July 20, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Salvador Litvak
Culture Representation: Taking place in California’s High Desert region, the dramatic film “Guns & Moses” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latin people and African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: After a wealthy land developer is assassinated during a charity benefit event for a synagogue, the synagogue’s rabbi does his own investigation into the murder and finds a tangled web of motives and possible suspects.
Culture Audience: “Guns & Moses” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and twist-filled crime dramas told from the perspectives of unlikely investigators.
Despite a few stumbles and some corny dialogue, “Guns & Moses” is an absorbing murder mystery with a rabbi becoming an amateur detective in a case involving antisemitism and environmental concerns. The investigation scenes are better than the action scenes. “Guns & Moses” capably handles its storylines and character personalities for the large ensemble cast without gettting too jumbled or messy.
Directed by Salvador Litvak (who co-wrote the “Guns & Moses” screenplay with his wife Nina Litvak), “Guns & Moses” takes place in California’s High Desert region, where the movie was filmed on location. The movie had its premiere at the 2024 Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival. It’s the type of thriller that has a predictable ending, but the “whodunit” crime-solving part of the movie is intriguing.
“Guns & Moses” begins by showing a charity benefit gala for the High Desert Jewish Center, which is trying to raise money to build a synagogue for its members. The High Desert Jewish Center’s place of worship is currently the center’s headquarters, which is located in a storefront building. The synagogue has been a goal for years, but it’s been difficult for the High Desert Jewish Center to raise enough for money for it.
Rabbi Moishe “Mo” Zaltzman (played by Mark Feuerstein), who is 43 years old, is the leader of the High Desert Jewish Center. At this charity gala, which takes place in the evening, the guest of honor is Alan Rosner (played by Dermot Mulroney), a wealthy property developer. Also in attendance is Donovan Kirk (played by Neal McDonough), the mayor of High Desert, who playfully pretends to get into a verbal argument with Alan when they see each other at the ceremony. Alan and Donovan are both charismatic “alpha males” who are very good friends. Mo admires both of them and knows that they could be powerful allies.
Before Alan gives his speech, the audience at the gala is shown a pre-recorded video of Alan’s closest confidants congratulating him on receiving this honor from the High Desert Jewish Center. Appearing in the video are Alan’s business partner Tibor Farkas (played by Craig Sheffer); Alan’s brother Jeff Rosner (played by Michael B. Silver); Jeff’s wife Pauline Rosner (played by Cherie Jimenez); Alan’s wife Liat Rosner (played by Mercedes Mason); and Alan’s two stepchildren who are in their late teens: Devora Rosner (played by Brielle Angelique) and Koby Rosner (played by Massi Pregoni), who are from Liat’s previous marriage.
Liat was a widow when she married Alan, who adopted Devora and Koby after Alan and Liat got married. The only person in the congratulations video who seems like he doesn’t want to be there is Koby, a stoner who’s addicted to vaping. By contrast, Devora is an obedient “daddy’s girl,” who brims with pride and joy when talking about Alan and how she likes helping him with his company’s social media. The teenagers’ biological father (Liat’s first husband) was killed in a terrorist attack. More about Liat’s past is revealed in the movie.
Mo is happily married to his loyal wife Hindy Zaltzman (played by Alona Tal), who is the mother of their five children, ranging from ages about 9 to about 17: son Yossy Zaltzman (played by Joshua Gallup) is the eldest, followed by daughter Esty Zaltzman (played by Mila Brener), son Levy Zaltzman (played by Jarod Bainbridge), daughter Dini Zaltzman (played by Juju Journey Brener) and son Mendy Zaltzman (played by Trey Diaz Murphy). Yossy and Esty are the most eager to help when Mo begins his investigation.
During Alan’s speech at the gala, he announces that he is pledging $2 million as a gift to build the High Desert Jewish Center’s proposed synagogue. As soon as he makes the announcement, tragedy strikes: Alan is gunned down by an unidentified sniper who flees by car. Alan is killed almost instantly.
The two police partners who are at the crime scene to investigate are Detective Wallace (played by Ed Quinn) and Detective Nestor (played by Zach Villa), who believe the High Desert Jewish Center’s security chief Brenda Navarro (played by Gabrielle Ruiz) on who the killer is. Brenda suspects that the killer is a 19-year-old named Clay Gibbons (played by Jackson A. Dunn), who is known to associate with a white supremacist group and who has previously had antisemitic run-ins at the High Desert Jewish Center.
Flashbacks show an incident when Clay stood outside the building and pantomimed shooting a gun at the people who were entering the building. Brenda confronted Clay and ordered him to leave. He was defiant and taunting, to make it clear that he intended to scare people with these gun gestures.
Another flashback, shown a bit later in the movie, reveals that the most recent antisemitic incident with Clay was when he and Mo had a tense conversation when Clay was parked outside the center and was playing music too loud in Clay’s car. Mo politely asked Clay to turn down the music. Clay’s response was to go on a rant saying that Jewish people are perpetrators of white genocide, and the Holocaust was a hoax.
