Frisco kid

Rabbi Avraam Belinski (Wilder), recently graduated from the yeshiva , arrives in Philadelphia from Poland on his way to San Francisco, where he will be the new rabbi of the community. He has a Torah scroll for the San Francisco Synagogue . Belinsky, an innocent, gullible and inexperienced traveler, meets with three scammers, brothers Matt and Darryl Diggs and their partner Mr. Jones, who force him to help pay the cart and supplies to go west, and then brutally rob Abraham and leave him with the remains of the scattered things on a desert road in Pennsylvania.

Still determined to get to San Francisco, Belinsky spends time with some Dutch Amish from Pennsylvania (whom he first mistook for Jews). Because he was injured when he was kicked out of a speeding car, the Amish nurse took care of Belinsky until he recovered. When he reaches the end of the railroad in Ohio, the rabbi manages to find work on the railroad. On his way west, after he had accumulated enough money to buy a horse and some supplies, he made friends with a stranger named Tommy Lillard (Harrison Ford), a bank-robber with a soft heart, who was touched by Belinsky's helplessness and frankness despite the fact that it sometimes gave him trouble.

For example, when Lillard robs a bank on Thursday, he discovers that Belinsky (an Orthodox Jew) will not go to Shabbat , even with a hanging detachment on its tail. Nevertheless, they still manage to leave, mainly because the horses were allowed to rest and they were able to ride all night, ahead of the pursuers.

Another time, because of Belinsky’s insistence on riding in inclement weather, he and Lillard had to use the old Indian trick and snuggle up against their horses, which they laid on the ground to wait out the storm. Traveling together, they also get acquainted with the customs and hospitality of the American Indians , break the vow of silence of the Trappist monastery with an innocent gesture of gratitude and learn a little about each other's culture.

Staying in a small town near San Francisco, Belinsky again encounters the Diggs brothers and Mr. Jones. He enters into a fight with three and after beating he is saved by Lillard, who takes away what they stole from Belinsky, and much more.

In search of revenge, the three bandits follow the couple and ambush on a California beach, where they stopped to swim, a shootout begins. Belinsky is in a crisis of faith when he is forced to kill Darryl Diggs for self-defense after Darryl injures Tommy. Lillard restores his faith with an eloquent argument in simple language, reminding him that he still remains who he is, despite what he had to do on the beach.

When Matt Diggs, the only survivor of the ambush trio, prepares to avenge his brother by killing Belinsky and Lillard, Abraham, gaining self-control, demonstrates his wisdom and courage in front of the whole community, disarming and expelling Diggs from San Francisco. The film ends with Belinsky marrying Rosalie Bender, the youngest daughter of the head of the Jewish community of San Francisco, and Lillard attends the ceremony as his best friend.

Development

The film was in production for seven years. For a long time it was called “No Knife,” and then briefly “Skimmer,” before someone suggested calling it “Frisco Kid.” ^[1] Robert Aldrich replaced director Dick Richards during pre-production. ^[2] Roger Ebert wrote: “This is really a draw. The script has been around Hollywood for several years, and Aldrich seems to have accepted it as a normal assignment ” ^[3] .

According to Gene Wilder's autobiography, “Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Quest for Love and Art,” the role of Tommy Lillard, played by Harrison Ford, was originally planned for John Wayne . However, problems with salaries canceled this idea, and it is doubtful that he would have finished shooting, since he died shortly before the screening of the painting “Frisco Kid”.

Shooting

Filming began on October 30, 1978 under the working title "No Knife" ^[4] .

Robert Aldrich said: “With the exception of Bette Davis , Gene is the best actor I've worked with. He is very intuitive, very smart. ” ^[5] Wilder said he likes working with Aldrich, calling the movie "Young Frankenstein Meets a Dirty Dozen." The director did not always get along with Harrison Ford during filming ^[6] . “I think every time Robert looked at Harrison, he saw John Wayne,” said producer Mays Neufeld. "Harrison knew about it, but he was always funny, very funny."

Ford later said: “It was fun to work with Gene, but every time the director Robert Aldrich looked at me, he thought about how he was unhappy that John Wayne was not in his place” ^[7] .

• The Frisco Kid on the Internet Movie Database
• Frisco Kid on Rotten Tomatoes