guaranteed to please the present occupant of the White House, for "Moscow on the Hudson" is an unabashedly patriotic movie, a sentimental reminder that America is still a welcome haven for eager refugees from diverse cultures and that the land of opportunity is not such a bad place to live even if freedom means, as Vladimir discovers, that muggers can walk the streets without much fear of prosecution. Robin Williams, who has never shown such• self-control on the screen, manages to be both funny and vulnerable as Vladimir, rattling off Russian phrases with surprising ease. Derricks is extremely likable as his new best friend. Alonso, a Venezuelan actress, who, it is interesting to note, sang the title song in the movie "Scarface," is simply enchanting. The movie, which has its dull patches due to the lack of any sort of dramatic conflict, automatically bursts into life the minute this delightfully vivacious, dark-haired beauty appears on camera. Friday AY MOVIES = 'MOSCOW ON THE HUDSON' The Americanization of Vladimir BY KATHLEEN CARROLL Cleavant Derricks and Robin Williams : MOSCOW By ON THE KATHLEEN * * HUDSON. * With CARROLL Robin WilHams, Alelandro Rey. Directed by Paul Mazursky. At Loews N. Y. Twin, 34th St. Showplace and Paramount. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes. Rated R. Russian saxophone player who secretly digs the music of such black American jazz artists as the late saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, has learned the art of survival in the Soviet Union. He avoids endless lines by purchasing such luxury items as toilet paper from black marketeers. He keeps his KGB boss happy by bribing him with a brand-new pair of shoes (they may not fit, but it certainly beats waiting five years to buy the latest in Russian footwear). Still, Vladimir hardly qualifies as a Soviet dissident. In fact, he firmly subscribes to the Communist party view that America is seething with "decadence, poverty and crime," which may explain why Vladimir and his best. friend, Anatoly, can hardly wait for their upcoming cultural exchange visit to New York as members of a Moscow circus company. Anatoly, a mournful-looking circus clown, has already confessed that he plans to defect, but he loses his nerve at the last second. Instead, it is Vladimir who gives in to a sudden urge to defect. Where does he make this momentous decision? Why, in Bloomingdale's, of course, that notorious example of capitalist decadence. Vladimir's KGB snoops are so dazzled by the 'LADIMIR IVANOFF. a selection of blue jeans that they fail to notice him duck behind a cosmetics counter. What follows- several frantic moments of highly comical confusion- are by far the best scenes in Paul Mazursky's "Moscow on the Hudson." A black security guard (Cleavant Derricks) orders the KGB "to keep the hands off the man" and a Cuban-born immigration lawyer (Alejandro Rey) conveniently pops up in time to offer his services. A tearful Vladimir (Robin Williams) waves farewell to his friend, Anatoly, touchingly played by Elya Baskin, a former member of the Moscow Comedy Theater Company. The rest of the episodic movie deals with the trials and occasional triumphs of this sweet-natured, inevitably lonely immigrant who has the added disadvantage of knowing he can never see his family again. Vladimir, who quickly learns to say something in English besides "kiss me, beautiful," also acquires, much to the audience's disbelief, an extremely adorable Italian-born girlfriend (Maria Conchita Alonso) who, because of her feminist aspirations, resists his attempts to make their relationship permanent. During the course of the movie, Vladimir encounters the traditional 57 varieties of immig. rants, from an inscrutable Korean cab driver to a happy-golucky Russian hot dog salesman (his former KGB watchdog who wisely refrained from returning to the Soviet Union). This is one movie that is
