Apparently in the mid 1980's American film making could be kind of like in the 1950's. Every moment and the dialog generally feel contrived and sentimental. William's saxophone miming is totally unconvincing. Music choices under scenes are thuddingly obvious. There are a couple of very minor offensively stereotypical gay characters. The Russians shop at Bloomingdales. Why? Maybe it wasn't super expensive then? And William's character gets an apartment (OK, not a spiffy one, and only a bedroom/living room) in Manhattan with a spacious eat-in kitchen. And it's not on the street side! Why didn't he move to Brighton Beach? Anyway it was on the local PBS station and I didn't have to pay rapt attention, so worth it for some 80's NYC.
Review of Moscow on the Hudson
