Leningrad Cowboys Go America

Plot synopsis:
The Leningrad Cowboys, a band with foot-long quiff hairstyles and long Winklepicker shoes to match, are seeking success in Siberia, but nobody seems to like their music, except for the mute village idiot, Igor (Kari Väänänen). Thwarted by a lack of local commercial potential, they are encouraged to move to America, for people will "buy anything" there. They depart for New York, bringing with them a band member who had frozen the previous night while practicing outside.
They arrive at the CBGB bar in Manhattan. An agent offers them a gig at a wedding in Mexico and recommends that they change their musical style to rock and roll. They buy a used 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine, strap the coffin carrying their frozen band member onto the roof and set off to earn their way through the Deep South, adapting their musical style to suit local tastes at each new location. All the while they are being driven on and exploited by their money and food hoarding manager Vladimir (Matti Pellonpää), who has a seemingly unlimited supply of beer in the ice-filled coffin. Meanwhile, Igor, who stowed away on the plane, follows the band by his own means of transportation. When he finally catches up with them, they appoint him as their road manager.
During the trip, the band spends time in jail, has their car engine stolen, causes a nightclub to close after playing an unsuccessful show, and reunites with a long-lost cousin (Nicky Tesco) whose singing gives positive reception from the audience. They eventually make it to Mexico and perform their wedding gig, where the thawing bass guitarist is revived with a shot of tequila and joins the group on stage, as does Igor. Vladimir watches them play then wanders off, but the band finally finds success in Mexico, making the top ten.

Tags: cult, humor, psychedelic, satire

Review:
This is the funniest rock `n roll polka road movie ever made!
Although based around an actual band of Finnish descent (who still get airplay on MTV Europe), it sees our heroes come from the Tundra Wasteland to America, seeking fame and fortune.
Not having much luck in their homeland with their unique style of folk pop, the band are advised to conquer the US ("go to America" says the guy, "they buy any old s**t there"), being exploited constantly by their greedy manager Vladimir.
And if you`re not tapping along to their rendition of "Born To Be Wild" at the end of the movie, you`ll be humming that "polka" music for a long time to come..
This is without question one of the greatest rock and roll movies ever made.
Here we get to meet the immensely likable dreams, music and attire of the Leningrad Cowboys, the misunderstood, maligned, salt of the earth band that comes to America to live out its rock and roll dream.
Here, as in his another of his great comedies, LA VIE DE BOHEME, there are some characters who are unambiguously untalented (in LENINGRAD COWBOYS: the singers; in LA VIE DE BOHEME: the composer) and there are some characters who have some or much, but quirky, or misunderstood talent (in LENINGRAD COWBOYS: the band; in LA VIE DE BOHEME: the painter).
Matti Pellonpää, probably Kaurismaki's favorite actor, is hilarious as Vladimir, the band's beer slugging, tyrannical manager.
I love the scene early in the film where he meets with the New York "cousin" of the Finnish talent scout (who also, by the way, has a "cousin" in Mexico).
When the New York band booker tells Vladimir that he needs to hear the band play, Vladimir says, "Is that necessary?"Anyone who loves rock and roll comedies, weird hairstyles and movies about little people with big dreams need to see this film.
Has anyone ever heard of a Finnish rock band called Leningrad Cowboys?
Jokes apart, this is a very clever and funny film chronicling the Cowboys'slow, excruciating journey towards success.It all begins in the Siberian countryside, where the musicians are trying to impress a potential producer.
Led by the ruthless manager Vladimir (Matti Pellonpää), the Cowboys try to export their music and look (Pulp Fiction-style suits, absurdly long tufts and matching boots).
Well, except for one Cowboy (Silu Seppälä) "travelling" on the car roof (you see, he froze to death at the beginning of the film), and Igor (Kari Väänänen), the village idiot who's following the group in the desperate hope of joining them (he was rejected because his hair isn't long enough).A lot of things happen in this film, some on the brink of credibility, and to reveal them in advance would be a serious offense on my behalf.
