The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

Set on Montreal's St. Urbain Street (the Jewish ghetto) in the 40's, the film chronicles the adventures of a brash, ambitious hustler (Richard Dreyfuss) as he builds his fame and fortune, sometimes at the expense of those he loves the most. Duddy Kravitz is a brash kid from Montreal's Jewish ghetto. His taxi driver father, Max, and his rich uncle Benjy are proud of Duddy's brother, Lenny, who is becoming a doctor like a good Jewish boy, financed by his uncle. They all think Duddy's a nobody. Only his grandfather loves the motherless Duddy, who is so desperate to be a somebody. Duddy's life begins its transformation when he gets a summer job as a waiter in a Jewish resort hotel. When he's out on a picnic with his new girlfriend, Yvette, a hotel house maid, he discovers an isolated, virgin lake. He is stunned by its beauty; his ambition crystallizes. Duddy decides to acquire all the property around the lake and develop it, and finally become a somebody. There is nothing he will not do to possess that lake... (Cinemax)