The Frisco Kid

A Polish rabbi wanders through the Old West on his way to lead a synagogue in San Francisco. On the…

• Director: Robert Aldrich
• Genre:Comedy / Western
• Runtime:119 minutes

Cast

Gene Wilder : Avram Harrison Ford : Tommy Ramon Bieri : Mr. Jones Val Bisoglio : Chief Gray Cloud George DiCenzo : Darryl Diggs (as George Ralph DiCenzo)

Rabbi Avram Belinski arrives in Philadelphia from Poland en route to San Francisco where he will be a congregation’s new rabbi. He has with him a Torah scroll for the San Francisco synagogue. Avram, an innocent, trusting and inexperienced traveler, falls in with three con men who trick him into helping pay for a wagon and supplies to go west, then leave him and most of his belongings scattered along a deserted road.

Avram is determined to make it to San Francisco. He fends for himself on foot for a while, spends a little time with some Pennsylvania Dutch (whom he takes for Jews at first), and manages to find work on the railroad. While trying to spear fish in a stream (to no avail), he is befriended and fed by a stranger on horseback named Tommy Lillard (Ford). They travel together, make it through the snowy mountains, experience Native American customs and hospitality, and learn a little about each other’s culture.

Unfortunately, it turns out Tommy is a bank robber by profession, not only problematic for Avram from a moral point of view, but problematic for Tommy when he robs a bank on a Friday, then finds that Avram (an orthodox Jew) does not ride on the Sabbath—even with a posse on his tail. They remain together somehow, meet and defeat the villains who originally robbed and beat Avram in Philadelphia, and arrive in San Francisco. Avram then must deal with the changes his journey has wrought in his faith and his purpose in life. Read more