Trudy Gold
Representations of Jews in the Films of the ‘80s and '90s

Trudy Gold | Representations of Jews in the Films of the ‘80s and '90s | 03.19.24

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- Good evening everyone, and welcome. Tonight I’m continuing with “Jews On The Silver Screen”. I have a few left in the '70s. I want to explain what I propose to do. Today it’s a real smorgasbord, some comedy, some series, including what I think is probably the best film on a Jewish subject ever made, “The Chosen”. If you haven’t seen it, you are in for an incredible treat. What I’ve decided to do in my last two presentations on film, I’m actually going to grip it and I’m going to deal with how the cinema has dealt with the Shoah, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I’m going to take, as my, if you like, my bookends, I’m going to take the film, the television, film, “The Holocaust” and “Schindler’s List”, but I’m going to go right up to 2024 with “Zone of Interest”, which I know has been incredibly controversial, but has won Oscars. There’s so much to say about how the Holocaust, the Shoah, has been portrayed on film and how, to a large extent, and I want you to think about it, more and more, it’s being de-judaized. Concentration on the Nazis, concentration on rescuers, but how much is it actually telling the story of a lost civilization? So that’s my plan.

So the first film I’m going to look at tonight, can we see the first, can we see the first image, please? It’s “The Man in the Glass Booth”. It’s, it is a film around the Shoah. It’s actually based on a book on a play by Robert Shaw, who of course is most famous as a British actor, and it’s inspired by the Eichmann kidnapping. Now, I should mention that Shaw actually disapproved of the screenplay for the film and had his name removed from it. But when he saw the final cut, he really liked it. He wanted to have it reinstated, but it was too much. It’s a very, very strange film and in it, the brilliant Maximilian Schell who of course was I think at his best in “Judgement at Nuremberg” he played a camp survivor who had become very wealthy. He lives in New York, he’s a ruthless character. He’s kidnapped by Moss Mossad as an escaped Nazi. According to Mossad, he’s completely hidden his real identity, his trial forces his accusers to, to try not just presume guilt but theirs as well. What he’s trying to do in this is to show that everybody who wasn’t a total rescuer is somehow complicit in the Shoah. And of course, that is such a dark, deep on one level and on a, on another level, it’s quite a facile idea.

It really needs the soul of a Dante to go into this. So anyway, it’s finally revealed that he never was a Nazi. He’d falsified his dental records, which the Israelis had used to identify him when the deception is revealed. He wanted to be, he wanted to be put on trial really for surviving. He’s left in the bulletproof dock, a broken man, and the stress absolutely shatters him. And he then collapses and dies. It’s a very dark film, but I wanted to bring it to your attention because it’s attempting to look at, I suppose, survivor guilt, which again, is far too complicated, I think, to be Hollywood-ified. I’m now going on to a totally diff… Oh no, actually, I think I’m going to talk to you a little bit about Robert Shaw, because he is an interesting man. He actually was of Scottish descent. You, you probably know him as a very, very good actor in films. He, he played and he played the villain in “From Russia with Love”, the second James Bond film, where he was the villain alongside Ilsa Kleb, who in fact was Lotti Lena, Mrs. Kurt Vile. He did some very serious work. He played Hamlet with, he played Claudius in “Hamlet” with Christopher Plummer. He did say, I could have been a straight leading man, but that would’ve bored me. I, and he, he said I wanted to avoid bad commercial fit pictures, but it was very difficult to do so because I had six children, two wives.

In fact, in the end, he had three wives. He wrote a trilogy of books, including “Man in a Glass Booth”. The films he’s most famous for, I think “The Man For All Seasons”, where he plays Henry VIII. If you haven’t seen that film, it’s Robert Bolt and it stars the wonderful Paul Scofield. It really is a beautiful, beautiful film. He was Custer of the West. He was Martin Luther in “Luther”. And in the film, in the film version of “Pinter’s Birthday Party”. Now, “Man in a Glass Booth” is completely morally in, it’s completely, what can I say? It’s, it’s, it’s morally ambiguous. It’s very, very controversial. My, I personally do not like it, but it’s an interesting film. Those of you who want to explore the psychological ramifications. Later career of Shaw, he did “Royal Hunter The Sun”, he did “Battle of Britain”. He played Young Winston in, he, he played the Randolph Churchill in “Young Winston”, and he was in “Jaws”. He, of course, is the fanatic in “Jaws”, as he said, he needed to be in commercial films to make money. He was in “Robin Hood” with Sean Connery. And he actually, he became an alcoholic. He was one of the kind of the Rat Pack of London, along with Sean Connery and, and Ronnie Carroll and all that crowd.

They were, they, they were sort of like the, they were like the Rat Pack of London as opposed to the far more, I suppose, famous Rat Pack of New York, but an interesting bunch of people. So let’s now go on to another film that I really, really like. Woody Allen, what a complicated character he is. And of course, Woody Allen, who started out writing, you know, writing scripts. He’s written some very, very funny books. He did a lot of standup, and he always tells the story of how he was first a, a man called Charles Feldman, saw him perform in a nightclub, and he, he thought he was wonderful. Charles Feldman, of course, was short. He had red hair and he was a bit of a schmendrick. Now, according, really, Woody Allen has made a career playing the schmendrick. And I’ll be looking at one or two of his other films because he is an interesting filmmaker, and “The Front” is one of his most serious films. He didn’t direct it. And it’s about the McCarthy Witch Hunts, and it’s the story of a rest. He plays Harold Prince, who’s a restaurant critic. It, it’s, he’s totally apolitical. He, he and one of his friends who was a blacklisted screenwriter, ask him to sell a script under his name.

