I remember seeing "The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming" when it came out in 1966. My impression was that it was meant to be funny, but I believe that it was overdone. Some aspects were amusing, such as when the Russians asked Walt about the area (military bases, town fuzz, etc.) Pete, going into fourth grade (or had been promoted, could not tell which), declared that Daddy was acting like Arnold Benedict! (He obviously meant the Revolutionary hero-turned-renegade Benedict Arnold.) Another laugher was the Russians' stealing the Ford station wagon that the Whittakers had borrowed/rented, and have it run out of gas, followed by strains of "Long, Long Way to Tipperarie". There also were pleasant aspects of the flick, like the Whittakers' summer house, which reminded my of my grandparents' summer home in Little Deer Isle, Maine, and of cottages that my family rented in Ocean Park, Maine. One aspect of the costuming also stood out, that Elspeth wore wheat jeans much like those that I often wore in those days! I did not think much of Alison Palmer; some people to whom I described the movie thought she was a dud! I noted that the book, The Off-Islanders by Nathaniel Benchley, was basis for the movie; some aspects of the book were omitted. On the whole, I liked the book better than the movie.
