{"id":290,"date":"2007-09-12T14:52:55","date_gmt":"2007-09-12T18:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.summerofjim.com\/2007\/09\/12\/gefilte-fish-in-film\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T10:58:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T14:58:40","slug":"gefilte-fish-in-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/?p=290","title":{"rendered":"Gefilte Fish in Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cold fish \u201cmeatloaf\u201d\u2026 that about sums up this\u00a0delicacy\u00a0<\/em>called gefilte fish.\u00a0 A delicacy that is unappetizing in its appearance as it sounds.\u00a0 Yet, for a small percentage of population (a\u00a0very\u00a0<\/em>small percentage of the population), it is a dish that is associated with festival food that is served for Passover and the Jewish New Year.<\/p>\n

Apart from the dish itself, it may surprise you see the numerous inclusions and references to gefilte fish in literary works and in film.<\/p>\n

Since recently being appointed to\u00a0Board of the Academy of Film & Theatre Snacks, I have access to every movie script brought to the silver screen.\u00a0 After months of exhaustive research I have been able to locate countless references to gefilte fish in film.\u00a0 Below, find a few of my favorites.<\/p>\n

Ten Commandments
\n<\/u>Pharaoh Sethi<\/strong><\/a><\/u>\u00a0(Sir Cedric Hardwicke): Harden yourself against subordinates. Have no friend. Trust no woman.\u00a0 Eat no gefilte fish.<\/p>\n

On the Waterfront
\n<\/u>Terry<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Marlon Brando): It wasn\u2019t him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, \u201cKid, this ain\u2019t your night. We\u2019re going for the price on Wilson.\u201d You remember that? \u201cThis ain\u2019t your night\u201d! My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville! You was my brother, Charley, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn\u2019t have to take them dives for the short-end money.
\nCharlie<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Rod Steiger): Oh I had some bets down for you. You saw some money.
\nTerry<\/a><\/strong>: You don\u2019t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. It coulda been gefilte fish every night.\u00a0 I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let\u2019s face it. It was you, Charley.<\/p>\n

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
\n<\/u>Butch Cassidy<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Paul Newman): You know, it could be worse. You get a lot more for your money in Bolivia, I checked on it.
\nSundance Kid<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Robert Redford): What could they have here that you could possibly want to buy?
\nButch Cassidy<\/u><\/strong>: Gefilte fish.<\/p>\n

Psycho
\n<\/u>Norman Bates<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Anthony Perkins): You-you eat like a bird.
\nMarion Crane<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Janet Leigh): [Looking around at the stuffed birds while eating<\/em>] And you\u2019d know, of course.
\nNorman Bates<\/a><\/strong>: No, not really. Anyway, I hear the expression \u2018eats like a bird\u2019 \u2013 it-it\u2019s really a
\n[stammers<\/em>]
\nNorman Bates<\/a><\/strong>: fals-fals-fals-falsity. Because birds really eat a tremendous lot. But -I-I don\u2019t really know anything about birds. My hobby is stuffing things. You know that gefilte fish means\u00a0stuffed<\/em> fish.<\/p>\n

Duck Soup
\n<\/u>Rufus T. Firefly<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Groucho Marx): Awfully decent of you to drop in today. Do you realize our army is facing disastrous defeat? What do you intend to do about it?
\nChicolini<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Chico Marx): I\u2019ve done it already.
\nRufus T. Firefly<\/a><\/strong>: You\u2019ve done what?
\nChicolini<\/a><\/strong>: I\u2019ve changed to the other side.
\nRufus T. Firefly<\/a><\/strong>: So you\u2019re on the other side, eh? Well, what are you doing over here?
\nChicolini<\/a><\/strong>: Well, the gefilte fish is better over here.<\/p>\n

Lawrence\u00a0of\u00a0Arabia
\n<\/u>Auda abu Tayi<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Anthony Quinn): I am Auda abu Tayi! Does Auda serve?
\nHoweitat tribesmen<\/u><\/strong>:<\/u> NO!
\nAuda abu Tayi<\/a><\/strong>: Does Auda abu Tayi serve?
\nHoweitat tribesmen<\/u><\/strong>: NO!
\nAuda abu Tayi<\/a><\/strong>: [to\u00a0Lawrence<\/em>] I carry twenty-three great wounds, all got in battle. Seventy-five men have I killed with my own hands in battle. I scatter, I burn my enemies\u2019 tents. I take away their flocks, herds and gefilte fish. The Turks pay me a golden treasure, yet I am poor! Because *I* am a river to my people!<\/p>\n