He realises he can make some money. What he does is he puts bets on from people. He works in a bar, he puts on bets, which of course was illegal, and he becomes the front for several blacklisted writers. But through he therefore, Hollywood begins to take him seriously. He’s apolitical and he’s putting up all these wonderful scripts, but he becomes very close to a comedian, played by the extraordinary Zero Mostel, who I’ve mentioned to you many times. And Zero Mostel, who was also blacklisted. Practically everyone in the film is Black, has been blacklisted. What happens to the Zero Mostel character in the film, he plays a comedian. He’d once been America’s top comedian, but he has now reduced to playing clubs. And he, it leads in the end to very, very touching scene where he thinks his life is over and he commits suicide. It’s directed by the brilliant blacklisted Martin Rich. The screenplay is by the brilliant blacklisted Walter Bernstein. And so basically to quote a Jewish review, the story of a shnook who became first a macca and then a mensch. And it’s the first feature to focus fully on huack, although it was touched on in Barbara Streisand’s film “The Way We Were”. Do you remember I mentioned that Barbara Streisand often played the heroine, the gutsy Jewish heroine. And of course, the hero is the WASP. And in that film, it is Robert Redford, but it’s also about the blacklist and the Hollywood 10.

The idea actually originated from Rich and Bernstein, and it’s got some wonderful, wonderful lines because he’s now ostensibly a famous screenwriter, He has the beautiful, he has the required beautiful girlfriend, and there’s a wonderful scene where they dine in a restaurant. And she says, in my family, it was a sin to use the wrong knife and fork. And he says, in my family, the real sin was to buy retail. So in the end, he is in the end, though the character, he plays lives up to expectations. And he refuses to, even though Hecky Brown, the Zero Mostel character has committed suicide, he refuses to name names. And he goes up and he actually uses a very awful expletive. He tells Huack to go F for yourself. And he goes off to a prison where he is applauded by the crowd and by his beautiful girlfriend. Now, Bernstein was nominated for the original play screenplay. Mostel was nominated for a BAFTA. And in fact, the story of Hecky is actually drawn from a true life incident “Inside Out, Memoir of the Blacklist” by Walter Bernstein. And the suicide is based on a close friend of his, Philip Loeb, who was also a close friend of Mostel. And Mostel said, it’s part of this country. And a lot of kids don’t even realise that blacklisting ever existed.

So basically it is a message picture, but it’s done with a lot of humour. And let’s talk a little bit about the wonderful director, the wonderful Martin Ritt. Can we go on to the next slide, please? There you see him, of course, son of Eastern European Jews, but born in America. He lived in, he lived in Manhattan. He did, he became fascinated, obviously a very, very sensitive boy. He develops a passion for expressing struggles of inequality. Be it, be it, it’s the little man, be it the, the way Blacks are treated in America, whether it’s the poor, unoppressed. And that’s going to be expressed in so many of his films. After university, he always wanted to act. He had a small part in “Porgy and Bess”. Then he became a playwright for the Federal Theatre Project. Do you remember? We’ve talked about that. It was part of the Roosevelt New Deal and many, many of those characters in it. And we’ve talked a lot about them. 'cause they, you’ve got to remember, this is an interrelated group. They were very much influenced by the left and by communism. He was never a member of the Communist Party. But on the other hand, he found common ground with many of the Marxist ideas. And I think it’s important to remember what the thirties was like.

Nobody really knew what Stalin was up to. And if you think about the rise of fascism in Hitler, in Germany, Franco in Spain, Mussolini in Italy, in France, a totally divided country, where on Earth was the hope? And the hope for so many people, ironically, was in fact Stalin. He then becomes involved in the group theatre, the Stanislavsky technique, and he becomes Eli Kazan’s assistant, who we’ve already talked about. He actually directed about a hundreds of plays with Kazan. He’s on the blacklist in 1952. He supports himself by teaching at the actor studio. And he turned to film directing as the Red Scare gradually decreased. He became later very close to Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. He of course made with them “Long Hot Summer”. He made “Paris Blues” with the two of them. A wonderful film, by the way, set in Paris with Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman playing jazz musicians. The score is phenomenal. He was in hud and then in a film called “Outrage.” Brilliant film, which is a retelling of the Japanese story, “Russian Moon”, that’s, if you can get hold of it, it starred Lawrence Harvey, Paul Newman, Claire Bloom, and Edward G. Robinson.

I think one of his greatest films was “The Spy that Came in from the Cold” with Burton and Claire Bloom and “Ombre” in 1967 with Paul Newman. So he had an extraordinary career. And “The Front” really is a very, very special film. It’s one, look, I’m not saying it’s a wonderful film, but I will put it in my top 20. I really enjoy it. As I go through, I am recommending a lot of films and I’m, but remember, I am omitting as well because as we had difficulty finding films of Jewish themes in the twenties, thirties, and forties, as the decades roll on, there are almost too many films. So obviously I am making choices. And the next film I want to talk about is the “Marathon Man” Can we see the next slide? Yeah, the “Marathon Man”, it’s directed by John Schlesinger. It was adapted by William Goldman from his novel, the “Marathon Man”. And of course, it’s got a brilliant cast. It’s got Dustin Hoffman and Lawrence Olivier. You know, Lawrence Olivier, towards the end of his career, he played either old Nazis like the “Marathon Man” or the Odessa, or in or in the odess… Is it the “Odessa File”? No, it isn’t. It’s the “Marathon Man”, “Boys from Brazil” Ira Levins, “Boys from Brazil”. And also he plays the father in, of course, the, the original 1927 Jazz stringer singer.