Suffice to say that this is one of the funniest films ever made: after four movies in which he dealt with various sides of Finnish society, mostly poor, Aki Kaurismäki decided to tell a different kind of story, featuring the "worst rock band in the world" (their words, of course).
The result is a wildly inventive, often politically incorrect, always hilarious musical comedy.Trust me: this is one odyssey worth watching..
I just saw Leningrad Cowboys for the third time and think it is a perfect film.
The Cowboys start in New York playing their soulful/klezmerish immigrant blues on a seedy rooftop, then reel back through the roots of the genre--Memphis, Natchez, New Orleans, Honky Tonk and Biker Bars, road house and funeral...to their destination in Mexico where their Finnish filtered rock returns to its original sound, converging on the joyous soulful wedding as they back up a singer whose classic Indian features are not that different from some of the singers'...
If you like Jarmusch (who does a spot as a car salesman) you'll like this movie.
Reminiscent of some of the best Eastern European comedies, this absurdist Finnish look at the foibles of both Communist and capitalist attempts at reality is not going to change your life, but it is an enjoyable way to spend 79 minutes.
A rousing oompah band from a small Eastern European village travel to America to find their fortune.
After auditioning for a Russian apparatchick (who listens stony-faced to their music, then says "no good - try the US" and departs) the band departs for the US.
As they travel from New York to the South, the music changes through a range of pop/rock genres.
Try the movie again a year later and it will be even more enjoyable because now you can attend to  the hilarious detail which you have missed first time around..
this movie is 100 times better than the "Blues Brothers"..
then you let the leningrad cowboys take you along and the movie just gets better.
However, this movie is more enjoyable if seen as a road movie and a look at America through the eyes of a foreigner.
Aki Kaurismäki's entertaining film portrays the Leningrad Cowboys (a real-life Finnish rock band) as a down and out Russian rock band under the tutelage of a corrupt Russian manager (Matti Pelonpää) who takes them on a journey to America in search of success and money.Along the way the band hits all sorts of bumps in the road which often places them in ridiculous situations.
Kaurismäki films in dark and tired looking locations and draws from American jazz traditions.The film is really a Finnish parody of the Soviet Union and the tired and stolid bureaucracy which dominated it.
It's best to sit back and enjoy the unusual style of Finnish humor and Kaurismäki's subtle approach to story-telling..
The idea of a dreadful Soviet rock band flogging their music around the USA appeals to me, especially as I liked the music that was supposed to be so dreadful.
Definitely up there in the Top Ten of Finnish Rock Band Road Movies!.
These were a great group of guys and generally above average to stellar performers.But what was so amazing to me was that the social hierarchy depicted in Leningrad Cowboys Go America, i.e. the way Vladimir interacted with the rest of the group, was spot on - our guys interacted in much the same way.
The ideals, Go America, get rich, were shared by all.I suppose the Finns, having some excellent knowledge of what their neighbor was all about, have the upper hand when it comes to excellent parody.This is a great film - if you've worked with Russians, or if you just want to know what these guys are doing dressed up like the Blues Brothers, have a look at this film..
This used to be on tv constantly and I always saw it in pieces,I am glad i finally taped it because it is a great and original movie.Jim Jarmusch is funny as the carsalesmen and all the mangled covers are inspired(my favorites are "At the Hop","Born to be Wild"(the only good version even better than Steppenwolf,Who?)& The Country song I can't remember the title)I need to see Leningrad's meet Moses too!
Leningrad Cowboys Go America is Finland meets the Blues Brothers with a bit of Monty Python thrown in.
Very entertaining.My husband and I watched this movie last night as it was St. Urho's Day and we wanted to see something from Finland.
Basically, this crazy band of brothers finds that their music is not marketable in Finland, so they go to America.
Finally in Mexico they are accepted for music close to what they were playing in the first place.
A little slow at times, yet the pace seems to fit the bumbling antics of the Band.I found the second watch more appreciable, the bizarreness loses it's edge and you can see all of the absurd little details.Ignore the guy trashing it :).
