crime and loosening mores – made sex
symbols out of shambling “sheenies”
(Gentiles, I beg of you: don’t use this
term!) like Elliot Gould and James Caan,
whose careers hit their respective acmes
in 1974’s California Split and 1972’s The
Godfather. With Caan, in particular, there is
an unspoken proclivity at work here, itself
worthy of an entirely separate examination:
that of Jewish actors’ frequent portrayal of
Italian-American gangsters – and vice versa.
During the pre-Code vogue for crime drama,
audiences were wowed by the pug face of
Edward G Robinson (neé Goldenberg) in
1931’s Little Caesar and the Cupid’s bow
lips of Frederich Meier Weisenfreund, better
known as Paul Muni, in 1932’s Scarface.
Half a century later, the tables would turn,
giving A-listers like Robert De Niro and Al
Pacino – titans of postWar Hollywood –
a chance to bring a side of ham to their
portrayals of underworld-adjacent Jews. In
Once Upon a Time in America, Godfather:
Part II star Robert De Niro peppers his
embodiment of gangster “Noodles”
Aaronson with some much-needed Italian
seasoning. And as recently as the turn of
this century, Al Pacino – with his Roman
nose and deep brown eyes – seamlessly
passed for real-life shyster Roy Cohn in the
2003 TV adaptation of the Tony Kushner-
penned Angels in America, and crusading
legal eagle Lowell Bergman in Michael
Mann’s 1999 drama, The Insider. The demands of our precarious modern
society – adaptability, rootlessness,
economic thirst and unwavering gallows
humour – have long been the survival
techniques of bedevilled Jews, while
simultaneously doubling as handy insults
for our enemies. We have practiced the
side-hustle for thousands of years, and
memorised the points of egress for every
Western sovereign state. One could argue –
and we do love to argue! – that our current
troubles warrant a resurgent reappropriation
of our chequered past. Hastily-fired hot
takes aside, the forthcoming release of
Uncut Gems has been largely received with
effusive enthusiasm by my fellow Jewish
cinephiles. After a decade regardingshlemiels in films like James Gray’s Two
Lovers from 2008 or the Coen brothers’
A Serious Man from 2009 – masterpieces
both, but hardly the type of outing to
inspire racing pulses and sweaty palms –
Uncut Gems heralds a newfound interest
in the bygone days of the Jewish bad boy.
By playing Howard Ratner to the absolute
parodic hilt – with abundant chest hair,
gold chains and a crooked smile –
Sandler evokes a rich heritage of Jewish
portrayal, joining this fictional pantheon
of aforementioned greats. The story of
Jews in America doesn’t necessarily follow
a neat little narrative – our actual lived
experience is far more varied, believe it or
not – but we can chart, through the story
of Jews in American film, a transition from
the slum to the stage, from the tenement
to the Ivory Tower, and from the pushcart
to the boardroom. The Safdies’ crime
thriller couldn’t possibly undo that struggle,
but by adding a little gangland chutzpah
to the mix, their genre-flecked latest
only serves to fortify the richness of our
shared history039