He plays the father and he’s either got this thick Jewish accent or the thick German accent, and you never really know which one is which. Now the “Marathon Man”, the plot Hoffman is a PhD history student and he’s researching the same field as his father who committed suicide when, according to the play, being, when he was being investigated by Huack. So again, we’ve got the Huack story and Jews on the left, and his brother Doc is secretly a government agent. And Klaus Zell is the brother of a Nazi war criminal. He’s killed at a traffic collision because he’s recognised by a, by a Jew. It’s a very, very tense opening. Doc suspects that his brother Christian Zell and the Nazi will come to New York to retrieve the looted diamonds from Holocaust survivors. Again, the Holocaust used as a backdrop. And I, I’d like you to make your own minds up about this, and I’ll be discussing it in quite a lot of depth with you in, when I come back with films on the Shoah, it was, it, ironically, it was both critical and a box office success. And nom Oscar, and of course Oliver was nominated for an Oscar. So you either like them or you don’t. You’ve got “Marathon Man”, you’ve got “Boys from Brazil”, you have “Odessa File”, you’ve got this whole swathe of films which kind of use either Nazis or Jews as a backdrop without really getting into the real story.

I think one of the problems with films on the Shoah, there are, so we are fascinated by evil. I mean this latest thing, “Zone of Interest”, it’s really about the perpetrators. And I must say this because I’ve actually, my friend Anita , there’s a documentary coming out because she actually meets Herse’s son and grandson, and they’re making a, a documentary about it. And it seems strange. This big feature film, it, it’s, to me it’s distasteful. And it’s interesting, when Anita met them, I said to her, well, how did you feel? She said, what do you mean, how did I feel? She hates that word. And she said he was a poor old man. What am I to say? Simple, complicated, isn’t it? She might’ve said he was simple, but the whole issue. Anyway, John Schlesinger, the director, was actually, he was actually born in Hamstead to Jewish parents. A very, very interesting background. His father was a distinguished paediatrician. Mother came from a very wealthy German Jewish family. She was brilliant. She, when she was, by the time she was 14, she was studying at Trinity College of Music, later on, languages at Oxford. And he finished up at Beyleal, becomes an actor. Then he works his first fiction film. He becomes part of the new wave of English directors.

If you are interested, “A Kind of Loving”, “Billy Liar”, “Darling” with Julie Christie, these are brilliant seminal films. And so somehow all these characters interact with each other. He in Hollywood, he made “Midnight Cowboy”. he won the best director and best film. Also “Sunday, Bloody Sunday”, “Day of the Locusts”. And of course, “Marathon Man”. I’m completely changing tap now. You’re either going to love it or hate it. I’m turning back to the icon, iconic Mel Brooks. Now, Mel Brooks always said, I am bad taste. But I want you to remember he was in the Liberation forces at Dachau. And I remember he was interviewed by this terribly po-faced Swedish film man, it was terribly kind of him, tell me the secret of your art, Mr. Brooks. And he said, I want to tell the story of what your people did to my people through the ages. And this is a clip from “History of the World”, narrated by Orson Wells. It’s called “The Spanish Inquisition”. Nothing is sacred to Mel Brooks. But on the other hand, this is the man whose company made some very, very serious films about injustice like “The Elephant Man”. So as you watch it, I want you to go the layer behind it. You might, and we could bring this up in questions. You might think it fails terribly and it shouldn’t be done. But let’s, at least those of you who haven’t seen it, it will be curious to find out your reactions. Those of you who have, either put up with it or close your eyes till the end of it. So can we see this clip please?

[Clip plays]

• [Wells] The year was 1489. The Black plague ravaged the continent. It was the hour of the infamous Auto de fe, where for public amusement, heretics and nonbelievers were tortured and burned in a carnival like atmosphere. And it was guided by the most fearful spectre to ever sit in judgement over good and evil, The Grand Inquisitor, Torquemada.

• All pay heed, now enters his holiness Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. Torquemada. Do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada, do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada. Do not ask him for mercy. Let’s face it, you can’t talk him out of anything. Let all those who wish to confess their evil ways and to accept and embrace the true church, convert now or forever burn in hell for now begins the Inquisition.

♪ The Inquisition ♪ ♪ Let’s begin ♪ ♪ The Inquisition ♪ ♪ Look out sin ♪ ♪ We have a mission to convert the Jews ♪ ♪ Jew Jew Jew Jew Jew Jew Jew ♪ ♪ We’re going to teach them ♪ ♪ Wrong from right ♪ ♪ We’re going to help them ♪ ♪ See the light ♪ ♪ And make an offer ♪ ♪ That they can’t refuse ♪ ♪ That the Jews just can’t refuse ♪ ♪ Converts, don’t be boring ♪ ♪ Say yes, say yes, say yes ♪ ♪ Don’t be dull ♪ ♪ A fact you’re ignoring ♪ ♪ It’s better to lose your skull cap than your skull ♪ ♪ Oh you’re the boss ♪ ♪ The Inquisition ♪ ♪ What a show ♪ ♪ The Inquisition ♪ ♪ Here we go ♪ ♪ We know you’re wishing ♪ ♪ That we’d go away ♪ ♪ But the Inquisition’s here and it’s here to stay ♪ ♪ The Inquisition, oh boy ♪ ♪ The Inquisition, what joy ♪ ♪ The Inquisition, oy oy ♪

• I was sitting in a temple I was minding my own business I was listening to a lovely Hebrew mass Then these papus persons plunge in, and they throw me in a dungeon, and they shove a red hot poker up my ass. Is that considerate? Is that polite?

• You should recognise him.

• Preparation H in sight.

• I’m sitting, plicking chickens and I’m looking through the pickings and suddenly these guys bring down my balls I didn’t even know them and they grabbed me by the scrotum and they started playing ping pong with my balls. Oy, the agony. Ooh, the shame. To make my privates public for a game.

