Fiddler on the Roof is a 1971 American epic historical musical film produced and directed by Norman Jewison, and written by Joseph Stein and Sholem Aleichem. An adaptation of the 1964 Broadway musical of the same name, it stars Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, and Paul Mann. The film centers on Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman living in Anatevka, who is faced with the challenge of marrying off his five daughters amidst the growing tension in his village.

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 the Best Picture, and won three: Best Score Adaptation, Best Cinematography, Best Sound.

Plot

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

Act 1

In 1905, Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman living in the Ukrainian village of Anatevka, a typical shtetl in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia, compares the lives of the Jews of Anatevka to a fiddler on the roof (who appears throughout the film in this metaphorical role), using tradition to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking their necks.

In town, Tevye meets Perchik, a radical Marxist from Kyiv, who admonishes those for talking but doing nothing about news of the tsar banishing Jews from their villages. Tevye invites Perchik to stay with his family, offering him room and board in exchange for him tutoring his daughters.

Tevye arranges for his oldest daughter, Tzeitel, to marry Lazar Wolf, a wealthy widowed butcher much older than she is. Tzeitel loves her childhood sweetheart, the poor tailor Motel Kamzoil, and frantically begs her father not to make her marry Lazar. Although initially angry, Tevye realizes Tzeitel loves Motel and, upon seeing that Motel is equally devoted to Tzeitel, and impressed with his maturity and work ethic (“Your daughter will not starve”) yields to his daughter s wishes.

To convince his wife Golde that Tzeitel should not marry Lazar, Tevye claims to have had a nightmare. He says that Golde s deceased grandmother told him Tzeitel is supposed to marry Motel, and that Lazar s late wife, Fruma-Sarah, threatened to kill Tzeitel if the two marry, along with Tevye and Golde. Golde concludes the dream was a message from their ancestors, and Tzeitel and Motel arrange to be married.

Meanwhile, Tevye s second daughter, Hodel, falls in love with Perchik. They argue over the story of Leah and the place of old religious traditions in a changing world. The two dance together, which is considered forbidden by Orthodox Jewish tradition. Perchik tells Hodel that they just changed an old tradition.

At Tzeitel and Motel s wedding, an argument breaks out after Lazar presents the newlyweds with gifts. When Tevye tries to speak to Lazar about the Torah, Lazar refuses to listen, arguing that the wedding should have been his all along. Minutes later, another argument breaks out over whether a girl should be able to choose her own husband. Perchik addresses the crowd and says that, since they love each other, it should be left for the couple to decide. He creates further controversy by asking Hodel to dance with him.

The crowd gradually warms to the idea and Tevye and Golde, then Motel and Tzeitel, join in dancing. The wedding proceeds with great joy. Suddenly, the military presence in the town, along with the constable, arrive and begin a pogrom, the demonstration which he had earlier warned Tevye was coming. The constable stops the attack on the wedding celebration after Perchik is wounded in the scuffle with the tsar s men; however, he allows the men to continue destroying property in the village. Tevye and the immediate family stand still, until Tevye angrily orders them to clean up instead of standing around. Tevye silently asks why God allowed this to happen to them.

Intermission

In its original theatrical release, the film was shown with an intermission and entr acte music.

Act 2

Months later, Perchik prepares to leave Anatevka for the revolution. He proposes to Hodel, and she accepts. When they tell Tevye, he is furious that they have decided to marry without his permission, but he again relents because they love each other. Tevye tells Golde his reasons for consenting to their daughter s marriage, which leads them to re-evaluate their own arranged marriage. Tevye and Golde ultimately realize that, despite having been paired by a matchmaker, and never having met before their wedding, they do love each other.

Weeks later, Perchik is arrested in Kyiv and is exiled to Siberia. Hodel decides to join him there. She promises Tevye that she and Perchik will be married under a canopy. Meanwhile, Tzeitel and Motel become parents, and the latter finally buys the sewing machine for which he has long scrimped and saved.

Tevye s third daughter Chava falls in love with a Russian Orthodox Christian named Fyedka. Tevye tells Chava to be distant friends with Fyedka, because of the difference in their religions. When Chava eventually works up the courage to ask Tevye s permission to marry Fyedka, Tevye tells her that marrying outside the family s faith is against tradition. He forbids her from having any contact with Fyedka or from even mentioning his name. The next morning, Fyedka and Chava elope and are married in a Russian Orthodox church.

