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Fiddler on the Roof is a 1971 American epic musical comedy-drama film produced and directed by Norman Jewison. It is an adaptation of the 1964 Broadway musical of the same name, with music composed by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and screenplay by Joseph Stein based on stories by Sholem Aleichem. Starring Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, and Paul Mann, the film centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon the family’s lives. He must cope both with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters, who wish to marry for love – each one’s choice of a husband moves further away from the customs of his faith – and with the edict of the Tsar who evicts the Jews from the town of Anatevka.

Throughout the film, Tevye talks to God and directly to the audience, breaking the fourth wall. In these monologues, Tevye ponders tradition, the difficulties of being poor, the Jewish community’s constant fear of violence from their non-Jewish neighbors, and important family decisions.

The film was released to critical acclaim and won three Academy Awards, including Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score for arranger-conductor John Williams. It was nominated for several more, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Topol as Tevye, and Best Supporting Actor for Frey, who played Motel Kamzoil the Tailor. Topol and Frey had performed in stage productions of the musical; Topol as Tevye in the London production and Frey in a minor part as Mendel, the rabbi’s son, on Broadway.

The film’s plot largely follows that of the musical from which it is adapted.

Musical numbers

• “Prologue / Tradition” – Tevye and Company

• “Overture“

• “Matchmaker, Matchmaker“

• “If I Were a Rich Man“

• “Sabbath Prayer”

• “To Life“

• “Tevye’s Monologue

• “Miracle of Miracles”

• “Tevye’s Dream” – Tevye, Golde, Grandmother Tzeitel, Rabbi, Fruma-Sarah and Ghostly chorus

• “Sunrise, Sunset” – Tevye, Golde, Perchik, Hodel and Guests

• “Wedding Celebration / The Bottle Dance”

• “Entr’acte” – Orchestra

• “Tradition” (Reprise) – Chorus

• “Tevye’s Monologue (Hodel and Perchik)”

• “Do You Love Me?“

• “Far from the Home I Love”

1. “Chava Ballet Sequence (Little Bird, Little Chavaleh)” – Tevye

1. “Tevye’s Monologue (Chava and Fyedka)” – Tevye

1. “Anatevka”

• “Exit Music”

Production

The decision to cast Topol, instead of Zero Mostel, as Tevye was a somewhat controversial one, as the role had originated with Mostel and he had made it famous. Years later, Jewison said he felt Mostel’s larger-than-life personality, while fine on stage, would cause film audiences to see him as Mostel, rather than the character of Tevye.

Principal photography was done at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England. Most of the exterior shots were done in SFR Yugoslavia—specifically in Mala Gorica, Lekenik, and Zagreb within the Yugoslav constituent republic of Croatia. Though the area was under heavy snow during location scouting in 1969, during the filming the producers had to ship in marble dust to stand in for snow. Three hundred extras conversant in various foreign languages were used, as were flocks of geese and pigs and their handlers. Isaac Stern performed the violin solos.

Director Jewison has a cameo as a rabbi (voice only) during Tevye’s dream sequence.

Differences from the Broadway musical

The film follows the plot of the stage play very closely, retaining nearly all of the play’s dialogue, although it omits the songs “Now I Have Everything” and “The Rumor (I Just Heard)”.Lyrical portions of “Tevye’s Dream (tailor Motel Kamzoil)” were omitted to avoid repetition. The film’s soundtrack release notably contained some of these omissions, indicating they were removed from the film during the editing process. These include Golde blessing herself before going back to sleep.

Changes were also made in the song “Tradition”, with the film omitting the dialogue between Reb Nachum the beggar (who, in the film, seems unable to speak, at least clearly) and Lazar Wolf as well as dialogue spoken by Yente and Avram. In addition, in the film, two men argue about whether a horse claimed to be six years old was actually twelve, rather than whether the horse was actually a mule. The LP film soundtrack notably retained their names, Yitzhak and Avram, however this was also omitted the film’s release. Instead, an on-set, improvised take of Topol (saying “he sold him”), rather than the recorded dubbing, was used.

