The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)
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100% of critics liked it
(8 reviews) -
61% of users liked it
(674 ratings)
Richard Dreyfuss put himself on the map with his performance in this movie about how ambition and greed can drive someone at the expense of his own happiness. Duddy Kravitz (Dreyfuss) is an 18-year-old Jewish kid from Montreal whose mother is dead, and whose father drives a cab and does a little… More Richard Dreyfuss put himself on the map with his performance in this movie about how ambition and greed can drive someone at the expense of his own happiness. Duddy Kravitz (Dreyfuss) is an 18-year-old Jewish kid from Montreal whose mother is dead, and whose father drives a cab and does a little pimping on the side to pay the bills and send Duddy's older brother to medical school. Duddy has bigger dreams, and he does everything from producing films of bar mitzvahs to attempting to buy real estate to (unknowingly) smuggling heroin in order to strike it rich. Along the way, however, he alienates his girlfriend, drives his grandfather to despair, loses all his friends, and even paralyzes his best employee, while making himself more and more miserable. Duddy's desire to be a success is easy to understand, which makes this potentially unlikable character forgivable, and the film's gallery of details and characters adds realism and energy to the story. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Directed By
- Ted Kotcheff
- Written By
- Mordechai Richler, Lionel Chetwynd
- Genres
- Drama, Art House & International, Classics, Comedy
PG,
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 1974 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Vincent Canby, New York Times
An alternately sad and hilarious movie of dreams rampant.
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Steve Crum, Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers
OK, but very dated, early Richard Dreyfuss. It DID put him on the map, however.
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Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Richard Dreyfuss gives a compelling performance as a youngster determined to get out of the Jewish Montreal ghetto in Kotcheff's drama based on the memoirs of Mordecai Richler.
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Cast
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Richard Dreyfuss
as Duddy
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Micheline Lanctôt
as Yvette
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Jack Warden
as Max
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Randy Quaid
as Virgil
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Joseph Wiseman
as Uncle Benjy
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Denholm Elliott
as Friar
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Jacques Durette
as Bodyguard
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Susan Friedman
as Linda
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Robert Goodier
as Calder
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Allan Migicovsky
as Irwin
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Barry Pascal
as Bernie Farber
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Henry Ramer
as Dingleman
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Allan Rosenthal
as Lennie
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Zvee Scooler
as Grandfather
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Joe Silver
as Farber
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Barrie Baldaro
as Paddy
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Judith Gault
as Tarty Woman
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Norman Taviss
as Grandfather Farber
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Henry Gamer
as Lawyer
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Robert Desroches
as Laplante
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Jonathan Meyer Robinson
as Rabbi
