The film adaptation of Mordecai Richler’s book retains the original’s richness and feeling for character, thanks to fine direction by Ted Kotcheff and spot-on supporting performances by Micheline Lanctôt, Jack Warden, Randy Quaid, Joseph Wiseman, and Denholm Elliott — and a fearless starring effort by Richard Dreyfuss. Intent on getting rich fast, the ‘pushy’ punk Kravitz alienates both his family and the people that trust him — he’s learned all the wrong lessons about getting ahead in a dog-eat-dog world. Rated one of the top Canadian films ever, Kravitz plays exceptionally well in this newly remastered edition.

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Blu-ray
Fun City Editions
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date December 12, 2023 / Available from Fun City / 39.95/ Available from Amazon / 39.95
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Micheline Lanctôt, Jack Warden, Randy Quaid, Joseph Wiseman, Denholm Elliott, Henry Ramer, Joe Silver, Zvee Scooler, Robert Goodier, Allan Rosenthal, Allan Migicovsky (Kolman), Barry Pascal, Susan Friedman.
Cinematography: Brian West
Production Designer: Anne Pritchard
Casting: Lynn Stalmaster
Film Editor: Thom Noble
Music supervisor: Stanley Myers
Screenplay by Mordecai Richler from his novel, adaptation by Lionel Chetwynd
Produced by John Kemeny
Directed by Ted Kotcheff

We took in 1974’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz the way we absorbed a good book — its drama kept us interested even as it made us feel uncomfortable. We remember attending to see what Richard Dreyfuss would do, after enjoying him in George Lucas’s American Grafitti. Almost everything else we know about the show we learned from the liner notes in Fun City’s insert pamphlet. Canadian Mordecai Richler scripted from his own novel, retaining most of its characters; the realistic surface of the film adaptation mutes some of the original’s satire. The film may be the best work of director Ted Kotcheff, whose career later peaked with the commercial success of the first Rambo picture First Blood and the comedy Weekend at Bernie’s. Kotcheff had been directing for almost 20 years. Much of that time was spent outside of Canada, as with the James Mason – John Mills feature Tiara Tahiti in 1962.

Duddy Kravitz is part of the Canadian production boom of the 1970s. It carries an early credit for writer-director Lionel Chetwynd, although essayist Nathan Holmes claims that Chetwynd’s screenplay was rejected. The exemplary cast was likely attracted by the novel’s strong reputation. Winning an award here and there, the film became a modest hit and is considered a masterpiece in Canada. Richard Dreyfuss thought he had hit the big-time until he saw the finished show and panicked. He thought his acting was terrible: “When it first came out I hated my performance, and said so for 20 years. Then I realized I was just nuts, and I stopped.”  ^*  It’s actually his best work ever — it’s just that the character is so utterly loathesome. Dreyfuss’s attempt to add touches of charm have little effect.

Poor kid David ‘Duddy’ Kravitz (Richard Dreyfuss, pre- Jaws) is desperate to make something of himself. His father Max (Jack Warden) has filled his head with visions of success through slick business maneuvers, which have supposedly turned Max’s old buddy ‘The Wonder Boy’ Dingleman (Henry Ramer) into a millionaire. Duddy’s hardworking socialist uncle Benjy (Joseph Wiseman) has nothing but disdain for him, but helps support Duddy’s nervous brother Lennie (Allan Rosenthal), a medical student. Hurt and humiliated, Duddy throws himself into menial work at Jewish resorts, earning the scorn of other well-to-do seasonal workers that think him too much of a money grubber. One of them is Irwin (Allan Migicovsky), who tricks Duddy into losing all of his money in a rigged roulette scheme.

Duddy picks up a French Canadian girlfriend, Yvette (Micheline Lanctôt). She doesn’t like the way Duddy makes their relationship seem yet another transaction, but she remains a loyal supporter. Following the general advice of his kindly grandfather (Zvee Scooler), Duddy gets the grand idea of buying lakeside land, on which he can develop a resort. Lying to Yvette, he immediately over-extends himself in several directions. He makes a crazy deal with Virgil (Randy Quaid) to import some stolen pinball machines, and contracts with the drunken film director Peter John Friar (Denholm Elliott) for a bar mitzvah movie he thinks will make him into an important film producer. Mr. Farber (Joe Silver), a wealthy junkman Duddy met at the resort, believes Duddy’s lies and invests. Duddy thinks that The Wonder Boy Dingleman is going to invest as well. Dingleman’s ‘help’ is to rope Duddy into transporting heroin for him . . . and our boy has no choice but to go along.

Apprenticeship ends up as almost a slow-motion version of Night and the City, the horrifying classic noir in which an unscrupulous con-man engineers his own doom. Duddy Kravitz’s experience is somewhat less dire. He does some good now and then, as when he saves his brother Lennie from possible disaster, and gets him to stay in medical school. But he eventually alienates all who wish to help him, driving away both the woman who loves him and family members he hopes to impress.