It's a funny movie, providing some good laughs, a little weird, but a work of genius!Not very good actors, but it's what makes the movie so good, that it handles parody by doing it seriously!!Some weird scenes, but funny and good jokes, like the bar where it first stood "Singer wanted" and when the band was through with the gig, the sign said "Club Zchivago...for sale", one of the best jokes I've seen, but it's just me!The movie deserves the same acknowledge as "Blues Brothers"-movie, but unfortunately, finnish movies do not (except for the "Winterwar").
Siberian rock band Leningrad Cowboys go to the USA in pursuit of fame.After the film was released, the fictional band transformed into a real band, complete with ludicrous hairstyles.
if I am not mistaken, Spinal Tap also ended up touring following the popularity of their film.American director Jim Jarmusch has a cameo as a car dealer.
The film also includes cameos by blues guitarist Duke Robillard and American Rockabilly Hall of Famer, Colonel Robert Morris, with his wife Irene.
I could tell you details but most of the laughs are sight/situational gags, so that would ruin what makes this movie so fun, and the plot is immaterial to it's entertainment value.
Starting with the ridiculously-long quiff hairstyles and the Winklepicker shoes, the gags appropriately timed and keep one's interest.Watch it until they audition in New York and you'll know if it's worth Finnishing :)There's a lot of slow filler, so this makes a great film to watch when you're doing something else..
Kaurismäki's absurdist tale is often laugh out loud funny, but not one of his most substantial films.
Though these films are set in the present day, at some point an oldies band will appear on a stage playing rockabilly, Finnish tangos or other music of the 1950s.
Already these elements add up to something absurd, but with 1989's LENINGRAD COWBOYS GO America Kaurismäki produced possibly his most absurd film yet.As the film opens, "somewhere in the tundra", we meet the Leningrad Cowboys, an extravagantly quiffed Russian band with no following besides the mute village idiot, Igor, and one of their members froze to death the previous night when he stayed outside rehearsing.
Unable to make it in their home country, this Russian band -- which is in fact played by Finnish actors who could never pass as Russians -- sets out for America with their fallen bandmate in a coffin.
Unbeknownst to them, the village idiot Igor, who aspires to be one of them, has arrived in the United States too in pursuit.The America shown in this film is much like in the early work of Kaurismäki's fellow filmmaker Jim Jarmusch (and indeed Jarmusch makes a cameo as a used car salesman and Kaurismäki borrows elements of Jarmusch's film MYSTERY TRAIN that was being shot at the same time in Memphis).
The film is a series of vignettes preceded by title cards, and in each one the band is in a different place than in the last as they work their way towards Mexico.
Kaurismäki pays homage to the American blues and rockabilly tradition by casting Duke Robillard and Colonel Robert Morris in small parts.In this era when goofy humour that evokes laughs but has little re-watch value is instantly available on the web, LENINGRAD COWBOYS GO America no longer feels like such the essential viewing that critics in decades past called it.
Finnish cinema author Aki Kaurismaki pays a rich tribute to Rock N Roll..
The best thing about "Leningrad Cowboys Go America" is that it gave its creator Aki Kaurismaki a chance to take his cinematographic career to a higher level of elegance.This is one of the few films where Finnish cinema author has felt as if he has really been able to question some basic cultural differences of two entirely different civilizations.
There are various kinds of sentiments attached to this film.Most viewers can experience comic,tragic as well as dramatic moments which have all been rolled into one in order to create a perfect symmetry of human emotions.As usual longtime Kaurismaki collaborator actor Matti Pellonpää is simply outstanding in his role as the leader/manager of a glamorous Finnish rock band.He is a key element if a viewer were to find out how some Finnish musicians look at American way of life ?
This is the story of a terrible band of musicians for Finland called (bizarrely) The Leningrad Cowboys.
There are some extremely funny episodes in this film such as the band's manager who is in charge of the money gets the shopping in.
Funny, great music and just about the best opening sequence of any independent movie I've seen.
A road trip with music and fun times.
