On this day in movie and book history - The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974 and 1959)

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

directed by Ted Kotcheff,

written by Mordecai Richler and Lionel Chetwynd,

based on the novel by Mordecai Richler,

was released in the United States on April 11, 1974.

Music by Stanley Myers and Andrew Powell.

Cast:

Richard Dreyfuss, Micheline Lanctôt, Jack Warden, Randy Quaid, Joseph Wiseman, Denholm Elliott, Henry Ramer, Joe Silver, Zvee Scooler, Robert Goodier, Alan Rosenthal, Barry Baldaro, Allan Kolman, Barry Pascal, Susan Friedman, Jacques Durette, Jonathan Robinson, Edward Resmini, Henry Gamer, Lou Levitt, Sonny Oppenheim, Lionel Schwartz, Mickey Eichen, Robert Desroches, Judith Gault, Norman Taviss.

Recommended reading:

 

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

by Mordecai Richler.
 
Filmed as The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974), directed by Ted Kotcheff.
 
Published by Gallery Books.
First published 1959.
Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0671028472
ISBN-13: 978-0671028473
 
Description:

It is time to recognize Mr. Richler as one of North America's most powerful novelists. – The Washington Times.

A rasping humor pervades the book....It burgeons with its special talent and a vulgar vitality. – Chicago Tribune.
 
A fast-moving, entertaining, and bawdy novel. – The Washington Times.

Funny in the biting, subversive manner of Joseph Heller and Philip Roth. – Los Angeles Times.
 
Duddy Kravitz [is] Richler's most famous creation. – Minneapolis Star Tribune.
 

Richler has been praised for his clear-eyed vision and his realistic style.... The total effect is as brash and blatant as a sports car rally -- and as suggestive of power. It comes off brilliantly. – Alfred Kazin, The New York Times Book Review.

From Mordecai Richler, one of our greatest satirists, comes one of literature's most delightful characters, Duddy Kravitz -- in a novel that belongs in the pantheon of seminal twentieth century books.

Duddy -- the third generation of a Jewish immigrant family in Montreal -- is combative, amoral, scheming, a liar, and totally hilarious. From his street days tormenting teachers at the Jewish academy to his time hustling four jobs at once in a grand plan to "be somebody," Duddy learns about living -- and the lesson is an outrageous roller-coaster ride through the human comedy. As Richler turns his blistering commentary on love, money, and politics, The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz becomes a lesson for us all ... in laughter and in life.

Born on this day – Ted Kotcheff:

Ted Kotcheff

Director

Producer

Actor

April 7, 1931 – April 10, 2025

Credits:

