The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (film)
| The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz | |
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| Directed by | Ted Kotcheff |
| Produced by | John Kemeny |
| Screenplay by | Lionel Chetwynd |
| Based on |
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler |
| Starring |
Richard Dreyfuss Micheline Lanctôt Jack Warden Randy Quaid |
| Music by |
Stanley Myers Andrew Powell |
| Cinematography | Brian West |
| Edited by | Thom Noble |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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April 11, 1974 |
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Running time
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120 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $911,000 (Canadian) |
| Box office | $1.7 million |
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is a 1974 Canadian comedy-drama film directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Richard Dreyfuss. It is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Mordecai Richler.
Duddy Kravitz (Richard Dreyfuss) is a brash, restless young Jewish man growing up poor in Montreal, Canada. His taxi driver father Max (Jack Warden) and his rich uncle Benjy (Joseph Wiseman) are very proud of Duddy's older brother Lenny, whom Benjy is putting through medical school. Only his grandfather (Zvee Scooler) shows the motherless Duddy any attention.
Duddy gets a summer job as a waiter at a Jewish resort hotel in the Laurentian Mountains. His hustle, energy and coarse manners irritate condescending college student and fellow waiter Irwin. Irwin gets his girlfriend Linda, the daughter of the hotel's owner, to persuade Duddy to stage a clandestine roulette game. Unbeknownst to Duddy, the roulette wheel is crooked, and he loses his entire $300 earnings to Irwin and some hotel guests. Fortunately for Duddy, the other waiters find out and make Irwin give back the money. Unaware of this, the hotel guests, led by Farber, feel bad and give him a further $500.
Duddy starts a serious relationship with another hotel employee, French-Canadian Yvette (Micheline Lanctôt). One day, she takes him on a picnic beside a lake. Duddy is stunned by the beauty of the setting, and his ambition crystallizes: taking to heart his grandfather Zeyta's maxim that "a man without land is nobody", he decides he will buy all the property around the lake and develop it. Because the current owners might not want to sell to a Jew, he gets Yvette to front for him.
Duddy sets out to raise the money he needs. He hires blacklisted, alcoholic American director Friar (Denholm Elliott) to film weddings and bar mitzvahs. His first customer is Farber, who drives a hard bargain. If he does not like the result, he will not pay. Despite Friar's artistic pretensions, the film is a success, and more orders are quickly forthcoming.
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