Mordecai Richler Movies
Rising to fame with yarns spun around his childhood in Montreal's Jewish community in the 1940s, Canadian curmudgeon Mordecai Richler would go on to become a seminal figure in contemporary literature with such classic works as The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and Solomon Gursky Was Here.Moving to London, England, in 1954 for 20 years, Richler continued writing until later moving back to his homeland and settling in Quebec in 1972. With such works as Barney's Version, Richler won numerous awards, including the Commonwealth Writer's Prize and two Governor General's literary awards. Richler's contributions to film included his screenplay adaptations of Kravitz and Joshua Then and Now, as well as screenplays for Fun With Dick and Jane (1977), Life at the Top (1965), and Room at the Top (1959). Diagnosed with cancer later in life, Richler died of complications resulting from treatment in his hometown of Montreal in July of 2001. He was 70. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1998
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Based on noted Montreal author Mordecai Richler's classic children's adventure of the same name, the film is about a boy named Jacob (Max Morrow) who has to say everything twice to be heard, simply because he is the youngest of five children. Desperately needing to be taken seriously, he offers to go to the grocery store for his Dad, embarking on his first solo journey. The quest goes horribly wrong when he loses his nerve and runs off, only to bump into a ten-pound hanging salami. He wakes up to find himself in court charged with insulting a grown-up. The Singing Judge sentences Jacob to the children's prison on Slimer's Island. The fog-bound and crocodile infested prison is presided over by the fearsome Hooded Fang (Gary Busey). Help is supposed to be on its way in the form of the heroic Child Power Masters. When that is delayed, Jacob Two Two hatches a cunning plan to take on the Hooded Fang himself. Fraught with childhood fantasies and fears, the film encourages children to feel strong in the threatening world of adults. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Busey, Miranda Richardson, (more)
- 1985
- R
The early ups and later downs in the life of Joshua Shapiro (James Woods) more or less describe the trajectory of this semi-autobiographical film, adapted from the book by Mordecai Richler. Joshua is a Jewish Canadian writer who has returned from living in England for nearly three decades, only to see the major components of his life disintegrate around him. Flashbacks tell the tale of Joshua's childhood -- raised by a father who is an ex-boxer with a creative approach to earning a living (illegally) and a mother who earns her living as a stripper. Leaving this background and his coming-of-age behind him, Joshua flies off to England and gains a reputation as a writer, marrying a politically leftist but socially elite wife. On his return to Canada at the end of the '70s, everything around him collapses. His best friend dies, his brother-in-law kills himself, there is a smear campaign against him, and someone is out to blackmail him. Things only get worse, in fact, before they level off. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Woods, Gabrielle Lazure, (more)
- 1979
Adapted from a children's story by Mordecai Richler, Theodore J. Flicker's comic fantasy stars Stephen Rosenberg as Jacob Two-Two, so nicknamed because he must repeat everything he says in order to get adults to hear him. Escaping into a fantasy world, he dreams that he is the captive of the child-hating Hooded Fang (Alex Karras). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Rosenberg, Alex Karras, (more)
Dick Harper (George Segal) and his wife Jane (Jane Fonda) have always lived way beyond their means. Just because Dick has just lost his high-paying job is no reason for Jane to stop spending like there's no tomorrow. To make ends meet, Jane takes up a new career: armed robbery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Segal, Jane Fonda, (more)
- 1976
Caroline Leaf draws and animates the 1976 short film Street using broad ink strokes and monochromatic watercolor wash, which lend the work a deliberately coarse and crude feel. An adaptation of a short story by noted Canadian humorist Mordecai Richler (The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Joshua Then and Now), Street explores the reactions of various members of a family to the grandmother's impending death. Cutting against the grain of more traditional uses of animation, Leaf's tone is dark, critical, and heart-rending. Guy Glover produced the film, with funding from the National Film Board of Canada; John Hood, Sarah Dwight, Vera Heitman, Mort Ransen and Howard Ryshpan provide the voices of the family members. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 1974
