Frisco Kid

If you take the time to watch this show, however, you will find that it is a real treasure!

A young student at a rabbical in Poland is enamured with the American west. When he graduates he is given the assignment of his dreams...to take a copy of the Torah with him, sail to America, and lead the fledgling Jewish community in the "village of San Francisco." Where is that? he asks..."By New York."

The casting of Gene Wilder as the young rabbi, and Harrison Ford as a rough and tumble, carrousing, card playing, bank robber clicks.

The gullible young rabbi is fleeced as soon as he hits American soil, but he is still determined to recover what is his, and to make the cross-country journey to California. One thing leads to another, and the rabbi and cowboy meet up. The best parts of the movie are the conversations the rabbi has with himself, as if he were teaching himself.

From mishap to misadventure, this is a real "keeper."

I highly recommend this show...it rings authentic in many respects, and has truly funny parts in it. One of my favorite bits is when the rabbi will not ride his horse until the end of the Sabbath, even though there's a posse on their trail. You'll see one perturbed Harrison Ford in that scene.

5 stars through and through.


DVD ???   January 26, 2004
Draac (Boston, Ma)
18 out of 20 found this review helpful

If anyone is listening out there PUT THIS ON DVD PLEASE ?
It's one funny movie, good clean fun and that's something you don't see in the movies any longer.


Long Lost Comedy Gem   November 20, 2005
K. Mollahan (Topeka, KS USA)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

I am sure there are those of you out there that remember this comedy-western form the late 70's. For those of you that don't, I highly recommend this movie. Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford star as an unlikely pair traveling across America in the Old West. Gene Wilder plays a rabbi trying to get to San Francisco for his own wedding. On the way he is robbed by some two-bit thieves. He teams up with Harrison Ford and the two embark on a series of humorous mishaps as they try and get back the rabbi's stolen goods including his Torah. The movie really has some funny moments and even if you are not a big western fan this movie will leave you highly entertained. It will leave you with a "feel good" attitude when the end credits roll. The dance number with Gene Wilder and some Indians is absolutely classic. The movie is a must for Gene Wilder fans. I feel this is one of his best movies. Watch The Frisco Kid today!


A pleasant diversion - a buddy road fish out of water film   January 20, 2007
Craig Matteson (Ann Arbor, MI)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

This fish-out-of-water / buddy film is a comedy adventure story that has some roots in the early history of Jewish life in San Francisco in the 1850s. Nothing in the film is historical, but the facts are that the first Rabbi was brought there in that decade when the town was very young and developing rapidly.

Gene Wilder plays Avram Belinkski who is going the city on the Bay to become their Rabbi and to get a wife (part of his contract). Along the way he meets up with Tommy Lillard (Harrison Ford in an early role). Tommy is a scoundrel and that contrast with the Rabbi is part of the fun of the film. When Tommy robs a bank leaving Avram holding the horses (and without, of course, telling Avram), they have to outrun a posse for days. One of those days is the Sabbath and Avram won't ride his horse on the Sabbath to Tommy's consternation.

They also get captured by some Indians - very civilized Indians - and while things start badly, they end well. And, of course, they meet up with a tribe of very uncivilized white guys and it is the encounters with them that cause Avram his greatest crisis.

It is a pleasant movie with some funny moments, some touching moments, and is a pleasant diversion. Since it is from 1979, it is also a nice look back into the early careers of its stars.