♪ The Inquisition ♪ ♪ What a show ♪ ♪ The Inquisition ♪ ♪ Here we go ♪ ♪ We know you’re wishing ♪ ♪ That we’d go away ♪ ♪ But the Inquisition’s here and it’s here to - ♪ ♪ Hey Torquemada, what do ya say ♪ ♪ I just got back from the Auto-de-fe ♪ ♪ Auto-de-fe, what’s and Auto-de-fe ♪ ♪ It’s what you oughtn’t to do, but you do anyway ♪ ♪ Skit skat voodely vat tootin de day ♪ ♪ Will you convert ♪ ♪ No, no, no, no ♪ ♪ Will you confess ♪ ♪ No, no, no, no ♪ ♪ Will you revert ♪ ♪ No, no, no, no ♪ ♪ Will you say yes? ♪ ♪ No, no, no, no ♪ ♪ Now I ask in a nice way ♪ ♪ I said pretty please, I bent their ears ♪

• Hello? Can we stop?

• [Producer] That was the end of the clip.

[Clip ends]

• Oh, alright. We, oh, we lost the last bit. Either you loved it or you hated it. Right. Now I’m coming onto a completely different story. And I think with Mel Brooks, I think it’s important to remember he’s mocking other genres. He is a really serious Jew, in terms of his love for his own people. And he uses his comic madness to illustrate that point. So I think he’s got the best intentions in the world, whether you agree with him or not. But now, as I said, “The Chosen”, it is really one of my favourite films. And if you haven’t seen it, may I totally recommend it to you. It was based on Heim Petock’s remarkable first novel. It’s the story of two teenage boys. One is the son of a charismatic, Hasidic rebbe played absolutely brilliantly by the non-Jewish Rod Steiger, and the other son of a traditional Jew, played by brilliantly, by Maximilian Shell, who is more in the world. But both of the boys are totally within the framework of Judaism and Jewry. It’s concerned completely it’s set in America in the '40s. It’s concerned exclusively with Jewish dilemmas.

The outside world though barely exists. It encompasses most of the major themes like, for example, assimilation, the Shoah, the founding of the state of Israel, the importance of family bonds, and also the importance of tradition in an ever-changing world. Now, both Petok and the director, Jeremy Paul Kagan, were sons of rabbis. And obviously they understood all the issues that confront the two boys. The boys become friends, the son of the Hasidic rebbe, he is brought up in silence because evidently as a child, he was so clever that he, he became arrogant. So his father brought him up in silence, that he has a, he goes to the New York library, he puts his payots behind his ears, and he really wants to, he really wants to embrace the world. He never neglects Judaism, but he doesn’t want to inherit his father’s, you know, as, as the son, he should inherit the dynasty. The father’s a great Rabbi, Rebbe, whereas the Maximilian, Shell character, he is a Zionist, but he is modern Orthodox. His son in the end, decides to become a rabbi. I would don’t think I’ll show you the clip because it’s much too soft. It’s a shame. It’s beautiful. I think you can get it on Prime, please, if you haven’t seen it, please watch it. And if you have watched it, please watch it again. Can we move on please?

Again, let’s have a little bit of fun. We won’t watch that clip. Now, okay, “The Frisco Kid”, Robert Aldrich, a very, very strange pairing, this film, Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford. Wilder plays Rabbi Avram Belinski, who’s a Polish rabbi. He’s absolutely the bottom of his yeshiva in Poland. And he is going to, he, what happens is the new community in San Francisco apply to the, to the yeshiva. They need a rabbi. He’s bottom of the yeshiva, but he is a very likeable chap. And the rash Yeshiva actually likes him. The rest of them all make fun of him. And in the end, he is sent to America. And in America, he teams up with a robbing bandit, who takes a fancy to him, a man called Tony Lillard, who is played by the half Jewish Harrison Ford. Harrison Ford always says, I I, I’m, he’s half Irish, he’s half Jewish. He said, I act Jewish and think Jewish. He’s a fascinating individual. And of course, these two, they’re still at the top of the game.

But when the film’s made, but they decide to make this film. And later on, of course, the, the, the, you’ve got to remember Wild has already made “The Producers”. He’s, he’s made “Blazing Saddles”. He’s made “Young Frankenstein” and Ford is already Han Solo. So they’re very, very famous. Now what happens, the, the, so the Rabbi figure has lots and lots of adventures on the way. For example, he bumps into an Amish community and he runs across the screen screaming Lansman. And of course, then he sees the crosses, but they help him on his way. In the end, he finally, despite all his troubles, he’s robbed but protected by this other robber. In the end, he arrives in San Francisco and all is well. And I’m going to show you a wonderful clip when the offer has come from San Francisco to send a rabbi. Can we see it please?

[Clip plays]

• I am forced to take an official vote for the Board of Rabbis.

• They want a rabbi for San Francisco.

• Close. It’s a close vote, but I am the chief rabbi. I am the one who has to decide. So, Cowboy, I am sending you to San Francisco.

• Where’s San Francisco?

• By New York.

[Clip ends]

• A lovely, lovely film. And can we, the director, fascinating man. Let’s have a look at the director. Of course, there you see the brilliant Gene Wilder. I’ll just give you a little detail on him. Of course, there are books about this man. He’s another comic genius. His first great role is with Mel Brooks in “The Producers”. He was born Jerome Silverman in Wisconsin. Father was a manufacturer salesman of novelty goods. He, he was an immigrant from Eastern Europe, as were his mother’s parents. His mother was born in America, but he comes from Eastern European Jews. He always wanted to be an actor. And he said he, he, he’s spoken about his Jewishness. I feel very Jewish and I feel grateful to be Jewish, but I don’t believe in God or anything to do with religion. So obviously he is identifying as so many people do as a cultural Jew. He studied arts, theatre arts at University of Iowa. And then he, he was actually accepted by a British theatre company. He came to Bristol to the Old Vic, and he went to their school in the UK. He wanted to study method acting.

