The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

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The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

PG,

1974,

2h 1m,

Comedy/

Drama

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Watchlist

94%

16 Reviews

Tomatometer

72%

500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

16 Reviews

72%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Duddy Kravitz (Richard Dreyfuss) lives in the shadow of his brother, whom his father, Max (Jack Warden), and his Uncle Benjy (Joseph Wiseman) are helping to put through medical school. Seeking to rise above his family's poverty, Duddy aspires to purchase and develop lakefront land near the hotel resort he is working at in Quebec's Laurentian Mountains. But Duddy's quest to make something of himself reveals a harsh determination to do whatever he has to in order to make his dream a reality.

Eric Hynes

Time Out

May 28, 2013

4/5

What makes The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz great is also what makes it exasperating-namely its nonjudgmental dedication to the character's point of view, petty amoralities and all.

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Andrew Pulver

Guardian

May 24, 2013

4/5

Dreyfuss would go on to bigger things, but not all of them better.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Oct 23, 2004

3/4

It's a little too sloppy, and occasionally too obvious, to qualify as a great film, but it's a good and entertaining one, and it leaves us thinking that Duddy Kravitz might amount to something after all, should he ever grow up.

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Sarah Boslaugh

TheArtsStl

Apr 15, 2026

8/10

Dreyfuss performs his character as if he’s about to burst with animal spirits, doing ten things at once and crashing through obstacles like a Weeble that may wobble but will never fall.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Jan 1, 2024

3/4

The caffeinated performance by Richard Dreyfuss captures not so much the snake-oil-salesman seediness of such a character but, more crucially, the eager-beaver earnestness that attracts others.

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John Simon

Esquire Magazine

Jul 28, 2020

The film has going for it a well-observed milieu, a rich gallery of colorful locals, and a wealth of incident that sometimes gets out of hand.

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Ted Kotcheff

Director

Richard Dreyfuss

Duddy Kravitz

Micheline Lanctôt

Yvette

Jack Warden

Max Kravitz

Randy Quaid

Virgil

Joseph Wiseman

Benjy Kravitz

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Synopsis

Duddy Kravitz (Richard Dreyfuss) lives in the shadow of his brother, whom his father, Max (Jack Warden), and his Uncle Benjy (Joseph Wiseman) are helping to put through medical school. Seeking to rise above his family's poverty, Duddy aspires to purchase and develop lakefront land near the hotel resort he is working at in Quebec's Laurentian Mountains. But Duddy's quest to make something of himself reveals a harsh determination to do whatever he has to in order to make his dream a reality.

Director: Ted Kotcheff
Producer: John Kemeny
Screenwriter: Mordecai Richler
Production Co: Famous Players-Lasky Corporation
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (DVD): May 22, 2012
Runtime: 2h 1m

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