Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Russkies
Directed by Rick Rosenthal
Platinum Disc Corporation 11/87 DVD/VHS Feature Film
PG

Danny (Leaf Phoenix), Jason (Stefan De Salle), and Adam (Peter Billingsley) are preteen boys who live in Key West, Florida near a military base. When a Russian sailor named Mischa (Whip Hubley) washes ashore during a storm, these gung ho American lads take him prisoner. But soon his friendliness begins to break through their stereotypical ideas about "the enemy." Mischa, in turn, learns that the United States is not exactly what he had expected. After a day of adventures together, the boys are hesitant to turn their new friend over to the military authorities and they devise an elaborate scheme to get him back to his ship. Along the way, they learn about appearances and reality, paranoia, espionage, and the mindless violence generated by ignorance.

Russkies is a feel-good movie which salutes the kind of people-to-people contact which is essential to the easing of international tensions. And any story which has boys move from devouring comic books about a militaristic superhero to reading Tolstoy's "War and Peace" is certainly worth hurrahing! Rick Rosenthal is the director.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat