How Hollywood Portrays Its Russians

America has had an up-and-down relationship with Russia this century. Here’s Hollywood’s view:

DICTATORIAL RUSSIA Greta Garbo is a humorless commissar in Ninotchka (1939; photo 2) who discovers that Western decadence is better than ideology.

COURAGEOUS RUSSIA Our wartime ally gets a stirring salute in Song of Russia (1943; 5).

BAD RUSSIA The remorseless assassins in From Russia with Love (1963) were bent on burying us. Hurrah for James Bond!

HUMAN RUSSIA A thaw? In The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), the stern Russkies turn out to be lovable.

LOVABLE RUSSIA The Girl from Petrovka (1974; 3) is a detente-era movie: Russian ballerina Goldie Hawn and American journalist Hal Holbrook find romance.

DISAPPOINTING RUSSIA In Reds (1981), socialist John Reed dies in sorrow when he sees the Russian Revolution go awry–much like liberals did when the U.S.S.R. invaded Afghanistan.

THE EVIL EMPIRE In Red Dawn (1984; 1), a Reagan-era fable, America is invaded by the commies, but our noble youth prevail.

REDEEMABLE RUSSIA Glasnost! In The Hunt for Red October (1990; 4), a sub commander dares to embrace the West.

UNRECONSTRUCTED RUSSIA In Air Force One (1997), the Russian government is good, but the bad guys are Russian rightists.

FUNNY RUSSIA Now Russians are punch-lines. The cosmonaut in Armageddon (1998; 6) provides comic relief, but he helps save the world.

–By Jamie Malanowski