didn't want to fight.
💡 You might also like: Album Hopes and Fears: Why We Obsess Over Music That Doesn't Exist Yet
Why This Cast Still Matters in 2026
We live in a time where political satire is usually mean-spirited. The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming was different. It used its cast to prove that bureaucracy and fear are the real villains, not the people on the other side of the fence.
The movie was a massive hit, raking in over $21 million at the box office (a huge sum back then) and proving that audiences were hungry for stories that found common ground. Even Soviet filmmakers who saw the movie in private screenings were reportedly moved to tears by the final scene—the one where the townspeople and the sailors team up to save a little boy hanging from a church roof.
Key Facts About the Production
- The Submarine: The U.S. Navy and the Russian Embassy both refused to lend the production a submarine. The crew had to build a 140-foot plywood-and-steel replica that was so convincing it allegedly caused a stir when it was seen in the water.
- The Location: Though set in Massachusetts, it was filmed in Mendocino, California. The "New England" fog was actually real, which helped the atmosphere but made filming a nightmare.
- The Script: William Rose wrote the screenplay based on the novel The Off-Islanders. He also wrote It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, which explains why the pacing feels like a runaway train.
If you’re looking to revisit this classic, pay close attention to the background actors. Many were actual locals from the Mendocino coast who were hired as extras. Their genuine confusion and excitement add a layer of realism you just don't get with professional background talent.
Actionable Next Steps:
To truly appreciate the cast of movie The Russians Are Coming, your next move should be to watch the 1967 Academy Awards highlights or find the "making of" retrospective usually included on the Blu-ray editions. Seeing Alan Arkin discuss his process for Lt. Rozanov provides a fascinating look at how a master of character acting builds a performance from the ground up, starting with nothing but a dictionary and a nervous disposition.