A pretty entertaining road trip movie with music.
There's something simple about it which makes it fun.The Leningrad cowboys are probably among the strangest band's I've seen.
There were many things that surprised me throughout and I really liked that they go all the way from Finland to Mexico.
It's nice to see the two cultures meet in this movie since I have relatives from both countries.If "Blues Brothers" had a long lost cousin from Finland, then that would be this movie..
Saw this without knowing what to expect and after watching it, I thought it was about the problems faced by foreign film makers in America.
The story is about this Rock and Roll Band, the Leningrad Cowboys and how they head to America in search of fame and fortune.
The episodic non-plot simply puts the unlikely ensemble in some equally unlikely settings (seedy urban truck stops, and so forth), and that, in or out of a nutshell, is the entire film.It's certainly the most accessible effort yet from the prolific Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki, but this sort of deadpan irreverence can only be stretched so thin, and after a (short) while too much of the material is merely repetitive.
Kaurismaki has often been called his country's answer to Jim Jarmusch (who appears here in a memorable cameo as a used car salesman), but on the evidence of this fitfully amusing one-joke novelty he may be embracing the comparison a bit too close..
Initially, the bizarre look of the band was worth a chuckle, and occasionally something silly would happen, but really, not much happens in this movie, and it's a blessing that the runtime was kept short.
If you're looking for something a little weird, this movie will do, but try something else if you actually want to laugh..
A highly unlikely Russian rock group and their greedy jerk manager (ably played to the smarmy hilt by Matti Pellonpaa) travel to America seeking fame and fortune.
This movie is a classic of deadpan absurd humor and is one of the best movies of all times.
The group plays nothing but Finnish folk music and are rejected at home but sent to the US where they will listen to anything.
From there it is different regions of the US with their different styles of music-and it is to me a kind of love story for these genres.
The movie makes fun of the band and Finnish culture and every kind of music as they head for Mexico where they going to play at a wedding.
Today I saw my second Aki Kaurismaki film, was this one, Leningrad Cowboys Go America, and was on the big screen.
It's a film with good laughs, with good charm, a little film about a, insert your favourite music genre here (yes, there's rock 'n' roll and country for you), band.
The humor comes since the very first minutes and for us is just impossible not to love the Leningrad Cowboys (that's the name of the mentioned band): you have to love their look (sort of Blues Brothers but also with a f****** unique hairstyle!), their music, their dog, their frozen pal, the grandpa (see this film and see Abraham Lincoln as, well you better check that out!).
However we can't launch them, we can't help their music career so yes we love them but practically nobody else does or at least not the producer that at the beginning of the film says to the manager of the band that they should go to America, the producer knows that there people like, well you know.
The humor of the film is often just truly great but practically there is not a scene that ain't at least a little bit amusing.
The thing of "you should go to America, you should go to Mexico" is hilarious and is an indication that the Leningrad Cowboys are not having a really great time but not only that since their manager is just about the quintessential manager that treats the members of the band just like tools.
The humor is great sometimes with this stuff, the manager is having a great time drinking lots and lots of beer and practically saying to the band "now you will play rock and roll, now country" and stuff.
We have versions by the Leningrad Cowboys of classics like "That's All Right" and "Born to Be Wild" and we have the Cowboys finally finding their market!
And this film was, by the way, part of a season at the Cineteca (very pretentious "art-house", located in the south of Mexico City, but nevertheless good stuff plays there) of rock films that ended today.
Oh and I'm almost sure they projected a VHS of Leningrad Cowboys Go America on the big screen, but well at least I saw it since I really had desires (the cameo of one of my favourite filmmakers of all-time, the awesome Jim Jarmusch, was one of the reasons.
And Jarmusch appears as a guy that sells the Cowboys a car, a Cadillac – "for you guys $700" "that's all we have" "I know, that's why"-, yet not everything will go fine for the Cowboys with their new car and not only because of the car's capacity) to check it out and while I was more enthusiastic before seeing it than after it ended I liked it a lot, a little Kaurismaki film that deserves a DVD release.