Fiddler on the Roof
United Artists | Release Date: November 3, 1971 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Fiddler on the Roof is not a perfect motion picture - it is too long and there are times when it's obvious that the musical numbers have been pre-recorded then lip-synched - but it represents an enjoyable three hours. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
By preserving the exoticism and making sure the audience left the theater humming, Jewison made a grubby, European-flavored movie that Yanks could embrace. Read full review
80
EmpireCaroline Westbrook
It still stands up as an upbeat portrait of pre-revolutionary Russia, and will have you whistling If I Were A Rich Man for days. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterStaff (Not Credited)
Norman Jewison's Fiddler on the Roof is a lavish, carefully made, splendidly designed musical film. It demonstrates once again that ample amounts of time and money, intelligently employed, can indeed buy perfection. Read full review
80
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Sentimental in a theatrical way, romantic in the old fashioned way, nostalgic of immigration days, affirmative of human decency, loyalty, bravery and folk humor. Read full review
75
Chicago ReaderDave Kehr
Norman Jewison's literal-mindedness actually helps squeeze some of the goo from the material. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Would it be heresy on my part to suggest that Fiddler isn't much as a musical, and that director Norman Jewison has made as good a film as can be made from a story that is quite simply boring? Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
What could have been a brilliant film experience, expanding on the stage version as only film can, ends up instead as a series of wonderful bits and pieces. Read full review
70
The New YorkerPauline Kael
This joyously square musical succeeds in telling one of the root stories of American Life.
50
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Very hard to take with the film sitting up and practically slobbering in its eagerness to prove how loveable it is. A pity, because the score isn't half bad (the show-stopping 'If I Were a Rich Man' almost gets lost), the choreography has possibilities, and Topol is distinctly personable. Read full review
50
The New York TimesVincent Canby
They want to show us everything, to give us our money's worth. In so doing, they've not just opened up the play, they've let most of the life out of it. Read full review
40
TimeJay Cocks
The qualities that have kept the Broadway Fiddler running these seven years are in scant supply onscreen. Gone with barely a trace are warmth, joy, insight and even the most elementary kind of entertainment. Read full review
40
Total FilmStaff (Not Credited)
There's something patronising about the way Norman Jewison portrays all these poor but cheerful Yiddish types. The choreography is clumsy, the acting caricatured, and the songs themselves painfully overblown. Read full review
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