Robby Benson gives an outstanding performance in The Chosen, a Jeremy Kagan directed tale of family and friendship in Brooklyn in the 1940s, based on the acclaimed novel by Chaim Potok.
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Grade: B (*** out of *****)
Taking place right after WWII, before Israel was established and recognized as a state, the story centers on the complex friendship between two young Jews of differing factions. Benson’s Danny Saunders is Hassidic (religious), while Barry Miller’s Reuven Malter is a Zionist (secular). Though separated ideologically, the boys find a common bond through their love of stickball.
Gradually, Danny moves away from his father and the Hassidic world in order or become a law student at Columbia University.
Rod Steiger costars as Benson’s rabbi father, delivering a performance virtually devoid of the mannered stridency that has marred many of his later films. Maximillian Schell is equally good as Miller’s professor father.
Made on a small budget, this movie is intimate in scale and ultra-modest in its production values.
As a director, Kagan lacks the technical skills which are necessary to make the story more dynamic and its characters more alive and relatable. However, this rather obscure subculture has not been treated much on the big (or small) screen, and for that alone, he deserves a credit.
Though not critically or commercially successful when initially released, “The Chosen” has become an annual Hannukah-season TV attraction in many cities.
Years after its release, the film served as the basis for a short-lived Broadway musical.
Credits:
Directed by Jeremy Kagan
Written by Edwin Gordon, based on The Chosen, 1967 novel by Chaim Potok
Produced by Ely Landau
Cinematography Arthur J. Ornitz
Music by Elmer Bernstein
Production company: The Chosen Film Company
Distributed by Analysis Film Releasing Corporation; 20th Century Fox
Budget $3 million
Box office $3.2 million
MPAA: PG.
Running time: 104 minutes
August 1, 1981
DVD: September 2, 2003; Westchester Films