A Husband, a Wife and a Lover (1996); A New Breed: Ted Kotcheff Remembers Billy Two Hats (2015); ABC Stage 67 (1966–1967); Armchair Theatre (1958–1964); At the Drop of Another Hat (1967); Barney's Version (2010); Big Guns, Bigger Heroes: The 1980's and the Rise of the Action Film (2012); Billy Two Hats (1974); Borrowed Hearts (1997); Buddy Faro (2000); Dad Strangelove (2025); David Stratton's Stories of Australian Cinema (2017); Drama 61-67 (1964); Drawing First Blood (2002); E! True Hollywood Story (2008); Encounter (1956–1957); Erase and Forget (2017); Espionage (1963); Family of Cops (1995); Fearless (2014); First Blood (1982); First Blood: Alternate Ending (2014); First Blood: Humorous Ending (2014); First Blood: Rambo Takes the 80s Part 1 (2018); First Night (1963–1964); First Performance (1957); Folks! (1992); Fun with Dick and Jane (1977); Gone South: How Canada Invented Hollywood (2014); Guts and Glory (2002); Hard (2014); Hidden Assassin (1995); Hollywood Insider (2021); Hour of Mystery (1957); I Love 1980's (2001); I'll Have You to Remember (1961); ITV Playhouse (1969); ITV Saturday Night Theatre (1971); ITV Television Playhouse (1963); Joshua Then and Now (1985); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–2012); Le soldat de cinéma (2013); Life at the Top (1965); Lights Out (1972); Love on the Run (1994); North Dallas Forty (1979); Not Quite Hollywood: Deleted and Extended Scenes (2008); Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008); Of Mice and Men (1968); On Camera (1956–1957); On Screen! (2005); Performance (1975); Pierrot le fou (1965); / Cannes Film Festival (2009); Play for Today (1971–1972); Rambo (2008); Red Shoe Diaries (1992); Rx for the Defense (1973); Sauvage: Survivre au Cinéma (2017); SEGAL (2025); Shattered Glass (2003); Soul of an Artist (2017); Split Image (1982); SVU: The Beginning (2003); Switching Channels (1988); Talking Film (1981); Ted Kotcheff's Gourmet Cinema (2011); The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974); The Apprenticeship of Ted Kotcheff (2025); The Check Is in the Mail... (1986); The Desperate Hours (1967); The Great Canadian Culture Hunt (1976); The Human Voice (1966); The Larry Solway Show (1974); The Madhouse on Castle Street / BBC Sunday-Night Play (1962–1963); The Making of 'First Blood' (1982); The Mike Douglas Show (1976); The Planters (2019); The Return of Alex Kelly (1999); The Seventh Art (2013); Tiara Tahiti (1962); Two Gentlemen Sharing (1969); Uncommon Valor (1983); Wake in Fright (1971); War Gene (2020); We Get to Win This Time (2002); Weekend at Bernie's (1989); What Are Families for? (1993); When Muscles Ruled the World (2002); Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978); Why Shoot the Teacher? (1977); Winter People (1989).

On this day in movie history - First Blood (1982)

First Blood

directed by Ted Kotcheff,

written by Michael Kozoll, William Sackheim and Sylvester Stallone,

based on the novel by David Morrell,

was released in the United States on October 22, 1982.

Music by Jerry Goldsmith.

Cast:

Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Brian Dennehy, Bill McKinney, Jack Starrett, Michael Talbott, Chris Mulkey, John McLiam, Alf Humphreys, David Caruso, David L. Crowley, Don MacKay, Charles A. Tamburro, David Petersen, Craig Huston, Patrick Stack, Stephen E. Miller, Raimund Stamm, Robert Metcalfe, Stephen Dimopoulos, Bruce Greenwood, Earl Klein, Danny Wozna, Peter Lonstrup, Mike Winlaw, Donald Adams, David Menzies, Frank Richter, Grahman L. Galativk, Ian Hutchinson, Amy Alexander, Gary Hetherington, Alex Kliner, R.G. Miller, Stephen Chang, Suzee Pai, Robert Prowse, Jack Rigg.

On this day in movie history - Split Image (1982)

Split Image

a.k.a. Captured,

directed by Ted Kotcheff,

written by Scott Spencer, Robert Kaufman and Robert Mark Kamen,

based on a story by Scott Spencer,

was released in the United States on October 3, 1982.

Music by Bill Conti.

Cast:

Michael O'Keefe, Karen Allen, Peter Fonda, James Woods, Elizabeth Ashley, Brian Dennehy, Ronnie Scribner, Pamela Ludwig, John Dukakis, Lee Montgomery, Michael Sacks, Deborah Rush, Peter Horton, Ken Farmer, Cliff Stephens, Brian Henson, David Wysocki, Kenneth Barry, Robert A. Cowan, Herbert Kirkpatrick, Chris McCarty, Lee Ritchey, Lynette Walden, Robert Hibbard, Scott Campbell, Melanie Strange, Dave Tanner, Tom Rayhall, Jeanne Evans, Irma P. Hall, Bill Engvall, Peter Hans Sprague, John Carroll, Haley McLane, Kelly Wimberly, James Healy Jr., Charles Assiff, Tad Black, Julie Elizabeth Knell, Michael Minton, Tom Romero, David Sawyer, Mark-Brian Sonna, Ben Stephenson.