{"id":32853,"date":"2014-04-02T11:02:11","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T18:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32853"},"modified":"2024-02-10T01:38:14","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T08:38:14","slug":"apprenticeship-of-duddy-kravitz-the-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32853","title":{"rendered":"Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, The  (1974)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;A man without land is nobody.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-of-Duddy-Kravitz-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-of-Duddy-Kravitz-Poster-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-32857\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-of-Duddy-Kravitz-Poster-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-of-Duddy-Kravitz-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-of-Duddy-Kravitz-Poster-675x1024.jpg 675w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-of-Duddy-Kravitz-Poster.jpg 990w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAn ambitious young man (Richard Dreyfuss) in post-WWII Montreal alienates his girlfriend (Micheline Lanctot) in his relentless pursuit to own a plot of land.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Coming of Age<\/li>\n<li>Denholm Elliott Films<\/li>\n<li>Get Rich Quick<\/li>\n<li>Randy Quaid Films<\/li>\n<li>Richard Dreyfuss Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nCanadian director <a href=\"http:\/\/www.allmovie.com\/artist\/ted-kotcheff-p97955\">Ted Kotcheff<\/a>&#8216;s adaptation of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Apprenticeship_of_Duddy_Kravitz_(novel)\">Mordechai Richler<\/a>&#8216;s novel remains an engrossing coming-of-age tale featuring a decidedly unlikable yet oddly sympathetic title character. Dreyfuss couldn&#8217;t have been better cast (who else comes to mind when thinking &#8220;obnoxiously brash male protagonist&#8221;?), and he brings appropriately relentless energy to his role as a young man so hell-bent on achieving property ownership that he ultimately sacrifices elements of his humanity. Richler&#8217;s screenplay makes it painfully clear how much suffering can result from differential treatment of siblings &#8212; which is why we understand what drives Duddy: when your older brother is the unambiguous &#8220;golden child&#8221;, receiving a disproportionate share of praise and financial support, what else can a young man do but find a way to make his own mark, in any way possible? <\/p>\n<p>In addition to Dreyfuss&#8217;s memorable lead performance (that cackling laugh!), the film makes excellent use of authentic locales (it possesses a strong sense of time and place) and has an interesting score (by <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stanley_Myers\">Stanley Myers<\/a>). Various supporting characters and sub-plots are also strongly delineated &#8212; from Denholm Elliott&#8217;s portrayal as an alcoholic director hired by Duddy to film bar mitzvahs (the documentary-within-the-movie is truly inspired), to Randy Quaid as Duddy&#8217;s mentally slow buddy, to deep-voiced Micheline Lanctot as Duddy&#8217;s long-suffering (to a point) girlfriend. Despite its challenging subject matter and some decidedly dark narrative turns, this one is definitely worth a one-time look. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Richard Dreyfuss as Duddy<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-Dreyfuss.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-Dreyfuss-1024x573.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"358\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-32860\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-Dreyfuss-1024x573.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-Dreyfuss-128x71.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-Dreyfuss-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-Dreyfuss.png 1913w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Excellent use of authentic Montreal locales<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-Montreal.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-Montreal-1024x572.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"358\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-32859\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-Montreal-1024x572.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-Montreal-128x71.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-Montreal-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Apprenticeship-Montreal.png 1909w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as an unusual and finely crafted character study. Listed as a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Noteworthy Performance(s)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0071155\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/books\/97\/12\/21\/home\/richler-screen.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/the-apprenticeship-of-duddy-kravitz-1974\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cinematicthreads.com\/review.php?id=3574&#038;ltr=A\">Cinematic Threads Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/london\/film\/the-apprenticeship-of-duddy-kravitz\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;A man without land is nobody.&#8221; Synopsis: An ambitious young man (Richard Dreyfuss) in post-WWII Montreal alienates his girlfriend (Micheline Lanctot) in his relentless pursuit to own a plot of land. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Coming of Age Denholm Elliott Films Get Rich Quick Randy Quaid Films Richard Dreyfuss Films Review: Canadian director Ted Kotcheff&#8216;s adaptation of Mordechai Richler&#8216;s novel remains an engrossing coming-of-age tale featuring a decidedly unlikable yet oddly sympathetic title character. Dreyfuss couldn&#8217;t have been better&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32853\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32853"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95485,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32853\/revisions\/95485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}