Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1980


Wholly Moses!

Buy Wholly Moses! now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




'Wholly Moses!' is a 1980 American Biblical spoof film written by Guy Thomas and directed by Gary Weis. Dudley Moore plays Old Testament-era idol maker Herschel, whose life and adventures seem to parallel that of the more famous Moses, all the while being misled to think he is the prophet of God. The film also stars Laraine Newman, James Coco, Paul Sand, Jack Gilford, Dom DeLuise, John Houseman, Madeline Kahn, David Lander, Richard Pryor, and John Ritter.

Plot



Harvey and Zoey, two tourists travelling through Israel, discover an ancient scroll describing the life of Herschel, the man who was almost Moses. Herschel receives the command from God to free his people from Egyptian slavery, but Moses keeps blundering by and taking all the credit. Several other biblical stories, such as Lot and his wife, David and Goliath, and the miracles of Jesus, are also parodied in this story of the life of a man trying to follow the path to God, but somehow always seeming to lose his way.

Cast



* Dudley Moore .... Harvey Orchid/Herschel

* Laraine Newman .... Zoey/Zerelda

* James Coco .... Hyssop

* Paul Sand .... God's Angel

* Jack Gilford .... Tailor

* Dom DeLuise .... Shadrach

* John Houseman .... The Archangel

* Madeline Kahn .... The Witch

* David L. Lander .... The Beggar

* Richard Pryor .... Pharaoh

* John Ritter .... Satan (The Devil)

* Richard B. Shull .... Jethro

* Tanya Boyd .... Princess

* Ruth Manning .... Landlady

* Walker Edmiston .... God (voice)

Reception



The film received poor reviews.

Because of a production hiatus imposed on their television show by WTTW, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel did not review the film on 'Sneak Previews' upon its initial release. Of the film, Ebert wrote in print:

In another print review, Siskel wrote,

When the film was released on DVD, John Sinnott of DVD Talk echoed Siskel's comparisons:

In a guest review for 'Entertainment Weekly' regarding the same DVD release, and that of another film starring Moore, 'Crazy People', Ty Burr of 'The Boston Globe' gave the film a D grade, describing the film as a "wholly unfunny comedy."

Five orthodox Jewish groups protested the film for mocking their religion.

'Wholly Moses' holds a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on seven reviews.

References




Buy Wholly Moses! now from Amazon

<-- Return to movies from 1980



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1107069335.