Heads up, Vancouverites (and other Canadians)!
I myself have never seen this particular CanCon classic (nor have I ever seen the original First Blood, for that matter), but it's coming to the Pacific Cinematheque for a week starting Thursday, so I hope to catch it then. In the meantime, there is this article ...
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Ted Kotcheff and Duddy Kravitz -- the start of something great
The landmark film is currently on a national tour for its 30th anniversary
Katherine Monk
CanWest News Service
Monday, March 22, 2004
At first glance, Ted Kotcheff appears to be the epitome of paradox.
He's the director responsible for laying the foundations of modern Canadian cinema with The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and for defining the modern bullet-proof American hero with First Blood, the initial film in the Rambo franchise.
It just doesn't compute on the cultural abacus: one film celebrates the non-violent survivor and the other rewards blood-letting machismo. But break down the elements of Kotcheff's long, prolific career, and certain themes begin to emerge about flawed men, a morally ambiguous universe and a sympathy for the human condition and the desire to do good.
"I do respond to stories with a social conscience," says Kotcheff from the New Jersey set of Law and Order, Special Victims Unit. Kotcheff is one of the lead producers for the popular U.S. series, which focuses on the victims of sexual crimes. Like all his work, it tries to bring substance into the world of disposable entertainment.
"I don't know if it's a result of being a Canadian or what, but I do feel a certain sense of responsibility. I think we make personal and interesting films in Canada -- and yes, I also feel a responsibility to make money for the producers. But the two are not mutually exclusive. You can say something worthwhile and make money, and I think First Blood was a great indication of that ... so was Duddy."
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is the story of a flawed hero -- a mouthy, back-stabbing kid from Montreal -- who makes it big on the backs of others, yet still remains human and oddly charismatic, thanks in no small part to the perpetually grinning Richard Dreyfus in the lead.
When the film came out in 1974, it was hailed as one of the first critical and commercial successes Canada had ever produced. Now digitally restored and on national tour through Film Circuit, a division of the Toronto International Film Festival, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz still holds up as a great Canadian movie.
"It wasn't an easy project to get off the ground ... but there was something about it that felt destined. We knew we had to make it. I mean, I was living with Mordecai [Richler] in London when he wrote the book. We met in London, shared a flat, and we pumped ourselves up with these fantasies. He was going to be the great Canadian novelist, and I was going to be the great Canadian director. We'd had it all figured out -- such is the arrogance of youth," says Kotcheff.
Truth be told, Kotcheff already was a pretty big deal. An English Lit grad from University of Toronto, Kotcheff became the youngest director working at the CBC at the age of 24. Two years later, he went looking for a bigger pond in London, and earned the British Emmy twice over for ground-breaking "kitchen-sink"-styled dramas.
It was during his time in London that he and Richler's friendship began. The two would remain best friends for the next 44 years.
"I was one of the first people to read the manuscript for Duddy Kravitz and I remember telling him it was the best Canadian novel ever written -- and I was going to turn it into a movie."
That was in 1959. For the next decade, Kotcheff tried to make the Duddy dream a reality, but he kept running into the same problems. Canada barely had a feature film industry to speak of, and the Americans who showed interest demanded the film be moved to an American locale.
"People kept telling me, let's do it in Pittsburgh. But I tried to explain why it had to be Montreal -- it had to be the story of a Jewish boy surrounded by this ultra-Christian, waspy society. Finally, we got some help from the CFDC [the Canadian Film Development Corporation -- now Telefilm] and we had a co-writer for the script and we started the process."
Kotcheff remembers a lot about the shoot, but two incidents in particular stick out in memory. The first had to do with a scene of a marching band.
"The band is stopped by a horse, and the horse had to do his business, then the band is supposed to step in it. It seemed easy enough, but I can't tell you how long we waited for the animal to bless us with road apples. We'd see the tail go up, roll camera, and all we'd get was this feeble fart. For hours, we were filming horse farts, until the veterinarian was called in. He wore this giant condom on his arm and put it all the way up the horse's -- well -- you know, and just before the producer had a heart attack because of all the time and money we'd wasted on this one scene, we got a great big beautiful horse poop ... That was one of the few times I felt we were going to have a good movie -- that we were actually going to succeed."
The other key memory was more picturesque: it involved the search for the perfect lake to convey the mystical beauty of Duddy's Holy Grail. Kotcheff said the locations crew spent weeks looking for the right location without success. Then, finally, they found one -- the day before the shoot was to take place.
When The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz hit theatres, it was one of few Canadian films of its day to be released both here and in the U.S. Americans liked it -- Variety said, "Ted Kotcheff has taken Mordecai Richler's novel by the scruff of the neck and and worked a zesty but somewhat muted nostalgic look at a nervy Jewish kid on the make."
For Kotcheff, it opened the door for work in the U.S. But what he wanted to do was stay and build an industry in Canada. His next goal was to adapt Richler's novel St. Urbain's Horseman. The novelist gave him the option for one dollar, and Kotcheff secured George Segal as the star.
"But I could never persuade any one to make it. I never got the money."
Unwilling to let his career stall, Kotcheff headed south and began working in Hollywood. He made Fun with Dick and Jane, starring Segal and Jane Fonda, North Dallas Forty, Who's Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? and, in 1982, First Blood with Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a vet turned killing machine.
"People really misinterpreted that film," says Kotcheff. "You know that novel was written by a Canadian [David Morrell] and it was not about glorifying war or violence -- which is how it's been characterized -- it was about the exact opposite. It's an anti-war story, and that's why I wanted to make it," he says.
"Here's this laconic character who has been so damaged by war, he's become a monster. It tells a powerful story about the destructive nature of war and I thought it had an important message because it shows how war destroys everyone. But that's not how it was read, which is why I wanted nothing to do with the sequels because they turned it into this jingoistic franchise that betrayed the spirit of the work."
Kotcheff is far too experienced to be knocked off balance by the misinterpretation of his greatest box-office success. He's a professional, and he takes heart in what he's been able to accomplish -- especially for Canadian cinema.
"When I look back at Duddy, I think it's probably my best film. I think it balanced art and culture with commerce, and it was Canadian. It was a story I could relate to -- I mean, I used to work in a belt factory. I wasn't Duddy, but there was something about him we could all recognize... and when you're talking about film and culture, that's sort of what it's all about. It's about being able to see ourselves, and our stories, on the screen."