Fiddler on the Roof | |
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Directed by | Norman Jewison |
Screenplay by | Joseph Stein |
Produced by | Norman Jewison |
Starring | Topol
Norma Crane Leonard Frey Molly Picon Paul Mann |
Cinematography | Oswald Morris |
Edited by | Anton Gibbs, Robert Lawrence |
Music by | Jerry Bock, John Williams (adaption) |
Production company | The Mirisch Production Company |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date | November 3, 1971 |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $9 million |
Box office | $83.3 million |
Fiddler on the Roof is an epic 1971 musical film. It is an adaptation of a Broadway musical with the same name. Norman Jewison directed the film. Joseph Stein and Sholem Aleichem wrote the script. The film stars Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, and Paul Mann. The film s about Tevye, a Jew in AnatevkaIt. He has to reevaluate his values with the marriages of his daughters. It was nominated for eight Oscars and won three Academy Awards in 1972.
The film is broken into two acts and an intermission.
It follows the family of the milkman Tevye in the Ukrainian Town of Anatekva in Imperial Russia. The people in the town are compared to a fiddler on the roof, who use tradition to stay on their feet and "scratch out a pleasant, simple tune." The story deals with Tevye coming to terms with deviations from tradition. The oldest daughter Tzeitel ends up marrying the tailor Motel out of love and not as arranged by the father. At their wedding, the two dance together, which is shocking and new for the town, as men and women cannot dance together. Then Russians come and break up the wedding and vandalize the place.
The second daughter, Hodel falls in love with and marries a Jewish Marxist student Perchik from Kiev. Tevye reluctantly accepts their love and the two eventually settle in Siberia. The youngest daughter Chava falls in love with Fyedka, a Russian Orthodox Christian. Tevye does not accept that Chava marries a non-Jew. Near the end, the villagers of Anatekva are forced to leave and evacuate the town to Europe, Israel and the United States. At various points in the film, a fiddler appears and plays the fiddle.
John Williams adapted the music from Jerry Bock. The violin soloist was Isaac Stern.
The movie was a financial success making over $80 million. It was the highest-grossing film in 1971.
The film received positive reviews by critics. The film has a 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics considered the movie a powerful and emotion work. Some thought the storyline was boring.