- PG
Richard Dreyfuss put himself on the map with his performance in this movie about how ambition and greed can drive someone at the expense of his own happiness. Duddy Kravitz (Dreyfuss) is an 18-year-old Jewish kid from Montreal whose mother is dead, and whose father drives a cab and does a little pimping on the side to pay the bills and send Duddy's older brother to medical school. Duddy has bigger dreams, and he does everything from producing films of bar mitzvahs to attempting to buy real estate to (unknowingly) smuggling heroin in order to strike it rich. Along the way, however, he alienates his girlfriend, drives his grandfather to despair, loses all his friends, and even paralyzes his best employee, while making himself more and more miserable. Duddy's desire to be a success is easy to understand, which makes this potentially unlikable character forgivable, and the film's gallery of details and characters adds realism and energy to the story. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dreyfuss, Micheline Lanctôt, (more)
- 1965
Life at the Top is a belated sequel to Room at the Top, John Blaine's "angry young man" British novel that was made into a film in 1959. Laurence Harvey is back as Joe Lampton, the man-on-the-rise protagonist who in Room had given up true love in favor of a career-boosting (and antiseptic) marriage to his boss' daughter. Ten years have passed: Lampton is a business success, but utterly bored by his dead-end marital setup. His wife feels the same, and it isn't long before Mr. and Mrs. Lampton begin conducting separate affairs. While the original Room was a fairly accurate evocation of its era, Life at the Top works too hard and too noisily to be "mod," in reflection of the ethereal Swinging London era. The inclusion of flashbacks from Room at the Top, in which Harvey is seen making love to Simone Signoret, only serves to emphasize the shortcomings of the sequel. The best moments in the later version can be found in the early establishing scenes set in Yorkshire. Life at the Top was followed by a TV series called Man at the Top, starring Kenneth Haigh as Lampton, which in turn was followed by a theatrical feature of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, Jean Simmons, (more)
- 1962
Also titled The Wild and the Willing, this is a British production about a rebellious young man of the early 1960s. Harry Brown (Ian McShane) is a lower-class troublemaker at an upscale provincial university. He is brilliant but frequently drunk, and he constantly criticizes the elitism of his professors. Harry becomes the reluctant protégé of Professor Chown (Paul Rogers), who sees the boy's potential and hopes to tame him. Harry soon abandons his girlfriend Josie (Samantha Eggar) for a fling with Chown's wife Virginia (Virginia Maskell), a woman who frequently fools around with her husband's students. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Maskell, Paul Rogers, (more)
- 1962
In his first effort at directing a feature-length film, William (Ted) Kotcheff, best-known for movies like The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, does an excellent job in making this drama effective. He is helped in no small part by James Mason as Brett Aimsley, a sophisticated, at-ease former junior partner in a brokerage firm, and John Mills as Lt. Col. Clifford Southey, a former clerk in that same company. During the war, the lieutenant carries his sense of inferiority from his peacetime job as a clerk with him. So when he has a chance to nail Brett (a junior officer now) for trying to bring some censored goods back into London, he takes the chance and Brett is drummed out of service. Brett heads for Tahiti and a pretty good life in the sun, until Clifford shows up on the island with big plans to build a hotel -- bringing with him the same defensive attitude. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, John Mills, (more)
- 1960
Peter Finch plays Johnnie Byrne, a British member of parliament. When Johnnie loses out on an important cabinet post, he's hardly surprised; he's been a loser so long that it's par for the course. Treated shabbily by his communistic wife Rosalie Crutchley, Johnnie begins an affair with fashion-model Mary Peach. His ardor causes him to miss an important House of Commons meeting, which subsequently leads to his disgrace in the eyes of his leftist political associates. A chance at a reconciliation with his wife is scuttled when Johnnie finds that he will lose a much-coveted cabinet seat if he does not sever his communist ties, both professional and personal. No Love for Johnnie was based on a novel by Wilfred Fienburgh, himself a Socialist MP who evidently knew whereof he spoke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Finch, Stanley Holloway, (more)
