Hammer Set To Strike Again
Though roundly panned when it first appeared three years ago, “The Hebrew Hammer,” writer-director Jonathan Kesselman’s Jewish answer to the blaxploitation genre, may be getting a new lease on life.
According to the Web site TMZ.com, Hollywood execs are drooling over the sequel rights to the film, in no small part because of an opening sequence recently tacked on to the screenplay in which the Hammer, played in the original by Adam Goldberg, shows a drunken Mel Gibson just who’s boss.
The script begins with a profanity-spewing Gibson being pulled over by the Hammer, who is dressed in a police uniform.
“Hey, copper, you a f—ing Jew?” Gibson asks.
The Hammer smiles and says: “Well, actually, yes. Yes, I am.” He then pulls out a .45 and blows the actor’s brains out.
Kesselman is hoping to get Gibson to play himself.
“I think if Mel wants to truly extend an olive branch to the Jewish community as a whole, his on-screen death would go a long way in accomplishing that goal,” he told TMZ.
But Mad Mel is small fry in comparison with Hammer’s new chief nemesis: a time-traveling Adolf Hitler hell bent on lousing up Jewish history.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Dive In
-
Israel News Watch: What happens next with Israel’s judicial overhaul?
-
Israel News ‘A very, very dangerous situation’: An Israeli journalist’s key takeaways from recent protests
-
Israel News Fresh water could be in extremely short supply in Israel in just a few decades, study says
-
Israel News Jerusalem twin bombings: Deadly innovation stirs old traumas
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker spoke at a synagogue on Yom Kippur. Its rabbi says Jews should learn from his 25-hour Senate speech.
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker’s rabbi has notes on Cory Booker’s 25-hour speech
-
Fast Forward Naftali Bennett is back: Former Israeli prime minister will make another run at Netanyahu
-
Fast Forward Citing post-Holocaust doctrine, Germany seeks to deport 4 pro-Palestinian protesters, including one American
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.