Fiddler on the Roof is a 1971 American epic period musical comedy-drama film based on the 1964 stage musical by Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick, which itself is based on Tevye and His Daughters, a series of short stories by Sholem Aleichem. Directed by Norman Jewison from a screenplay by Stein, the film centers on Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman in early 20th-century Ukraine in Imperial Russia who is faced with the challenge of marrying off his five daughters amidst the growing tensions in his shtetl. The film stars Chaim Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, Paul Mann, Rosalind Harris, Michèle Marsh, Neva Small and Paul Michael Glaser. The musical score, composed by Bock with lyrics by Harnick, was adapted and conducted by John Williams.
Filmed at Pinewood Studios in England and on-location in the SR Croatia, Fiddler on the Roof was theatrically released on November 3, 1971, by United Artists to critical and commercial success. Reviewers praised Jewison's direction, the screenplay, and the performances of the cast, while the film grossed $83.3 million worldwide on a $9 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1971.
The film received a leading eight nominations at the 44th Academy Awards, including for Best Picture and Best Director, and won three: Best Score Adaptation (Williams), Best Cinematography (Oswald Morris) and Best Sound (Gordon K. McCallum, David Hildyard). The film also won two Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Topol.
The film has continued to receive acclaim since its release and is often considered to be one of the greatest musical films of all time. An independently produced documentary about the making of the film, titled Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen, was released in 2022.
Plot The film takes place in 1905, in the fictional village of Anatevka, a typical shtetl somewhere in Ukraine, part of the Pale of Settlement in Imperial Russia. Tevye is Anatevka's poor Jewish milkman; he and his bossy, sharp-tongued wife Golde have five daughters: Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze and Bielke. Tevye compares the lives of the Jews of Anatevka to a "fiddler on the roof", using tradition to "scratch out a pleasant, simple tune" without breaking their necks.
Yente, the local matchmaker, has arranged for Tevye's eldest daughter, Tzeitel, to marry Lazar Wolf, Anatevka's affluent butcher, who is older than Tevye. However, Tzeitel is in love with her childhood sweetheart, Motel Kamzoil, the tailor; Tevye does not think very highly of Motel, considering him timid and meek. Worried that Yente will soon find her a husband, Tzeitel urges Motel to ask Tevye for her hand. Motel is reluctant, afraid of Tevye's temper and tradition dictates that marriages must be arranged by a matchmaker. Motel is also very poor and is saving money to buy a sewing machine to show Tevye that he is able to support a wife.
While making his rounds, Tevye meets Perchik, a Jewish student from the university in Kyiv. Perchik has modern religious ideas and Bolshevik political views; the local men dismiss him as a radical but Tevye takes a liking to Perchik and invites him to Join his family for the Sabbath meal and offers him room and board in exchange for tutoring his two youngest daughters. Upon arriving home, Golde informs Tevye that Lazar Wolf wants to see him, but does not tell him why, knowing that Tevye doesn't like Lazar. Tevye assumes that Lazar wants to discuss buying his milk cow to slaughter.
After the Sabbath, Tevye visits Lazar and once the misunderstanding over the cow is cleared up, he agrees to the match; Tevye reasons that if Tzeitel marries a wealthy butcher, she surely will never go hungry. The two men then go to a nearby tavern and everyone celebrates Lazar's good fortune with drinking and dancing. On his way home, Tevye meets the local Constable who warns him that a pogrom (calling it an "unofficial demonstration") by a gang of thugs will take place in Anateveka in the near future. The Constable is sympathetic toward the Jews but is powerless to prevent the violence.
The next day, Tevye informs Tzeitel that she is now engaged to marry Lazar Wolf. Devastated, Tzeitel begs her father not to force her to marry the butcher. At first, Tevye is adamant that she marry Lazar but after Motel arrives, he tells Tevye that he and Tzeitel gave each other a pledge to marry. Tevye is incredulous, but after some soul-searching and consideration of their feelings, he finally relents and gives Tzeitel and Motel permission to marry, despite Lazar Wolf's humiliation. Worried that Golde will not accept the marriage, Tevye pretends to have a nightmare in which Tzeitel is fated to marry Motel and Fruma-Sarah, Lazar's dead wife, will seek terrible retribution if Tzeitel marries the butcher. The superstitious Golde interprets the false dream to be prophetic and believes that Tzeitel's marriage to Motel is for the best.