Seven additional scenes were added to the film:

1. The Constable gets orders from his superior for a “demonstration” against the Jews (referred to by the superior as “Christ-killers”) in Anatevka.
2. Perchik is arrested at a workers’ rally in Kiev.
3. Golde goes to the priest to look for Chava (described by her in the stage production). She is confronted there with Christian images (of historically Jewish individuals) in a juxtaposition with the synagogue montage at the start of the film.
4. Motel gets dressed for his upcoming wedding to Tzeitel.
5. The rabbi and his students inside the synagogue receive news of the arrival of Motel’s new sewing machine.
6. The rabbi takes the Torah out of the ark inside the synagogue for the last time. He weeps and chants quietly about having to abandon the synagogue.
7. Tevye feeds his animals in the barn for the final time. He tells his lame horse to take care of his leg and to treat his new owner and master well.

The scene with Hodel and Perchik, where he plans to leave to start a revolution, was extended in the film. A new song sung by Perchik was recorded (“Any Day Now”), but was omitted from the final print; however, it was included in the 2004 reissue of the soundtrack. The song was later implemented in the 2018 Yiddish production as a song sung by Perchik to Shprintze and Bielke. When the film was re-released to theaters in 1979, 32 minutes were cut, including the songs “Far from the Home I Love” and “Anatevka”.

In the film, Tevye and Lazar Wolf discuss Wolf’s proposed marriage to Tzeitel in Wolf’s home, then go to the tavern for a celebration drink. In the stage version, the two meet directly in the tavern. The film shows Wolf’s home as filled with golden artifacts. Prior to Lazar Wolf entering the scene, Tevye speaks to a female servant, who tells him not to touch anything.

Although a faithful adaptation of the original stage version, Fiddler scholar Jan Lisa Huttner has noted several differences between stage and screen. She argues that changes in American culture and politics and developments in Israel led the filmmakers to portray certain characters differently and to offer a different version of Anatevka. For example, the Broadway production cast Bea Arthur as a tall, booming Yente, while the film portrays Yente as tiny and timid. Huttner also notes that the “Chagall color palette” of the original Broadway production was exchanged for a grittier, more realistic depiction of the village of Anatevka.

Release

Roadshow presentation

Because the film follows the stage musical so closely, and the musical did not have an overture, the filmmakers chose to eliminate the customary film overture played before the beginning of most motion pictures shown in a roadshow-style presentation. However, there is a solo by the Fiddler played over the opening credits (after the conclusion of “Tradition”), an intermission featuring entr’acte music, and exit music played at the end after the closing credits.

Reception

The film was a success, earning United Artists profits of $6.1 million, plus distribution profits of $8 million.

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an 83% rating based on 40 reviews, with an average of 7.71/10. The consensus summarizes: “A bird may love a fish – and musical fans will love this adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof, even if it is not quite as transcendent as the long-running stage version.”

Roger Ebert thought the storyline of the musical was “quite simply boring”, but still gave the screen version three stars out of four, explaining that Jewison “has made as good a film as can be made” from the material. Gene Siskel awarded three-and-a-half stars out of four, writing that the musical numbers were “better staged and choreographed than in any recent Broadway film adaptation”. Vincent Canby of The New York Times thought the film version was inferior, explaining that by “literalizing” the show with real landscapes and houses, Jewison and Stein “have effectively overwhelmed not only Aleichem, but the best things about the stage production … pushed beyond its limits, the music goes flat and renders banal moments that, on the stage, are immensely moving.” Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film “has been done not only with such artistry, but also with such evident love, devotion, integrity and high aspiration that watching it is a kind of duplex pleasure.” Gary Arnold of The Washington Post stated, “Jewison’s Fiddler is a great film, by which I mean great in the sense that matters most — greatly moving, an extraordinarily powerful, emotional experience.” Pauline Kael of The New Yorker called it “an absolutely smashing movie; it is not especially sensitive, it is far from delicate, and it isn’t even particularly imaginative, but it seems to me the most powerful movie musical ever made.”

American Film Institute recognition

• AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – Nominated
• AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs:
  • “Sunrise, Sunset” – Nominated
  • “If I Were a Rich Man” – Nominated
• AFI’s 100 Years…100 Cheers – #82
• AFI’s Greatest Movie Musicals – Nominated

Remake

On May 28, 2020, it was announced that MGM and producers Dan Jinks and Aaron Harnick will remake the film, with Thomas Kail (known for his work on Hamilton and Fosse/Verdon) directing and co-producing, and Dear Evan Hansen librettist Steven Levenson penning the screenplay.

Watch the movie

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