WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Rabby Tat This is a warm and funny movie from an earlier time. Clever and fun. Character driven without the silly special effects so common in modern movies. It relies upon good writing, quality acting and genuine physical comedy to do the job. I see that some reviewers did not like the ending, but this is integral to achieving the positive message that the movie wanted to convey. During the Cold War, people were in credible fear and this was an attempt to calm the fears while also giving a message of hope. If you do not appreciate this movie, you need to look at our history and once informed, consider it in the context of the day. Otherwise, from the late Brian Keith, "I thought all the nuts went home on Labor Day." :-)

SnoopyStyle A Russian submarine gets stuck on a sandbar after getting too close to Gloucester Island, Massachusetts. Lieutenant Rozanov (Alan Arkin) leads a group to find a motor boat to pull the submarine back out into the ocean. New Yorker musical playwright Walt Whittaker (Carl Reiner) and his family had rented a house and are the first to encounter the Russians. As rumors spread, fear and chaos ensue. Police Chief Link Mattocks (Brian Keith) tries to keep calm despite his bumbling deputy Norman Jonas (Jonathan Winters). To make matters worst, old-timer Fendall Hawkins organizes a riled-up militia.It's a lot of people yelling and talking over each other. It's a lot of misunderstandings and not-listening. It adds up to a mad-cap comedy of mostly annoying people. This era of comedy is not always that funny to me. It's half-funny and half-frustrating. There are very few appealing characters but there is some idiotic fun.

musicjune-957-115337 Having lived on an off-shore Maine island for years I have always loved this movie. We had a Jonathan Winters cop who was so incompetent that he was not allowed to carry a gun and made Barney Fife look like a genius. I observed him one day trying to stop a speeding motorist who ignored him and his comment was "Go ahead, I hope you kill yourself". The island airport was off-limits even for emergencies. The island jail was one room and the door lock was broken so the cop would tell people he wanted to arrest to go home but to be sure to be on the ferry boat in the morning to go to jail on the main-land. He usually got on the ferry alone. Incest is rampant on the coastal islands of Maine so there were 600 village idiots in this small village of 1300 people. You could find out who was sleeping with whom by asking the town phone operator. I knew a guy whose wife broke their telephone over his head. He remarked that it was OK because even though he could not receive he could still send. Another guy I knew got a hunting knife from his wife for Christmas and liked to brag that he gave it back to her in the stomach. A friend of mine had an awful smell in his car but said it was OK because it was his wifes "after birth" which he hadn't had time to throw on the dump. If you were not born on the island you were considered a "from away" person and therefore a secondary citizen. One fellow took umbrage at this and spoke up because he and his father were both born and raised on the island. He was told yes but your grandfather was not born here so you are from "Away". I knew another guy who was having an affair with a young girl and was told by his wife to stop because unknown to him she was his daughter. Lots of fun in this movie don't miss it.

christhecat I remember watching this as a child with my parents and enjoying it. I watched it again recently and enjoyed it more because I understood a lot of the humor I missed as a child, even laughing out loud in some parts. It's perhaps a little slow in parts, but maybe because I've grown used to modern, non-stop-wise-cracking comedies.There are some aspects that are remarkably unrealistic: a Russian sub captain wanting to "sneak a peak" at the USA, a Russian Sub captain threatening to shell a town instead of using diplomatic detente (really-- I'm sure ALL the sailors knew how serious the tensions between the two powers were).There are some aspects that are remarkably realistic: how the rumor of invasion grows wings and develops purely invented details, how quickly mob mentality takes over, how everyone thinks they know what's going on but clearly do not (I note that the Russians are maybe more scared than the Americans, as they always seem to be perspiring.) Indeed-- one of the themes of the film seems to be mis-communication, and how quickly misunderstanding can turn into war.I was also thinking about "treason" while watching the film. The idea is brought up at least twice on screen. Carl Reiner's "Whittaker Walt" clearly is just trying to be a good samaritan, and doesn't want to see anybody get hurt, neither Yankee nor Slav. By the end of the film I was reminded of that sappy Sting song with the lyric "I'm sure the Russians love their children too"-- clearly the whole town has come to the same conclusion, and decides it's maybe better to be (perhaps) treasonous against their own country than to be (definitely) treasonous against their own humanity. (Besides-- how would it aid the US to go to war over a minor misunderstanding caused by a bumbling sea captain?)