Moscow on the Hudson
A Soviet circus musician defects during a visit to New York, navigating the challenges of freedom, friendship, and love as he pursues the American dream.
“Vladimir Ivanoff walks into a department store to buy blue jeans, walks out with a girl friend, an immigration lawyer and a buddy. His life and theirs will never be the same again.”
Synopsis
A Russian circus travels to the United States, where one of its clowns contemplates defecting but lacks the courage to do so. His friend, a saxophone player, decides to defect during a visit to Bloomingdales. There, he befriends a Black security guard and develops a romantic relationship with an Italian immigrant who works at the perfume counter. The narrative follows his journey as he navigates the American dream and seeks employment as a musician.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 17
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Richard HalseyShot by Donald McalpineScored by David MchughDesigned by Pato Guzman
Box Office
1984 · Box office
Grossed $25.1M worldwide
Worldwide gross
$25.1M
US & Canada: $25.1M — 100% of worldwide · International: $31K (0%)
Opening weekend: $3.5M — 14% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.
Opening week (7-day): $4.6M — 18% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 618 theaters
Also known as
- Moskau in New Yorkde
- Moscou à New Yorkfr
- Mosca a New Yorkit
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Cast & Crew
17 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Robin Williams
as Vladimir Ivanoff
Maria Conchita Alonso
as Lucia Lombardo
Cleavant Derricks
as Lionel Witherspoon
Alejandro Rey
as Orlando Ramirez
Saveliy Kramarov
as Boris
Elya Baskin
as Anatoly
Oleg Rudnik
as Yury
Aleksandr Benyaminov
as Vladimir's Grandfather
Lyudmila Kramarevskaya
as Vladimir's Mother
Ivo Vrzal Wiegand
as Vladimir's Father
Directors
1Writers
2Producers
1Other crew
5Parents Guide
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