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Related Pages:
- Films Suggested by Jewish Rabbis and Representatives - Top 50 Greatest Catholic Movies |
This is an excellent book, and anybody interested in film, religion, ethnicity, minority identity, art, Judaism, or history will thoroughly enjoy it. For each film there is an insightful essay three to five pages in length.
From the introduction:
What is a Jewish movie? For the purposes of this book, I define it as a film that examines an aspect of the Jewish experience and features at least one clearly defined Jewish central character.As Bernheimer points out (pg. 68), the "Hollywood studioes [were] owned and opeated almost exclusively by Jews... during the 1930s." Most, but not all, of these films were made primarily by Jewish filmmakers. (Charlie Chaplin's courageous anti-Hitler film The Great Dictator is the most notable exception).
| Rank | Movie Title (Year) | Director | Rating | Religious Affiliation of Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Chosen (1981) | Jeremy Paul Kagan | PG | Jewish |
| 2 | Fiddler on the Roof (1971) | Norman Jewison | G | |
| 3 | Schindler's List (1993) | Steven Spielberg | R | Judaism |
| 4 | Shoah (1985) | Claude Lanzmann | NR | |
| 5 | The Jazz Singer (1927) | Alan Crosland | NR | |
| 6 | Annie Hall (1977) | Woody Allen | PG | Jewish (raised Orthodox); agnostic |
| 7 | Funny Girl (1968) | William Wyler | G | Jewish |
| 8 | Gentleman's Agreement (1947) | Elia Kazan | NR | Greek Orthodox (lapsed); Communist |
| 9 | Exodus (1960) | Otto Preminger | NR | Jewish |
| 10 | Ben-Hur (1959) | William Wyler | NR | Jewish |
| 10 | The Ten Commandments (1956) | Cecil B. DeMille | G | Episcopalian |
| 11 | Crossing Delancey (1988) | Joan Micklin Silver | PG | |
| 12 | The Golem (1920) | Paul Wegener; Carl Boese | NR | |
| 13 | Au Revoir, Les Enfants (1987) | Louis Malle | PG | Catholic (lapsed) |
| 14 | Almonds and Raisins: A History of the Yiddish Cinema (1988) | Russ Karel | NR | |
| 15 | Enemies, a Love Story (1989) | Paul Mazursky | R | Jewish |
| 16 | The Great Dictator (1940) | Charlie Chaplin | NR | Anglican; agnostic |
| 17 | The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) | Ted Kotcheff | PG | Jewish (?) |
| 18 | Blazing Saddles (1974) | Mel Brooks | R | Jewish |
| 19 | Chariots of Fire (1981) | Hugh Hudson | PG | |
| 20 | Body and Soul (1947) | Robert Rossen | NR | Jewish |
| 21 | The Pawnbroker (1965) | Sidney Lumet | NR | Jewish |
| 22 | Goodbye Columbus (1969) | Larry Peerce | PG | Jewish |
| 23 | Bugsy (1991) | Barry Levinson | R | Jewish |
| 24 | Cabaret (1972) | Bob Fosse | PG | |
| 25 | Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) | Woody Allen | PG-13 | Jewish (raised Orthodox); agnostic |
| 26 | The Last Angry Man (1959) | Daniel Mann | NR | |
| 27 | The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick (1988) | Allan Goldstein | G | |
| 28 | The Revolt of Job (1983) | Imre Gyongyossy; Barna Kabay | NR | |
| 29 | Homicide (1991) | David Mamet | R | Jewish |
| 30 | Madame Rosa (1977) | Moshe Mizrahi | PG | |
| 31 | Driving Miss Daisy (1989) | Bruce Beresford | PG | |
| 32 | Reversal of Fortune (1990) | Barbet Schroeder | R | |
| 33 | Europa Europa (1991) | Agnieszka Holland | R | practicing Catholic |
| 34 | The Big Fix (1978) | Jeremy Paul Kagan | PG | Jewish |
| 35 | Broadway Danny Rose (1984) | Woody Allen | PG | Jewish (raised Orthodox); agnostic |
| 36 | Julia (1977) | Fred Zinnemann | PG | Jewish |
| 37 | Marathon Man (1976) | John Schlesinger | R | Jewish |
| 38 | A Majority of One (1962) | Mervyn LeRoy | NR | Jewish |
| 39 | Oliver! (1968) | Carol Reed | G | |
| 40 | Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) | Paul Mazursky | R | Jewish |
| 41 | Holocaust (1978) | Marvin Chomsky | NR | |
| 42 | Dirty Dancing (1987) | Emile Ardolino | PG-13 | |
| 43 | The Front (1976) | Martin Ritt | PG | Jewish |
| 44 | Biloxi Blues (1988) | Mike Nichols | PG-13 | Jewish |
| 45 | The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) | George Stevens | NR | |
| 46 | Shine (1996) | Scott Hicks | PG-13 | |
| 47 | Daniel (1983) | Sidney Lumet | R | Jewish |
| 48 | Yentl (1983) | Barbra Streisand | PG | Jewish |
| 49 | The Young Lions (1958) | Edward Dmytryk | NR | |
| 50 | Marjorie Morningstar (1958) | Irving Rapper | NR |
NOTE: The author ranked Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments as a tie.