Wholly Moses!

Wholly Moses! 1980 Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Dudley Moore, Laraine Newman, James Coco, Paul Sand, Jack Gilford
Also starring (cameos!): Dom Deluise, John Houseman, Madeline Kahn, David L. Lander, Richard Pryor, John Ritter
Director: Gary Weis
Buy Wholly Moses! at Amazon, if you dare.

This obviously isn't remembered as one of Dudley Moore's better films.

Moore portrays Herschel, whose life and adventures seem to closely parallel that of Moses, except that Moses is the one getting all of the glory. Actually, Herschel just thinks that God is talking to him, not Moses, and takes it upon himself to do the Lord's work, failing miserably. In the opening shot, set in 1980, Moore also plays a tourist who stumbles upon a lost Dead Sea scroll with Laraine Newman.

To be honest, Wholly Moses seems to coast on just two ideas: Herschel's continuing misconception that God is talking to him, and cameo appearances from some of 1980's biggest stars. The cameos really add nothing to the movie, even if John Ritter portrayed an excellent Satan. The scene where Moore interacts with Pryor really falls flat, and the two actors aren't even in the same shot! In his review, Roger Ebert suggested that Pryor was encouraged to "do his schtick" for the cameras, and Moore's reactions were edited in afterwards. That could have happened, but I haven't seen or found any evidence confirming this.

I actually expected more to this one, and I was pretty stoked when I finally found it on DVD a while back. Unfortunately, it's a pretty big disappointment. Dudley Moore tried, but he really looked helpless at times. All I can say is, if you want Biblical comedy, seek out Monty Python's Life of Brian instead.

Not recommended.

The Rutles: All You Need is Cash

The Rutles: All You Need is Cash. 1978 Above Average Productions Inc., Broadway Video & Rutle Corp (issued on DVD by Rhino Home Video).
Starring: Eric Idle, John Halsey, Ricky Fataar, Neil Innes, Michael Palin, George Harrison, Bianca Jagger, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, etc.
Appearing as Themselves: Mick Jagger, Paul Simon
Directors: Eric Idle & Gary Weis
Buy All You Need is Cash at Amazon.

The Rutles, whose resemblance to The Beatles is purely and satirically intentional, originally appeared on a sketch on Eric Idle's post-Python sketch program on BBC2, Rutland Weekend Television way back in 1975. When asked to host an episode of Saturday Night Live a year later, Idle brought along some Rutland videotape clips, including one of The Rutles. Lorne Michaels suggested that Idle turn the mock band into a full fledged mockumentary, which aired on NBC on March 22nd, 1978, finishing dead last in the Nielsen ratings for that week. Way to go, guys!

All You Need is Cash is a sketch film closely following the chronology of The Beatles' own rise to fame, with songs written and performed by Innes, who did a wonderful job sounding like actual tunes done by the Fab Four. In a sense, the music, which was released as a soundtrack album, was more successful than the show it was created for, which certainly isn't unusual.

Highly recommended, especially for fans of Python, SNL, The Beatles, or whatever you fancy.

P.S. All You Need is Cash was an inspiration for Rob Reiner when he put together This is Spinal Tap, which will be reviewed here at some point.