El rabino y el pistolero

It is hard to find movies about the Jewish experience in America that are positive. At best most are cynical journeys from belief to assimilation. At worst, they depict Jewish as consisting merely of someone with a New York accent eating a bagel. There are few (I can't actually think of another one, but I'll be optimistic) films in which a person is depicted as being happily, actively Jewish, religiously, not just culturally. This film is a happy exception. Rabbi Belinski encounters many different kinds of people in his journey. He is confronted with many new cultures and pressures, but never abandons his beliefs. He may learn to ride, but not on Shabbat. He is happy to make friends with anyone who will respect him in his "differentness" just as he respects them. It may not be the greatest comedy or human drama, but it is near and dear to my heart.

This is one of my all-time favorite comedies. A lot of it is gritty, but the movie never loses sight of the humor it's trying to get across.

Gene Wilder is the center of it. Anyone could have played Ford's role, but he does a competent job. He's not really believable, but the ROLE isn't believable. It's hard to be a good guy when you're threatening peoples' lives in order to rob them.

Wilder is the whole movie, except for Val Bisoglio as Chief Gray Cloud. Wilder portrays a lost man in the wilds of frontier America, and he does it well. The movie itself deftly avoids moralizing about the 'right' religion. The Amish people helping the Rabbi on his journey is very realistic. They would not have turned down another religious man; they would have helped him, just as they do, in the film. I appreciate little touches, like this. It would have been far too easy to portray the Amish (or Mennonites; it's hard to tell, with a movie set in that time period) as ultraconservative bigots, but instead, the production crew chose to show them realistically.

This is a sweet, funny movie, with some real drama, unless you're just too cynical to care. And if you ARE too cynical to care, I truly pity you. This is a fun, exciting movie that anyone should like.

knsevy KCMO

Robert Aldrich was a director who made entertaining films throughout his career. He can count his blessings in having had the opportunity to work with one of the best comedians of all times: Gene Wilder.

This film is a delight, from beginning to end. Mr. Wilder, as Avram is a man we can't keep our eyes from, as he dominates the screen and makes this film his own. The adventures Avram goes through, coming to a country where everything is so different from the world he leaves behind, is what glues this tale together.

A young Harrison Ford is Mr. Wilder's sidekick. This bank robber shows the naive Avram the tricks about how to survive in a hostile environment. Mr. Ford underplays the role, and it works well because the funny lines are meant for Avram, and how he reacts to what he discovers, as he travels west.

This film will always be a favorite because it is universal and it reaches the audience with its positive message while laughing and enjoying the great Gene Wilder on the screen.

This is a great film. Gene Wilder plays an authentic Polish rabbi with a believable Yiddish accent in a buddy movie romp through the Wild West. Harrison Ford, in his pre-Indiana Jones incarnation, makes an effective side-kick. This is truly among Wilder's best roles. Robert Nurenberg's review couldn't have said it any better... except Wilder did not portray a rabbinical school dropout, though he was not likely the most outstanding pupil. He was a trained rabbi sent to America to assume a pulpit in San Francisco where he would marry the woman hand picked by a match-maker. What happens on the way from Poland to California is more than worth a single viewing! The Frisco Kid is a most enjoyable, insightful, and entertaining film. A well-deserved 10/10!

This movie is hysterical, from its depiction of what the American west must have looked like to an outsider to its terrific Jewish guilt and humor, although it does have a lot of "insider" Jewish humor. That's not to say it can't be enjoyed by non-Jews, as well, but a familiarity with Jewish culture definitely makes the movie more enjoyable. Wilder is at his funniest and Harrison Ford is charming as a side-kick, a role I wasn't accustomed to seeing him in. Watching Ford succumb to Jewish guilt--even when it means freezing his butt--is fantastic. My apologies to Blazing Saddles fans but I think this is way funnier. And it didn't even have to rely on fart-humor.