Top 10 Jewish Movie Characters
Wednesday December 31, 2008
Categories: Entertainment, Movies
When I decided to do a list of top 10 Jewish movie characters, I got to #4 and then stopped. Jews and pop culture are my thing...why could I only come up with four, with one of them being...
Filed Under: Ben Kingsley, Jewish films, Jewish movies, movie characters, movies, Star Wars, Top List
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Just a factoid:
Adam Sandler was wrong - Harrison Ford's mother was Jewish, so he's 100% Jewish.
oy vey - what about toby in the west wing - ok - so it's not a movie but it was on enough times to be a movie.
was dustin hoffman in the graduate jewish - somehow i think so
the italian actor in a beautiful life? what a great represenation of a jewish hero
alan arkin in escape from sorbibor
How about Max Biyalishtack in the Producers?
Not a movie per se, but how about SGT Brad 'Iceman' Colbert in HBO's Generation Kill. (Alexander Skarsgard)
List devoid of historical sense or rootedness. Where are Rod Steiger ("The Pawnbroker"); Gregory Peck ("Gentlemen's Agreement"); Meryl Streep ("Sophie's Choice"), just to name icons from three different eras?
Speaking of older movies, The characters in the movie "The Chosen". The book by Chaim Potok.
Jessica Stein from the movie "Kissing Jessica Stein". Don't forget the grandmother, "...is she Jewish?".
The main character in "The Believer". The Yeshiva boker who turns into a neo-Nazi.
From what I have read, the brothers from the movie, "Defiance" will be in this list.
How can anyone forget about Tevye, the poor milkman from Fiddler on the Roof? His spiritual journey through the changes of his days versus the traditions he was raised with and held dear speaks for the the rest of us on our personal spritual journies.
How 'bout Natalie Wood in "Marjorie Morningstar?" She is of Russian heritage, of course, and a gentile, but she was so Jewish in this movie, one of my all-time favorites.
Tovah Feldshuh as the Jewish mother in Kissing Jessica Stein, no contest.
How could this list leave off Ben Stiller's Character in Keeping the Faith? The coolest Rabbi ever. And speaking of the Stillers, Jerry performance in Zoolander, as the agent, not explicitly Jewish, but all of Jerry Stiller's characters seem Jewish, even the explicitly non-Jewish Frank Costanza and Aurthur Spooner.
I'm a little disappointed by this list -- so many of the characters are stereotypes played for laughs, and at whose expense? There are so many really good films with really interesting Jewish characters that it really is a shame they lost their place to Melanie Griffith.
Yogurt (Mel Brooks again) in Space Balls. I only remember because it recently came on.
What about Spock from Star Trek (The Original Series)? The Vulcan Salute and according to the actor (Leonard Nimoy, who is Jewish) Spock is a Diasporic character.
"so many of the characters are stereotypes played for laughs, and at whose expense?"
And just what is the basis of most Jewish comedy? Lighten up, babe.
"Crossing Delancey" with Peter Reigert as Sam Posner, the pickle guy.
I think Topol's Tevya from Fiddler on the Roof would have to be on the list.
Was Geppetto from Pinocchio Jewish?
How can we forget in indominable Miss Daisy in "Driving Miss Daisy" or any of the 3 versions of "The Jazz Singer" (although my favorite is the Neil Diamond, Sir Lawrence Oliver version).
I just saw 'The Spirit'..... Jewish characters and sexy ones,too
(Officer Morganstern).
How about Judah Ben Hur
Adacus from To Kill A Mockingbird
The Boys from Brazil
The fact the Jews inHollywood made a lot us of think and become adults from the 50's thru th60's
Adam Goldberg isn't Jewish? WTF?!?
Anyway, here's my pretentious choice--Marcel Dalio's character in "The Rules of the Game."
Meryl Streep's character in Sophie's Choice was NOT Jewish. That was in fact what made her have to make her terrible choice. She told the guard, "I am not one of them." Then the guard said to her, "Did not Christ say 'suffer the little children'?"
What? No Max Bialystock? Also:
Dustin Hoffman's "Thomas Levy" in Marathon Man.
Zero Mostel again as "Abe Greenberg" in The Hot Rock.
And don't forget Robby Benson's "Danny Saunders" in The Chosen!
No one mentions "Fiddler on the Roof"?
Meet the Fockers; Dustin, Ben, and Barbara should be #1,2,&3!
I just saw a screening of "Defiance". If Daniel Craig isn't Jewish (and I don't believe he is), he was incredibly believable as the lead character, Tuvia along with Liev Schreiber as his brother. This man is not just James Bond. He is a very good runner up to Paul Newman. And his blue eyes are just as expressive and beautiful as Mr. Newman's were. Plus, the movie is totally true and beautifully done. The Jews are not portrayed as weak nor overbearing. Just people who were determined to live despite their losses, and with great faith, were able to.
What about Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ?"
Do some people pretend that Jesus wasn't Jewish?
Krusty the clown!
One of my altime favs was Neil Diamond & Luci Arnez in the Jazz Singer. I also thought that the movie A Stranger Among Us in of itself was an incredible portrayal.
My favorite Jewish character it Tevia in Fiddler on the Roof.
Barbra Streisand and Mandy Pantikin in Yentl has to be my favorite!
Although it wasn't in a movie, one of my favorite jewish characters was Dr. Sidney Freidman, from M*A*S*H7t6p
I agree totally with the Frisco Kid and Carol Kane and Husband in The Princess Bride - priceless!! All of Mel Brooks and WOody Allen are great.
others: Goldie Hawn as Private Benjamin, Millie Perkins as Anne Frank, Shirley MacLaine brilliant as Gittel Mosca with Robert Mitchum in an old movie, Two for the Seesaw
Gregory Peck masquerading as a Jew in Gentlemen's Agreement
Jamie Gertz and Doris Richards in The Steins Bar mitzva
The cast of Guys and Dolls who appeared to be Jewish, particularly Nathan Detroit's dad, Lee J. Cobb, and Nathan was played by Sinatra.
The movie, The Mermaids, with Cher and Wynona Ryder as her daughter playing a Jewish family - great.
Okay . . . the Presbyterians have stepped up with our own TOp 10 ;-) Okay metho-luther-episco-baptists, bring it on ;-)
http://www.reyes-chow.com/2009/02/top-10-presbyterian-tv-and-movie-characters.html
Natalie Wood as "Marjorie Morningstar." She was so beautiful, so convincing as a "nice, Jewish girl."
Kirk Douglas as a rabbi with a organ on a wagon in "The Villan" with Arnold Schwartzeneggar in an early role as a perfect hero (though clueless)...
Hysterical!!
Richard Dreyfus in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz was a character simultaneously both Jewish and universal.
I like Ushpizin and Broken Wing ,both are exceellent movies about true life problems. But love and faith work everything out! God Bless, also Billy Crystal in Analyze That. Thank you, Denise
Adam Goldberg is most certainly Jewish.
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