After the murder of Alan, Clay is quickly arrested at his home, even though Clay’s widowed father Owen Gibbons (played by Jake Busey) says that Clay was at home all night with Owen. The police don’t believe this alibi. Clay’s mother died in a car accident when he was 11. The movie also makes a point of showing the cutting scars on Clay’s arm, as an indication that he has a history of self-harming.
Mo doesn’t believe that Clay committed the murder because, as shown in the flashback where Mo confronted Clay, Mo asked Clay to listen to the Holocaust survivor story of an elderly congregant named Sol Fassbinder (played by Christopher Lloyd), whose immediate family was murdered in the Holocaust. Clay seems skeptical of the story but he eats some brownies offered by Mo as a sort of peace offering. Clay wasn’t seen at the High Desert Jewish Center again.
Mo goes to visit Clay in jail and promises to try to help prove Clay is not guilty of the murder. His conversation with Clay is short because Detective Wallace and Detective Nestor suddenly show up and scold Mo for talking to a suspect while being a witness for a possible trial. Mo also gets some backlash and criticism from other people who find out that Mo visited Clay in jail. Most of the people in the community think that Clay is guilty, even though there is no physical evidence tying Clay to the murder.
Mo trusts his instincts and decides to do his own investigation, against the objections of some people, such as Alan’s widow Liat. At the shiva wake for Alan, Mo notices that Liat is being comforted by Sid Borowski (played by Paulo Costanzo), a former professor who had been feuding with Alan. Devora is very upset to see Sid at this wake and says that Alan would never have allowed it.
Mo finds out why there was bad blood between Sid and Alan. This review won’t give away all the details, but it has to do with a lawsuit that Sid filed against Alan, with the lawsuit accusing Alan’s company of being environmentally hazardous and causing the death of birds. In response to the lawsuit, Alan dug up scandalous information from Sid’s past that caused Sid to be fired from his job.
More details also emerge about Alan’s business activities that could be motives for someone wanting him murdered. Mo’s life also gets put in danger, but he won’t stop his investigation. Security chief Brenda insists that Mo get a gun and learn how to use it. Other things happen that convince him even more that that someone who isn’t Clay was responsible for Alan’s murder.
At times, “Guns & Moses” resembles a TV series crime procedural, where Mo gets some answers and evidence a little too easily for someone who’s not a professional investigator. However, there’s some validity in believing that Mo could be better at gaining people’s trust because he’s a rabbi and not a law enforcement official. Mo is a very interesting character and seems to be written as someone who was made to be in a series of murder mystery stories.
“Guns & Moses” has some touches of comic relief, such as when Mo’s eldest son Yossy wants to tag along for something dangerous that Mo wants to do, but Mo doesn’t want Yossy to go with him because he doesn’t think underage Yossy can handle it. Yossy wails, “Did my bar mitzvah mean nothing?” Other lines of dialogue are hokey and might get unintended laughs. For example, during a pivotal scene in the movie, Hindy tells Mo: “May God and your Glock protect you.” (That sentence is also the movie’s slogan.)
Feuerstein makes Mo a believable character, even though some of the situations he’s in don’t look too credible. The cast’s acting performances are solid overall though. Fans of the 2009 to 2016 comedy/drama series “Royal Pains” should be delighted to know that former “Royal Pains” co-stars Feuerstein and Constanzo have an on-screen reunion as Mo and Sid in “Guns & Moses.” This reunion is less than 15 minutes of screen time in “Guns & Moses,” but it’s better than nothing.
If you see “Guns & Moses” in a theater and stay for the end credits, then you’ll see writer/director Salvador Litvak in a short pre-recorded message where he says that he made the film in response to the alarming rise in antisemitism in recent years. He also says in the message that although he doesn’t ever wish for antisemitic hate crimes to happen, he believes that Jewish people need to learn to protect themselves against violent attacks and should be prepared to fight back if necessary. In the message, Salvador Litvak also requests that fans of the movie give positive feedback to other people about “Guns & Moses” so that he can make more similar-themed movies.
“Guns & Moses” comes across as a non-political crime drama and not as pro-gun propaganda for Jewish people. Therefore, this politically-tinged statement from Salvador Litvak is wisely kept at the end of the film because the story is not preachy at all and in fact encourages people not to rush to judgment against those who might be considered “enemies.” Whatever anyone’s political opinions are, “Guns & Moses” should be enjoyed for what it is: a suspenseful mystery thriller that isn’t perfect but it has a memorable lead character who could be in one or more sequels if enough people want it.
Concourse Media released “Guns & Moses” in select U.S. cinemas on July 18, 2025. Fathom Entertainment will re-release “Guns & Moses” in select U.S. cinemas for a limited engagement from September 7 to September 11, 2025.