Golde learns of the marriage when she meets up with the priest. When a grief-stricken Golde tells Tevye about the marriage, he tells her that Chava is dead to the family and that they shall forget her altogether. Chava asks Tevye to accept her marriage. In a soliloquy, Tevye concludes that he cannot accept Chava marrying a non-Jew. He accuses her of abandoning the Jewish faith and disowns her.

One winter day, the Jews of Anatevka are notified that they have three days to leave the village or be forced out by the government. Tevye, his family and friends begin packing up to leave, heading for various parts of Europe, Israel and the United States.

Yente, the Matchmaker, plans to emigrate to Jerusalem, and says goodbye to Golde with an embrace before departing. Lazar plans to emigrate to Chicago, to live with his former brother-in-law, whom he detests, but a relative is a relative . Lazar and Tevye share one last embrace before departing.

Tevye receives letters from Hodel mentioning that she is working hard while Perchik stays in the Siberian prison. It is hoped that when Perchik is released, they will join the others in the United States. Chava and her husband Fyedka come to Tevye s house and tell the family that they are leaving for Kraków in Galicia, being unable to stay in a place that would force innocent people out. Tevye shows signs of forgiving Chava by murmuring under his breath And God be with you , silently urging Tzeitel to repeat his words to Chava. Golde calls out to Chava and Fyedka, telling them they will be living in New York with a relative.

The Constable silently watches as the mass evacuation of Anatevka takes place. The community forms their circle at a crossroad one last time before scattering in different directions. Tevye spots the fiddler and motions to him to come along, symbolizing that even though he must leave his town, his traditions will always be with him.

Cast

• Chaim Topol as Tevye
• Norma Crane as Golde, his wife
• Rosalind Harris as Tzeitel, the oldest daughter
• Michele Marsh as Hodel, the second daughter
• Neva Small as Chava, the third daughter
• Molly Picon as Yente, the matchmaker
• Paul Mann as Lazar Wolf, the butcher, Tzeitel s older suitor
• Leonard Frey as Motel Kamzoil, the tailor, Tzeitel s eventual husband
• Paul Michael Glaser (credited as Michael Glaser) as Perchik, the Bolshevik revolutionary, Hodel s eventual husband
• Raymond Lovelock as Fyedka, a Christian, Chava s eventual husband
• Elaine Edwards as Shprintze, the fourth daughter
• Candy Bonstein as Bielke, the fifth daughter
• Shimen Rushkin as Mordcha
• Zvee Scooler as Rabbi
• Louis Zorich as Constable
• Alfie Scopp as Avram
• Howard Goorney as Nachum
• Barry Dennen as Mendel
• Ruth Madoc as Fruma-Sarah, the butcher s late wife
• Patience Collier as Grandmother Tzeitel
• Tutte Lemkow as Fiddler
• Marika Rivera as Rifka
• Aharon Ipalé as Sheftel
• Roger Lloyd-Pack as Sexton
• Vernon Dobtcheff as Russian official
• Kenneth Waller as Man in the Tevye s Dream sequence (uncredited)
• Norman Jewison: (uncredited) as the Rabbi s voice (dubbed post filming) in the Tevye s Dream sequence (singing Mazel Tov )

Musical numbers

The music for the film was conducted and adapted by John Williams from the original score by Jerry Bock. Williams also composed additional music and an original cadenza for Isaac Stern. The score was orchestrated by Alexander Courage and John Williams.

A 2-LP soundtrack album was released by United Artists in 1971. A cassette release shortly followed which featured two instrumental tracks not on the original LP release ( Entr acte & The Pogrom (Tracked as First Act Finale on later CD releases).

In 2001, EMI Records released a remastered soundtrack CD to commemorate the film s 30th anniversary. This was the first time the First Act Finale and Entr acte were featured on CD. This release also included the previously unreleased Wedding Procession track. It also featured the demo of Any Day Now , a song that was cut from the final film.

On December 7, 2021, La-La Land Records released a 3-disc limited edition soundtrack which featured alternate versions of songs, as well as unreleased instrumental score composed by Williams.

In February 2022, the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, & Dance presented a concert version of Fiddler using the arrangements written by John Williams for the film. Broadway performers Chuck Cooper and Loretta Ables Sayre played the roles of Tevye and Golde with The Grand Rapids Symphony as the backing orchestra. The event would be the first live performance of Williams orchestrations for the film.

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 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 retained their names, Yitzhak and Avram, however this was also 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.

