Lachlan Coulson
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
Marva-nova
Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.
Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
g-bodyl
Fiddler on the Roof is a solid musical and is actually a little better than I anticipated. Set in pre-revolutionary Russia, this film describes the life of Jewish peasantry and how their way of life faces off against more modern times. I found the movie to be quite a learning experience, as my knowledge of Russian history really begins at the Bolshevik takeover. This is the earliest film I remember seeing of legendary composer, John Williams. He does a magnificent job adapting the music from stage to screen. I loved some of the songs such as "Tradition" and "If I was a rich man." For the most part, I loved the choreography. However, I was oddly bothered at some of the dancing, especially from Topol's character. It just didn't seem to strike a chord with me. I loved the production design and the cinematography. Despite its advancing age, the film still looks beautiful.Norman Jewison's film is a musical that takes place in pre-revolutionary Russia. A country that is struggling to modernize itself. Perhaps some of the reason is the Jewish peasants, who believe in their traditions. Tevye is a milkman who is poor and lives with his wife and five daughters. As the matchmaker suggests matches for his eldest daughters, Tevye has to deal with changing ways of life as his family attempts to break tradition.If you want to see a popular film that has a no-name cast, don't look further than this film. Until my initial viewing of this film, I have never heard of anyone in this cast. But I feel they all do reasonably well in their roles. Topol does a good job as Tevye. He looks to be an old man, but he was only in his 30's when this film was released. His singing was pretty good too. The pain he shows as he realizes tradition is crumbling all around him is pretty darn heart-breaking. The rest of the cast features unknown names such as Norma Crane as Golde, Tevye's wife and Leonard Frey as Motel, a lover of Tevye's eldest daughter.Overall, Fiddler on the Roof is an often entertaining musical filled with excellent songs and a score that puts the majestic John Williams on the map. The choreography is hit or miss and the film feels a little stretched. But the film does a good job in portraying peasant life during Czarist Russia and how difficult life can be for them, and how tradition unites their people. The beginning and end shots are beautiful, and what gives this movie the title it has. They are my favorite shots of the movie.My Grade: B+
alexcapogrosso
...I would watch this every day. And, I do watch it a lot. It is an amazing musical and my personal favorite. Topol is fantastic! While i admit the ending is sad (when they leave Anatevka), it is totally realistic. The songs are amazing, and I listen to them all the time. "Tradition' is my favorite, but there are other good ones as well. The movie is really long, over three hours, so you will need to set aside time to watch it. It probably doesn't need to be as long, but that is my only complaint, What a great movie! Totally worth watching in my opinion. If you get the chance, watch it. Believe me you won't be sorry.
Byron Brubaker (hypathio7)
TRADITION! Well actually the movie is about changing, bending, breaking traditions. The Fiddler on the roof as described by Tevye in the opening of the movie is symbolic for existentialism. It is a metaphor for the challenge of balancing your life and knowing your place in the world. Traditional religious rituals and customs give the community where Tevye's family lives the supposed comfort to get through the balancing act. However, Tevye's three oldest daughters challenge tradition in their romantic lives and the "outside" world is entering into a time a extreme turmoil. The ways of the older generation clash with those of the younger generation. And through it all Tevye is really pretty progressive for a man in his society.The story is serious and humorous. The film is shot beautifully. The songs are great, some more catchy than others. Tevye's constant dialog with his "best friend," God is thought provoking and often funny.Since it is based on the book Tevye's Daughters, it is appropriate that his daughter's romantic awakenings be the main concern of the plot. The oldest daughter challenges tradition a little by pledging her love to a man of her choice, but he is a (soft-spoken) tailor from the same village and they still have a customary wedding. The middle daughter bends tradition by falling for a progressive teacher and budding revolutionary. I love that in the existential crisis he claims humankind must take much more responsibility for balancing on the roof and that traditions are not going to keep us safe up there. The youngest of the three daughters of marrying age meets another intelligent reader, but he is a Russian Kazakh and Christian. This is breaking the tradition entirely by having a marriage of two faiths. It is because the relationships of the three daughters and the father-daughter relationships are so well rendered that this story is more than a Jewish story.
David Holt (rawiri42)
After 43 years, I eventually got to see Fiddler on the Roof and it was well worth the wait! What a touching, beautiful portrayal of life in an exiled Jewish community in Russia (or was it the Ukraine?) around the turn of the 20th century. The star of the film is undoubtedly Topol as Tevye a subsistence milkman, the head of his family of wife and five daughters but there were certainly many others. His wife, Golde (Norma Crane - who died just two years after "Fiddler" of breast cancer) and his three oldest daughters Yente (Molly Picon), Hodel (Michele Marsh) and Tzeitel (Rosalind Harris) captured the modest yet determined characters of male-dominated Jewish women at a time when traditions (a word yelled by Tevye many times in exasperation throughout the movie) were irreversibly changing. As we learn during the story, Tevye and Golda first met each other on their wedding day and were told that, in time, they would learn to love each other. The scene where they actually admit this is absolutely beautiful.However, starting with Yente, Tevye and Golda's daughters rebel against century-old tradition and choose their own marriage partners - even though old ways don't die easily and, being the soft-hearted, loving father that he is, Tevye succumbs to their wishes until Tzeitel announces her love for a gentile and that is just too much for her father who (initially) disowns her.One amusing (to me) scene was where Hodel and her man, Perchic (played by Paul Michael Glaser of Starsky and Hutch fame) express their love for each other. As I watched the scene I was frequently reminded of Sheldon and Amy of TV's Big Bang Theory. (I guess you need to watch both to see it but it did make me smile!)I won't write about the ending to the movie as that would tend to be a spoiler too far. Just let me say Fiddler on the Roof is a very believable story of love, loyalty and sheer doggedness that is an inspiration to anyone who is experiencing difficult times. As I say, well worth the long wait!
