Maven's Jewish Essentials
by maven0690 | created - 23 Jan 2013 | updated - 06 Feb 2019 | PublicThe Essential movies that helped define the identity of a generation of American Jews, a sub-set of:
Maven's Jewish & Israeli Jewels for popular movies,
Maven's Jewish & Israeli Documentaries,
Animated Jewish & Bible Stories and
Select Jewish-Israeli non-English Movies
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1. The Ten Commandments (1956)
G | 220 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
Moses, raised as a prince of Egypt in the Pharaoh's household, learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people from slavery.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson
Votes: 77,826 | Gross: $93.74M
2. Shoah (1985)
Not Rated | 566 min | Documentary, History, War
Claude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors.
Director: Claude Lanzmann | Stars: Simon Srebnik, Michael Podchlebnik, Motke Zaïdl, Hanna Zaïdl
Votes: 10,546 | Gross: $0.02M
3. Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
G | 181 min | Drama, Family, Musical
In pre-revolutionary Russia, a Jewish peasant with traditional values contends with marrying off three of his daughters with modern romantic ideals while growing anti-Semitic sentiment threatens his village.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon
Votes: 47,851 | Gross: $80.50M
4. The 50 Years War: Israel and the Arabs (1998– )
300 min | Documentary, History, War
Decision-makers from Israel, the Arab states, Russia and the US tell the inside story of the Arab-Israel conflict. Charts the evolution of tensions, violence and peace efforts from 1948 to 1998.
Stars: Tim Pigott-Smith, King Hussein, Shimon Peres, Abba Eban
Votes: 300
5. Schindler's List (1993)
R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall
Votes: 1,450,229 | Gross: $96.90M
6. The Jewish Americans (2008)
360 min | Documentary
Acclaimed filmmaker David Grubin traces 350 years of Jewish American history, from the arrival of the first Jews in 1654 up to the present day. THE JEWISH AMERICANS tells the story of the ... See full summary »
Stars: Liev Schreiber, Carl Reiner, Sid Caesar, Tony Kushner
Votes: 105
7. Exodus (1960)
Approved | 208 min | Action, Drama, War
The State of Israel is created in 1948, resulting in war with its Arab neighbors.
Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford
Votes: 11,379 | Gross: $18.97M
9. The Prince of Egypt (1998)
PG | 99 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Egyptian Prince Moses learns of his identity as a Hebrew and his destiny to become the chosen deliverer of his people.
Directors: Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, Simon Wells | Stars: Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock
Votes: 146,304 | Gross: $101.22M
10. Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
Not Rated | 118 min | Drama, Romance
A reporter pretends to be Jewish in order to cover a story on anti-Semitism, and personally discovers the true depths of bigotry and hatred.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield, Celeste Holm
Votes: 17,771
11. Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)
Approved | 146 min | Adventure, Drama, History
In 1947, following the U.N. decision to split British Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, a former U.S. Army officer is recruited by the Jews to reorganize the Haganah.
Director: Melville Shavelson | Stars: Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Senta Berger
Votes: 3,822
12. The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
Approved | 180 min | Biography, Drama, Family
During World War II, a teenage Jewish girl named Anne Frank and her family are forced into hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Millie Perkins, Shelley Winters, Joseph Schildkraut, Richard Beymer
Votes: 13,686 | Gross: $5.01M
13. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 911,877 | Gross: $32.57M
14. One Day in September (1999)
R | 94 min | Documentary, History, Sport
The Palestinian terrorist group Black September holds Israeli athletes hostage at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich.
Director: Kevin Macdonald | Stars: Michael Douglas, Ankie Spitzer, Jamal Al Gashey, Gerald Seymour
Votes: 6,243 | Gross: $0.16M
15. Munich (2005)
R | 164 min | Action, Drama, History
After the Black September capture and massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, five men are chosen to eliminate the people responsible for that fateful day.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Marie-Josée Croze, Ciarán Hinds
Votes: 238,238 | Gross: $47.40M
16. The Reader (2008)
R | 124 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.
Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Bruno Ganz, Jeanette Hain
Votes: 259,790 | Gross: $34.19M
17. Six Days in June (2007)
Unrated | 105 min | Documentary, War
The shooting lasted on six tense days in June 1967, but the Six Day War has never really ended. Every crisis that has ripped through this region in the ensuing decades stems from those six ... See full summary »
Director: Ilan Ziv | Stars: Yaron London, John Tarzwell, Levi Eshkol, Gamal Abdel Nasser
Votes: 195
18. Raid on Entebbe (1976)
Not Rated | 145 min | Action, Drama, History
True story of a daring Israeli commando assault on the Entebbe Airport in Uganda to free hostages of a terrorist hijacking.
Director: Irvin Kershner | Stars: Peter Finch, Charles Bronson, Yaphet Kotto, Martin Balsam
Votes: 3,804
19. A Woman Called Golda (1982 TV Movie)
191 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of the Russian-born, Wisconsin-raised woman who rose to become Israel's prime minister in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Director: Alan Gibson | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Ned Beatty, Franklin Cover, Judy Davis
Votes: 1,056
20. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
PG-13 | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
Director: Roberto Benigni | Stars: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano
Votes: 742,994 | Gross: $57.60M
21. The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (1998)
PG | 90 min | Documentary, Biography, Sport
The life and career of Hank Greenberg, the first major Jewish baseball star in the Major Leagues.
Director: Aviva Kempner | Stars: Reeve Brenner, Hank Greenberg, Walter Matthau, Alan Dershowitz
Votes: 817 | Gross: $1.70M
22. The Devil's Arithmetic (1999 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
A 16-year-old American girl with an apathetic view towards her Jewish family history finds herself pulled through time into 1941 to a small Polish village where the Nazis have just begun their genocidal propaganda.
Director: Donna Deitch | Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Murphy, Paul Freeman, Mimi Rogers
Votes: 4,483
23. They Came for Good: A History of Jews in the USA (1997)
Not Rated | 57 min | Documentary, History
Comprehensive two-part PBS series that tells the fascinating true story of 250 years of Jewish immigration in America.
Director: Amram Nowak | Stars: Robert Blumenfeld, Gordon Grinberg, Avi Hoffman, Devora Millman
Votes: 24
24. Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004)
92 min | Documentary, History
The history of Hollywood's handling of the Nazis and its later depiction of the Holocaust they perpetrated.
Director: Daniel Anker | Stars: Gene Hackman, Norma Barzman, Jack Benny, Michael Berenbaum
Votes: 663 | Gross: $0.02M
25. Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State (2005)
48 min | Documentary, History, War
The history of the Final Solution phase of the Nazi Holocaust, particularly with the most infamous of the death camps.
Stars: Samuel West, Linda Hunt, Gert Heidenreich, Horst Günter Marx
Votes: 4,652
26. Holocaust (1978)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, History, Romance
The saga of a Jewish family's struggle to survive the horror of Nazi Germany's systematic marginalization and extermination of their community.
Stars: Joseph Bottoms, Tovah Feldshuh, Rosemary Harris, Tony Haygarth
Votes: 5,497
27. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
R | 153 min | Adventure, Drama, War
In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Mélanie Laurent
Votes: 1,583,481 | Gross: $120.54M
28. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
PG-13 | 94 min | Drama, War
Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
Director: Mark Herman | Stars: Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Zac Mattoon O'Brien
Votes: 246,321 | Gross: $9.03M
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