Alan Arkin died today at the age of 89. He had a long and varied career but the movie I most remember him for is The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming. It’s a hilarious movie worth seeing today but it also has the distinction, as far as I know, of being the only mainstream Hollywood movie in American history to portray Russians, or Slavs in general, in a sympathetic light. It also stars arch Russophobe Rob Reiner’s father, Carl Reiner, as an American who manages to overcome his own Russophobia just in time to prevent World War III.