The Defection of Simas Kudirka is a 1978 American made-for-television drama film based on actual events, featuring Alan Arkin as Simas Kudirka, a Lithuanian merchant seaman who attempts to defect from the Soviet Union to the United States by jumping onto a U.S. Coast Guard cutter.
The movie revolves around the true events of a Lithuanian man, Simas Kudirka, who was at the time a radio operator on a Soviet fish processing vessel.
When his ship meets at sea with a U.S. Coast Guard cutter near Martha's Vineyard in 1970, Kudirka makes a dramatic leap from the deck, landing on the USCGC Vigilant.
The actual ship shown in the movie was the USCGC Decisive at its home port of New Castle, New Hampshire.
[4] Winners were: The nominated categories and nominees were: In 1979, the movie won an "Eddie" from the American Cinema Editors, USA, for Best Edited Television Special, awarded to John A. Martinelli.