''White Nights'' is a 1985 American musical

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film directed by

Taylor Hackford Taylor Edwin Hackford (born December 31, 1944) is an American film director and former president of the Directors Guild of America. He won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for '' Teenage Father'' (1979). Hackford went on to direct ...

and starring Mikhail Baryshnikov,

Gregory Hines Gregory Oliver Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer. He is one of the most celebrated tap dancers of all time. As an actor, he is best known for '' Wolfen'' (1981), '' The Cotton C ...

Jerzy Skolimowski Jerzy Skolimowski (, born 5 May 1938) is a Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist and actor. A graduate of the prestigious National Film School in Łódź, Skolimowski has directed more than twenty films since his 1960 début ''Oko wyk ...

, Helen Mirren and

Isabella Rossellini Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (born 18 June 1952) is an Italian-American actress, author, philanthropist, and model. The daughter of the Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and the Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, she is noted ...

. It was choreographed by

Twyla Tharp Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1966 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music. Fr ...

. The title refers to the sunlit summer nights of

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

(now

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

), the setting for the majority of the film, situated just a few degrees below the Arctic Circle. The film is notable both for the dancing of Hines and Baryshnikov and for the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning song "

Say You, Say Me "Say You, Say Me" is a song written and recorded by American singer and songwriter Lionel Richie for the film ''White Nights (1985 film), White Nights''. The single hit number one in the US and on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, R&B singles chart in D ...

" by Lionel Richie in 1986, as well as "

Separate Lives "Separate Lives" is a 1985 song recorded by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin and featured on the soundtrack to the motion picture ''White Nights''. It reached No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts as well as in Can ...

" performed by Phil Collins and

Marilyn Martin Marilyn Martin (born May 4, 1954) is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her 1985 hit duet with Phil Collins, "Separate Lives", her only number one. Early life Marilyn Martin was born on May 4, 1954, in Tennessee but raise ...

and written by Stephen Bishop (also nominated). The film was the international film debut of Isabella Rossellini and Taylor Hackford met his future wife, Helen Mirren, during filming.

Plot

Nikolai 'Kolya' Rodchenko (Baryshnikov) is a Soviet

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

dancer who had previously defected from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. When the plane carrying him to his next performance in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

has electrical problems and crash lands in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

, he is injured and recognized by

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

officer Colonel Chaiko (

). Chaiko contacts

tap dance Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perf ...

r Raymond Greenwood (Hines), who has

defect A defect is a physical, functional, or aesthetic attribute of a product or service that exhibits that the product or service failed to meet one of the desired specifications. Defect, defects or defected may also refer to: Examples * Angular defec ...

ed to the

, and gets them both to

. Chaiko wants Rodchenko to dance at the season's opening night at the Kirov, and Greenwood to babysit Rodchenko. To convince Rodchenko, Chaiko uses Galina Ivanova ( Helen Mirren), a former ballerina who never left the Soviet Union and is an old flame of Rodchenko. After an initial period of racial and artistic friction, the two dancers (and defectors in opposite directions) become strong friends. When Raymond discovers that his wife Darya Greenwood (

) is pregnant, he decides he does not want their child to grow up in the Soviet Union, and together, with Rodchenko, they plan an escape with the help of Galina, who still has feelings for Rodchenko. During the escape attempt, Raymond chooses to stay behind in order to delay Chaiko, gaining time for Nikolai and Darya to get to the

consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth c ...

at Leningrad. Although Raymond is captured and incarcerated, he is traded by the Soviets for a political prisoner from Latin America, and reunites with Darya and Nikolai.

