BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

TownRootGuy I was 10 or 11 when I first saw this in the summer of 1980(ish), it was my first musical. I watched it a couple times a day for a month or more. A few years later I watched it on laser disc, over and over. Then came VHS and then DVD and now Blu-ray. It's just a guess but I would say I've seen this 200+ times. Fiddler is another movie I'd give an 11 if I could. This has some nice eye candy, a great cast, phenomenal tunes, a superb story AND you will laugh your ass off. Right? Of course, right. This is a must see for all those who love musicals. This is not my favorite movie nor even my favorite musical but it's pretty close. I can still watch this every year.

vondoba Inspired by the Tevye the Dairyman stories of Sholem Aleichem, the great Yiddish Renaissance writer and playwright, Fiddler on the Roof has its critics. The heavyweight political analyst and cultural critic David P. Goldman (himself Jewish) has indicated he despises Fiddler, as a sentimentalist, corrupted version of the original works that inspired it. Persons who don't appreciate music or musicals may also be left cold by this 1971 movie. But such purist and crabbed views will gain little traction against the large and continuing cultural impact of this film, and the stage play that preceded it, which broke Broadway records in its day—nor should they gain traction, in my opinion, as in some cases there is more to great art than historical fidelity to a source. Indeed, this work, although "merely" a musical, opens important dimensions of historical awareness for its audience that, even if rendered somewhat imperfectly, would in all likelihood otherwise have remained closed—assuming the audience doesn't already know a lot about Russian history. The story revolves around the highly sympathetic figure of Tevye the Dairyman, played marvelously by Topol, who with his cows and lame horse (a companion more than a helper) ekes out a grinding existence for his wife and five daughters while reflecting on God's mysterious ways and the dramatic changes underway in his world. As the cruel and dreaded pogroms (persecutions, attacks and murders by Christians, sometimes abetted by the Tsar) reach his village and his daughters encounter and fall in love with young men of uncertain (and even forbidden) favor, Tevye must make a series of increasingly difficult choices, for himself and his family. Set in 1905 Russia as the Bolshevik Revolution winds up, this movie offers an excellent introduction---not a detailed study, but an introduction---to Russia's fascinating history in this period, while giving a great flavor of traditional Jewish village culture in the Pale of Settlement, the age-old homelands of Jews in rural Russia. Throughout, Fiddler offers plenty of Yiddish humor, known for its excellent and ironic joke-craft. According to Wikipedia the work is performed in high schools and play clubs over 500 times a year in the USA alone. With great music and a number of powerful, melodic and unforgettable songs, Fiddler on the Roof deserves its place in the canon of American classics.

Little Man This Movie is so popular I even knew the Songs before I'd seen the Movie. It's seriously lives up to its expectations and much more... I feel Modern Movies lack the ability to create so much tension and drama without the use of dialogue or soundtracks. Much the same as The Sound of Music, I had no idea this Film had such a dark Storyline and it's rare to see a Movie breaking the Hollywood Mold for a "Happy Ending". Chaim Topol's acting of this Character had the perfect balance between being a Strong Mans Man and the humour of always doing as he pleases but at the same time backing down to his Wife. One of the best Musicals ever made. Absolutely Brilliant!!

alexcapogrosso ...I would watch this every day. And, I do watch it a lot. It is an amazing musical and my personal favorite. Topol is fantastic! While i admit the ending is sad (when they leave Anatevka), it is totally realistic. The songs are amazing, and I listen to them all the time. "Tradition' is my favorite, but there are other good ones as well. The movie is really long, over three hours, so you will need to set aside time to watch it. It probably doesn't need to be as long, but that is my only complaint, What a great movie! Totally worth watching in my opinion. If you get the chance, watch it. Believe me you won't be sorry.