White Nights (1985)

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White Nights movie storyline. Nikolai “Kolya” Rodchenko (Mikhail Baryshnikov) is a Russian ballet dancer who defected to the West. He is in a plane flying over Russia when all of a sudden, a malfunction forces the plane to land there. The K.G.B. tells everyone that his injuries are so severe that he has to remain confined for awhile. But in reality, they want him to return to them,

So they bring him to his old apartment and an American, Raymond Greenwood, who defected to Russia several years ago, is placed there to keep an eye on him. However, Rodchenko is not about to give in and is determined to escape. So with help from his former lover, he gets word to the Americans. And even Raymond is starting to be disillusioned with Russia, and he has to decide if he is going to do what he was sent to do, or help Rodchenko.

White Nights is a 1985 American drama film directed by Taylor Hackford and starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, Jerzy Skolimowski, Helen Mirren and Isabella Rossellini. It was choreographed by Twyla Tharp. The title refers to the sunlit summer nights of Leningrad, the setting for the majority of the film, situated near the Arctic Circle.

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 in 1986, as well as “Separate Lives” performed by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin and written by Stephen Bishop (also nominated). The film was the American film debut of Isabella Rossellini and Taylor Hackford met his future wife, Helen Mirren, during filming.

Directed by: Taylor Hackford
Starring: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, Jerzy Skolimowski, Helen Mirren, Geraldine Page, Isabella Rossellini, John Glover, Florence Faure, William Hootkins, Shane Rimmer
Screenplay by: James Goldman, Eric Hughes
Production Design by: Philip Harrison
Cinematography by: David Watkin
Film Editing by: Fredric Steinkamp, William Steinkamp
Costume Design by: Evangeline Harrison
Set Decoration by: Joanne Woollard
Art Direction by: Richard Dawking, Malcolm Middleton, Austen Spriggs
Music by: Michel Colombier
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: November 22, 1985