Seven additional scenes were added to the film:

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 41 reviews, with an average of 7.80/10. 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.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
1971	Academy Awards	Best Picture	Norman Jewison	Nominated
		Best Director		Nominated
		Best Actor	Topol	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actor	Leonard Frey	Nominated
		Best Art Direction	Art Direction: Robert F. Boyle and Michael Stringer; Set Decoration: Peter Lamont	Nominated
		Best Cinematography	Oswald Morris	Won
		Best Music: Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score	John Williams	Won
		Best Sound	Gordon K. McCallum and David Hildyard	Won
	American Cinema Editors Awards	Best Edited Feature Film	Antony Gibbs and Robert Lawrence	Nominated
	British Academy Film Awards	Best Cinematography	Oswald Morris	Nominated
		Best Editing	Antony Gibbs and Robert Lawrence	Nominated
		Best Sound Track	Les Wiggins, David Hildyard and Gordon K. McCallum	Nominated
	British Society of Cinematographers	Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film	Oswald Morris	Won
	David di Donatello Awards	Best Foreign Actor	Topol	Won
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy		Won
		Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy	Topol	Won
		Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture	Paul Mann	Nominated
		Best Director – Motion Picture	Norman Jewison	Nominated
	Golden Reel Awards	Best Sound Editing – Dialogue		Won
	Sant Jordi Awards	Best Performance in a Foreign Film	Topol	Won
	Writers Guild of America Awards	Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium	Joseph Stein	Nominated
2007	Satellite Awards	Best DVD Extras	Fiddler on the Roof (Collector s Edition)	Nominated

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
• 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 Grease Live!) directing and co-producing, and Dear Evan Hansen librettist Steven Levenson penning the screenplay.

Year	1971
ReleaseDate	1971-11-03
RuntimeMins	181
RuntimeStr	3h 1min
Plot	In pre-revolutionary Russia, a Jewish peasant with traditional values contends with marrying off three of his daughters with modern romantic ideals while growing anti-Semitic sentiment threatens his village.
Awards	Won 3 Oscars, 9 wins & 13 nominations total
Directors	Norman Jewison
Writers	Sholom Aleichem, Arnold Perl, Joseph Stein
Stars	Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey
Produced by	Norman Jewison,Walter Mirisch,Patrick J. Palmer
Music by	Jerry Bock
Cinematography by	Oswald Morris
Film Editing by	Antony Gibbs,Robert Lawrence
Casting By	Lynn Stalmaster
Production Design by	Robert F. Boyle
Art Direction by	Michael Stringer,Veljko Despotovic
Set Decoration by	Peter Lamont
Costume Design by	Joan Bridge,Elizabeth Haffenden
Makeup Department	Del Armstrong,Gordon Bond,Wally Schneiderman,Colin Jamison
Production Management	Richard Carruth,Larry DeWaay,Ted Lloyd
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Paul Ibbetson,Terence Nelson,Vladimir Spindler,Terence Churcher,Howard Grigsby,Stevan Petrovic
Art Department	Sam Gordon,William Maldonado,Bill Gold,Mentor Huebner,Peter Melrose,Harold Michelson
Sound Department	David Hildyard,Gordon K. McCallum,Les Wiggins,Don Challis,John Hayward,Patrick Heigham,Doug Smith,John Stevenson,Jim Willis
Special Effects by	George Big Jim Saunders,John Stears
Visual Effects by	Peter Melrose
Stunts	Milan Mitic,Eddie Stacey
Camera and Electrical Department	Dennis Fraser,Jimmy Turrell,Maurice Arnold,Len Crowe,David James,Douglas Kirkland,Ronald Lenoir,Tony Woodcock
Casting Department	Richard Altman
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Jackie Cummins
Editorial Department	Lois La Salle,Brian Mann,Wally Nelson
Location Management	Branko Lustig
Music Department	Jerry Bock,Alexander Courage,Sheldon Harnick,Isaac Stern,Eric Tomlinson,John Williams,Richard Carruth,Ray Holder,David Lindup,Peter Watson
Script and Continuity Department	Elaine Schreyeck
Additional Crew	Tommy Abbott,Sammy Bayes,Charles Cannon,Jerry Howard,Golda Offenheim,Harold Prince,Jerome Robbins,Quinn Donoghue,Lillian Michelson,Julia Pascal
Genres	Drama, Family, Musical
Companies	The Mirisch Production Company, Cartier Productions
Countries	USA
Languages	English, Hebrew, Russian
ContentRating	G
ImDbRating	8
ImDbRatingVotes	43619
MetacriticRating	67
Keywords	tradition versus modernity,jewish,tradition,village,wedding