Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

• Year: 1971
• Released: 03 Nov 1971
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Won 3 Oscars. 9 wins & 13 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067093/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fiddler_on_the_roof
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, Hebrew, Russian
• MPA Rating: G
• Genre: Drama, Family, Musical
• Runtime: 181 min
• Writer: Sholom Aleichem, Arnold Perl, Joseph Stein
• Director: Norman Jewison
• Cast: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey
• Keywords: musical, parent child relationship, based on play or musical, dream, early 1900s,

	8.0/10
	67/100
	83% – Critics
	92% – Audience

Fiddler on the Roof Storyline

It’s pre-revolutionary Russia in the largely Jewish community of Anatevka, Ukraine, whose residents are ruled by community and cultural traditions. For poor dairy farmer, Tevye, and his wife, Golde, those traditions include getting the town matchmaker, Yente, to find their five daughters – the three oldest, Tzeitel, Hodel and Chava, who are barely of marrying age – suitable wealthy husbands, especially important since the girls will have no dowries. Tzeitel, not yet twenty, doesn’t like that Yente only chooses old men. She is also in love with the poor tailor, Motel. Motel doesn’t believe Tevye would approve of a union between himself and Tzeitel because of Motel’s poor socioeconomic state, and without someone arranging the union. Hodel understands these traditions better than her elder sister, Hodel who has her sights on the rabbi’s son, because of what he is, not because of who he is. Chava accepts her fate, marriage still being years away, but she hopes for someone she will love while she now focuses on her love of books. Change from those traditions is in the air, which is confirmed by Perchik, a young man, a student espousing Marxist ideals, recently arrived from Kyiv. This change may affect what happens matrimonially with Tzeitel, Hodel and Chava. But this change comes anti-Jewish sentiment sweeping across Europe, which may affect what happens to Tevye, his family, and the Jewish community in Anatevka as a whole.

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Fiddler on the Roof Movie Reviews

The Songs Make It Happen

Opening with the wonderful song “Tradition” which is the overriding theme of the entire musical, with its comedy and its pain, this film is a charming, sentimental telling of the lives and tribulations of a family. The beauty of it is that despite occasional violence against a people, they maintain their spirit through the ages. It’s about what every father believes, “There is no one adequate to marry my daughter.” Things happen and people get knocked down, and eventually everyone gets to his feet once more. There is the combative relationship between Tevye and his wife, and their love (“but do you love me”) that goes pretty much unstated. In the end they continue to stand tall together because what they have put into the world is true love, not the overly dramatic, silly love that permeates our world today. See the movie. See the stage play. You will always leave with an optimistic spring in your step, and wonderful songs in your heart.

Absolutely wonderful!

I know people have complained about the length of this movie. Yeah, it is long, three hours approximately, but there are so many things that compensate. Norman Jewison’s direction is very good, and the film is stylishly filmed, with some nice cinematography and there are nice scenery and costumes. The choreography is great, energetic in parts and graceful in others. Next, the music is outstanding. The incidental music largely reminiscent of Russian folk music is a real treat, but the songs are outstanding. The beautiful “Sunrise, Sunset”, the fun “Tradition”, the idealistic “Match Maker” and the energetic “If I Were A Rich Man”, all amazing. Also, Topol, what an absolutely brilliant performance. He put body and soul into Tevye, successfully mixing humour, wisdom and poignancy and the result is one of the most memorable performances in any musical to grace our screens. All the other performances are wonderful, I liked it all five daughters had distinct personalities, and Norma Crane is fantastic as the mother. The story is both tight and poignant, about a milkman of Jewish values, who wishes his five daughters to marry. In conclusion, wonderful and definitely memorable. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Heavygoing

A popular film adaptation of the stage musical, although I think this has more to do with the fact that Jews run Hollywood than its quality as a movie. For FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is a long, slow and extremely heavy-going movie, for which the lengthiness of its story is never offset by the quality of the music.

Topol – the only actor in the film to give a notable performance – gives a solid performance as a poor Jewish man struggling to bring up five daughters in 19th century Russia. The various sub-plots that follow involve him pairing off his daughters with varying suitors (along the lines of PRIDE & PREJUDICE) while a growing pogrom against the Jews is developing in the background.

Some of the songs are very good, particularly “Tradition” and “If I Were a Rich Man”, but in between these are simply lots of long, drawn out sequences of nothing much happening. In fact, despite the extreme length, I found this to be a fairly empty film, without a great deal of depth or, indeed, substance; everything you see is on the surface, and that’s it. This is why I didn’t like it very much and it’s certainly not a film I can envisage sitting through again when there are so many better, more vibrant musicals out there.