Cast

* Mikhail Baryshnikov as Nikolai 'Kolya' Rodchenko *

as Raymond Greenwood *

as Colonel Chaiko * Helen Mirren as Galina Ivanova * Geraldine Page as Anne Wyatt *

as Darya Greenwood * John Glover as Wynn Scott * Stefan Gryff as Captain Kirigin *

William Hootkins William Michael "Hoot"Austin Mutti-MewseObituary: William Hootkins ''The Guardian'', November 14, 2005, accessed December 13, 2012. Hootkins (July 5, 1948 – October 23, 2005) was an American actor, best known for supporting roles in Hollywood b ...

as Chuck Malarek * Shane Rimmer as Ambassador Larry Smith *

Marc Sinden Marcus Andrew Sinden (born 9 May 1954) is an English actor and film & theatre director and producer. Sinden has worked in film and theatre (mainly in London's West End) as both actor and producer and directed the documentary series ''Great We ...

as Charles *

Maryam d'Abo Maryam d'Abo is a British actress, best known as Bond girl Kara Milovy in the 1987 James Bond film ''The Living Daylights''. Early life and education Born in London to Georgian mother Nino Kvinitadze, daughter of General Giorgi Kvinitadze, and ...

as French Girlfriend *

Daniel Benzali Daniel Benzali (born January 20, 1946) is a Brazilian-American stage, television and film actor. Early life Benzali was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the son of Lee, a cook, and Carlo Benzali, a salesman who had also been an actor in Brazilian ...

as Dr. Asher

Production

The opening ballet sequence, ''

Le Jeune Homme et La Mort ''Le Jeune Homme et la Mort'' is a ballet by Roland Petit, choreographed in 1946 to Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582, with a one-act libretto by Jean Cocteau. It tells the story of a young man driven to suicide by his faithless ...

'', originally choreographed by

Roland Petit Roland Petit (13 January 192410 July 2011) was a French ballet company director, choreographer and dancer. He trained at the Paris Opera Ballet school, and became well known for his creative ballets. Life and work The son of shoe designer Ros ...

in 1946 and performed anew by Baryshnikov and Florence Faure, was filmed at the

Bristol Hippodrome The Bristol Hippodrome () is a theatre located in The Centre, Bristol, England, United Kingdom with seating on three levels giving a capacity of 1,951. It frequently features shows from London's West End when they tour the UK, as well as re ...

. The gentleman paging the curtain for Baryshnikov is John Randall, the theatre's technical director at the time. In 1985, many western Cold War movies supposedly set in Russia would use locations in the Finnish capital

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

with an architectural style resembling

. For ''White Nights'', a team of travelogue filmmakers from Finland, who previously had done work in the

, were hired to film a number of locations in Leningrad, such as the

Kirov Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...

and the Lenin monument, as well as a Chaika state-limousine. These scenes were then inserted into the movie, some being in-car scenes. Hackford was disappointed with critics who wrote negative reviews based on their belief that Helsinki had been used. The film was also shot in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

(including the island of

Reposaari Reposaari ( sv, Räfsö) is an island and village at the Bothnian Sea in Pori, Finland. The island is located near the mouth of river Kokemäenjoki, southwest of the Pori's city center. The population of Reposaari is 1,099 (2009). Since the 19 ...

) and

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Portugal, as well as other parts of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

including

Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

and

RAF Machrihanish Royal Air Force Machrihanish or RAF Machrihanish (formerly ) is a former Royal Air Force station located near the town of Machrihanish and west of Campbeltown, at the tip of the Kintyre, Kintyre peninsula, Argyll and Bute, in Scotland. Two a ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Filmmakers normally use models to film the crash-landing of an aircraft as expensive as a Boeing 747. For the filming of the crash sequence of a British Orient 747 at the beginning of ''White Nights'', two different full-sized aircraft were used. * For shots representing the British Orient 747 while still aloft, a rebadged

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish , meaning "air fleet" compare Welsh 'llynges awyr') is the flag carrier of Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiary ...

Boeing 747 performed a touch-and-go landing at

. * For shots representing the British Orient 747 after touchdown, the production team purchased an older Boeing 707 from South America. The 707 was converted with the famous 747 hump, a painted cockpit and a small vision slit on the original cockpit, so the stunt pilots could perform the live action crash-landing. Due to the size differences, forced perspective was used to give the impression of a larger aircraft and short actors used in a brief sequence where a vehicle is almost hit. The 707 aircraft in question had originally been built for South African Airways (SAA) in July 1960 and registered as ZS-CKC (serial number 17928), and was retired from SAA in 1977. It was next operated by Panama World Airways as N90651, and commercially retired by same in 1981. Finally in September 1984 the aircraft was purchased by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

for the making of ''White Nights''. The film contains an early-career performance by

, later to star as a

Bond girl A Bond girl is a character who is a love interest or female companion of James Bond in a novel, film or video game. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole, Xenia Onatopp, o ...

in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

film ''

The Living Daylights ''The Living Daylights'' is a 1987 spy film, the fifteenth entry in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first of two to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by John Glen, the film's ...

