No. 38: Fiddler on the Roof

1971, dir. Norman Jewison. The 1971 movie version of Bock and Harnick’s 1964 Broadway classic brought Hollywood’s Jewish-American assimilation saga full circle, as a new generation made showbiz gold out of nostalgia for, of all things, the Pale of Settlement. Broadway buffs kvetched about the casting (Topol instead of Zero Mostel?!); purists weren’t crazy about minor deviations from the stage version’s script. But how can you resist Yiddish film legend Molly Picon as Yente the matchmaker? And the songs! Sing it: “If I were a rich man.”