''Back in the USSR'' is a 1992 American

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by

Deran Sarafian Deran Sarafian is an American film and television director and actor. He directed ''Death Warrant, Gunmen,'' and ''Terminal Velocity''. He has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards. Life and career Sarafian is the son of film directo ...

and starring

Frank Whaley Frank Joseph Whaley (born July 20, 1963) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, and comedian. His roles include Brett in ''Pulp Fiction'', Robby Krieger in ''The Doors'', young Archie "Moonlight" Graham in ''Field of Dreams'', and Guy ...

, Natalya Negoda and

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a (né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two ...

. Written and produced by

Ilmar Taska Ilmar Taska (born May 21, 1953, in Vyatka) is an Estonian filmmaker and writer, who was writer and producer for 20th Century Fox movie ''Back in the USSR'' (1992) and producer for '' Candles in the Dark'' directed by Maximilian Schell. Ilmar Ta ...

and Lindsay Smith.

Plot

Set in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

during the last years of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, with Gorbachev's

glasnost ''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...

and

perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

in full swing, the film follows Archer Sloan, a young American student from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, who arrives hoping to sample the delights of Moscow, but runs into a number of people interested in stolen art works.

Cast

as Archer Sloan * Natalya Negoda as Lena *

as Kurilov * Andrew Divoff as Dimitro *

Dey Young Dey Young is an American actress and sculptor. Biography Young was born in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, the daughter of Pauline, a sociologist, and Donald E. Young. Her sister is Leigh Taylor-Young and her brother is Lance Young, a writer ...

as Claudia *

Ravil Isyanov Ravil Akhmedullovich Isyanov (russian: Равиль Ахмедуллович Исьянов; 20 August 1962 – 29 September 2021) was a Russian actor who appeared in over 70 film and television roles, primarily in the United States. He was most ...

as Georgi * Harry Ditson as Whittier *

Brian Blessed Brian Blessed (; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor, presenter, writer and mountaineer. Blessed is known for portraying PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars'', Augustus in the 1976 BBC television production of ''I, Claudius'', King Richard IV i ...

as Chazov *

Constantine Gregory Constantine Gregory (born Constantine Liebert, September 16, 1942) is an American actor, dialect coach, and voice actor. Until 1983 he was usually credited as Constantin de Goguel. Life and career He was born of a Dutch father and Russian–born m ...

as Stanley * Boris Romanov as father Pyotr *

Vsevolod Safonov Vsevolod Dmitrievich Safonov (russian: Все́волод Дми́триевич Сафо́нов; 9 April 1926 – 6 July 1992) was a Soviet actor of theatre and cinema. He was awarded the title People's Artist of the USSR Prize (1974). Biography ...

as Ivan *

Yuri Sarantsev Yuri Dmitriyevich Sarantsev (russian: Ю́рий Дми́триевич Сара́нцев; 7 October 1928 – 24 August 2005) was a Soviet and Russian actor who appeared in numerous films between 1950 and 1999. He is most known for the 1962 s ...

as concierge *

Oleg Anofriyev Oleg Andreyevich Anofriyev (sometimes spelled Anofriev, russian: link=no, Олег Андреевич Анофриев; 20 July 193028 March 2018), PAR, was a Soviet and Russian theatreРусский драматический театр: Энци ...

as taxi driver

References

1992 films 1992 crime thriller films Films set in Moscow Cold War films Films set in the Soviet Union Films directed by Deran Sarafian American crime thriller films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films {{crime-thriller-film-stub