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Directed by Norman Jewison

Alan Arkin, Theodore Bikel

When a Russian sub runs aground off the New England coast during the Cold War, hysterical hysteria ensues.

Russian sailors:  Emergency .  Everybody to get from street!

In 1966 the Cuban Missile crisis was still fresh in everyone’s memory, and anxieties about nuclear war had, just two years before, inspired dark, apocalyptic films like Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove. Perhaps that’s why this endearing comedy about cold war paranoia struck such a chord with audiences.  A cast including Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters, Eva Marie Saint and Alan Arkin certainly doesn’t hurt. 

After their submarine hits a sandbar off the New England coast, (the captain was curious about America and got too close) a group of frightened Soviet sailors comes on shore in search of a boat to pull their sub free. Word spreads in the island resort community and some of the locals decide an invasion has begun.  Arkin’s performance as the politely subversive Lieutenant Rozanov made him a star, Carl Reiner is quietly funny as a musical comedy writer trying to prevent World War III, and Brian Keith stands out as a level-headed, increasingly exasperated police chief. 

The trailer, in which Reiner and Arkin perform some comedy improve, can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEWWRbn4zG0