> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bensmovieguide.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # You Know Robin Williams. You Might Not Know These 3 Movies. - URL: https://www.bensmovieguide.com/you-know-robin-williams-you-might-not-know-these-3-movies/ - Published: 2026-10-17T10:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-17T10:00:01.000Z - Description: A struggling Russian musician, a writer surrounded by strange people, and a very unsettling murder suspect. Three Robin Williams movies that take you well beyond his familiar favorites. - Author: Ben - Tags: #list, Lists, #movie, Movie: The World According to Garp (1982), Movie: Moscow on the Hudson (1984), Movie: Insomnia (2002), #featured, #Eyebrow: Not His Typical Roles Ask somebody to name a Robin Williams movie, and there’s a good chance you’ll hear *Mrs. Doubtfire*, *Good Morning, Vietnam* or *Good Will Hunting*. Fair enough. Those are pretty good places to start. But when somebody makes that many movies, a few worthwhile ones tend to get pushed aside. You remember the big hits, the famous scenes and the characters everybody can imitate. Meanwhile, other performances sit there waiting for somebody to notice them. These three deserve the attention. They’re very different movies, and Williams gives you a different reason to watch each one. In one, he might actually be the most normal person in the room. In another, you probably shouldn’t be in the room with him. ## The World According to Garp (1982) ### Drama / Comedy ![The World According to Garp](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/The-World-According-to-Garp-1982-1600x727.jpg) You’d think casting Robin Williams in a movie full of unusual people would give him permission to be the strangest person on the screen. *The World According to Garp* goes in another direction. Everybody around him seems determined to make his life peculiar enough without his help. Williams plays T.S. Garp, an aspiring writer raised by an unconventional mother, played by Glenn Close. Garp wants a life that makes some kind of sense: writing, marriage, children. What he gets is considerably more complicated. This is a strange movie. Funny things happen, terrible things happen, and sometimes they arrive uncomfortably close together. There’s a scene involving a small plane and a house that gives you a pretty good idea of how differently these people process the world. Close is excellent, and John Lithgow is memorable in a supporting role. But Williams is what keeps me interested. He gives Garp enough warmth and ordinary human frustration that you have somebody to follow through all the madness. I wouldn’t recommend it to somebody who needs a movie to pick a mood and stay there. But if you’re willing to go along with its peculiar view of life, there’s a lot here worth watching. BMG Rating: Worth Paying For ## Moscow on the Hudson (1984) ### Comedy / Drama / Romance ![Moscow on the Hudson](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/Moscow-on-the-Hudson-1984-1600x727.jpg) Playing a Russian musician probably wouldn’t be my first suggestion for Robin Williams. Then again, nobody asked me, and the result makes a pretty good argument for that decision. Williams plays Vladimir Ivanoff, a saxophonist visiting New York with a Soviet circus. When an opportunity to defect presents itself, he takes it. Now he has the freedom he wanted, along with the rather significant problem of figuring out what to do next. Getting to America and building a life in America turn out to be two different things. What I like is how believable Williams is. The accent, the Russian dialogue, the uncertainty about his surroundings: you accept him as this man. You’re watching somebody try to find his footing in a place where even ordinary errands can become overwhelming. There’s humor in that, but the movie also understands loneliness, friendship and missing people you can’t simply go home to visit. Freedom matters to Vladimir. So does having somebody to eat dinner with. It’s warm without pretending everything is easy, and Williams gives you plenty of reason to root for him. BMG Rating: Worth Paying For ## Insomnia (2002) ### Thriller / Crime / Drama ![Insomnia](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/Insomnia-2002-1600x727.jpg) After those two, you might want something a little darker. *Insomnia* should take care of that. Al Pacino plays a Los Angeles detective sent to Alaska to investigate the murder of a teenage girl. Hilary Swank plays a local detective, and Williams plays a novelist who becomes involved in the investigation. Christopher Nolan directs. The setting alone makes this interesting. The daylight seems determined never to leave, and Pacino looks increasingly like a man who would pay good money for a dark room and eight uninterrupted hours. Then there’s Williams. He’s quiet, calm and unsettling. You keep waiting for some familiar warmth to make you comfortable with him, and the movie gives you very little help. His conversations with Pacino are a big part of why this works: two men watching each other, choosing their words and trying to figure out what the other knows. It’s a good thriller, with Williams giving you a very good reason to feel uneasy. After spending two movies hoping things work out for him, you may find yourself hoping somebody keeps an eye on him. BMG Rating: Must Watch --- That’s a pretty good three-movie demonstration of what the man could do. ![You Know Robin Williams. You Might Not Know These 3 Movies.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/Moscow-on-the-Hudson-1984-16x9.jpg) ![You Know Robin Williams. You Might Not Know These 3 Movies.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/Moscow-on-the-Hudson-1984-2x3.jpg) ![You Know Robin Williams. You Might Not Know These 3 Movies.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/Moscow-on-the-Hudson-1984-4x5.jpg) ![You Know Robin Williams. You Might Not Know These 3 Movies.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/Moscow-on-the-Hudson-1984-5x6.jpg) ![You Know Robin Williams. You Might Not Know These 3 Movies.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/Moscow-on-the-Hudson-1984-6x5.jpg) ![You Know Robin Williams. You Might Not Know These 3 Movies.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/Moscow-on-the-Hudson-1984-3x1.jpg) ![You Know Robin Williams. You Might Not Know These 3 Movies.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/54/e9540ff8-9c7a-495e-932d-5ba71686447c/content/images/2026/10/Moscow-on-the-Hudson-1984-1600x727.jpg)