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“The Frisco Kid” is a fish-out-of-water buddy comedy starring Gene Wilder as Avrim Belinski, a Polish-Jewish immigrant who heads west from Philadelphia to San Francisco to become the new rabbi of a congregation. He’s in over his head until he befriends Tommy Lillard (Harrison Ford), a smart bank robber who gets him in and out of trouble.
According to Brad Duke’s biography, “Harrison Ford: The Movies,” producers were about to offer Ford the part of Lillard when John Wayne suddenly expressed interest in the role. Even though the aging star has decades on the younger Ford, if you’re making a Western and Duke is interested, you have to consider him. Clearly, Aldrich – also nearing the end of his career – was particularly intrigued by the prospect of directing Wayne. When the Western icon eventually passed, Ford believed Aldrich had failed. According to Duke’s book:
“Ford always felt like he was in competition with Wayne. Although Ford played many cowboy roles during his episodic years on television, his director jokingly harassed him with constant comparisons if how will Wayne do the job.
The film’s producer Mace Neufeld recalled, ‘I think Harrison always felt when Aldrich was shooting a scene, that Aldrich was looking at him and seeing a picture of John Wayne, and he gave him a pretty rough time in the movie ….’ “
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