White Nights (1985 film)
| White Nights | |
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 Promotional movie poster for the film |
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| Directed by | Taylor Hackford |
| Produced by | William P. Gilmore Taylor Hackford |
| Written by | James Goldman (story) James Goldman Eric Hughes (screenplay) Nancy Dowd (uncredited) |
| Starring | Mikhail Baryshnikov Gregory Hines Jerzy Skolimowski Helen Mirren Geraldine Page Isabella Rossellini John Glover William Hootkins |
| Music by | Michel Colombier |
| Cinematography | David Watkin |
| Editing by | Fredric Steinkamp William Steinkamp |
| Studio | Delphi IV Productions |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 22, 1985 (USA) |
| Running time | 136 min. |
| Language | English Russian |
| Box office | $13,046,465 (USA) |
White Nights is a 1985 American drama film film directed by Taylor Hackford, starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, Jerzy Skolimowski, Helen Mirren and Isabella Rossellini. It also contains an early-career performance by Maryam d'Abo. It was shot in Finland, England, Scotland, Portugal, and the Soviet Union.
The film is notable both for the dancing of Hines and Baryshnikov and for the Academy Award winning song Say You, Say Me by Lionel Richie, as well as Separate Lives performed by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin and written by Stephen Bishop (also nominated).
Taylor Hackford met his future wife, Oscar Award-winning actress Helen Mirren, during the filming of White Nights.[1]
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[edit] Plot
Nikolai 'Kolya' Rodchenko (Baryshnikov) is a Soviet ballet dancer who had defected from the Soviet Union. The plane carrying him to Tokyo has to make a forced landing in Siberia, and he is recognized by KGB officer Colonel Chaiko (Jerzy Skolimowski). Chaiko then contacts African-American tap dancer, Raymond Greenwood (Hines), who has defected to the Soviet Union and gets them both to Leningrad. 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 (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 finds that his wife Darya (Rossellini) is pregnant, he decides he doesn't want his son to grow up in the Soviet Union, and together with Rodchenko they plan an escape, with the help from Galina, who still has feelings for Nikolai. While the escape plan is going on, Raymond chooses to stay behind to delay Chaiko, gaining time for Nikolai and Darya to get to the American Consulate at Leningrad. Even though Raymond is incarcerated when the whole plan is revealed, he is finally traded by the Russians for a prisoner from America, and reunites with his wife and Nikolai.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- White Nights at the Internet Movie Database
- White Nights at the TCM Movie Database
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