So back, he goes to New York, and you’ll never guess he’s accepted into the Actor Studio. And he felt that he, he changes his name because he felt that Jerry Silverman, if he ever got a part in Macbeth, he’d had the wrong tone. So he adopted a stage name Wilder for Thornton Wilder and Jean, because it was the name of a distant relative who’d been a flyer in Worldwide, World War II. And he really admired him and he began being noticed off Broadway. He’s cast in a leading role in “Mother Courage” and the “Mother Courage” also starred the extraordinary Anne Bancroft, who of course is the great beauty from “The Graduate”, who is also Mrs., at that time was dating Mel Brooks. That’s a wonderful alliance, those two, Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks. And of course they meet and the rest is history. And of course “The Producers”, et cetera, et cetera. I suppose his greatest role as far as his name is well, Willy Wonka, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. And then of course, everything you ever wanted to know about sex with Woody Allen, “Young Frankenstein”, which is a brilliant film if you haven’t seen it.

His routine, which he actually wrote a dance routine where he played a dance routine where he, he dances with the monster in young Frankenstein is absolutely perfect. So remember he writes the script for Young Frankenstein, very clever, clever man. He is the Waco kid in “Blazing Saddles”. And in 1980 he was in “Stir Crazy” with Richard Pryor, 1984, “A Woman in Red”. He had quite an incredible career, an extraordinary, extraordinary actor. Now let’s have a look at the director because he’s a bit of an anomaly, Robert Aldrich, in the kind of films I’m showing you because he was born into the WASP elite. His father was influential in Republican politics. He was also a newspaper magnate. Among his ancestors, was a great hero of the American Revolution. Nathaniel Green, and also Roger Williams, who was one of the founders of the Rhode Island colony. His grandfather was a self-made millionaire, and also an art collector and investor. And for 30 years he was a US senator. He was actually dubbed general manager of the nation because he framed the federal monetary policy that is the background of Robert Eldridge. He always wanted the movies and in the end, he breaks with his family, becomes incredibly successful. And by 1968 had his own studio.

But I thought an another very interesting character, Hollywood does produce them, I think in the early years it’s the moguls, then it’s the German Jews who come and cut the soft and underbelly of Hollywood. But as we get out of the days of the moguls, you get more and more of these interesting directors and actors. Now, the next film I want to bring to your attention is a British film, “Chariots of Fire”. Now it’s, it, it won Oscars and BAFTAs and it’s, it revitalised the British film industry. It was directed by Hugh Hudson, who also came from the Eaton Oxford background, very upper middle class. The music by Vangelis is wonderful. And again, if you haven’t seen it, please re-see it. It was produced by David Putnam, who’s a former member of the House of Lords whose mother was born Jewish. It’s also very simpatico. Now, the film, the title comes from William Blake’s, bring me my Chariot of Fire. Of course it’s originally from the Hebrew Bible, but it’s the story of two runners and it’s the, it’s about what motivates people to run like the wind. And the Ben Cross character is the one that is in the other character played by Ian Charleston is a very religious Scot whose father was a missionary, and he runs for love of God.

And in the film, excuse me, he refuses to race on a Sunday and much against the will of the Prince of Wales, who at that time of course was the future Edward VIII, ghastly character. And, but he sticks up to his, for his con, for his conscience. And the other character, the one I’m more interested in because it’s about Jewish identity, is Harold Abrahams. Harold Abrahams is the son of a Lithuanian Jewish banker. He’s at Cambridge. He’s absolutely totally sensitive to the antisemitism around them. He says this, “England is Christian, an Anglo-Saxon and so are corridors of power.” And he says, “I’m going to take them on all of them one by one and run them off their feet.” Not only he is academically very smart, he can run by like the wind. And he ex in, there was a tradition in Cambridge, it’s based on a true story, of running the quad and you have to beat it, the record. And he beats it the first time it’s ever beaten since the 1400s. And the master is prayed brilliantly by John Gielgud, who is an antisemite, basically. And he said he’s very angry that, that it’s Ben Cross. But in the end he said, but he’s a Cambridge man. He’s a college man. And what happens the, and of course later on at the Olympics, both Charleston, the Charleston character and the Ben Cross character win.

They win the great triumph. They win, they win the, they, they actually triumph and they’re on the podium. Harold needs to prove himself as a Jew. Eric believes he’s divinely inspired. For Harold, His we, his running is a weapon. He has the beautiful girlfriend played by Alice Krige and she said a weapon against rock. And he says, “Being Jewish, I suppose.” The scene I’m going to show you, he decides to take on a professional trainer brilliantly played by Ian Holm and the, the masters calling him in, they’re cross with him because it’s not playing the game and this is the way he deals with it. So can we see the clip please? This is the master of Trinity, masterfully played by John Gielgud.

[Clip plays]

• Thank you sir, for your hospitality. The evening has been most illuminating. Good night to you, sir. You know, gentlemen, you yearn for victory just as I do, but achieved with the apparent effortlessness of Gods. Yours are the archaic and values of the prep school playground. You deceive no one but yourselves. I believe in the pursuit of excellence and I’ll carry the future with me.

