Movie Night: The Plot Against Harry

Join us for the full cinema experience—popcorn, choc tops and all—as we present The Plot Against Harry, one of the great American independent films of the 1960s, in our beautiful Millie Phillips theatre.

Among the most authentic portraits of New York Jewish culture of its era, Michael Roemer’s wise and bitterly funny Jewish gangster comedy follows Harry Plotnick (the Buster Keaton-faced Max Priest), a racketeer newly released from prison, who finds himself slowly and begrudgingly humbled into the mores of Jewish middle-class society.

Featuring an incredible cast of non-professional actors, Roemer’s deadpan comedy of manners was the product of two years’ immersion into the world of Jewish kingpins, call girls and caterers, and anticipates the neurotic schlemiel picaresques of the Coen Brothers and Safdies by decades. Shot in 1969 but unable to find distribution because “no one thought it was funny”, the film was re-released in 1989 to rapturous acclaim and has slowly accrued the cult-class status it enjoys today.

SEATS ARE UNASSIGNED AND DOORS OPEN AT 6.30 PM FOR A 7.00 PM START.
ARRIVE EARLY TO VISIT THE CANDY BAR FOR MOVIE SNACKS AND SECURE YOUR SEAT.

"It’s one of those known movies that’s not that widely seen, about this slightly older Jewish gangster who gets out of prison after doing a couple of years and is dealing with all kinds of life problems. It has a little bit of The Sopranos in it, except that there is no violence whatsoever in the movie that I can recall. It is very well written, and has a certain gentleness about it.” – Wes Anderson

“A jewel found in the grime of New York City… a Felliniesque comedy of Jewish despair.” – A.S. Hamrah, Screen Slate

“Beautifully shot (by coproducer Robert M. Young, a director in his own right) and cast with a wonderful bunch of unknowns (who include Ben Lang, Maxine Woods, Henry Nemo, Jacques Taylor, Jean Leslie, Ellen Herbert, and Sandra Kazan), this is both a lovely piece of filmmaking and an exquisitely detailed portrait of a milieu and period, sealed as if in a time capsule.” –Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

“Gives rampant ethnic nuttiness a distinctively wistful vulgarity…At once gritty and ethereal…Although The Plot Against Harry has been compared to John Cassavetes’s work, the director’s sensibility is far closer to Elaine May’s. Roemer’s satire of the Jewish urban middle class has its corollary in May’s The Heartbreak Kid, his comic rhythms parallel the droll understatement of the much-aligned Ishtar, and Harry’s characters and milieu suggest a “lite” version of May’s Mikey and Nicky.” – J. Hoberman, Premiere

“Roemer’s dyspeptic comedy bares unhealed and unspoken wounds of NY Jewish life… [He] writes dialogue with an ear for offhand cruelties and fractured intimacies; his satirical vision evenhandedly distributes willful struggle and oblivious vanity.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker  

“A time capsule [that] feels like a jolt of fresh air.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

“Few films capture the bittersweet flavor of tristate-area life like The Plot Against Harry ....an ode to urban Jewish life and the joy and pain in the ass that is family.” – Chris Shields, Screen Slate

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THE PLOT AGAINST HARRY (1969)

Rating: Unclassified 15+
Runtime: 81 minutes
Country: USA
Language: English

Director: Michael Roemer
Writer: Michael Roemer
Producers: Robert Young, Michael Roemer
Cinematographer: Robert Young
Editors: Terry Lewis, Georges Klotz
Production Designer: Howard Mandel
Production Company: King Screen Productions
Cast: Martin Priest, Ben Lang, Maxine Woods

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We are proud to offer flexible pricing for this event to ensure that nobody misses out. If programs like this are important to you, please consider making a donation to Emanuel Synagogue so that we may continue to offer such experiences.

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