Lee Kohlmar, with his wonderful Bavarian accent, is a Jewish businessman whose two sons are ungrateful, and whose daughters-in-law despise him. Discarded by everyone but his youngest daughter and her boyfriend, he is reduced to living in an old-age home.
Without spoiling the plot (just see King Lear), what makes this low-budget film work so well is the uncompromising Ashkenazi Jewishness -- or should i say American Yiddishkeit? -- of the characters, even those played by non-Jewish actors.
The emphasis on giving charity, the celebration of food and family, the pride at gaining American citizenship, and the ultimate epithet of anger ("Swine!") will be recognizable to anyone who ever watched "The Goldbergs" with Molly Berg. It is a bit sentimental, but what family drama isn't?
This is not a story about the tenements of the Lower East Side or the Nazis or Israel. It is about an American Jewish businessman in the chemical dye industry (as an adjunct to the garment industry) and about the value of friendship, thriftiness, and honesty in that world. It is about the joy of owning and running a business, not for wealth, but to be useful in the world.
The chief struggle is between the immigrant generation and the "Americanized" children who don't value the old ways, and in this It bears some resemblance to the movie "Avalon" as well as to the romance comic book story "Different!" by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.
I rated it as 9 out of 10 because it was well made on a shoestring budget and because it was a joy to see so many older character actors (NONE OF THEM CREDITED!) doing their small parts with professionalism and panache.