[Clip ends]

• There’s some wonderful scenes where they discuss him and the antisemitism very much comes out. But it is really a brilliant film to watch. And I, again, I put it in my top a hundred. Can we see the next playbill please? Yentl, another Barbara Streisand, of course. And I brought it to your attention because she directs it, she produces it, she stars in it. In fact, no man has ever done what she did with Yentl. Produced, directed, scripted, acted, and sung in the film. Now, I’m sure you all know the story. It’s, it was written by Isaac Bashevis Singer in half a, in in half an afternoon. It’s the story of a girl who wants to study and she dresses up as a boy and all her adventures. And to some it was a brave film, both in its sexual politics and also in its nostalgia for the Jewish past. It had totally mixed reviews. This is a Jewish paper, “Special Magic”. Isaac Bashevis Singer hated the movie. And this is from the New York Times. “Ms. Streisand was exceedingly kind to herself. The result is that Ms. Streisand is always present when whilst gentle is absent.” I think that’s probably a bit cool. It’s not my favourite of Barbara Streisand films, but as we’ve already discussed, she made some incredible films.

Going on with the '80s. Let’s have a look at Spielberg playing with identity. And I’m going to spend much more time on Spielberg when we look at Schindler’s List, of course. One of the greatest directors in Hollywood, and this is in 1986, this is his animated film about the Moskovitz and his family who escaped the pogroms of Eastern Europe for a new home on the lower East Side. It’s, it’s very interesting. It’s, it’s quite nuanced about the immigrant experience. They are fleeing to America because there are no cats in America. Of course, the cats are the pogromists and the anti-Semites. You know, Spielberg experienced a lot of anti-Semitism was when he was a kid and actually through much of his life. It’s interesting to read what happened to him when he was actually a cracker. But also the film deals with the disillusionment that has to happen in, even in America, hard work, assimilation and eventually the ownership of a new American identity. It’s a great film in my in, it’s a great cartoon, let’s put it that way. We haven’t really got time to show it, but I wanted to bring it to your attention because I want to go on now. I’m determined to get through.

And this of course is “Dirty Dancing”, which is written by Eleena Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb. Again, women. Eleena was born in Brooklyn and her family spent summers at Grossinger’s, the Borscht bush belt in the Catskills. I’ve heard so many stories of the Catskills from American friends and she loved to dance. This is the, the, this is actually the woman who wrote it and after graduation she worked at as a dance instructor. And it’s really, it’s a coming of age tale, which stars the granddaughter of Mickey Katz, who is also the daughter of Joel Grey. And it’s a very, very in, it’s an interesting film. And of course the wonderful Patrick Swayze. Jennifer Grey, don’t forget her father starred in “Cabaret”. So she has a really great showbiz line. I’m just going to show you a, the other character in it that I also really liked was Jerry Orbach. Let’s just have a look at a tiny little extra, because she is the younger daughter that the story is, her father’s an important doctor, they come to Grossinger’s, there are all sorts of adventures again, but it’s a coming of age tale. And she falls for the dance instructor, who her father thinks is an absolute bum. But he turns out not to be in the end. And let’s just have a look, a tiny look at the dancing.

[Clip plays]

• Oh, sorry.

• No. Oh.

• This is how it starts. The beautiful Patrick Swayze.

• Got to start on the two. Find the two. You understand?

• Told you I never did any of these dances before.

• Now it’s 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. Now, music starts. You don’t dance till the two. Got it?

• Yes.

• Relax. Breathe. Frame. Nope.

[Clip ends]

• He was a wonderful dancer. So was she. Anyway, we’re going to stop there. And of course you all know the great scene. That is Jerry Orbach, who plays the father, Dr. Jake Houseman. He’s a wonderful actor. He was born in the Bronx. His father was a restaurant manager and a radio singer. He actually of German Jewish origin. His mother was Roman Catholic, of Polish descent. So that must have been quite an interesting home. And after high school, straight into theatre. Yes, you guessed it. Actor Studio, and a pal of Lee Strasberg’s, an off Broadway actor. He starred in opera, very left wing, very interesting man. He played Sky Masterson in “Guys and Dolls”. He, in Chicago, he starred on Broadway in “Chicago”. And he won the Tony Award for “42nd Street”. By the '80s he shifts to film and television. He’s in Woody Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanours”. He was a regular on “Murder She Wrote”, and “Laura and Harry McGraw”, he features in “Dirty Dancing”. 1991, you find him with Steve Steven Seagal.

But, I see him a lot on British television in “Law and Order” where he plays Lenny Briscoe, 11 and a half seasons, won a lot of awards, absolutely wonderful actor and very close in with that group of funny Jewish actors. So I just wanted to bring him to your attention 'cause he’s quite, so many of these characters have amazing backgrounds. Can we move on please, because I’m determined to get through the list. Now, this is “Crossing Delancey”. We have already talked of course about the wonderful Joanne McClin Silver who made “Hester Street”. This is her more, her more Glossier glossy film. And of course she had trouble getting it made, but it starred Amy Irving. And of course Amy Irving at the time was Mrs. Steven Spielberg. So as a result of that, he put pressure on and it was released through a major serial, studio. Now the, the protagonist, Amy Irving, you see she lives uptown in literary circles.

She has a married WASP boyfriend who comes across whenever he has a fight with his wife. But she has a very close relationship with her Bobba, who is played by Razor La Bois from the Yiddish Theatre. And she’s Bobi. And at 33 she claims she’s in no rush to marry. But Bobi actually consults a shatkin. It’s not how I do things, it’s not how I live. And of course the Shatkin finds the pickle cellar and Izzy and what, of course she doesn’t want to know. She’s got this sophisticated gentile boyfriend and a gentile life. But so slowly she comes round and in the end she goes off with the pickle sellar. So it’s a sort of updated “Hester Street” for gloss. So let’s have a look at a tiny, this is when the grandmother is talking to the pickle sellar, who is in the end is going to win out with the girl.

[Clip plays]

• I got to go.

