Fathom Events, Regal Sherman Oaks

“May God and Your Glock Protect You”

Directed by Salvador Litvak and co-written with Nina Litvak, Guns & Moses is an independently produced crime thriller about an orthodox rabbi, Mo Zaltzman (Mark Feuerstein), who finds his inner gunslinger and becomes an unlikely Western hero. The film begins with a tortoise crossing the highway in the California desert. That enigmatic opening will pay off later.

At the post screening live Q&A, the Litvaks spoke about the difficulties of independent filmmaking (no secret there) and how their lead characters, both male and female, counter Jewish stereotypes. Like their creation Mo Zaltzman, the Jewish tough guy has been around in movies since the beginning. Over the years, Jewish male characters have become more cerebral than physical, shrewd in business perhaps, the lead character’s lawyer or agent, but unlikely to throw a punch or fire a gun (Director and actor Sydney Pollack specialized in playing such roles). It wasn’t always like that.

The original Scarface (1932), one of the first gangster pictures of the sound era, starred Paul Muni. Born Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund, Muni immigrated to the U.S. from what is now Ukraine. He came to Hollywood after acting in New York’s Yiddish speaking theater and had a long career playing a wide variety of characters including a number of tough guys, including Tony in Scarface. Ironically, 1983’s Scarface star Al Pacino has played a number of Jewish characters including mob lawyer Roy Cohn in Angels in America (2003).

John Garfield and Shelley Winters in
HE RAN ALL THE WAY (1951)

John Garfield (Jacob Julius Garfinkle), a victim of the Hollywood Blacklist, famously played tough guys in film noir and adventure movies, usually not specifically Jewish. Sometimes, Jewish actors will play non-Jewish tough guys like James Caan as Sonny in The Godfather (1972). In the same movie, Jewish hit man Moe Greene was played by Italian American Alex Rocca.

Paul Newman projected strength in all of his roles, sometimes playing Jewish characters like Ari Ben Canaan, the freedom fighter in Exodus (1962). Sicilian American Sal Mineo was also excellent in the movie as Dov Landau, a holocaust survivor who becomes an explosives expert in Israel’s War of Independence. Dustin Hoffman, who began in movies as WASP preppy Ben Braddock in The Graduate (1967), went on to a variety of roles including as the smash-and-grab crook in Straight Time (1978) and Jewish mobster Dutch Schultz in Billy Bathgate (1991). Robert De Niro has excelled at playing Jewish tough guys in Once Upon a Time in America (1984) and as Vegas hood Sam Rothstein in Casino (1995) though De Niro isn’t one of the Chosen People. But, Harvey Keitel, who starred as prototypical Jewish tough guy Meyer Lansky in Lansky (2021) among dozens of roles, is Jewish. And let’s not forget Lansky’s pretty boy pal, Benny Siegel, as played by none other than Warren Beatty in Bugsy (1991).

Rabbi Mo and his family live in the fictional town of High Desert. He’s a pillar of the community for Jews and non-Jews alike. It appears that his primary goal is fundraising for the building of an expanded synagogue and Jewish community center. A wealthy donor pledges over a million dollars. It’s a done deal. And then, tragedy strikes. The rabbi’s world and that of his family is turned upside down.

Is the murder a political assassination, a hate crime by a white supremacist or a mere personal vendetta or killing for profit? That’s what will be answered as Rabbi Mo attempts to unravel the mystery of what just happened. His beautiful wife Hindy (Alona Tal) and daughters Esty (Mila Brener) and Dini (Juju Brenner) are also transformed. Is there a contradiction between staying observant and taking extreme measures to protect themselves? That’s another question the family struggles with.

Screenwriter Nina Litvak said she wanted the rabbi’s evolution from mild-mannered faith leader to gunfighter to happen organically. Like former pacifist turned vigilante Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) in Death Wish (1974), Rabbi Mo methodically learns to shoot at the firing range from his no-nonsense female bodyguard (Gabrielle Ruiz).

There’s a sub-theme of ecology and protecting the environment. In a scene reminiscent of Chinatown (1974), Rabbi Mo investigates a Mojave solar wind farm that’s somehow tied to the conspiracy. Before getting the answers, he has to flee in a hurry.

It’s a stellar cast that includes veteran actors Dermot Mulroney, Jake Busey and Neal McDonough as High Desert’s Mayor Donovan Kirk. Jackson Dunne is Clay Gibbons, a teenager who’s become radicalized online. Playing against type as Mr. Fassbinder, comedic actor Christopher Lloyd, beloved as Doc Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, gives stirring testimony to the aspiring white nationalist youth. Fassbinder is a camp survivor and witness to Nazi atrocities who attends services despite having lost his faith.

Composer Aaron Gilhuis appeared at the Q&A and spoke about composing the Western- influenced score that incorporates the traditional shofar ram’s horn played by the director.

Cinematography by Ricardo Jaques Gale. Edited by Peter Marshall Smith.