The wedding day arrives and all the Jews of Anatevka attend the ceremony. There is much celebration until an argument erupts between Lazar Wolf and Tevye over the broken agreement. Perchik tells everyone that it should be left for the couple to decide who they marry. He creates further controversy when he asks Hodel to dance with him, crossing the Mechitza. Initially, the crowd is shocked but they soon warm to the idea and the wedding proceeds with great joy. Suddenly, a mob arrives and the pogrom begins; when Perchik attempts to intervene, he is injured in the attack. The Constable appears and immediately stops the raid. Sheepishly, he tells Tevye he must carry out orders. Tevye then orders everyone to clean up. As the attacks continue elsewhere, Tevye is bewildered and silently wonders why God would allow such atrocities.
Later, as Perchik prepares to leave Anatevka to participate in the revolution in Kyiv, he asks Hodel to marry him and she accepts. When Hodel and Perchik tell Tevye of their intention to marry without his permission, Tevye is initially furious but he ultimately gives them his blessing because they love each other. During a demonstration in Kyiv, Perchik is arrested and exiled to Siberia. Hodel leaves home to join him there, much to Tevye's sorrow.
Meanwhile, Tevye's third daughter, Chava, has fallen in love with Fyedka, a young gentile. As with Tzeitel and Hodel, Tevye attempts to understand Chava's feelings but concludes that he cannot countenance his daughter marrying outside the Jewish faith. Chava and Fyedka elope and marry in an Orthodox Christian church. When Tevye learns of the marriage from Golde, he tells her Chava is now dead to them. Chava appears and begs her father for his acceptance, but Tevye ostracizes her.
Finally, the people of Anatevka are notified by the Constable that they have three days to vacate the village; after that, the Imperial Russian government will force the Jews to leave. Tevye, his family and their neighbors pack and head variously for New York, Chicago, Jerusalem, and other places they have never been. Chava and Fyedka arrive to inform Tevye that the two of them are moving to Kraków, Poland. As they say their goodbyes, Tevye at first ignores Chava but then quietly says "God be with you", which Tzeitel happily repeats to the couple. Tzeitel, Motel and their baby will join the family in America when they have saved enough money. As Tevye pulls his wagon full of possessions down the muddy road, he hears the fiddler playing behind him; he motions for the fiddler to follow as Tevye, Golde and their two youngest daughters continue down the road.
Cast
Musical numbers All songs by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, arranged by John Williams.
"Prologue / Tradition" – Tevye and Company "Overture" "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" – Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze and Bielke "If I Were a Rich Man" – Tevye "Sabbath Prayer" – Tevye, Golde and Chorus "To Life" – Tevye, Lazar Wolf, Townsmen and Cossacks "Tevye's Monologue (Tzeitel and Motel)" – Tevye "Miracle of Miracles" – Motel "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)" – Tevye "Do You Love Me?" – Tevye and Golde "Far from the Home I Love" – Hodel "Chava Ballet Sequence (Little Bird, Little Chavaleh)" – Tevye "Tevye's Monologue (Chava and Fyedka)" – Tevye "Anatevka" – Tevye, Golde, Lazar Wolf, Yente, Mendel, Mordcha and Full company "Exit Music"
Differences from Broadway 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)".Huttner, Jan Lisa. "Fiddler: Stage versus Screen", JUF.org, November 14, 2011, accessed September 7, 2015 Lyrical portions of "Tevye's Dream (tailor Motel Kamzoil)" were omitted to avoid repetition. The film's soundtrack album contained some of these omissions, including Golde blessing herself before going back to sleep after Tevye describes the dream.
Changes were also made in the song "Tradition", with the film omitting the dialogue between Reb Nachum the beggar (who, in the film, seems to have difficulty speaking) and Lazar Wolf as well as dialogue spoken by Yente and Avram. When the family roles are introduced, the "sons" chorus is cut, causing the "sons" verse to roll directly into the "daughters" verse. 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 original soundtrack LP release retained their names, Yitzhak and Avram, however this was omitted in the film's release. Instead, an on-set, improvised take of Topol (saying "he sold him"), rather than the recorded dubbing, was used.
Six additional scenes were added to the film: The Constable receives orders from his superior for a "demonstration" against the Jews (referred to by the superior as "Christ-killers") in Anatevka. Perchik is arrested at a workers' rally in Kyiv. The rabbi and his students inside the synagogue receive news of the arrival of Motel's new sewing machine. 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. 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. 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 master well.
The scene with Hodel and Perchik, where he plans to leave for Kyiv, 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. In 1979, a shorter version of the film was re-released to theaters, cutting 32 minutes, including the songs "Far from the Home I Love" and "Anatevka".
In the stage version, Tevye and Lazar Wolf meet in a tavern to discuss Lazar's proposed marriage to Tzeitel; in the film, Tevye goes to Lazar's home, which is well appointed and filled with objets d'art. The two then walk to the tavern for a celebratory drink.