X
- 1979
- PG
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 59 m
- 1979
- PG
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 59 m
Summary A Polish rabbi wanders through the Old West on his way to lead a synagogue in San Francisco. On the way he is nearly burnt at the stake by Indians and almost killed by outlaws.
Directed By: Robert Aldrich
Written By: Michael Elias, Frank Shaw
- 1979
- PG
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 59 m
- 1979
- PG
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 59 m
The Frisco Kid
38
4.4
Where to Watch
Summary A Polish rabbi wanders through the Old West on his way to lead a synagogue in San Francisco. On the way he is nearly burnt at the stake by Indians and almost killed by outlaws.
Directed By: Robert Aldrich
Written By: Michael Elias, Frank Shaw
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 6 Critic Reviews
38
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
67% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
33% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 6 Critic Reviews
38
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
67% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
33% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Director Robert Aldrich has always adroitly mixed comedic and dramatic aspects in his films, and Frisco Kid is no exception. For audiences expecting Mel Brooks belly-laughs amidst the Yiddishisms, however, there’s bound to be disappointment.
Wilder is best at outrageous moments, teaching an impromptu hora to the Indians or babbling Yiddish to some Amish farmers he mistakes for rabbis. He is, in fact, an actor of moments, less likely to wear him when surrounded by the funny ensembles Brooks used to give him. Aldrich is not Brooks, but he has, in the past, made fine action films in which the male camaraderie was eloquently implicit. Somewhere along the way, he picked up a sledgehammer. [16 July 1979, p.93]
The Frisco Kid has a certain softness at its center. The Wilder character has a sweetness, a niceness, that's interesting for the character but doesn't seem to work with this material. It's really nobody's movie. The screenplay has been around Hollywood for several years, and Aldrich seems to have taken it on as a routine assignment.
There's no shortage of talent in The Frisco Kid, but it's the wrong talent for the wrong material.
The Frisco Kid, billed as a comedy, is about a gentle Polish rabbi of 1850 who is instructed to cross America and become spiritual leader of an eagerly awaiting congregation in San Francisco. But the movie is propelled more by violence - in action, in dialogue and in editing - than by humor. No wonder there are so few good kosher westerns. [24 July 1979]
The finished film obliterates whatever promise of novelty and human interested existed in the basic idea of Belinski's culture shock. If the rabbi's odyssey was embryonically appealing, the filmmakers have nurtured it along pact from an elephant trying to hatch a robbin's egg. [27 July 1979, p.B1]
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 User Ratings
4.4
40% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
60% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 User Ratings
4.4
40% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
60% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
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