Molly Picon | Scott's Film Reviews-1,527 Reviews posted!!! RECENTLY LAUNCHED-MY TOP 250 FAVORITE FILMS AND TOP 40 HORROR FILMS!!!

Fiddler on the Roof-1971

Director Norman Jewison

Starring Topol, Norma Crane, Rosalind Harris

Top 250 Films #29

Scott’s Review #123

Reviewed July 21, 2014

Grade: A

Fiddler on the Roof is a fantastic musical from 1971 based on the popular stage version. It tells the story of a Russian Jewish family living in tumultuous times, both before and during the Russian Revolution.

The film has everything and is very well made, truly doing justice to the stage version. It contains dancing, drinking, festive parties, love, and sing-alongs. It also includes politics, hardships, and tragedy.

Led by the patriarch of the family, Teyve, played fantastically by Topol, he explains (often narrating directly to the audience, which is a goldmine in style) life in his Russian village with five daughters and no sons and an overbearing wife. They are a low-income family and struggle to make ends meet.

They navigate life through song and dance, dealing with romance, focusing primarily on the three oldest girls, and the political upheaval surrounding their country.

It is tough for a film version of a famous musical to be top-notch and even compare to the stage version, but the film is excellent- “Tradition”, “Matchmaker”, and “If I Were a Rich Man” immediately stick in the viewer’s head.

The film has a rich, earthy feel, with a predominance of brown and grey colors. Russian history is explored, lending it complexity and an educational quality, rather than merely providing a simple, feel-good experience. To put it simply, the story is layered and not one-note.

Politics, progressive thinking versus conservatism, and the generation gap are explored, and the characters learn and adapt to a changing world, especially the parents.

One interesting aspect is the progressive onset of the Russian Revolution as it approached.

Fiddler on the Roof is quite lengthy (179 minutes), but it does not seem that long. This film (and play) is a marvel.

Oscar Nominations: 3 wins-Best Picture, Best Director-Norman Jewison, Best Actor-Chaim Topol, Best Supporting Actor-Leonard Frey, Best Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score (won), Best Sound (won), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography (won)

The Cannonball Run-1981

Director Hal Needham

Starring Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett, Roger Moore

Scott’s Review #1,204

Reviewed December 4, 2021

Grade: B-

The Cannonball Run (1981) is someone’s idea of collecting big film and television stars of the time and throwing them into a film with a pointless plot about cross-country road racing.

Truth be told, it’s a pretty bad film. But, it’s a fun way to spend ninety minutes just to see the multitude of celebrities in both cameos and leading roles. Otherwise, The Cannonball Run should be skipped.

Taking a glance at the list of players we have Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett, Roger Moore, Sammy Davis Jr., Dom DeLuise, Peter Fonda, Dean Martin, Jamie Farr, Jackie Chan, Peter Fonda, Adrienne Barbeau, Bert Convoy, and Terry Bradshaw.

Hopefully, the actors had a good time making the film.

The acting is not stellar and one wonders if many of the cast simply phoned it in or even read much of the script. The out-takes look like everyone was having one grand old time. And whether some were even sober during the shooting is debatable.

The film is loosely based on the 1979 running of an actual cross-country outlaw road race in the United States, beginning in Connecticut and ending in California.

It was one of 1981’s most successful films at the box office which is a scary realization. It was followed by two forgettable sequels- Cannonball Run II (1984), and Speed Zone (1989).

Feeling very thrown together, director Hal Needham is most known for collaborations with Burt Reynolds involving cars and car chases so the plot, if one wants to call it that, is right up his alley.

Race teams gather in Connecticut to start a cross-country car race. One at a time, teams drive up to the starters’ stand, punch a time card to indicate their time of departure, and then take off.

The reward to be given to the winner is one million dollars. A representative of the “Safety Enforcement Unit” tries to stop the race because of its environmental effects and safety issues.

Various teams are shown either evading law enforcement, most of which deal with talking their way out of a possible ticket, or concocting crazy schemes to outmaneuver their opponents.

The winner of the race is rather unimportant.

It’s all silly and not to be taken seriously. There are plenty of stereotypes like Jamie Farr’s Middle-Eastern wealthy sheik driving a Rolls Royce and the inevitable scantily clad females in tight wear.

Despite The Cannonball Run being riddled with enough negative aspects to make me hate the film, it’s kind of fun. The bevy of different vehicles like an ambulance, an Aston Martin DB5 (driven by Moore’s James Bond imitating the character of course), a Ferrari, and a Chevrolet Malibu are all entertaining.

There is no character development nor any characters with any depth so the only reason to see the film is for the speedy cars and the competition.

And to see which celebrity will appear next.

A slapstick film that makes even the similarly penned Smokey and the Bandit (1977) seem like high-art, The Cannonball Run (1981) is a must-see only for genre fans or those who are willing to watch and perhaps even be entertained by any type of movie.

I haven’t seen the film in eons but can imagine it’s a film only meant for its time and now would feel incredibly dated.