Robert Aldrich would appear to be an odd candidate to direct a Gene Wilder vehicle about a pure-in-heart Polish rabbi on a westward trek to set up a synagogue in San Francisco in the 1850s. He handles the assignment with surprising seriousness, but with something less than sensitivity. The movie is virtually tone-deaf. There are signs that Aldrich realized he was a little out of his element. Several scenes are worked out in a patient, craftsmanly manner, but too many others are blinkety-blink and let's-go-home-early. And what could have persuaded Aldrich to acquiesce to the voguish golden light that smothers every image? The never amusing humor derives most often from a form of malapropism, such as when the gullible rabbi learns from his bank-robbing sidekick (or "sidewinder," as he later refers to him) that "Shee-it!" is the Wild West synonym for "Oy, gevalt!" Harrison Ford, William Smith, Ramon Bieri. (1979) — Duncan Shepherd
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