# Movies with a Jewish hero or tough-guy character **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343 "2008-07-05T01:44:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/1 "2008-07-05T01:44:53Z")
I don’t want to derail the thread about Enemy at the Gates, so I’ll just start a new one. I’ll quote what I said there: > [@](#): > > Hollywood has always sought to portray the Jewish male as being less than masculine, or somehow inadequate. He might be smart, but he’s nebbishy and weak. If he’s strong, then he’s sleazy or evil. Jewish male heroes in movies are as rare as hen’s teeth. I for one am sick of it. > > The fact that the heroic Jew of the movie is a female, just confirms that. I have nothing against female soldiers - there were a lot of great female soldiers in the Russian army - but by making the Jewish female the strong one and the Jewish male the ineffectual one (at the beginning of the movie, he gives his rifle to Zaytsev because he doesn’t know how to shoot, not because he knows Zaytsev is the better shooter) is just keeping with the usual Hollywood portrayal of the Jewish male as something other than what an ideal male is supposed to be. [This article](http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2006/07/10/cool_jews/) sort of touches on what I’m getting at here. I’m trying to think of movies that have a Jewish hero or other Jewish character who is tough, strong, brave, or otherwise “badass,” and _not_ a nebbish, nerd, or neurotic (even if he’s supposed to be a sympathetic character, those traits would disqualify him.) I’m not looking for characters that are a joke. No Zohan, no Hebrew Hammer. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/2 "2008-07-05T02:10:47Z")
How about Avner (Eric Bana) in [Munich](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408306/)? Or pretty much any Biblical epic. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/3 "2008-07-05T02:11:23Z")
Samson and Delilah. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/4 "2008-07-05T02:18:29Z")
Robert Shaw’s “David Kabakov” in _Black Sunday_ (1977). He saves the President and the Super Bowl from a devastating terrorist attack. His American hosts, by comparison, are actually pretty inept and clueless. More obscure, but even Jewisher, was [Jouko Ahola](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jouko_Ahola) (definitely not a weakling) as [Zishe Breitbart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zishe_Breitbart) (ditto) in \*[Invincible\*](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245171/) (2001). ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/5 "2008-07-05T02:31:07Z")
Marathon Man, particularly Roy Scheider’s character, but also Dustin Hoffmann’s. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/6 "2008-07-05T02:38:33Z")
Good answers. I’m wondering if there’s anything more recent, though. Munich is a good example. Also Vin Diesel’s character in Knockaround Guys, who had a giant Star of David tattoo. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/7 "2008-07-05T02:46:39Z")
The [Hebrew Hammer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Hammer)? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/8 "2008-07-05T02:47:10Z")
[head explodes] Read post #1. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/9 "2008-07-05T02:49:11Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] The [Hebrew Hammer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Hammer)? [/QUOTE] He’s good, but he’s no Zohan. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/10 "2008-07-05T02:50:13Z")
Paul Newman and several others in \*Exodus \*were pretty strong. Of course that was 45 years ago now. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/11 "2008-07-05T03:00:12Z")
The Thing, of Fantastic Four fame, may or may not be Jewish, depending on what sources you go by, and you don’t get much more tough-guy than him. But his religion (whatever it is) isn’t a very big part of his character. If we can expand to TV, Commander Susan Ivanova of Babylon 5 is Jewish, but that might just re-enforce the OP’s point of tough Jewish males specifically being scarce. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/12 "2008-07-05T03:04:30Z")
I might be mistaken but isn’t Magneto from X-Men supposed to be Jewish? I mean, he is a bad guy, but at least he’s one with principals, you know? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/13 "2008-07-05T03:21:56Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] I might be mistaken but isn’t Magneto from X-Men supposed to be Jewish? [/QUOTE] Yes, in the original origin story Erik Magnus was a concentration camp survivor. His crusade to make the world safe for mutants grew out of his experiences with the Nazis (ironically, while in Magnus’s mind the “normal” humans played the part of the Nazis, in practice, it was the mutants who he considered a “master race”). What the retconned origin is now, I don’t know. Marvel has a habit of scooching their characters’ origins upward in time, so the concentration camp survivor thing may be obsolete. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/14 "2008-07-05T03:25:22Z")
[Jewish Comic book superheroes](http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religion.html#Je) from the Religion of Comic Book Heroes webpage. The better known serious heroes were Ben Grimm, The Atom (Ray Palmer, though not practicing), several members of the Legion of Superheroes, and Reuben Flagg of **American Flagg!**. Mickey Goldmill in the Rocky films was something of a hardass as a boxing trainer (with the implication he was that way all his life) and was revealed to be Jewish after his death (something that evoked waves of derision from critics, since nothing previously indicated it). ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/15 "2008-07-05T03:25:46Z")
Any number of gangster films are full of Jewish “tough guys”. **Once Upon a Time in America** and **Bugsy** are just two examples that come to mind; I’m sure there are many more. And, in the “hero” category, is there any to match **Ben-Hur**? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/16 "2008-07-05T03:27:44Z")
I’m starting to detect a trend here - namely that with the exception of Munich, current movies don’t really have any Jewish heroes or tough guys. That’s too bad. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/17 "2008-07-05T03:34:59Z")
Pee-wee Herman? I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/18 "2008-07-05T03:37:51Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] I’m starting to detect a trend here - namely that with the exception of Munich, current movies don’t really have any Jewish heroes or tough guys. That’s too bad. [/QUOTE] Just assume every tough-guy hero whose religion is not referenced or specified is Jewish. Ta-da. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/19 "2008-07-05T03:41:53Z")
By the way, Angelina Jolie’s character in _Mr. and Mrs. Smith_ - Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343/20 "2008-07-05T03:43:11Z")
In the _Simpsons_ episode ‘Lisa’s Substitute’ (7F19), the title character Mr. Bergstrom (voiced by Dustin Hoffman) asserts in his lesson on frontier Texas that there were “a few Jewish cowboys: big guys, who were great shots, and spent money freely”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-jewish-hero-or-tough-guy-character/455343.md?page=2)