• Please sit down. Listen to this, Sammy. When, when I was a girl, such a thing to look at, a fellow named Chai, a tailor’s son comes to me, “Ida,” he says, “look at me. I’m falling into pieces. My life is over If you won’t take me. I’ll walk into the East River and this will be my grave.” He was a clean little fellow with spectacles and a good family, but he didn’t mean nothing to me. Another boy coming around to look at the beautiful flower, that’s all. So he sits himself down in, in Bessie’s kitchen and he says, Ida, I won’t move, I won’t crawl an inch until you say yes. I’m stuck here like a piece of signature.

• So what did you do?

• I married him. What else?

• Alright, we’ll stop that there. It’s a lovely, lovely warm film. Now, I had to show you this to bring back memories. This is Woody Allen, the ultimate Jewish mother. There was a trilogy in New York stories and Woody Allen’s short film is Oedipus Rex. He is, he’s in love with the, with the Maya Pharaoh girl. She of course is a WASP princess with three beautiful daughter, three beautiful children. He visits, he’s a lawyer in a very prestigious firm. He’s, but he visits his psychiatrist twice a week to talk about his mother who nags and nags and nags. What’s interesting about Oedipus Rex is that in the end, he does finish up with the neurotic Jewish girl. But there’s a wonderful scene where his mother escapes to the ether and he’s, we’re going to see her in the sky. A little clip from Oedipus Rex, please.

• Sheldon, where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you. I was just discussing your problem with these nice people.

• Where are you?

• Do I know? Look, Sheldon, I’ve had plenty of time to think about it. Don’t get married.

• Not here. Why should you rush in?

• This is not the place to discuss it. Where should I go? I’m here. You think a man his age would get married? They only met six months ago.

• It depends. If she’s a nice girl, why not?

• She’s nice. But why do they have to rush in? He’s still paying alimony. Mother, stop.

• Let them lead their own lives.

• I have the same problem with my daughter. They grow up and they think they have all the answers. How old is your daughter?

• 26.

• You got any pictures?

• Home.

• Home? I always carry Sheldon around wherever I go.

• Oh God this can’t be happening. I need air, I need oxygen. I got to get out in fresh air. I need cyanide.

[Clip ends]

• Alright, that’s enough Woody Allen. You either love it or you don’t. Okay, Can we go on to the final because I, I had to, and I’m going to talk about Woody Allen later on, but can I go on to my final selection of 1989, “When Harry met Sally”? Now I’m sure you all know the story of Halle, Harry met Sally. It was written by Nora Ephron, directed by Rob Reiner. Nora Ephron, of course, was a journalist, a film writer, and she won a BAFTA for Harry met Sally. She had, she, she wrote “Heartburn” after her second husband, Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame had an affair with Margaret J who was a close friend of hers. And this is what Richard Cohen said of her. “She was so Jewish, culturally, emotionally identified as a Jewish woman.” And it’s made by the wonderful Rob Reiner. And the best line in the film is actually given to his mother. Rob Reiner, of course, was born into a showbiz family. His father was Carl Reiner. Remember the 2000 year old man?

And of course the very, very close, he won 11 Prime Time Emmys, he won the Mark Twain award for humour, show of shows, Sid Caesar. He worked, you know, in Sid Caesar’s Hour. That must have been something. In fact, Neil Simon wrote about it. Laughter on the, can’t remember the number of floor and laughter on the 80 somethings floor. But can you imagine who wrote for him? Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Woody Allen. They all wrote in that particular film. And Carl Reiner was the closest friend of of Mel Brooks. And of course when he died, Mel Brooks said, there’s nobody left now. So let’s have a little extract. This is of course the scene in Katz’ where they’re going to discuss. Well, if you haven’t seen it, you are in for a shock. Let’s go on please.

[Clip plays]

• You know, I’m so glad I never got involved with you. I just would’ve ended up being some woman you had to get up out of bed and leave at 3:00 in the morning and go clean your andirons. And you don’t even have a fireplace. Not that I would know this.

• Why are you getting so upset? This is not about you.

• Yes, it is. You are a human affront to all women and I am a woman.

• Hey, I don’t feel great about this, but I don’t hear anyone complaining.

• Of course not. You’re out the door too fast.

• I think they have an okay time.

• How do you know?

• What do you mean, how do I know? I know.

• Because they…

• Yes, because they…

• How do you know that they’re really…

• What are you saying, that they fake orgasm?

• It’s possible.

• Get out of here.

• Why? Most women at one time or another have faked it.

• Well, they haven’t faked it with me.

• How do you know?

• Because I know.

• Oh right, that’s right. I forgot, you’re a man.

• What is that supposed to mean?

• Nothing. It’s just that all men are sure it never happens to them. And most women at one time or another have done it. So you do the math.

• You don’t think that I could tell the difference?

• No.

• Get out of here.

• Oh. Oh. Oh.

• You okay?

• Oh. Oh God. Oh, oh God. Oh, oh, oh, oh God. Oh yeah, right there. Oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh God. Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh, oh. Oh God.

• I’ll have what she’s having.

[Clip ends]

• That is Carl Reiner’s mother, Carl Reiner’s wife and Rob Reiner’s mother. I think the best line in the movie. So we are finished there. And as I said, next time I’m, I’m coming back on the films ‘cause we’re coming towards the end of our series on America. And beginning in April, we are actually going to turn our attentions to a whole new field of study. We’re actually going to go back to Roman Palestine and we are going to look at the Middle East, Jews under Islam. And we’re going to go very, very slowly all the way into the 21st century. Because I think it’s important that we, you know, in term particularly in terms of what’s going on now, I think we want to look as objectively as possible at the history. Jewish history in the diaspora, under Christianity, under Islam. And the first week in April should be very interesting because I’ve got some fascinating historians who will talk about what is history. So that’s coming up for April. Now let’s have a look at questions. Thank you Hannah.