''. ''White Nights'' was dedicated "in loving memory" to Mary E. Hackford (mother of Taylor) and Jerry Benjamin (father of executive supervisor Stuart Benjamin), both of whom died prior to its release.

Reception

The film opened the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

on November 8, 1985 at McClurg Court. It then opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on November 22 as well as in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Toronto before expanding nationally on December 6. ''White Nights'' received mixed reviews from critics, as it currently holds a 46% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 13 reviews. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' film critic

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

criticized the script as "ludicrous" but praised the acting and dance choreography, including Baryshnikov's "all of the dynamic force and intelligence that distinguish his dance performances" and Hines as "a great tap dancer but not in the same league with Mr. Baryshnikov as a film personality". ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' film critic

Sheila Benson Sheila Benson (December 4, 1930February 23, 2022) was an American journalist and film critic. She served as film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1981 to 1991. Early life and education Benson was born in New York City on December 4, 193 ...

criticized the story as "wretched high-concept, low-intelligence", the film's "oversimplification" of Russians as "hateful and corrupt" with an exception of "old Russian '" without the film explaining the character's transition "to kindness", and dance performances as "jazzed-up and simplistic". However, the film was a commercial success at the box office, grossing over $42 million in the United States.

Accolades

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album for the film contains the most successful single on the album, "

" by Phil Collins and

, which reached the top of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart and was nominated for an

in 1986. The prize instead went to Lionel Richie's "

", another chart topper which appeared in the film but was not included on the original soundtrack due to licensing issues. It was included in the album reissue as a bonus track along with "I Don't Wanna Know" by Phil Collins.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

gave the soundtrack three stars out of five. #"

" - Phil Collins &

#"Prove Me Wrong" -

David Pack David Robert Pack (born July 15, 1952) is an American singer and musician who co-founded the rock band Ambrosia in the 1970s. Career As performer Pack was co-founder, guitarist and main vocalist for the band Ambrosia. His collected works as a ...

#"Far Post" - Robert Plant #"People on a String" -

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1937) is a retired American singer. She topped the ''Billboard'' charts with the No. 1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", " Feel Like Makin' Love", "Wher ...

#"This Is Your Day" - Nile Rodgers & Sandy Stewart #"Snake Charmer" -

John Hiatt John Robert Hiatt (born August 20, 1952) is an American singer-songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including new wave, blues, and country. Hiatt has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards and has been awarded ...

#"The Other Side of the World" - Chaka Khan #"My Love Is Chemical" - Lou Reed #"TapDance" -

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

#"People Have Got to Move" -

Jenny Burton Jenny Burton (born November 18, 1957, New York City, New York) is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B singing, singer who had several hits on the United States, US ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' dance Record chart, chart. Career She was lea ...

" - Lionel Richie (bonus track - reissue) #"

I Don't Wanna Know "I Don't Wanna Know" is a song by American R&B artist Mario Winans featuring rapper P. Diddy and re-recorded background vocals by Enya. The song is based on a sample of the Fugees' song " Ready or Not", which in turn samples the synthesizer riff ...

" - Phil Collins (bonus track - reissue)

Charts

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:White Nights (Film) 1985 films 1985 drama films American drama films Cold War films Columbia Pictures films Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios 1980s Russian-language films Films about ballet Films directed by Taylor Hackford Films set in Finland Films set in Saint Petersburg Films set in Siberia Films set in the Soviet Union Films shot in Argyll and Bute Films shot in Austria Films shot in Bristol Films shot in England Films shot in Finland Films shot in London Films shot in Portugal Films shot in Russia Films that won the Best Original Song Academy Award Films scored by Michel Colombier Films with screenplays by James Goldman American anti-communist propaganda films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films