High\u00a0Noon
\n<\/u>Will<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Gary Cooper): Don\u2019t shove me Harv. I\u2019m tired of being shoved.\u00a0 I\u2019ll pass ya\u2019 the horseradish [for the gefilte fish<\/em>] when I\u2019m good and ready.<\/p>\n

Becket
\n<\/u>King Henry II<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Peter O\u2019Toole): Let us drink, gentlemen. Let us drink and eat gefilte fish, till we roll under the table in vomit and oblivion.<\/p>\n

Shawshank Redemption
\n<\/u>Andy Dufresne<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Tim Robbins): You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific?
\nRed<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Morgan Freeman): No.
\nAndy Dufresne<\/a><\/strong>: They say it has no memory. That\u2019s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory and plenty of gefilte fish.<\/p>\n

Steel Magnolias
\n<\/u>M\u2019Lynn<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Sally Field): We have this new physiatrist that comes in two days a week and of course I pick her name out of the grab bag, I have to pick something up for her tomorrow. Would you put that on the list, I have no idea what to get your father. What\u2019s Jackson giving you, do you know?
\nShelby<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Julia Roberts): Gefilte Fish.
\nM\u2019Lynn<\/a><\/strong>: Gefilte Fish, well my. Must be nice to be married to a rich lawyer.<\/p>\n

The Public Enemy
\n<\/u>Tom Powers<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(James Cagney): So beer ain\u2019t good enough for you, huh?
\nMike Powers<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Donald Cook): Do you think I care if there was just beer in that keg? I know what\u2019s in it. I know what you\u2019ve been doing all this time, how you got those clothes and those new cars. You\u2019ve been telling Ma that you\u2019ve gone into politics, that you\u2019re on the city payroll. Pat Burke told me everything. You murderers! There\u2019s not only beer in that jug. There\u2019s beer and blood \u2013 blood of men!
\n[Throws keg against wall<\/em>]
\nTom Powers<\/a><\/strong>: [Stands<\/em>] You ain\u2019t changed a bit. Besides, your hands ain\u2019t so clean. You kill and like it. You didn\u2019t get them medals for eating gefilte fish with them Germans.<\/p>\n

The African Queen
\n<\/u>Charlie Allnut<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Humphrey Bogart): A man takes a drop too much horseradish for his gefilte fish once in a while, it\u2019s only human nature.
\nRose Sayer<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Katherine Hepburn): Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.<\/p>\n

The Guns of Navarone
\n<\/u>Capt. Keith Mallory<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Gregory Peck): I have no time for this!
\nCorporal Miller<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(David Niven): Now just a minute! If we\u2019re going to get this job done she has got to be killed! And we all know how keen you are about getting the job done! Now I can\u2019t speak for the others but I\u2019ve never killed a woman, nor eaten gefilte fish, traitor or not, and I\u2019m finicky! So why don\u2019t you do it? Let us off for once! Go on, be a pal, be a father to your men! Climb down off that cross of yours, close your eyes, think of England, and pull the trigger! What do you say, Sir?<\/p>\n

She Wore\u00a0a Yellow Ribbon
\n<\/u>[Brittles knows Quincannon has been drinking on duty<\/em>]
\nCaptain Nathan Brittles<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(John Wayne): You got a breath on you like gefilte fish.
\nTop Sergeant Quincannon<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Victor McLaglen): Ah, Captain darlin\u2019. As you well know I took \u201cthe pledge\u201d after Chapultepec.
\nCaptain Nathan Brittles<\/a><\/strong>: And Bull Run, and Gettysburg, and Shiloh, and St. Patrick\u2019s Day, and Fourth of July!<\/p>\n

******<\/p>\n

During my research I also came across numerous hilarious references to\u00a0pilonidal cysts\u00a0<\/em>which I will share with you on another occasion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cold fish \u201cmeatloaf\u201d\u2026 that about sums up this\u00a0delicacy\u00a0called gefilte fish.\u00a0 A delicacy that is unappetizing in its appearance as it sounds.\u00a0 Yet, for a small percentage of population (a\u00a0very\u00a0small percentage of the population), it is a dish that is associated … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=290"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111527,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290\/revisions\/111527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}