Duddy’s stomping ground is a particular Jewish neighborhood in Montrea, where he wages an uphill battle against his more well-off peers. The other resort workers consider him too vulgar as he hustles for extra dollars from the wealthy vacationers. The dismissive Irwin condemns behavior  like Duddy’s as the cause of anti-Semitism. The movie doesn’t tame author Richler’s imperfect characters. Father Max is a blowhard who pimps on the side. Uncle Max has a photo of Trotsky on his wall. He also sees Duddy as an embarrassment — he calls him a ‘pusher’ and sneers at his get-rich-quick fever.

Duddy is an easy mark for the blacklisted movie director, Friar. The fraudulent film genius’s bar mitzvah movie is an unwatchable montage that mixes temple scenes with shots of Hitler, a circumcision, African tribal dances and a man who eats razor blades. Friar then tries to steal Yvette from Duddy, telling her that she’ll lose out because Jewish men don’t marry outside their own faith.

From the outset, Apprenticeship presents vulgar details that the old Production Code — and ‘good taste’ — would have resisted. Duddy inflates a condom while marching in a military-service band parade. Duddy catches Irwin masturbating in the resort’s bunk room. Duddy is crude-honest in his sex advances to Yvette. We wonder if conservative Jews were made uncomfortable by Duddy’s sharp and ugly business ethics, lying to investors, inflating his success and making everything about money.

Old Hollywood may have done a disservice to ethnic Jews by portraying them as sentimental immigrants and sanitizing their home lives — Marjorie Morningstar,   for example. Ted Kotcheff’s movie shows various levels of personal hypocrisy and corruption, but always with a humanizing bent. At first we see little to like in both the clientelle and staff at the Jewish mountain resort. But after the roulette cheating incident, Irwin’s own friends insist that he return Duddy’s money. Even Mister Farber gets up a collection from the winners, so Duddy won’t be broke.

There isn’t a bad performance to be seen, with Jack Warden and Joseph Wiseman obvious standouts. So is young Randy Quaid, in yet another winning supporting character appearance. Denholm Elliott has an interesting turn as the eccentric director, and his crazy movie provides some needed comic value — is it a lampoon aimed at The National Film Board of Canada?  Micheline Lanctôt holds her own, making us believe in Yvonne’s investment in Duddy’s ambitions. She loves him on a basic level, but Duddy is too focused on his petty schemes to value her commitment, and betrays her once too often. Actors Joe Silver and Allan Migicovsky will be familiar to fans of David Cronenberg, from his first ‘body horror’ Sci-fi thriller.

Did Richard Dreyfuss realize that Duddy would be seen in such a negative light?  The kid has a nice smile, but he’s a nervous type who never slows down. Duddy always seems to be perspiring. In a particularly unpleasant detail, Duddy is continually scratching himself, as if he was allergic to something, or trying to crawl out of his own skin. He comes on like the original guilty conniver . . . a lie detector would start ringing the moment he entered the room.

A dreadful accident occurs, for which Duddy has a direct moral responsibility. His reaction is to avoid facing the problem — and then he reverts back into his utterly selfish, irresponsible mode, pulling off a forgery scheme that will destroy his closest relationships. Duddy just can’t help himself — he’ll do anything to avoid failure.

The fair response to the Duddy Kravitz character is that offensive, corner-cutting sharpies come in all colors and all religions. Mordecai Richler charts the Pilgrim’s Progress of a variety of troublemaker he must have known from his ethnic neighborhood in Montreal. Duddy measures himself against Dingleman, a ‘legend’ who is always in trouble with the law. At one point Mr. Farber confesses to Duddy that keeping his own scrap iron business required him to cheat his own partner. Farber says that life is War and that ‘the white man’ has all the guns — you have to cheat to stay afloat.

We’re very much impressed by director Ted Kotcheff’s achievement in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. The attention to period detail starts at the very beginning — is it the late 1940s?  Kotcheff and production designer Anne Pritchard’s recreation of the summer resort holds up well against those seen in Woody Allen’s pictures, Dirty Dancing and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Duddy’s origins are tattered and grimy. His attitude is off-putting even when he wins. It’s almost tragic that Duddy thinks he can attain absolution through success, with the added illusion that he can achieve so dishonestly, without anybody being hurt.

Fun City Editions’ Blu-ray of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz looks much better than the theatrical prints I saw back in the day, when Paramount picked it up for American distribution. We appreciate the period recreations, which understandably don’t show the touristy parts of Montreal. Although scenes are underscored, the rich soundtrack appears to rely mostly on source music. It adds to the realism, and to our own worry about what godawful offense Duddy will commit next.

Critic Adam Nayman contributes the audio commentary, covering the basics on the picture and charting differences with the book in a scene by scene analysis. Author and critic Nathan Holmes distills a lot of pertinent thought in his insert essay Vulgar Canadianism —  especially the idea that Canadian artists are often criticized for working outside the country, where most of the opportunities are.

The release has new artwork on the slipcover and an original poster design on the keep case inside — we like the new art better.

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Blu-ray rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements:
Audio commentary by Adam Nayman
Insert pamphlet with an essay by Nathan Holmes.
Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? YES; Subtitles: English (feature only)
Packaging: One Blu-ray in Keep case
Reviewed: January 3, 2024
(7056dudd)

^*  From an article by Andrew Pulver, in The Guardian

Visit CineSavant’s Main Column Page
Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: cinesavant@gmail.com

Text © Copyright 2024 Glenn Erickson