” RIP Gene Wilder. One of the GREAT ones! If you’ve never seen him in the old movie “FRISCO KID”...watch it..he was amazing!
That was my favorite movie of his, I think it is an overlooked gem. RIP Gene.”
Indeed, mine too. And that unknown guy that was in it with him...Harrison Ford...best thing he ever did.
One of the best scenes in “Frisco Kid” was when Wilder, as the rabbi, was staked out on the ground by the Indians who had captured him and his Torah.
The Indian Chief, played by old gangster-style actor Val Basiglio (sp), asked Wilder if the scroll was important to him and if he would die for it. Wilder replied “Yes”.
Then Basiglio said, “I’ve read the whole thing and I didn’t understand a single word”. (paraphrased). It was in Hebrew!!
True story: On a bus going up N. Broad St. in Phila (back in the 60’s when I went to Temple Un), someone had left a newspaper on a seat and several riders were trying to figure out what kind it was.
Each person offered a guess as to what language the paper was in, finally concurring on Chinese.
IT WAS A YIDDISH NEWSPAPER!
I had to get off the bus in order not to laugh out loud. At least they gave it the old college try.