The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

Duddy Kravitz grows up in poverty in Montreal, with his motherless status and scarce parental attention. His father Max and his uncle Benjy admire his older brother Lenny, who is being groomed for medical school. This family dynamic fuels Duddy’s hunger to prove himself and climb out of poverty.

Duddy takes a summer job as a waiter at a kosher resort hotel in the Laurentian Mountains. His brash hustling and coarse manners irritate colleagues, especially Irwin. The gig sets him on a path toward bigger schemes to raise money.

Irwin manipulates Duddy into staging a clandestine roulette game for Linda, the owner’s daughter. Duddy loses $300 of his earnings because the wheel is crooked. The other waiters force Irwin to refund the money, and hotel guests later add another $500 to Duddy’s total.

Duddy begins a romance with Yvette, a hotel worker. They picnic by a lake, and he decides he will buy all the land around the lake to develop it. Because he is under 21, he arranges for Yvette to front the purchase for him.

To raise money, Duddy hires the blacklisted alcoholic film director Friar to shoot weddings and bar mitzvahs. The first film proves successful, and orders multiply, giving Duddy a viable route to fund his lakefront project. This marks his entry into film as a financing mechanism.

With the lake land up for sale and funds still short, Duddy asks his father to arrange a meeting with Dingleman, a businessman with gangster roots. Dingleman invites him to discuss the scheme on a train to New York, treating Duddy as a potential asset, not a partner.

On the trip, Duddy meets Virgil, offering to buy his pinball machines which are illegal in the United States. Lacking cash, Duddy hires Virgil as a truck driver to cover costs. Virgil’s epilepsy and the arrangement foreshadow trouble ahead.

Virgil suffers a seizure while driving and crashes, resulting in paralysis from the waist down. Yvette leaves Duddy to care for Virgil, straining their relationship further. The accident deepens Duddy’s personal turmoil as his schemes collide with real consequences.

As the last lake land piece comes to market, Dingleman bids for financing, and Duddy forges Virgil’s signature on a cheque to buy the land. The act ruptures ties with Yvette and Virgil and reveals the growing cost of his ambitions.

Duddy brings Max, Lenny, and his grandfather to the property to show his ‘progress.’ When Dingleman appears to discuss financing, Duddy mocks him, signaling contempt for those who question his methods. The grandfather refuses to choose a plot after hearing about Duddy’s deceit.

Duddy’s schemes have left him isolated as he fails to reconcile with Yvette, who will no longer see him. The personal connections that could have supported him unravel under the pressure of deception and greed.

In the ending, Duddy has risen enough to run a tab at a local Montreal diner, and his father boasts about how far his son has come. The film closes on a note of wealth and status achieved at the cost of integrity and relationships.