‘The Hebrew Hammer’: The Jewish blaxploitation Christmas movie
Christmas fare has been getting progressively stranger as the decades wear on, with virtually no stone left unturned as filmmakers seek out some festive spirit in the unlikeliest of places. It goes without saying that The Hebrew Hammer is definitely one of them, and it might well be the only Jewish blaxploitation holiday movie in existence.
Written, directed, and produced by Jonathan Kesselman, star Adam Goldberg revealed he was convinced to sign onto the project as soon as he stumbled upon the line “Shabbat shalom, motherfuckers” in the script, which barely even begins to scratch the surface of an action comedy that both tears to shreds and celebrates multiple different genres at once.
The Saving Private Ryan alumni stars as Mordechai Jefferson Carver, who spent his childhood being teased by his Christmas-loving classmates and neighbours. Evolving into an ass-kicker through his time spent in the Israeli Defence Forces, he decides to clean up the streets by dressing in the attire of a blaxploitation hero and dubbing himself the ‘Hebrew Hammer’.
His greatest challenge arrives in the form of Andy Dick’s Damian Claus, though, the evil son of Santa who murdered his father and plans to destroy the very notion of both Hanukkah and Kwanzaa in an effort to convince the entire world – regardless of race, religion, creed, or gender – that Christmas is the only annual holiday worth celebrating.
Before his unceremonious demise at the hands of his own offspring, Richard Riehle’s Santa had orchestrated a tenuous peace between the Jewish, African American, and white Christian communities. Banding together in the face of Damian’s malevolent schemes, Mordechai also finds a love interest in the form of Judy Greer’s Esther Bloomenbergensteinenthal – daughter of the head of the Jewish Justice League – and an ally in the shape of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front’s figurehead Mohammed Ali Paula Abdul Rahim.
Mario Van Peebles even makes a cameo appearance as the title character from 1971’s Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, which technically makes The Hebrew Hammer a direct sequel of sorts to the massively influential classic that’s been credited as pioneering the blaxploitation genre and being a formative influence on Spike Lee.
Inevitably, the Anti-Defamation League raised concerns about the film potentially perpetuating unfavourable stereotypes, with one of its members even seeking legal action that was ultimately dismissed. Christian groups weren’t thrilled, either, with many claiming The Hebrew Hammer painted them as being intolerant of multiple other cultures.
In the end, the genre-bending bout of cinematic insanity proved so popular that a sequel was announced, although as of yet The Hebrew Hammer vs. Hitler has yet to come to fruition. Goldberg did confirm that the earliest version of the script featured a scene where Mel Gibson would be shot in the face, but everyone will just have to wait and see if that particular moment – or the second instalment itself, for that matter – makes it to the screen.
