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Many a commentator has called this film the quintessential Jewish film, while others have called it the opposite. The broad story of a father sweating over the marriages of his daughters is common to any religion or culture, but the details of this film are seeped in Jewish tradition. There is a simple philosophy about how one should live ones life that anyone can find poignant. And it’s filled with great songs.

Tevye (Topol, FLASH GORDON) is the milkman in the village of Anatevka, Russia in 1905. He embraces tradition and finds comfort in it. But his oldest daughters Tzeitel (Rosalind Harris, THE COTTON CLUB), Hodel (Michele Marsh) and Chava (Neva Small) have different ideas about following traditions regarding the use of a matchmaker to find husbands. Tzeitel is set up with the old rich butcher Lazar Wolf (Paul Mann, AMERICA, AMERICA), but she’s in love with her childhood sweetheart, the poor tailor Motel (Leonard Frey, FINNEGAN’S WAKE). Tevye is uneasy about the political unrest brewing, so when Hodel falls for the Marxist Perchik (Paul Michael Glaser, TV’s STARSKY AND HUTCH), Tevye really has to consult God for advice. But just wait until he finds out who Chava wants to marry.
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