Q&A and Comments

Let’s have a look at questions. I love Mel, we have to laugh. It’s better than crying. Yes, that’s right. Of course it was Jackie Mason. He’s very funny, wasn’t he? Hillary, I love Mel Brooks. He makes the serious historical commentators look so po-faced and constipated. Yeah. You see some people do find him difficult to take. Are there subjects that should be sacred? I mean, the, the Inquisition was an evil vile thing. Ironically, it never affected Jews. It only affected people who had converted to, Jews who’d converted, but it also affected heretics. But the church allowed, they, they actually authorised the use of torture. So there’s a lot to be said about it. You have to make your own minds up. Both are brilliant.

Aubrey, just saw “Remembering Gene Wilder”, a wonderful documentary on the life of Gene Wilder at the Boca Raton Jewish Film Festival. Boca Raton, that means mouth of a rat, doesn’t it? Excellent interview with Mel Brooks. The history of Mel Brooks as a disobedient Jew. Yes. Yeah. There’s a lot of good interviews on Mel Brooks. We could spend, we could spend weeks on him. What a character. Yes. Gene Wilder was married to the brilliant comedian Gilda Radner. And she died, didn’t she? She had, she had cancer and he set up a big charity. What I like about Yentl the Rabbi said, I look for students with questions and not answers. You know, that’s very Jewish. Paula, will I send the list? Now there is a huge list of about 120 films that my colleagues and myself got together. What I will do, if you like, I will send a list of the top Jewish films that are, But it’s only my opinion, remember. And I will, there will be omissions that some of you will prefer. We, we will discuss. Yes.

And Frieda, I will talk about “The Zone of Interest”. I’m going to run two sessions on the image of the Shoah in film because I think it’s too important. And I promise you we will discuss “Zone of Interest”. Jonathan Glazer. What can I say? I just, look, speaking personally, I found what he had to say abso… I’m going to say this because we’re all grown up. I found it absolutely disgusting and I’m prepared to go on record. Oh, Joan lovely. Hi Joan. Orbach’s widow said that whenever she missed Jerry, she turned on the TV 'cause there was all always a replay of “Lauren” on. Yes, it’s on, it’s on, on, on a channel in London. It’s on forgot from 12 'til five every day. And I quite often work watching “Law and Order”. I love it.

Vita, loved Crossing Delancey… Vita never saw “Oedipus Rex”, mother in the sky. I mean, I used to teach a whole course on the image of the Jewish woman in film, but I just can’t do it anymore. I’ve become her. Thank you, Vita. Oh, I was just going to show you I was, Julian, I’m sorry I was running out of time. The Ameri… Look, it’s just a lovely animated clip. But see the film, it’s wonderful. Could you see, hear me laugh? Yeah, I’ve seen the movie “When Harry Met Sally” and the clip standalone. The laughter keeps on building here. A great series prep. Yeah, look, I look, one of the reasons Arthur, I decided to do the film because after all we are looking at America, was because I, the world was so dark that I wanted to escape into the silver screen. Yes, I’ve taught film for a, remember I’m not a, I’m not, I’m not a film historian. I’m a historian who loves film. So I won’t be looking at tech technique, but I can talk to some of my colleagues and I’m sure we can put together a series. In fact, in, from April onwards, I’m, I’m, although the core is what I’ve already told you about, we will be bringing in some really good lecturers with this series of their own specialties. And we want to widen. Yeah. Oh, I love it.

Arlene says, “If Mel Brooks and Woody Allen had a baby, it will be my husband. My life is never done.” Oh my. You must be exhausted. Wonderful, Arlene. What a way to end, with the climax with Harry and Sally regards to, and I just think it’s so wonderful he gave his mother the, the best line, could be the best line in any movie. Yes, springtime for Hitler from the producers was a risky move because he believed the best way to deal with evil is to mock it. Now, that’s complicated. And remember, he never ever did anything in the camps. We’ve got “Life is Beautiful” to deal with when we look at the image of the Shoah on film. What I hate more than anything else though is the cheapening using the Shoah as a backdrop. And as I said, these latest films about Naz… I mean the Hearst family are you, Hearst was one of the most disgusting, boring individuals that walked the world. And yet he was responsible for the death of so many wonderful people. It’s that line of Walter Benjamin. “Any damn fool can put a bullet through the most beautiful brain.” That’s what gets to me. Thank you.

Roberta’s been listening on a bus. Lovely. Yes, I will send the list. Rita, Rita says, “You have become the Jewish mother in the sky.” You know, it’s very interesting. My family all love movies and, and so did my partner. Unfortunately he’s deceased now. And quite often we would have this game where we would only answer each other from the great quotes from the movies. And I’m finding my grandsons can do it now. I was so proud when my grandson just for mitzvah, see I’m a Jewish mother. He says, “Here’s looking at you kid.” You know? And then he actually said, when I met him in a restaurant “Of all the gin joints and all the towns in the world,” I mean that’s an education. Thank you.

Sid Caesar and friends. Brilliant, yes. “The Show of Shows” must have been, can you imagine the people right working on it. And later on, Sid Caesar became an and Mel Brooks put him in his films. Were crimes… Was Crimes in… No, “Crimes and Misdemeanours” isn’t Woody Allen’s only uncomedy, but it’s a very good film. It’s a brilliant film, “Crimes and Misdemeanours.” It’s a very bleak film because the good guys don’t win. You have the blind rabbi and of course, and then of course the murderer gets away with it. Very bleak.

I think that’s it, Hannah, thank you as ever and I will see you all next week. And my son-in-Law is actually lecturing on Kissinger on Thursday. So all look after yourselves. And lots and lots of love to all of you.